Government + Politics
Little, Wasden and other GOP leaders threaten suit over Biden COVID rule
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and two Republican legislative leaders signed a letter Friday threatening legal action if President Joe Biden doesn’t repeal a new vaccine and COVID-19 testing rule for employers. The move isn’t a surprise in Idaho, where Little and Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives Scott Bedke, R-Oakely, […]
Republican AGs urge Biden administration to give up on vaccine requirements
WASHINGTON — More than 20 Republican state attorneys general are threatening to sue the Biden administration over its mandate that large employers require their employees to either be vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo weekly testing. In a Thursday letter, the 24 AGs pushed the administration to remove the requirement that would affect nearly 80 […]
Biden administration to move BLM headquarters back to D.C. from Grand Junction
President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Friday that it would return the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management to Washington, D.C., reversing a controversial decision by the Trump administration — with the support of a bipartisan array of Colorado political leaders — to relocate the office to Grand Junction. The BLM’s Grand Junction office […]
Meridian’s growth illustrates challenges redistricting commission faces
Residents of one of the United States’ fastest-growing cities picked apart three proposed political boundary maps during a public hearing hosted by Idaho’s bipartisan redistricting commission Thursday. Commissioners presented three new maps — two proposed congressional maps and one proposed legislative map. The maps are early rough drafts intended to spark public debate, not represent […]
House Democrats roll out plan to expand Medicare, Medicaid and lower prescription drug costs
WASHINGTON — New Medicare benefits for older Americans, like dental care. An expansion of eligibility for Medicaid for low-income people in Republican-controlled states that have declined to take that step. And potentially an historic effort to rein in prescription drug prices — if congressional Democrats can work through objections from moderates in their party. The massive […]
Unable to keep up with contact tracing, southwest Idaho health district launches online self-reporting COVID tool
Southwest District Health, which covers six counties in Idaho, announced in a press release Wednesday that it has launched a new COVID-19 data collection tool for self-reporting since the district is unable to conduct contact tracing in a timely manner. The health district attempts to contact each person with a new positive case to learn […]
¿Qué significan las normas de atención en caso de crisis?
Las normas de atención de crisis se implementan en circunstancias extremas cuando hay más personas que necesitan atención médica que recursos disponibles para ayudar a todos. Esto establece un marco para que los trabajadores de la salud prioricen cómo usar los recursos y a quién ayudar primero. El plan “Idaho Crisis Standards of Care” se […]
Small group of GOP legislators tries and fails to reconvene the Idaho Legislature
Sixteen conservative legislators tried and failed to establish a quorum in an attempt to bring the Idaho Legislature back into session Wednesday at the Statehouse. The legislators, who generally align with the far-right wing of the party as well as the Idaho Freedom Foundation, put out a call over the weekend encouraging their colleagues to […]
Gymnasts urge U.S. Senate to investigate Larry Nassar sexual abuse after botched FBI inquiry
WASHINGTON — Olympic gold medalists including Simone Biles and Aly Raisman on Wednesday detailed for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee the failure of the FBI to investigate dozens of complaints of sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar, the disgraced team doctor for USA Gymnastics and a former Michigan State University physician. The gymnasts also urged […]
U.S. House Democrats add more mass transit, high-speed rail in second shot at infrastructure bill
The U.S. House transportation panel early Wednesday passed along party lines the panel’s $60 billion slice of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget plan, adding nearly $20 billion for a new transit program and high-speed rail development. Chairman Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon had considered these and other items underfunded in the Senate-led bipartisan infrastructure bill, passed […]
Joe Biden’s ‘most egregious and tyrannical’ action may actually help GOP governors save lives
A convergence of three unsettling headlines appeared for my morning reading the day before the nation observed the 20-year commemoration of the tragic deaths of almost 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001. The very day of the remembrance ceremonies, the 7-day average for loss of American lives to the ongoing COVID-19 catastrophe was 1,666, as […]
Crisis-level hospital rationing ‘imminent’ for Boise-Nampa and Twin Falls
Idaho’s top health official on Tuesday warned multiple times that hospital crisis rationing is “imminent” for the Treasure Valley and Magic Valley. Hospitals in the Boise-Meridian-Nampa region and the Twin Falls region are at capacity — and often over capacity — for patients who need emergency, medical and critical care. “Just to be clear, crisis […]