Idaho Matters

( Boise State Public Radio) Voters went to the polls on Tuesday for Idaho's primary election, setting the stage for the November contests. Who won, who lost and what does it mean for Idaho? We’ll break it down with our guests Kevin Richert, senior reporter and blogger with Idaho Ed News , Clark Corbin with the Idaho Capital Sun and our own James Dawson with Boise State Public Radio News .

The 302 Airlift Wing out of Colorado Springs came to Boise to train its MAFFs unit in 2011. (Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio) Agencies like the Forest Service often use contract airplanes to drop fire retardant on wildfires. If resources fall short, though, a specialized team of military personnel can help . This year is shaping up to be another extreme fire season . So having this back...

Copy of Artwork for Moon Art Contest ( Leathan Li) In 1961 President Kennedy issued the challenge of landing “a man on the moon.” Eight short years later, the Apollo 11 mission set three men on the lunar surface. However, before Neil Armstrong was able to take “one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind,” more than 400,000 men and women had to figure out how to make it happen. On Tuesda...

Dozens of empty ballot boxes are lined up as Ada County prepares for the 2012 Primary Election. ( Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio) A new resource for Spanish-speaking voters was recently released. Contamos Idaho is a bilingual website that wants to make the voting process more accessible for Idaho’s Hispanic community. As Idaho grows, so do its Hispanic residents, who according to the 2...

( Associated Press) Monday, May 16 is International Museum Day and this coming weekend Boise museums will be teaming up for a day of celebration, featuring all of the cultural attractions in our area. Joining Idaho Matters to talk more about what you can expect to see at next Sunday's celebration are Cindy Busche with the City of Boise and Annie Gavica with the Basque Museum.

(Frankie Barnhill / Boise State Public Radio) Fundraising ahead of next weeks elections , campaign ad rhetoric , a surprising endorsement , and new growth in Caldwell - 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: Kevin Richert, senior reporter and blogger with...

A basket of produce and other goodies given away to the Buy Nothing community. ( Liesl Clark) “Buy less and share more,” is the motto of the Buy Nothing Project . Their community has more than five million members, making it one of the largest gift economies in the world. So how does a gift economy work? Well, nothing in the community is sold, but rather given away for free, making everything from...

(Guy Hand) Many of us are familiar with the phrase “from farm to table” and have dined at restaurants that source their food locally. However, have you ever stopped to consider how hard farmers have to work to get their food to that table? Well if you haven't, we’ll let you in on a little secret, it's often no easy feat. As a result, this means that farmers usually have to be very good at wearing...

A sign is displayed for voters to guide the way at a precinct during an election. (Brynn Anderson / AP) With Idaho's primary only five days away, it sure would be nice if there was a place where you could find out where to vote, if you’re registered to vote, who your candidates are and maybe a bio of each person running for office. It turns out there is such a place! The vote411.org website from t...

The temperatures will be going up this weekend and after you’re done spending time in the sun you’ll probably want something to watch as you wind down. Well, that's where our resident critic George Prentice comes in! He has all of the movie and tv recommendations that you won’t want to miss.

President Biden announced that Americans would be able to receive a third booster shot against COVID-19. 100 million people in the U.S. could get COVID-19 this fall and winter, according to the Biden administration, which is warning of new omicron subvariants. The Washington Post also reports we’re approaching one million deaths from COVID-19 across the country. Here to talk about these grim stati...

The front cover of Carter Bays new novel, The Mutual Friend. The co-creator of the Emmy award-winning show "How I Met Your Mother" is back, this time with his first novel. Idaho Matters sits down with Carter Bays to talk more about his debut novel, The Mutual Friend .

The sign at the entrance of the mobile home park near Shoshone Park the City of Boise is considering purchasing. (Margaret Carmel / BoiseDev) Affordable housing is hard to come by these days so residents of a mobile home park in our region were understandably worried when the property that their homes were on went up for sale. The Treasure Valley is no stranger to this situation, where a long-esta...

A stack of books from Ann Arbor District Library. ( Flickr) If you’ve ever wanted to write the next great novel or just get that story you wrote published, support from other writers and from your hometown can be critical. The Idaho Writers Guild provides that support for authors at all stages in their careers. They help writers network, learn new skills and find the connections they need to thriv...

Here's a question for you, how many children go missing around the globe each year? If you don’t know the answer, you’re not alone. It turns out no one does and no one has been looking for an answer, until now. A small research lab at Boise State University has been working for the past year to find that number and build a statistical model that the International Centre for Missing and Exploited C...

(Casey Serin / Flickr) According to the non-profit group Jesse Tree , at least half of the people who rent live paycheck-to-paycheck and move from home to home. All that movement means kids get shipped from school to school, disrupting their education. Now the United Way of Treasure Valley and Jesse Tree are getting together for a program to help families at risk of eviction in Canyon County. The...

Jon Swarthout teaching the Maypole Dance on May 1st 2022. ( Daniel Olson) A landmark church in Boise’s North End is getting a second chance at life. The Immanuel Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1907. After the 1970’s though the church was sold and fell into disrepair, eventually ending up on Idaho's “Top 10 most endangered” historic sites list. Here's where the building's Cinderella story...

(Idaho Statesman ) An investigation into Dr. Ryan Cole and his alleged misuse of COVID-19 funds , the possible sale of Cougar Island in McCall, “modest” housing and women's health in Idaho if Roe v. Wade is overturned. 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...

Anti-abortion rights protesters singing and chanting anti-abortion slogans outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Eman Mohammed) On Monday, a draft opinion on abortion by the U.S. Supreme Court was leaked by Politico. The leak pointed to the court overturning Roe v. Wade, which would put an end to constitutional protections for abortion and give control back to individual states. An a...

(Roam Yocham / Boise State Public Radio) Idaho’s primaries are less than two weeks away. On the GOP side, eight candidates are running for governor. Governor Brad Little is being challenged by his own lieutenant governor, something that hasn’t happened since 1938 in a race that is described as eerily similar to the 1966 Republican Primary. The Boise Bureau Chief at the Idaho Press Betsy Russell an...

(Richard Villalon / Adobe Stock) The Washington Post is reporting that more vaccinated people, often the elderly or immunocompromised, are dying of COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, the majority of deaths in the U.S. came from people who did not get vaccinated. However, the Post says that 42 percent of people who died of COVID in January and February were vaccinated. We wanted to ask Dr. David Pa...

A Death cap mushroom found in Idaho last fall by Susan Stacy, a member of the Southern Idaho Mycological Association. ( Susan Stacy) Last month, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced that a deadly mushroom had been found growing in a Boise neighborhood. People who know mushrooms say there will be more of them. The Death Cap mushroom can be deadly if eaten. A member of the Southern I...

The U.S. Supreme Court (Jose Luis Magana / AP) According to a draft opinion leaked to Politico, the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half of the United States and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. University of Idaho law profe...

An artist rendering by Powin, the Portland-based company that will be providing the batteries for Idaho Power storage. (Bertholt Schroeder / Powin) It may be cool now, but that won’t last for long! Senior Vice President of Operations and Chief Operating Officer of Idaho Power, Adam Richins, joins Idaho Matters to tell us exactly where our power comes from and why the company wants to build its fir...

(Joshua Lindgren - BSPR) After a two-year pause, downtown Boise's signature summer events will be back, and we’re told they’ll be better than before! Executive director of the Downtown Boise Association Jennifer Hensley joins us to talk about what we can expect this summer.