Courts + Policing
Idaho House votes to withhold funding from cities, counties that don’t enforce state felonies
The Idaho House of Representatives voted 53-13 on Monday to pass a bill that would withhold state sales and use tax revenues from a local unit of government that declines to enforce state felony laws. If passed into law, House Bill 22 would prohibit any local government in Idaho from receiving sales and use tax […]
FBI investigating abortion-related attacks in Oregon, nationwide
The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for tips about three arsons in Oregon last summer against an anti-abortion group and centers. The attacks occurred between May and July in Portland, Gresham and Keizer. One attack targeted the Mother and Child Education Center in Portland. Another involved Molotov cocktails thrown at the Oregon Right to […]
Idaho attorneys ask federal judge for time to file new brief in abortion case
Representatives from the Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office plan to file a new brief in the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the state over its abortion bans now that a new attorney general has taken office and the Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the laws. Deputy Attorney General Steven L. Olsen asked the […]
U.S. House GOP takes aim at fake pills containing deadly fentanyl sold on social media
WASHINGTON — On a June 2020 morning, Amy Neville entered her son’s bedroom to wake him for an orthodontist appointment. Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up. He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a counterfeit pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers Wednesday during a roundtable discussion of the role […]
Committee introduces resolution to amend Idaho Constitution around ballot initiatives
The Senate State Affairs Committee introduced a joint resolution that would ask voters to amend the Idaho Constitution concerning voter initiatives. Sen. Doug Okuniewicz, R-Hayden, introduced the resolution on Wednesday, referencing the bill that Idaho Legislators passed in 2021, SB 1110. After a challenge, the Idaho Supreme Court deemed the legislation unconstitutional in August 2021. The bill, which […]
Ammon Bundy pleads guilty to trespassing at Meridian’s St. Luke’s hospital
This story was first published Jan. 23, 2023, by Idaho Reports. Former gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing Monday rather than proceed with the trial set for this week. The trespassing charge stems from an incident when Bundy refused to leave the property of St. Luke’s medical center in Meridian in March […]
Federal judge could decide as soon as February to yank abortion pill nationwide
WASHINGTON — A Texas judge could decide as soon as next month whether to force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pull its two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the United States. A nationwide injunction in the case, as requested by anti-abortion groups, would […]
Idaho appeals court judge to be nominated to federal bench, White House announces
President Joe Biden will nominate Idaho Court of Appeals Judge Amanda K. Brailsford to be a federal judge of the U.S. District Court of Idaho, the White House told the Idaho Capital Sun on Wednesday. Brailsford is one of four nominees announced by the White House and is part of the 28th round of federal […]
Public invited to a meeting of ‘United Against Hate’ initiative on Jan. 16 in Caldwell
Idaho’s top federal prosecutor has joined with the College of Idaho and the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights to host a meeting with other stakeholders to discuss how Idaho law enforcement and others in the community can root out hate crimes and acts of hate in Idaho. “In my view, this initiative is particularly timely […]
Biden administration to rapidly expel more migrants at the border, add legal pathways
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday announced dual immigration strategies that would increase expulsions of migrants who attempt to cross the Southern border, while also expanding opportunities for migrants from several countries to legally enter the United States. But the sweeping new immigration plan brought condemnation from advocates who said he should not broaden […]
Idaho Supreme Court upholds abortion ban, civil enforcement law
In a 3-2 decision, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s abortion ban and the civil enforcement law allowing providers to be sued for performing abortions in an opinion released Thursday. Planned Parenthood and one of its abortion providers, Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, filed three separate challenges with the Idaho Supreme Court, beginning with the civil enforcement […]
GOP law-and-order pitch didn’t win many converts, expert says
Republicans nationwide went big on claims that crime was rampant in our cities and that it was crucial to elect hard-nosed conservatives to stop it. The November midterms showed that those appeals failed to win over many voters who weren’t already part of the GOP’s rural and exurban base, the executive director of the Death […]