News

This week the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation announced it would give up to $5 million to create a new school that would be unique in Idaho.

The debate among Idaho lawmakers started in earnest Tuesday over whether the state should create its own health insurance exchange. 

Idahoans will have a chance to weigh in on whether the state should create its own health insurance exchange today at the Capitol.  

The Idaho National Lab (INL) is the nation’s lead nuclear research laboratory. It’s also an economic engine for eastern Idaho. There are fears that with big federal spending cuts - the INL could lose it’s ‘national lab’ designation or be closed altogether.

The Nampa School District got permission from a judge Monday to borrow money. District officials went to the court because they didn’t know if Idaho law permitted them to take out loans to help fix their $4.3 million shortfall. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says wolverines need to be protected under the Endangered Species Act because warming temperatures are shrinking their habitat.

Until last week, John McCarthy was the Idaho Forest Program Director at the Wilderness Society.  He’s stepping down after a 30-year career in conservation.  McCarthy made a name for himself at the Society, and before that at the Idaho Conservation League, working to preserve some of Idaho’s most pristine places.  He says he got started in conservation after working in the media.

The trailhead for Polecat Gulch Reserve in Boise's foothills will get a new trailhead. And the city wants your thoughts on how that trailhead should look.

Kelly Burrows is a park development coordinator. He's designed three different ideas for the trailhead. Burrows says he likes the idea that builds the trailhead right off the cul de sac on Boise's North Collister Drive. 

Three environmental groups will make the case in court Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to act on their petition to the agency to ban a common pesticide, chlorpyrifos.  

The education committees of Idaho’s house and senate listened for two and a half hours Friday to people sharing their thoughts on Idaho schools. About 200 people attended the session and about 50 spoke. 

By far the topic lawmakers heard about the most was funding for charter schools. A couple of charter schools packed the capital auditorium with parents and students. One parent from Boise’s Sage International School Caroline Robinson put it this way. 

Supporters of an effort to add the words "sexual orientation and gender identity" to the Idaho Human Rights Act will try again this year to get lawmakers on board. Draft legislation surfaced Friday that would protect against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced in a letter Friday he will step down from his position at the end of this month. 

In his time as U.S. Energy Secretary, Chu pushed for growth in renewable energy and clean tech innovation.

Chu led the department during President Barack Obama’s stimulus package. The department divvied up about $3.5 billion in the Pacific Northwest.

Much of the money went to projects that helped develop energy efficiency and smart grid technologies.

The head of Idaho’s Fish and Game Department went before state lawmakers this week to make the agency’s annual budget request.  Virgil Moore told lawmakers the sales of Idaho hunting and fishing licenses haven't kept pace with the state's population growth.  We spoke with Moore about that trend and how it's affecting his agency's budget. Moore says he's seen the biggest decline in out of state hunting licenses.  Click 'Listen' to hear our interview from Morning Edition Friday.

Idaho Virtual Academy (IDVA) is one of Idaho’s 48 charter schools and one of seven online charters run by for-profit companies. As we've reported this week IDVA is Idaho’s largest public school, bigger than most of the state’s school districts. Idaho taxpayers fund it and it’s managed by K-12 Inc. headquartered in Virginia.

Leaders at Gonzaga University are asking What Would Jesus Do about climate change? The Jesuit school  has adopted a plan for zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

Over the next four decades, Gonzaga University plans to make a dramatic switch to green energy, some of it generated at new facilities on campus. Meeting the goal will also require major cuts in energy use. Car travel to campus by students and faculty, and Zags basketball trips to away games are all part of the final emissions tally.

The Northwest is on the verge of becoming a gateway for crude oil. Three different developers have plans to use docks on Grays Harbor, Washington to transfer crude oil from trains to ships. Other projects are getting off the ground in Tacoma, Vancouver, BC and on the lower Columbia River. There was a huge turnout Wednesday night at an introductory public workshop in Aberdeen, Washington. 

Sentencing is scheduled for May 14th for Mohamed Mohamud. The young Somali-American man has been convicted of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction.


Mohamed Mohamud was found guilty for a bomb plot constructed over a series of meetings with FBI agents in 2010. The intent was to set off a huge explosion at Pioneer Courthouse Square. While the bomb was an inert device, the government always maintained the danger was substantial that Mohamud would eventually connect with real operatives of Al Qaeda or other groups. 

Idaho legislative education leaders brokered a meeting Wednesday between Idaho Education Association representatives and representatives from the Idaho School Boards Association. The groups are at odds over a set of bills the association of school boards has introduced.

How much fish do you eat every week?  That’s a question Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality wants to answer.  The agency has asked state lawmakers for funding to study that question.