Idaho Matters

An A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” fighter jet in action. (Picasa / IDANG) Next week A-10 fighter jet crews will compete against each other in the desert outside Boise, think NASCAR but with fighter jets. The competition is called Hawgsmoke and the 190th Fighter Squadron from the Idaho Air National Guard is pretty good at it. They won the competition for the third time last year and are hosting the...

( George Prentice) The Toronto International Film Festival is not only a place for movie studios to wheel and deal and find new films to put into theaters in the future. It's also a great place to look for future Oscar-winning movies. Our Morning Edition Host George Prentice heads to Toronto each year to check out what's new in the world of film and he Joined Idaho Matters for a preview of this ye...

(Photo by Steven Cornfield on Unsplash) Just hours ago, the first major upgrade to the current COVID-19 vaccine got approved by the FDA. ABC News is reporting they could be available by next week. And just after students started going back to school COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Idaho. Concerns about Covid, Monkeypox and Polio are on the minds of many of our listeners, just as flu season appro...

Boise Entrepreneur Week is fast approaching. If you're not familiar, it's the largest entrepreneurial event in our state and one of the largest in the west. And the goal is simple and straightforward - to celebrate and build Idaho's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Nick Crabbs and Tiam Rastegar, co-chairs of this year's event, joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.

Marisela Pesina and Lisa Sanchez. (StoryCorps) "How ... how is this happening to me?" That’s what ran through Lisa Sanchez’s mind as she rummaged through her purse looking for change to buy enough gas to get to work. She had a good job, a house, a car … but she didn’t have enough money to get by, let alone buy some gas. It was the Great Recession and times were tough for a lot of people. “I’m happ...

A catalytic converter (follettmotors_com / Flickr) In the middle of the night a row of cars, including yours, sits parked along the street in a quiet residential neighborhood. A criminal disappears underneath the first car and 30 seconds later crawls back out with a large chunk of metal. He’s just stolen your car’s catalytic converter and he moves quickly down the street sliding under cars stealin...

(Brian Valentine / Flickr) Summer is a season known for outdoor activities; from picnics, camping, swimming and bike rides, to bug bites. It's not uncommon, especially after a day out in the sun, to find a bite or two. And no surprise, the main culprit often turns out to be the mosquito. Mosquitos can be nasty pests that carry some not-so-fun diseases, like West Nile Virus. Sam Brockway, Program a...

Lloyd and Loretta Westbrook. ( Anissa Winn Photography) Tomorrow morning, pitmaster Lloyd Westbrook will fire up the smokers at Grandpa’s Southern BBQ in Idaho Falls. His wife, Loretta, will start mixing up cornbread and by 11:00 am people will start streaming in for baby back ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, gumbo, red beans, rice and peach cobbler. Producer and Podcaster Monica Gokey spent some...

Smaller than a penny, the flower-like rock artifact on the left was imaged by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of its robotic arm. The image was taken on Feb. 24, 2022, the 3,396th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. ( NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) Stop and think about all the aliens you’ve ever seen on tv and in the movies, from the Klingons on Star...

(Joe Cawley / Flickr) It's not a new story, an old mobile home park goes up for sale and residents face losing their homes. We've heard this story a lot lately, as growth makes the land underneath these sites worth a lot of money. Last week the City of Boise bought the latest mobile home park in this situation, saying it is preserving affordable housing. Senior Reporter with BoiseDev.com , Margare...

(Kent Kanouse / Flickr) In Idaho, the need for more housing is dire , especially affordable housing. According to one group, Idaho has a shortage of over 24,000 affordable rental units. And they say housing insecurity can lead to depression, anxiety, and a greater chance of COVID-19. It's also creating a shortage of doctors and nurses. Reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris with the Idaho Capital Sun join...

