Idaho Matters

(Roadsidepictures / Flickr) Last June, two bail bondsmen were arrested and charged with impersonating a police officer in Caldwell. This case raised several issues, about bail agents, and what they can, or can't, do. Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue joins Idaho Matters to help clarify the issue.    

(Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio) Idaho Artist James Castle's family home has been turned into a museum, shop and a space for an artist in residence. The first such artist, Keiran Brennan Hinton, moved in in May. We chat with him about observational painting.    

"Me Too" has taken the world by storm, toppling movie stars and CEO's. Now an Idaho woman's "Me Too" experience has led her to write a children's book about the movement. We talk to Patty Costello about her book " Catalina and the King's Wall. "

(SamPac / Flickr) Many of our veterans come home from active military service to find a lack of resources to help them get settled back into civilian life. As rental prices soar, many veterans are on the verge of homelessness. We take a look at a new initiative that the City of Boise is putting together to find permanent housing for vets. Further resources: Veteran’s Homeless Hotline: 1-877-4AID-V...

(Inciweb) Idaho is hot, smoky and on fire. Over the past two weeks, Idaho's fire season has blown up, with wildfires burning up thousands of acres and threatening towns like Council. We get the wildfire picture, straight from the people who report on it.

(Lexi Lozano) Idaho body image activist Amy Pence-Brown has been part of the movement to get people to accept women's bodies as they are, not as some unreachable ideal. And now she's talking about age in the same way. Pence-Brown was featured in a Time article " Can Gen X Women Love Their Bodies? "      

Terrorism is unfortunately a fact of life in the world we live in. But helping your child understand it so they can safe can be a difficult conversation to have. Psychiatrist and award-winning author Dr. Carole Lieberman believes talking to your kids about terrorism and school shootings is as important as the birds and bees talk. We talk to the doctor on Monday's Idaho Matters.  

She's a former journalist, who wrote books on the side, until she took the plunge to become a full-time writer in 2015. Now Brenda Stanley is an author with eight books to her credit. When her novel, "The Color of Snow" did well, she decided to quit her job in journalism and focus on writing. Her latest book, "The Treasure of Cedar Creek" is a mystery/thriller, set in the Idaho wilderness.        

(Robert Eiserloh / Flickr) Idaho is one of the most accommodating states in the nation for facilitating surrogate pregnancies, so much so that it has becoming something of a destination industry.  Idaho Matters  looks at why state laws are amenable to surrogacy and how it helps couples looking to start families.

We assemble a panel of Idaho journalists to discuss the week's events in Boise, the Treasure Valley and beyond. This week we're joined by Kimberlee Kruesi of the A ssociated Press , Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News and Sven Berg from the Idaho Statesman .

(NPR/Pat Sullivan/AP) The Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors (STOP) Violence Against Women Grant will help the Idaho State Police expand sexual assault response training and increase evidence collection capabilities. On Friday's  Idaho Matters , we speak with state representative Melissa Wintrow about the legislation behind the efforts.

The world's most recognizable food-shaped motor vehicle rolled into Boise this week and we speak with the "Hot-doggers" who pilot the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile across the country.

(cwidaho.cc) As the state's population grows, the number of healthcare professionals continues to stretch. A grant awarded to Idaho Health Care Association Foundation will help recruit and train 500 certified nursing assistants. We talk with the College of Western Idaho about the role of CNA's in Idaho.

(Ada County) In October of 2017,  Ada County was awarded a grant  from the  MacArthur Foundation's Safety and Justice Challenge . The $1 million grant will allow Ada County's courts to look at productive approaches to criminal justice that minimize levels of incarceration and recidivism. We speak with an Ada County official about looking at criminal justice differently.

(Brian Bielmann) 'Andy Irons: Kissed By God'  tells the story of one of the greatest surfers in history, a kid who grew up on the North Shore of Kauai and was touring the globe in his teens. Irons crushed competition in the surf, but his battles with bipolar disorder and addiction led to his death in 2010. The documentary, produced by Teton Gravity Research Films in Wyoming, will be  showing at th...

(Credit Idaho Statesman) Healthcare management has evolved in recent years. From the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the subsequent dilluting thereof to state-by-state Medicaid expansion and the lightning fast technical developments in medicine, it can be difficult to keep up with the trends in healthcare. St. Luke's CEO and president,  Dr. David Pate, joins us to parse out the chang...

(Jae C. Hong/AP/NPR) A recent poll conducted by Idaho Politics Weekly , a Zions Bank publication, found a gaping chasm between support for Donald Trump between men and women. The poll finds men out-support the president by a nearly 30-point margin over women. Betsy Russell of the Idaho Press joins us to explain the poll results on Wednesday's  Idaho Matters .

(Idaho Public Television) Idaho Experience is Idaho Public Television's new series bringing to life the stories of the extraordinary people and defining events that have shaped Idaho's past and present. IPTV's Melissa Davlin joins  Idaho Matters  to talk about the latest installment in the series,  "Forgotten Neighbors"  which tells the story of Chinese immigrants in Idaho through the eyes of one...

(Credit: boisegoatheadfest.com) Boise bicyclists were disappointed to hear the "Tour de Fat" bike festival would not be returning this year, so area organizers put together their own festival. We speak with Jimmy Hallyburton, Executive Director of the Boise Bicycle Project, about the upcoming  Goat Head Fest .

(IDAHO STATE LEGISLATURE) Former state lawmaker Marv Hagedorn will soon assume the lead of the state's  Division of Veterans Services  and he joins Tuesday's  Idaho Matters to talk about the programs helping Idaho's veteran population.

(NPR/Damian Dovarganes/AP) The  Idaho Human Rights Commission  has reported a noticable spike in sexual harassment claims and much of the attribution to the increase in reporting goes to the #MeToo movement and the empowerment and support it has given to women in the workplace. Idaho Matters  examines this uptick with Benjamin Earwicker, director of Idaho's HRC and Annie Pelletier Hightower, direc...

(Twitter) Kevin Davenport has been covering science content for the Idaho Statesman this summer. He joins  Idaho Matters  to talk about algae blooms, bee colony collapse and a plague affecting humans and pets alike.

(SADIE BABITS) The  San Inazio Festival  is an annual event to honor St. Ignatius of Loyola, the patron saint of the Basques. It began more than 25 years ago and now thousands come to the Basque Block at the end of every July to see local musicians and dancers as well as Basque sporting events.

(Credit Scott Graf / Boise State Public Radio) Treasure Valley housing prices are steadily increasing, as are rental rates. We speak with  Boise Regional Realtors  CEO Breanna Vanstrom and  Equity Idaho Northwest Real Estate 's Gary Salisbury about the state of housing in Southwest Idaho.

(learninglabinc.org) The Learning Lab  in Garden City provides literacy education for low-income adults and instructional services for families with young children. With a commitment to "teach and encourage adults who struggle with literacy [and] help families discover the joy of learning so all children start kindergarten ready to read," the Learning Lab looks to education to strengthen the commu...