5+ mon, 3+ week ago (503+ words) U.S. Forest Service officials announced additional cutbacks and temporary closures of ranger district offices in Idaho on Monday on the heels of retirements and deferred resignation programs offered by President Donald Trump. Effective immediately, the McCall, New Meadows and Weiser ranger district offices will temporarily close until further notice, Payette National Forest officials announced in a news release issued Tuesday. No reopening timeline was announced. The three temporary closures were announced less than two weeks after Sawtooth National Forest officials said they temporarily closed Sawtooth National Recreation Area offices in Stanley and Ketchum through June 16 due to staff reductions. Additionally, the Council Ranger District Office and the supervisors office in McCall are operating under new hours " from 8 a.m. to noon and 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Payette National Forest officials said Tuesday. Officials with the Payette National Forest said forest leaders are adjusting…...

5+ mon, 2+ week ago (591+ words) Idaho state revenues are slightly up from last year but are $141.5 million below the Legislature's projected revenue. Each session, budget-writers in the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) vote on an estimated revenue to set the state budget against. As the state nears the end of fiscal year 2025, it is well below the forecasted revenue number, a monthly budget report shows. Individual income tax collections through May were up $187.4 million over last year to date, and corporate income taxes were up by $30.9 million, the report said. Sales tax collections were up about 3.4% from last year too, but recent legislative actions over the past few years increasingly divert this revenue before it can make its way into the state general fund. Because of these draws, the sales tax distributions into the general fund are $84.5 million less than last year. Diversions include…...

10+ mon, 2+ day ago (489+ words) BOISE " The Idaho House voted Monday to call on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the right to gay marriage. Members voted 46-24 to approve House Joint Memorial 1, which if approved by the Senate, would send a letter to the nation's high court asking it to "restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman." It does not change Idaho's current laws around marriage. "This is to restore federalism, calling for the issue of marriage laws to the states, not to the federal government," memorial sponsor Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said Monday. The target of the memorial is the high court's 2015 decision Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. If passed by both chambers, the memorial calls on the Legislature to ask the court to overturn the ruling. House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, countered the idea…...

22+ hour, 58+ min ago (1181+ words) When Alex Adams stepped into his role leading the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in June 2024, he immediately announced a laser focus on foster care. Adams, nominated by President Donald Trump in March and last month confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Administration for Children and Families assistant secretary, is now taking a similar approach to his federal position. On Monday, the federal administration announced the launch of "A Home for Every Child," an initiative to bring up the ratio of foster children to foster homes to 1-to-1. "Our Home for Every Child initiative nationally is really modeled off of what we did here in Idaho," Adams said in an interview Wednesday in Boise. As the state Health and Welfare director, Adams focused on policies to improve recruitment and retention of foster families as well as to prevent children from…...

2+ mon, 1+ day ago (782+ words) Anyone six months or older can now get a COVID-19 vaccination even if they don't have an underlying condition " but some patients are still under the impression that it's out of reach. On Sept. 19, an advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clarified that individuals can decide for themselves whether they want a COVID-19 vaccine. So any pharmacy can offer the vaccine to anyone six months or older. But that news has been slow to circulate. Will Edwards owns Sid's Pharmacy in Pullman and Northwest Pharmacy in Potlatch. Many Idahoans, Edwards said, have shown up at his Pullman location because of Washington's blanket approval of the vaccine and uncertainty about whether they could get it in their home state. "There's a lot of people who come from Idaho saying, "Can I come over across state lines? Can…...

6+ mon, 1+ week ago (748+ words) Nearly 70% of Idaho's Medicaid budget is covered by federal funding; if that funding were reduced, the state would be forced to either foot the rest of the bill, cut programs or both. There are more ... BOISE " The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed its major budget bill Thursday morning with support from Idaho lawmakers. The budget includes significant cuts to Medicaid and food benefits in addition to several other provisions. The proposed budget, which seeks to cut spending to pay for the extension of tax cuts, has prompted vocal concern from health care advocates in Idaho who say the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, could have "devastating consequences" for Idahoans who rely on those programs, the Lewiston Tribune previously reported. Idaho Congressmen Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson both praised the House's passage of the bill…...

11+ mon, 4+ week ago (1293+ words) Avalanche forecasting isn't really an office job. Sure, Chris Bilbrey, the new director of the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center, is going to spend plenty of time in the office. Someone has to type up the forecasts and get them online, for one thing. Then there's the scheduling, planning, thinking big picture about the center's growth " all of that needs to get done, and it's on Bilbrey to do it. But he's also going to be outside. Getting to know the region's snowpack intimately is part of the job. Watching the weather isn't enough. "I'm a believer that it's critically important that us as forecasters are out looking, touching, tasting the snow," Bilbrey said in an interview. Bilbrey, 44, moved to Sandpoint this summer to take the reins at IPAC, the avalanche forecasting and education outfit covering northern Idaho and far northwestern…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (1088+ words) This article is part of an InvestigateWest series called "Guarded by Predators," exposing rape and abuse by Idaho's prison guards and the system that shields them. The entire series can be found at investigatewest.org/guarded-by-predators. Calls for reform are mounting after revelations of widespread sexual abuse inside Idaho women's prisons as state officials, lawmakers and advocates demand accountability from the Department of Correction. In a letter to Gov. Brad Little, the Southwest Idaho Chapter of the National Organization for Women condemned the state's "shameful" failure to protect incarcerated women from sexual abuse and harassment by prison staff. Prompted by InvestigateWest's reporting published last month, the group urged Little to order an independent investigation into complaints uncovered by reporters. The letter urges Little and Correction Director Bree Derrick to "immediately ensure the safety of the women in its custody" and…...

5+ mon, 1+ week ago (379+ words) MOSCOW " The organizers behind this year's annual Juneteenth celebration decided to hold the event in Moscow as a response to Idaho's dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. More than a hundred people attended the event held Thursday in Moscow's Friendship Square. Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in 1865, when Galveston, Texas, received news that the Civil War had ended, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It was made a federal holiday in 2021. Holding a Juneteenth celebration in Moscow shows that not everyone agrees with Idaho's lawmakers, Heim said. "A lot of people see the value in having support systems set up for all people no matter what their background is, no matter what their experiences are," she said. The newly elected UI student body president, Seyi Arogundade, also spoke about DEI and…...

8+ mon, 2+ week ago (732+ words) BOISE " A new report found that Idaho's K-12 public funding doesn't adequately support districts for their students with higher needs. The Office of Performance Evaluations (OPE), which produces studies of the effectiveness of government programs, presented the results of its K-12 funding model study to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Friday. The state largely allocates money based on average daily attendance, but does not "meaningfully increase" to adjust for the percentage of students with special needs, English learners, and students from low-income households, the report found. "The way that the formula currently works is it's not adjusting to meet the individual needs of districts and students," Casey Petti, OPE principal evaluator, told the committee Friday. Idaho's school districts are left with these funding gaps, and many turn to levies to help pay for the difference. However, revenue from voter-approved levies this…...