Most of Idaho – including this region’s Clearwater Basin -- received below-normal precipitation during March, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Idaho, though slight snowpack improvements were observed since the first of last month.

Six Idaho County non-profit organizations were recently awarded a total $15,500 in grants to support community programs.

Concern for coronavirus is everywhere, including at state rest areas, which remain open. According to the Idaho Transportation Department, cleaning procedures are being stressed, and high-traffic rest areas will be cleaned more frequently to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Laid-off Idaho workers filed 117,811 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the six weeks of the COVID-19 state of emergency – twice the total number of initial claims filed in all of 2019.

Laid off Idaho workers filed 108,984 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the first five weeks of the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Idahoans currently receiving unemployment insurance benefits could start seeing the additional $600 federal benefit authorized by Congress under the CARES Act by the end of April.

The Idaho Transportation Department is extending the deadline to remove studded snow tires to June 30 due to COVID-19 concerns and Governor Brad Little’s statewide stay-home order. This extends the previous April 30 deadline.

Two-term incumbent Priscilla Giddings of White Bird, faces off against challenger, Dennis Harper of Orofino, for the Dist. 7A representative position in the upcoming Republican primary election.

Idaho Wool Growers Association (IWGA) announces the Idaho sheep industry is in dire straits due to the pandemic and needs help.

BOISE – Voting in the May 19 primary election will be solely by absentee ballots, eliminating physical polling places, “…in order to keep Idahoans safe among the global pandemic and protect their right to vote,” said Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney.

MARYLAND -- Idaho House Representatives Heather Scott (D1), Priscilla Giddings (D7), and Tammy Nichols (D11) attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland recently to receive awards from Chairman Matt Schlapp for their conservative voting record.

Nerves already rattled by ongoing coronavirus concerns were further shaken last week when a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck in Idaho’s central mountains, 72 miles northeast of Boise. While residents across Idaho County reported feeling the Tuesday, March 31, tremors, overall, North Central I…

BOISE -- Approximately 200 students from across the state – including from Idaho County -- gathered in Boise last month to learn about government and civic engagement. Idaho’s annual 4-H Know Your Government Conference took place during President’s Day Weekend.

BOISE -- Governor Brad Little has acted on all of the bills delivered to his desk from the 2020 legislative session. During the session, the governor has five days—not counting Sundays—to act on bills. He can either sign them into law, veto them, or allow them to become law without his signa…

BOISE -- Idaho native Bradley Jay Little, better known as Governor Brad Little, has watched the Gem State tackle change and grow since the late 1950s.

BOISE -- Last Friday, March 27, Governor Brad Little announced additional executive measures to assist Idaho’s response to the 2019 novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. Through executive order, he is directing a $39.3 million transfer from the Tax Relief Fund to the Disaster Emergency Account.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) seeks grant applicants for the 2021 agricultural best management practices (BMP) program. Application deadline is April 24.

An earthquake reported in Central Idaho shook across the Gem State late Tuesday afternoon, March 31, with Idaho County residents reporting the less-than-a-minute experience.

NEW MEADOWS -- The Idaho State Police and the Adams County Sheriff's Office are seeking information leading to the arrest and capture of William "Bill" Pearle James for the attempted murder of two sheriff's deputies on March 29. 

Sentencing is set April 16 for a Middleton man who has pled guilty to reduced felony charges in relation to last September’s carjacking, vehicle thefts and pursuit incident through Idaho County.

Grocery store aisles are bare, hand sanitizers won’t be refilled until April, schools are closing, and business sales are slowing down. With five cases of the novel coronavirus reported since Friday, March 13, what does Idaho’s state of emergency mean for citizens?

BOISE -- “There are inherent differences between girls and women and boys and men, those biological differences are seen with our own eyes,” said Idaho Falls Republican Representative Barbara Ehardt in defense of her legislation, House Bill 500. “Girls and women cannot compete on a level pla…

Tim Lowry has been talking about stockwater rights for a long, long time. But he doesn’t intend to stop anytime soon.