The debate over whether or not to breach the four lower Snake River dams is not a new one. Over the last several months there has been renewed interest in the issue, from political discussion to conservation campaigns , to protests and now, an art exhibit. The Sun Valley Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit, Dams: Reservoirs, Reclamation, Renewal , and it just opened. The Curator of Visual Ar...

Osher Institute Gerrymandering Class with Dr. Jeffrey Lyons. ( Extended Studies Marketing) The transatlantic slave trade, Putin's Russia, Ice Age floods in the Columbia River Basin, reproductive rights and gun violence; are just some of the topics from this fall's semester of classes at Boise State's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute . Thanks in part to lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic...

A special session of the Idaho Legislature has been called, a new Free-Market Think Tank is coming to Idaho, an investigation into one irrigation district and a trip into the Zone of Death . It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up-to-date on all the news that made headlines this past week. Our journalist panel today: Clark Corbin with the Idaho...

Abortion-rights advocates and abortion-rights opponents demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, as the court hears arguments in a case from Mississippi, where a law would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, well before fetal viability. (Andrew Harnik / AP) Idaho's latest abortion law goes into effect Thursday, with some restrictions. Those restrictions come from a federal...

The new Communication Card from the Idaho Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. (Idaho Council For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing / Idaho Council For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing In Partnership With The Northwest ADA Center Of Idaho) Close to a half a million people in Idaho are deaf or hard of hearing and face daily barriers to communication. Something as simple as a traffic stop can be a safet...

( Photo courtesy of Dave Jensen, Owner of Wasatch Snake Removal, LLC) People have always feared the unknown and that fear transforms some animals into monsters in our minds, like sharks in the ocean, or rattlesnakes in the West . The Mountain West News Bureau's Madelyn Beck hiked up to the Boise foothills to learn more about these villainized snakes.

It's county fair season around our region, with the Western Idaho Fair going on right now in Garden City. From Kootenai County in Idaho to Los Alamos in New Mexico, people come together at this time of year to celebrate farm life. KUNC's Rae Solomon visits a fair on Colorado’s northeast plains for the Mountain West News Bureau.

Testing capacity for monkeypox is being rapidly expanded. (Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty Images) Where are we with COVID-19 and what will the future of vaccinations look like? Dr. David Pate, Former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and a current member of Idaho's Coronavirus Task Force, joined Idaho Matters to answer these questions and give us an update on the number of Monkeypox cases in Idaho...

Hannah George Sharp and her father Thomas George ( StoryCorps) Thomas George got drunk for the first time to celebrate his graduation from eighth grade. He was just thirteen. Drinking alcohol quickly became a habit. He and his high school friends went out every weekend and drank. He told his daughter, Hannah, that his drinking continued through college and affected all parts of his life, including...

Idaho Matters takes a look at population growth in the Gem State and how those numbers have changed over the last 10 years.

(Wonderlane / Flickr) Since the pandemic the number of people struggling with anxiety and depression has increased dramatically across America, resulting in what the white house is calling a mental health crisis . It's not just adults struggling with mental health issues though, it's kids too. Here in Idaho the number of children experiencing depression and anxiety has climbed ten percent since 20...

A majority of people in Idaho are concerned about climate change , but most people think that's not true. A new study says that kind of misperception can have a real impact when it comes to making climate policy. Dr. Gregg Sparkman is an assistant professor at Boston College and one of the authors of the research and sat down to speak with our Morning Edition host George Prentice about the study.

(Frankie Barnhill / Boise State Public Radio) Monday morning, Federal Judge B. Lynn Winmill heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by the Biden administration challenging Idaho’s near-total abortion ban. In the case of the United States of America v. The State of Idaho, the Department of Justice is challenging Idaho’s 2020 abortion trigger law, which is set to take effect on Thursday. Monday's...

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade many states, including Idaho, have put severe limits on who can get an abortion. However, in Colorado abortion providers are seeing a sharp rise in demand from out-of-state patients, including some in desperate situations. KUNC’s Robyn Vincent reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.