Idaho Matters

( H. C. / Flickr) Women approaching menopause don't always know just how much the transition will affect their lives. The ups and downs, brought on by the amount of estrogen in the body, can cause depression, anxiety, weight gain, hot flashes, sleep issues ... and that's just a few of the side effects. Idaho State University has a 12-week program designed to help women going through these changes....

A full Moon is in view from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022. The Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher, are being prepared for a wet dress rehearsal to practice timelines and procedures for launch. The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated sys...

The Four Corners wildfire is burning west of Lake Cascade in Central Idaho. ( U.S. Forest Service - Payette National Forest) The Four Corners wildfire, west of Lake Cascade , is sparking evacuations in central Idaho. Here's what we know as of 12 p.m. on Aug. 19. There is an update on the murder case against Lori Vallow Daybell , the latest on Idaho's abortion bans , and a possible special legislat...

( Rachel Cohen) Travel with us to the Salmon River north of Ketchum. Ducks are swimming, beavers are building dams and a pair of sandhill cranes observe a waterfall in the early morning light. The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is home to more than 700,000 acres of mountain peaks, 700 miles of trails and more than 300 alpine lakes … all in central Idaho. This month marks 50 years since the SNRA...

(iStockphoto) August is not the best month to see a good film as movie studios often dump films they expect to underperform in late summer. So our resident movie critic, George Prentice, put together a list of some of his best tv and streaming shows, for all of you who want to turn up the air conditioning and settle down for an end-of-summer couch cuddle!

(Tim Lauer / Flickr Creative Commons) As of last week, over one million people in the United States have died from COVID-19 and 500 people each day are dying from the virus. Despite those numbers, many say the pandemic is over and Thursday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed many of its recommendations around COVID-19 . The Wall Street Journal reports that according to the CDC,...

(Terry McCombs / Flickr Creative Commons) Last spring, Idaho Matters told you about a teacher shortage in Idaho , one that had educators worried about the upcoming fall semester when kids of all ages would head back to school. The school year for the Boise School District has started and we wanted to check back in with Idaho Education News, which first reported on this story . Kevin Richert, Senio...

Our region has some of the nation’s largest producers of winter wheat – states like Colorado, Idaho and Montana. Persistent drought threatens millions of acres of the crop, and a small, native bug has become a huge problem. KUNC’s Rae Solomon reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.

(Ashley Brown / Flickr) Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the cost of rent in Boise has gone up almost 40 percent, according to an analysis from Boise D ev.com . A new national report recently revealed that affordable housing is out of reach for many Idaho residents. And according to Jesse Tree , which works to keep Treasure Valley residents housed , the problem may be worse than many realize. An...

(Mark Levisay / Flickr) The Boise Urban Garden School , or BUGS for short, is on a mission to teach both youth and adults the fundamentals of gardening through science and environmentally friendly lesson plans. Executive Director of BUGS, Alex Brooks, joined Idaho Matters to tell us more about the unique program.

(Vince Patton / OPB) Has your child ever had their soccer game canceled because it was too smoky outside to play? Well, that's exactly what happened to Dr. Ethan Sims' family. Dr. Sims, an ER doctor at St. Luke’s and the head of Idaho Clinicians for Climate and Health , is partnering with the Health System to host a new lecture series looking at climate and health. The second installment, Wildfire...

(Jeff Smith / Flickr Creative Commons) On a cold morning, a fish biologist puts on a helmet, steps into a helicopter and starts flying along the middle fork of the Salmon River. She looks out the window and starts counting the spots where Chinook salmon are spawning. That biologist is Carli Baum and she works for Idaho Fish and Game . She wrote the story of how she counts fish nests from the air i...

(AP) Late Friday afternoon, the Idaho Supreme Court said it would not stop Idaho’s abortion trigger law from going into effect on August 25. The Idaho Supreme Court also said that it was lifting a stay on another Idaho law that allows relatives to sue a doctor after an abortion. That means the laws can be enforced while justices hear three lawsuits brought by Planned Parenthood. The latest move pl...

From right to left, Vincent James Foxx, David Reilly and Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin pose together in a screenshot from one of Foxx's video's on his web site Daily Veracity. Foxx, a white nationalist, claims to have ties to McGeachin. ( Daily Veracity ) Hate is making a comeback in Idaho, this time with political support. That’s the latest word from Heath Druzin, the host and creator of the Ex...

(Jay Peeples / Flickr) Well, it's that time of year! Kids are headed back to school and for students in the Boise School District, that starts this week. Our Morning Edition host George Prentice sat down with Monica Nydegger, the Principal of Hawthorne Elementary and Robb Thompson, the Boise High Principal to talk a little about the new school year.

Nature writer Richard Mabey says dandelions — along with many other weeds — were inadvertently brought to America by European farmers. (Michael Urban / Getty Images) Last week, Idaho Matters took a look at a program that's helping to reduce pesticides in Boise city parks . We talked a little about dandelions and how they're not as evil as people might think, especially since they're native to the...

Idaho Statehouse (Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio) A court date has been set for the federal lawsuit against Idaho's abortion ban , local faith leaders discuss abortion rights , new charges filed against a Caldwell police officer, a controversial Idaho doctor talks about Monkeypox , the race for Attorney General and Canyon County employees are leaving in record numbers – it’s Friday – w...

(Kevin Lawver / Flickr) Author Kirk Wallace is out with a new book and the story sounds like the plot to a great whodunit movie, but here's the twist: it's true! He joined Idaho Matters to talk more about The Fisherman and The Dragon .

(Joshua Lindgren - BSPR) The city of Boise is rewriting its zoning code at a time when its population has exploded, due in part to millennials, many of whom don’t want a car or a single family home. That’s according to Max Holleran, author of Yes to the City: Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing . Holleran sat down with our Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about some fricti...

(netzanette) We’ve talked a lot about abortion laws, lawsuits and other legal actions. For clinics like the Idaho Urologic Institute however, the response has been a little different. Their doctors have seen a sharp increase in the number of men requesting information on vasectomies. They’ve seen a 60 percent increase in the number of men calling to consider scheduling an appointment. Dr. Nicholas...

It’s that time of year again, time for the annual Boise Goat Head Fest ! If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a pedal-powered wonderfully-weird celebration taking place in downtown Boise on August 27th. Executive Director of the Boise Bicycle Project , Jimmy Halliburton, and Foothills Restoration Specialist with Boise Parks and Recreation, Martha Brabec, join Idaho Matters to talk more about the upcom...

Idaho has a potato shortage . That's right, the state known for its famous potatoes doesn’t have any spuds to spare. Normally Idaho produces almost one third of all U.S. potatoes , but this summer it's hard to find the familiar spud in your local grocery store. Our Morning Edition host George Prentice found that out the hard way when he went shopping for dinner.

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virus particles, left, and spherical immature particles, right. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner / CDC via AP) Has like the United States has hit a COVID- 19 plateau? Health experts say the current status of the coronavirus is a dramatic improvement compared...

Here's a look at Ann Morrison Park under the pilot program. ( Boise Park and Recreation) If you live in Boise, you may have seen more dandelions and clover in your neighborhood park over the last three years. That’s actually by design. Boise Parks and Recreation is wrapping up a pilot program to reduce pesticide use in the city’s parks. The city says less pesticide means more protection for our gr...

(Thomas Hawk / Flickr) How does Idaho investigate claims of discrimination? Answering that question led Idaho Business Review reporter Caite Clark to profile the Idaho Human Rights Commission , which has been around since 1969 when the Idaho Legislature created the independent state agency. She joins Idaho Matters for a deep dive into the IHRC.