Idaho Matters

Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger (R-Lewiston) during the first day of an ethics hearing into allegations he raped a volunteer staff member. (James Dawson / Boise State Public Radio) On Friday, a jury found a former Idaho lawmaker guilty of raping a 19-year-old intern last year. Aaron von Ehlinger is a former House member who could face life in prison. We should note that during this segment we will be talk...

Amy Pratt, a volunteer for Reclaim Idaho, gathers signatures by going door-to-door in Idaho Falls in October 2018 to encourage voters to expand Medicaid eligibility in Idaho. Social distancing measures are making the kind of campaigning needed for ballot measures nearly impossible. (James Dawson / Boise State Public Radio) Supporters of an initiative to inject millions of dollars to Idaho schools...

For many ranchers their connection and control of their livestock ends when the animals are shipped off the ranch to either be grain-finished and fattened up in a feedlot or sent to slaughter and processing at a large corporate-owned facility. But that's starting to change as women carve out their place in the meat supply chain. Ashley Ahearn has been visiting working ranches across the West in he...

Candidates for Idaho Office of Secretary of State debating on stage at Idaho Public Television. ("Idaho Debates" / Idaho Public Television) Candidate debates , the latest on North Idaho College , and college enrollment . It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable where Idaho Matters gets you up-to-date on all the news that made headlines this past week. Our journalist panel tod...

(Interfaith Sanctuary / Facebook) After 20 hours of hearings the Boise City Council voted to let the Interfaith Sanctuary move from its downtown location to a new building on State Street. The vote was 4-2 in favor of the move. To get those votes, members of the council put a cap on the number of beds at the sanctuary and added 30 new conditions to the project. The process to get to this point has...

Constitution of the State of Idaho ( AR1-20106983, Idaho State Archives) A new traveling exhibit on Idahos Constitution opens today at the community library in Ketchum. The goal of the exhibition is to look at the document’s early history, as well as the conservation efforts taking place to help restore the document. The Executive Director and Historic Preservation Officer for the Idaho State Hist...

Portrait of Duke Ellington and Sonny Greer, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. November 1946. Photograph by William P. Gottlieb, Library of Congress. (Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz: the William P. Gottlieb Collection at the Library of Congress / Flickr) Movie and tv expert, George Prentice, joins Idaho Matters to give us some terrifyingly good recommendations on what to watch and catch us up...

This is a close view of a specimen, prepared for the CDC serologic test to identify the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which is a sign of past infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. (James Gathany / CDC PHIL Library) According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , three out of every four kids in the U.S. have probably had the coronavirus. That same repor...

Beth Norton, Kat Lizarraga, and Hailee Lenhart-Wees pose for a picture next to big foot. ( Katjy Wees) How do famous comedians become famous? The short answer … they bomb, a lot. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities to fail have been hard to come by, especially since Boise's most popular comedy club Liquid Laughs closed in 2020. However, a new competition is helping comics take one step...

(Vladimir Agafonkin / Flickr) Currently in Idaho, faith healing is legally exempt from medical neglect laws. The "Campaign to Protect Idaho Kids” has been working to change that. In January they held a forum to talk about religious exemptions and they’ve created a new video designed to start conversations about this issue. Joining Gemma to talk about this difficult issue are: Former First Lady Pat...

Open Arms dancers rehearsal their new project THREADS. (Ted Harmon / Open Arms Dance Project) When Megan Brandel started the Open Arms Dance Project she wanted a way to let anyone create art through dance. And when Open Arms Dance Ambassador Heather Marie joined the group six years ago, she found an inner joy and peace. The pair joined Gemma to talk about their upcoming performance of THREADS on T...

Alia Payne (left) and Brooke Hess (right) after a trip down the river. ( Danielle Katz) This Friday four women , along with their support team, will begin a 1,000 mile journey to bring awareness to the issues posed by four lower Snake River dams, and one stibnite mine in order to help save Idaho's salmon from extinction. Their conservation campaign uses skis and paddles, following the natural migr...

