Idaho Matters

(Boise Arts & History Department)   Have you heard of Erma Hayman? The Boisean lived a long and influential life, much of it spent in the historic River Street Neighborhood. Hayman, who was Black, was a leader in the community until her death at the age of 102 in 2009. The neighborhood was one of the only places in the capital city where Black people were able to live in the 1940s due to r...

(Katherine Jones / Idaho Statesman) As calls to defund the police continue in Boise and other cities across the country, a new chief of police is leading the department in Idaho's capital city. Chief Ryan Lee began his role July 1 after years working for the Portland Police Deparment.  In an interview with Boise State Public Radio's George Prentince, Lee outlines his views on community policing, b...

(Ron Counts / Idaho Statesman)   Since the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May, organizations, businesses and higher education institutions have released statements in support of Black lives. But at universities which are predominantly white, a growing number of people say they’re disappointed by the lack of tangible change to policy and programs.    Sydney Freeman Jr. is a pro...

( Marina Chavez)   This interview originally aired Apr. 21, 2020. Idaho artists and artistic organizations are feeling the punch of COVID-19, with cancelled shows and closed stages with no timeline for getting back on tour. Boise-based jazz musician Curtis Stigers has had to cancel all of his concert dates for the foreseeable future. However, with a new album out and with a lot more time on his ha...

(DAMIAN DOVARGANES / AP Images)   This interview originally aired on June 16, 2020.  As protests and media attention continue three weeks after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, community organizers are working to maintain the momentum towards racial justice this moment has created. But at the same time that the conversation of racial justice is being pushed to the foref...

(Lauren McLean / via Facebook) For this Friday's Reporter Roundtable, we're joined by Boise State Public Radio's Madelyn Beck , the Associated Press's Rebecca Boone and the Idaho Press's Margaret Carmel .  They discuss the ever-evolving school reopening plan , Idaho's record-setting coronavirus spike , Boise's new police chief Ryan Lee , efforts to recall Boise Mayor McLean and more. As COVID-19 c...

( https://www.rebeccasprivateidaho.com/) When the coronavirus hit Idaho, events across the state were cancelled or postponed. But at the same time, doctors are telling us that being outside, away from others, is safe. So one annual mountain bike race is still on… it just looks a little different this year. Joining Idaho Matters to talk about how it’ll change this year is Rebecca Rusch, professiona...

(Katherine Jones / Idaho Statesman) Idaho Matters is joined weekly by our panel of St. Luke's and St. Alphonsus medical experts to answer more of your COVID-19 questions. Plus, State Epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn joins today to give a statewide perspective.  Today, our guest doctors discuss the huge spike in transmission, positive testing and hospitalizations, as well as the pros and cons of r...

(Angie Smithers / Idaho Statesman) Since we last had Dele Ogunrinola on Idaho Matters , his op-ed about being Black in Boise and America has been published by the Idaho Statesman. But that’s not all he’s been up to.  In an effort to educate Boiseans and get hard data on perceptions of policing in Idaho, Ogunrinola created a long survey which collected over 1,800 responses. This large amount of dat...

( Tim Thornes) Language is a critical part of any culture, and when a language is lost to time, so is a part of that culture. Tim Thornes is a Boise State University linguistics professor who has spent his career learning about and documenting indigenous languages. His most recent project has been on the Northern Paiute language of Idaho, compiling rules and phrases to prevent the language’s extin...

( Ferguson Wellman) There was more market activity and angst in the last six months than we sometimes see in a full year, or even a few years. So, how are things shaping up as we enter into the third quarter of 2020?  Jason Norris, executive vice president of research and portfolio management at Ferguson Wellman, joins Idaho Matters to talk more about this. As COVID-19 cases spread through the U.S...

( Community Council of Idaho) As Idaho’s COVID-19 numbers continue to skyrocket, one thing remains the same: Latino and Black people are three times more likely to become infected as their white neighbors, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nicole Foy is a reporter with the Idaho Statesman and has been following how Idaho’s Latino population has been doing d...

(Armando Franca / AP Images) This interview originally aired live on June 15, 2020. The recent police killings of Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others have sparked a movement unlike any in recent memory, as calls to defund the police and dismantle white supremacy have moved into the mainstream.  For three weeks, thousands of people have poured into streets across the...

