Idaho Matters

  Children’s mental health is being greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and doctors around the world say what they’re seeing is alarming. From eating disorders to panic attacks, doctors are seeing it all. Add to that a rise in child abuse and overdoses in children and teens and this could be a recipe for disaster. Idaho Matters checks in with Dr. Derek Duplaise of St. Luke's Children's Hosp...

(University of Idaho)   The effects of human-caused climate change can be seen in every corner of the world. While Idaho experiences more erratic and dangerous wildfires, in Alaska, melting glaciers can lead to sea level rise and a rapidly changing landscape.  A team of University of Idaho scientists are studying a particular glacier in Alaska, keeping a watchful eye on changes occurring around an...

  A gap year is time some students take away from the college classroom to volunteer, find themselves and generally prepare for the higher-ed experience. It's a common experience in Europe but has become more common in the U.S. in recent years. Last fall, Boise State University pioneered a structured gap year to help retain students during the pandemic. Idaho Matters learns about this program's po...

(Emilie Ritter Saunders / Boise State Public Radio) State government and the decisions legislators make can have a big impact on our daily live. But as local news outlets have struggled fiinancially in recent decades, there are fewer eyes on state government. A 2019 Pew Research Center report found that in the last decade newsroom employment has fell by 25 percent in the United States, with a decl...

  Marc Johnson was a longtime aide to Idaho Democratic Governor Cecil Andrus. More recently, he’s spent his time researching and writing about political history in Idaho and beyond. His latest book is called “Tuesday Night Massacre: Four Senate Elections and the Radicalization of the Republican Party." Johnson spoke with Reader's Corner host Bob Kustra earlier this month. Kustra began by asking Jo...

  Every year, scores of young people age out of the foster care system. Some of them have nowhere to go. After they age out they don’t have access to the same resources of housing, food or education. Now, a woman who has personal experience with foster care is advocating for change at the state legislature. Our Morning Edition host George Prentice recently spoke with Ivy Smith to get her perspecti...

(AP Images / AP Images) The Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable is here to get you updated on what made news this week in Idaho, including the latest on the state’s accelerated vaccine rollout and ITD tapping the brakes on a highway intersection design unlike anything seen in Idaho before.  Journalist panel today: Don Day, the founder and editor of BoiseDev Rachel Spacek with the Idaho Press Rachel...

(Peter Lovera / Treefort Music Fest)   It’s been a more than a year since bands and musicians across the world cancelled tours and live music stopped. This week in Boise — if we weren’t in a pandemic — the downtown would be packed with hundreds of bands and thousands of music fans all gathered for Treefort Music Fest. While live music with big crowds in indoor spaces still isn’t possible, Idaho Ma...

(Office of Governor Brad Little ) Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced Wednesday that all Idahoans ages 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine April 5. That's about three weeks sooner than the state's original eligibility timeline, and comes as the state's supply of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnsons doses ramps up. But could it also indicate vaccine hesitancy among some people...

  As we near the close of Women’s History Month, Idaho Matters will feature a special program Tuesday, March 23 highlighting the life of Melinda Gates. New York Times bestselling author and podcast host Kelly Corrigan interviews Gates about the systemic problems holding back women around the world, and how to address them.   Tune in tomorrow at noon-1 p.m. for this special presentation on Boise St...

  This interview originally aired June 30, 2020. Your eyes close, and you’re asleep. Suddenly you’re out in public without a mask on. Or, you’re wearing a mask, but no one around you is and they’re getting way too close to you.  These are a couple of common dreams that Harvard Medical School Psychology professor Deirdre Barrett says many people experienced in the first phase of coronavirus anxiety...

(Ted S. Warren / AP Photo)   Many Idahoans are familiar with a few basics when it comes to Ernest Hemingway and his ties to Idaho: his promotion for the Sun Valley Resort, his love of hunting, and that he died by suicide at his home along the Big Wood River. That’s probably where most people’s knowledge ends.   The folks at Idaho Public Television decided to dig a little deeper, and the end result...