BOISE -- Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has surmounted to be a global boogeyman. Originating from Wuhan China at the turn of the new year, the virus has spread to almost every continent with reported cases in 37 countries.

BOISE -- Lawmakers are once again considering changes to Idaho’s voter initiative process, though not the ones attempted last year. Rather than upping the number of signatures or districts needed to qualify an initiative for the ballot, House Bill 548 and Senate Bill 1350—each approved by th…

BOISE -- Idahoans can keep looking forward to (or dreading) setting their clocks forward an hour this Sunday at 2 a.m., despite efforts in the legislature to stop the change.

BOISE -- The presidents of four of Idaho’s higher education institutions -- Scott Green from the University of Idaho, Dr. Cynthia Pemberton from Lewis-Clark State College, Dr. Kevin Satterlee from Idaho State University and Dr. Marlene Tromp from Boise State University -- gave a presentation…

BOISE -- Idaho’s veteran educators are in the limelight after being overlooked last year when lawmakers passed legislation that increased the starting pay for new teachers.

BOISE -- The Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved broad expansions to Idaho’s wolf hunting and trapping regulations Feb. 20, bringing year-round hunting to more of the state than a bill in the Idaho Legislature had previously proposed.

BOISE -- “We’re ready to go. I feel good where we’re at with it,” said Senator Carl Crabtree, on his proposed bill that would allow for shared ambulance districts across county boundaries.

Gerald Ross Pizzuto, Jr., has been on death row in Idaho since his 1986 murder conviction in connection with the beating deaths of a couple in Idaho County. With his most recent appeal denied by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Pizzuto’s next step – to avoid death by lethal injection –…

BOISE -- A bill that would remove sales tax on custom meat processing in certain cases is headed to the House floor after the Revenue and Taxation Committee voted unanimously to approve it last Monday, Feb. 17.

BOISE -- A proposal to create a plan for regulating industrial hemp in Idaho will move to the full Senate floor for a vote after farmers turned out in support at a legislative committee meeting Feb. 20. 

BOISE -- For two days the House State Affairs Committee mulled over a battle between the biological sex and gender identity of Idaho’s scholastic athletes. The hearing saw testimony from both sides of the issue where tears fell, voices were raised, and passions rang high.

BOISE – Today (Wednesday, Feb. 19), a bill to prevent the use of vaping products by minors was sent to General Orders for language changes by the House Health and Welfare Committee. This legislation would create parity between current, traditional tobacco products and the new electronic smok…

BOISE -- State lawmakers have introduced a bill to remove partisan requirements for members of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. Under existing law, no more than four members of the seven-person commission may belong to the same political party.

BOISE -- A bill paving the way for shared ambulance districts across county boundaries will make its way to the Senate floor after the Local Government and Taxation committee voted to approve it last Thursday, Feb. 13.

BOISE -- After three days of hearings and hours of testimony from county and city officials, an Idaho House panel has approved a bill that would temporarily freeze the portions of local government budgets funded by property taxes.

BOISE -- A resolution creating a day of remembrance in Idaho for missing and murdered indigenous persons was introduced unanimously by the House Health and Welfare committee last Wednesday, Feb. 12.

BOISE -- The Senate Education Committee rejected the House repeal of the Idaho Content Standards in a mere 30 minutes during Wednesday’s meeting, Feb. 12. After over a month of public testimony and lawmaker deliberation, the standards are right back where they started.

BOISE -- Gender equality is a contentious issue in the United States, even in factors as specific as school sport programs. In Wednesday’s House Education Committee meeting, Feb. 12, Republican Idaho Falls Representative Barbara Ehardt says there is a new challenge for sportswomen: transgend…

BOISE -- The House Education Committee voted to repeal the entirety of Idaho’s English Language Arts, Math, and Science standards in Wednesday's meeting, Feb. 5.