(Tobias Leeger / Flickr Creative Commons) Today on the weekly Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable, Boise State Public Radio's Heath Druzin , Kevin Richert  of Idaho Ed News and Idaho Statesman Opinion Editor  Scott McIntosh discuss the state's School Reopening Plan , racist counter-protesters at racial justice rallies and the state's spike in coronavirus cases.  As COVID-19 cases spread through the...

(Matt Rourke / AP Images) First, it was cleaning products. Then, toilet paper. Now, sales of alcohol and video games are skyrocketing. All of these are no coincidence to Niusha Jones, a marketing professor at Boise State University.   Jones says our emotions - panic, fear & anxiety - play a key role in what we are buying right now, and those trends show up in consumer spending data.   What we'...

( AP Images) Idaho Matters  is joined weekly by our panel of St. Luke's and St. Alphonsus medical experts to answer more of your COVID-19 questions. Today, they discuss the recent rise in hospitalizations, travel restrictions and staying safe in restaurants.   Joining  Idaho Matters  this week are:  Dr. David Pate, a member of the governor’s Coronavirus Task Force, and former CEO of St. Luke’s. Dr...

(Karen Apricot / Flickr Creative Commons) Many public schools in Idaho are only five weeks away from the scheduled first day of school, but planning how to safely open school doors during the coronavirus pandemic is uncertain at best.   Idaho Governor Brad Little will announce the state’s School Reopening Plan at noon Thursday. Boise State Public Radio will broadcast that announcment live.    Toda...

(Eric Gay / AP Images)   The City of Ketchum became the latest community to mandate face masks in public, with a 3-1 vote Monday night. Moscow, Hailey, Driggs, McCall and Boise made the move last week. These orders come with some controversy and disagreement. In fact, in Ketchum last night, the city’s mayor, Neil Bradshaw, recommended against the mandate, but the council went the other way.   Join...

(Franz Jantzen / supremecourt.gov)   For the first time since 1996, the Supreme Court of the United States is issuing decisions in July. The coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of oral arguments in ten cases.  Idaho Matters catches up with Shaakira Sanders with the University of Idaho Law School to get analysis on the latest SCOTUS rulings on abortion, religous rights and questions about...

(Dan Joling / AP File Photo)   When stay-at-home-orders went into effect in states across the U.S. to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, ecologists realized they had a perfect research opportunity to study the connection between traffic patterns and animals killed in collisions. Fraser Shilling, with the Road Ecology Lab at UC Davis, was one of those scientists.  A several month period to ob...

(DARIN OSWALD / Idaho Statesman)   (This interview is the first of a two-part show about policing in Idaho. You can find the second half — on defunding the police — here. ) After the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May, people around the country been asking tough questions about policing in America  — including in Idaho.  Our guests today are Katherine Macfarlane, a professor of l...

(DARIN OSWALD / Idaho Statesman)   (This interview is the second of a two-part show about policing in Idaho. You can find the first half — on the history of policing and the laws that protect officers — here .)   Amid the protests against the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people by police in the the past months and years, activists quickly formulated one centr...

(Ted S. Warren / AP Images) On today's special Thursday edition  Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable, the Mountain West News Bureau's  Madelyn Beck , Idaho Ed News's Kevin Richert and BoiseDev's Don Day come together to discuss the week in news.  Despite being only four days long (thanks to the 4th of July holiday), this week was packed with several notable headlines and evolving stories. Between th...

(Story Story Night/Facebook) On Monday, we were joined by Jodi Eichelberger , artistic director of Boise's storytelling arts organization Story Story Night. He told us about their summer season, named Story Story Late Night for its 21+ content, which kicked off Tuesday. Jodi returns to give us a rundown on Tuesday's show. As COVID-19 cases spread through the U.S. and Idaho, we’re committed to keep...

(GEORGE CALIN / AP Images)   Idaho Matters  is joined again by our panel of medical experts to answer more of your COVID-19 questions. This week, they discuss Idaho's record-setting spike and what it means, free testing sites and contact tracing. Joining  Idaho Matters  this week are:  Dr. David Pate, a member of the governor’s Coronavirus Task Force, and former CEO of St. Luke’s. Dr. Ryan Heyborn...