(Roam Yocham / Boise State Public Radio) The Idaho Legislature abruptly recessed the 2021 session Friday morning due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among lawmakers, putting their work on pause until April 6. So where does this leave the bills that have been making their way through committees over the last couple of months? And will the outbreak of the virus spur changes in protocols at the statehouse...

  Idaho marked the one-year anniversary of its first cluster of COVID-19 infections last Saturday. Since last March, state officials say there have been more than 175,000 confirmed or probable cases, and more than 1,900 lives have been lost. To mark a full 12 months of COVID-19, Boise State Public Radio Morning Edition host George Prentice reviewed a year of early morning conversations to find out...

About a year ago as COVID-19 began sweeping through senior living facilities, Idaho officials adopted a strategy to try to avoid outbreaks. The plan was to transfer infected long-term care residents to special units designed just for COVID patients.  Now, these facilities are winding down. Boise State Public Radio Reporter Rachel Cohen talks with Idaho Matters about the rush to get these facilitie...

  One year ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Soon after that March 2020 event, the stock market plummeted and there were widespread concerns of a recession, or possibly a depression. But it turned out that Wall Street would thrive during the pandemic, bouncing back quickly from the March slump and then rising to an all-time high in February 2021. At the same t...

(Sáša Woodruff / Boise State Public Radio)   Along with everything else in our lives, food has changed a lot in the past year. Amid stay-at-home orders and urging from public health officials to resist going out except in emergencies, many people were forced to figure out how to cook at home for every meal — perhaps for the first time.  Some longtime home chefs took on bold new recipes they’ve alw...

(Apple Films, FilmNation, HBO, Netflix, Searchlight, Universal)   As we approach the weekend, you might be looking for a new film or show to dive into. There’s plenty to choose from on streaming services, from a 4-hour superhero movie (wow!) to two new documentaries about iconic women of the 20th century.   Idaho Matters catches up with Boise State Public Radio Morning Edition host and our residen...

(Matt Rourke / AP Photo) Idaho announces everyone in the state will be eligible for the COVID vaccine by the end of April, a study from Israel shows promising news for Pfizer vaccine recipients , state lawmakers are advancing a bill to ban mask mandates, and health officials watch closely as the state's moving average of new cases edges up. Idaho Matters digs into all these topics and answers your...

  The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of more than 20,000 people in our Mountain West region. One of those people was Belarmina Martinez, a mother of eight and an aunt to nearly 20 nieces and nephews.  Idaho Matters spoke with Mountain West News Bureau reporter Stephanie Serrano who shared Martinez's life story, and how her family will honor her memory through her love of food and dancing.

  Boise City Councilman TJ Thomson has decided not to run for re-election this year. For his last big project as an elected official in the city, he wants the city to pass new animal cruelty laws. He says Boise has to do something to protect animals because the state of Idaho has been lax. Thomson visited with Boise State Public Radio Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about his proposal...

(Ted S. Warren / AP Photo)   Many young adults have a dream of leaving where they were raised, to find a life outside of the confines of where they grew up. Author Grace Olmstead knows this feeling well. She grew up outside of Emmett, Idaho but left to go to college on the East Coast. Except for visits back home she’s spent the better part of a decade living and working outside of Washington D.C....

  The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in downtown Boise is planning to build a one-of-a-kind human rights education center. The $3 million project is slated to break ground this fall. Idaho Matters checks in with Wassmuth Center Executive Director Dan Prinzing to learn more about their goals with the project.  

(AP Photo / OTTO KITSINGER)   It’s been one year since the state confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Idaho. Later this week marks the first case of community spread in Blaine County. All this week, Idaho Matters and Boise State Public Radio is looking back on one year of COVID in Idaho. Today, we're beginning by sharing your stories. We asked you to record your reflections, and we received so...

(Jae C. Hong / AP Photo)   Since the start of the pandemic a year, we’ve all been living with some level of isolation as we practice social distancing to quell COVID-19. But inside the walls of a hospital, that isolation can be even more intense. We first introduced you to St. Luke’s Health System chaplains Rick Kerr and Karla Sampson a couple of months into the pandemic as family members were no...