Idaho Matters

( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)   Finding ways to keep people safe from COVID-19 while indoors during the cold weather months has caused some to turn to a technology called ionization. The modern version of this centuries-old technology is called needlepoint bipolar ionization, and a Nampa company has been installing it in businesses, healthcare buildings, schools and government buil...

(Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman)   Today on Idaho Matters, we're sharing a special encore presentation of our July 6 conversation about policing in America and in Idaho. We take a close look at way policing is done in America and at what could be done to improve the relationship between police and the people they serve. And later in the hour: we examine the movement to defund the police, and consi...

(Armando Franca / AP Images)   This program originally aired June 15, 2020   The police killings of Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others this year have sparked a movement unlike any in recent memory, as calls to defund the police and dismantle white supremacy have moved into the mainstream.  But even as state and local governments in New York, Minneapolis and Louisvi...

(Tom Davenport / AP Images)   Today in a special encore presentation from Idaho Matters, we take a deep dive into the history of racism in the Gem State and what that history tells us about our present day reckoning with white supremacy.    (Screenshot / VIA IDAHO STATESMAN) From Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War era to housing discrimination in the mid 20th Century, Idaho’s history is...

(St. Luke's ICU nurse Kristen Connelly / St. Luke's Health System) Idaho Matters looks back at the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Gem State and around the world.    On January 11, 2020, China recorded its first COVID-19 death. By March 13, Idaho had its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus and Republican Gov. Brad Little declared a state of emergency. And on March 25, Little i...

(ANDREW HARNIK, POOL / AP Photo) As 2020 wraps up, we're taking a moment to reflect on some of our favorite conversations from the year. In this Nov. 12 show, Idaho Matters spoke with three women lawmakers in Idaho to get their reaction to the news that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) would soon be Vice President. As we look ahead to the incoming Biden Administration, we're revisiting this conversat...

(Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman)   What a year 2020 has been. For this special end-of-year edition of the Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable, we'll look back on what happened before COVID-19 first arrived in the Gem State and everything that happened since those first few days of the pandemic. From a rocky legislative session to racial justice protests and an historic general election, it's a packe...

(FCC / via Twitter)   Rural communities are generally under-served by high-speed internet. Often, the costs of providing the service across open spaces cannot be recovered through a small number of subscriptions. Native communities are 26% less served by broadband internet compared to those living in rural areas outside of reservations.  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is working to ch...

(Rogelio V. Solis / AP Images)   The first COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Idaho this week and has begun being administered to frontline health care workers. The state is still figuring out in what order different groups of people will receive the vaccine and when exactly that will be. But when your time comes to access the vaccine, will you do so?   The state and federal government is working hard to...

(Heath Druzin / Boise State Public Radio)   Idaho is rich with geothermal activity. But when Wanna Know Idaho  podcast listener Ted Eisele moved to Idaho in 1980, it wasn’t the natural hot springs that caught his attention about geothermal. What really blew him away was the fact that Idaho’s state buildings, like the Capitol and the state Supreme Court, were heated using geothermal.    Ted had a l...

(Saint Alphonsus Health System) While Idaho health care workers received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week, hospitals remain strapped with patients forcing a possible move to crisis standards of care . And the health district governing  Ada, Elmore, Boise and Valley Counties rejected a mask mandate as politics continues to play a big role in public health decisions. Joining the Id...

(@andrewghayes / Flickr) Sports are a significant part of life for many of us, but the pandemic has significantly altered the sports landscape. Some leagues have been more successful than others, and while there’s a legitimate question of should college football be happening at all during a pandemic, it is. BJ Rains is the Boise State football beat writer with the Idaho Press and Tom Scott does th...

(Morry Gash / AP File Photo) Idaho health care workers began receiving their first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Monday. It was a day we’ve all been waiting for and gives a glimmer of hope during the most deadly phase of the pandemic in Idaho. But how exactly is the vaccine being handled to ensure it will do its job and protect folks against the coronavirus? The Pfizer vaccine in Idaho right n...

