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Bill criminalizing gender care for trans youth clears hurdle in Idaho Legislature
A few Idaho state senators from both major political parties said in a Friday committee hearing that they can’t support an existing bill to criminalize all gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth — but the committee’s Republicans were open to supporting an amended version. The Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee sent House Bill 71 to […]
Boise junior high social worker’s ‘inappropriate’ conduct with student was kept secret. How?
A social worker at a Boise junior high school was accused last year of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a student in their early teens. The social worker died by suicide after police began investigating a tip about the relationship. In the wake of his suicide, city prosecutors have charged the school’s former principal […]
Child care providers, educators sue Idaho AG over his investigative demands
A group of education and child care providers from around the state, including some public school districts, have filed a court complaint against the Idaho attorney general’s office, seeking to block or modify the office’s demand for their records. The plaintiffs include 35 Idaho-based providers that applied for and received federal grants through the Idaho […]
He’s in a prison cell, with no criminal conviction. Idaho put him there for mental health care.
Update: The Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on March 14 declined to take up Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s request to fund a secure mental health facility for patients who are currently housed at the prison. In the sagebrush steppe south of Boise is a prison compound. In that compound is a maximum security prison for […]
Idaho parents, child care providers ask Legislature to reverse budget cuts as closures begin
Lakewood Montessori in Boise took a string of financial hits from the COVID-19 pandemic — from closures in early 2020 to ongoing inflation and worker shortages. And, like other Idaho child care centers, Lakewood used federal grants from the American Rescue Plan Act to add $300 a month to the paychecks of its employees. Lakewood […]
Nampa woman distributed pounds of fentanyl each week from Boise short-term rental
On a Tuesday in early June last year, law enforcement agents arrived at a short-term rental in Boise with a search warrant. Their surveillance of a man operating a drug network from prison pointed to a Treasure Valley distributor who was renting that home, court records said. Wathana “Noy” Insixiengmay, 34, of Nampa, pleaded guilty […]
Public health officials declare an outbreak of syphilis in Idaho
The agencies that oversee public health for Idaho’s populous southwestern region this week announced one new and one ongoing outbreak of syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection. Central District Health and Southwest District Health departments issued public announcements March 2 about outbreaks in their regions, which include the Boise-Nampa metropolitan area and several surrounding counties. There […]
Idaho is a surrogacy hub. A new bill would set legal ‘best practices’ for the first time.
A bill headed for the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives would be the first Idaho law to specifically address surrogacy — a thriving Idaho industry in which women act as “gestational carriers” for parents who cannot have a baby on their own. Idaho has been called the “unofficial surrogacy capital” of the United […]
Idaho budget committee votes to cut funding for child care, family supports
Idaho lawmakers on Monday removed about $38 million from state budgets for the coming year that would have gone to child care providers and to efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee of the Idaho Legislature voted to approve several of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s budgets after making […]
Surgeon’s arrest for sexual battery a ‘catalyst’ for Idaho health care workers to talk about abuse
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual battery, harassment and bullying. Emily Garringer was assigned to a surgery in operating room No. 8 at the St. Luke’s hospital in Meridian. It was March 2019 — her eighth year working as a surgical technologist but her first time in surgery with Dr. Stanley Waters. […]
Idaho House passes bill to criminalize false reports of child abuse
Legislation is making its way through the Idaho Legislature that would make it a crime to file a false report of child abuse or neglect. Several other states have similar laws on their books. House Bill 66, sponsored by Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, passed the House on a mostly party-line vote Wednesday. Rep. David Cannon […]
A law meant to save lives of Idaho mothers is on the chopping block. Will lawmakers keep it?
A special committee that was created four years ago to study maternal deaths in Idaho will end in July if the Idaho Legislature does not pass a bill to remove or change its sunset date. The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is tasked with studying Idaho deaths during pregnancy or within one year of giving birth, […]