Police and emergency crews respond to a reported shooting incident at Boise Towne Square Monday, Oct. 25, 2021 (Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman) The family of one of the people killed in the Boise Towne Square Mall shooting is preparing to sue Boise police , the Ada County Prosecutor, and 10 other parties for millions of dollars in damages. It’s the latest twist in a story that left two people and...

Jackpots, including the Powerball jackpot, are on display in California. (John Locher / AP) 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. The latest twist regarding Idaho’s new abortion ban law, Lori Vallow Daybell was back in court , no pot initiative in November ,Idaho’s largest P owerball...

A flier distributed in Boise neighborhoods revealed the names, addresses and phone numbers of a judge and prosecutor working on a recent criminal case involving anti-government activist and gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy. ( Boise State Public Radio) Idaho extremist groups are doxxing public and private officials when they disagree with legal orders or opposite viewpoints. That's the conclusio...

(Brad Smith / Flickr Creative Commons) Monarch butterflies, those iconic black and orange insects, are struggling to survive. Over the past 20 years, their population has dropped dramatically. This is due in part because their main source of food, the native milkweed plant, is disappearing thanks to growth, development and farming. That's why the second annual ‘Treasure Valley Pollinator Project’...

(Michal Svec / Flickr) In 1946, six nuns from Kentucky made a journey to one of the poorest states in India to start a hospital and train women to become nurses. This never before told story is being memorialized in a new book, “Sisters of Mokama.”  The book’s author, who is also the senior opinion editor at the New York Times, Jyoti Thottam joins Idaho Matters to talk more about her book.

Image from Opera Idahos "Dead Man Walking" show. ( Opera Idaho) Opera Idaho is continuing its 49th season with a modern American piece, “Dead Man Walking.” It’s based on Sister Helen Prejean's acclaimed 1993 memoir of the same name, which tells of her time working with death row inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Conductor Sara Jobin and general director Mark Junkert join Idaho Matters t...

Travelers make their way through Miami International Airport on Tuesday. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) This week a federal judge struck down the Biden administration mask mandate for planes, buses, and other public transit. So far, six major airlines have all made masks optional. This has left many people confused and worried about what to do while flying on a plane.  Joining Idaho Matters to help s...

The Howdy Pardner Drive-In stage from the new musical "The Show on the Roof." (Benjamin Burdick) Back in 1955, one of the darkest chapters in Boise’s history unfolded - 16 men were arrested and 1,500 people were questioned in what became known as the “Boys of Boise” scandal. Fast forward to today, where an investigation into Boise's “homesexual situation” has been turned into…a musical. That’s rig...

The "Quack & Save" Team and the "Composting Clubhouse" Team from West Middle School won the Ciena Solutions Challenge for solving problems with real solutions to build a better world. (Nampa School District) We talk a lot about the problems facing our planet - both big and small - but too often we don’t spend time trying to solve those problems. Students at West Middle School decided to change...

(idahoednews.org) North Idaho College is in the middle of a controversy, after the president was fired, board members resigned, and the school’s accreditation is in limbo. The changes came to light when one man, who sat on the board of trustees for eight years, was re-elected to a third four-year-term in November 2020. IdahoEdNews.com calls him a quote “ polarizing presence at the core of NIC’s dy...

(Interfaith Sanctuary / Facebook) It was over a year ago in January of 2021 when officials at Interfaith Sanctuary homeless shelter in downtown Boise said they were buying a building on State Street . The plan was to move Interfaith to the much bigger building and double the shelter’s ability to serve people experiencing homelessness. Fast forward to four oclock on Monday when the Boise City Counc...

(John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool) 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. Lori Vallow Daybell, the East Idaho woman accused of killing her two children, is found competent to stand trial , building affordable housing , a spat between developers and neighbors in Boise an...

(John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool) 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. Lori Vallow Daybell, the East Idaho woman accused of killing her two children, is found competent to stand trial , building affordable housing , a spat between developers and neighbors in Boise an...