(City of Meridian, Idaho - Government / Facebook) Have you finished your holiday shopping yet? This year, with so many people staying home to avoid exposure to COVID-19, big online retailers have gotten a boost. That’s great news for their shareholders. But it’s been hard on local businesses who can’t compete with their e-commerce infrastructure. It’s already been a difficult year for small Idaho...

(via Facebook / Idaho Botanical Garden) This interview originally aired Nov. 3, 2020. The Idaho Botanical Garden's 'Winter Garden a Glow' event has been a staple of holiday activities in the treasure valley for more than two decades. And this winter wonderland will continue this year, just with some new rules in place in order to keep everyone safe during the pandemic. Erin Anderson with the Botan...

(Intermountain Healthcare) Our health care workers are spread thin and are struggling at times to keep up with the crush of COVID-19 patients filling our hospitals. On Friday, the Idaho Board of Health and Welfare authorized a new rule which sets up standards for how Idaho health care workers may soon have to ration care, in essence deciding which patients get treated first and who will be last to...

(via Facebook / Visual Arts Collective) Music and performing arts venues were some of the first things to shut down last spring during the pandemic and have largely remained closed even as restaurants, bars, malls and other businesses reopened. Even after the COVID-19 vaccine is available in Idaho, indoor concerts and performances are likely not to bounce back immediately. In Garden City, the Visu...

(John Kelly / Boise State University) There’s a big problem with how we share academic scientific research. Across the world, almost every single science, technology, engineering or math paper published is in English. And here in the U.S., 21% of the United States population speaks a language other than English at home, a majority of them Spanish. Here in the Gem State, one in twelve Idahoans spea...

(Boise City Arts & History Department) This year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. And while this was a great accomplishment for the movement and gave so many more Americans the right to vote, we also know that the constitutional amendment only applied to white women, leaving out countless other groups including Black women, Indigenous people and other marginalized group...

(Otto Kitsinger / AP Photo) Today on the weekly Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable, we’ll catch you up on the news you may have missed, and try to make sense of what it means for the state's fight against COVID-19.   Panelists today:  Kevin Richert Idaho EdNews  Nicole Foy of the Idaho Statesman  Melissa Davlin of the Idaho Public Television  As COVID-19 cases spread through the U.S. and Idaho, we’...

(Arlie Sommer / Boise State Public Radio) Idaho is home to some fantastic folk artists. Boise State Public Radio's Expressive Idaho series explores the Gem State through the folk art lens. Today on Idaho Matters , we're featuring the stories of Boise Basque musician Dan Ansotegui and Duck Valley leatherworker Ryan Carpenter with his apprentice Monte Cummins.  For more Expressive Idaho stories from...

(Otto Kitsinger / AP Photo) Joining the Idaho Matters Doctor Roundtable today are:  Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and a current member of the Idaho Coronavirus Taskforce. Dr. Laura McGeorge, St. Luke’s Health System Medical Director, Primary and Specialty Care Dr. Brian Kitamura, Emergency Department doctor at St. Alphonsus in Ontario, Nampa and Boise Read the full transcr...

(Stacey MacNaught / Flickr Creative Commons) More and more of us are using social media these days to stay connected with friends and family as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on in Idaho. But how much social media use is too much? Idaho Matters checks in with Casey Moyer of Optum Idaho to learn more about how we can approach our social media habit when it becomes too much.  Have a question or comment...

(Marco Ugarte / AP Images) One of the big issues for students when it comes to distance learning is not having adequate WiFi. A Boise-based tech company, MetaGeek, is offering anyone who’s involved with remote learning free home WiFi help. That means if you’re a teacher or a student, you’ll have free help in making sure your WiFi is stable. Ryan Woodings is the founder of MetaGeek, and joins Idaho...

(idahoshakespeare.org) Like so many industries, the arts have been hit hard during the pandemic. One of Idaho’s art staples, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, had to shut down the entire season over the summer due to COVID-19, which means less revenue coming in. So to help with that the Shakespeare Festival has come up with a unique fundraiser, "The Snow Must Go On," a virtual holiday Cabaret. Joini...