Idaho Matters

Dairy cattle feed at a farm. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) Many U.S. health officials are concerned by 53 confirmed human cases of a Bird Flu variant across seven states this year. There is a new potential case in a California child without known contact with an infected animal, and a Canadian teen is still fighting for their life, in critical condition at a British Columbia hospital, after contracting the B...

Election personnel sort ballots in preparation for an audit. (Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images) Tens of thousands of people signed up to vote on election day in Idaho, and election officials have been auditing the voting process to ensure everything worked the way it was supposed to. Because it’s a presidential election year, there’s been a lot of focus on not just who gets elected but also on how...

(MarkCoffeyPhoto / Getty Images) Idaho Matters will be talking about domestic violence and sexual assault, and some of what we’ll be talking about is hard to listen to. Listener discretion advised. When police respond to a 911 call of domestic violence, they may find someone who has been slapped, punched, or kicked by their partner, and officers and doctors can see very clear physical evidence of...

Chef Joyce Doughty has some delicious twists on Thanksgiving side dishes. ( Joyce Doughty, 123rf) “Isn’t it warm? Isn’t it cozy? Side by side … by side.” Those famous lyrics from Stephen Sondheim might readily be borrowed each Thanksgiving Day, because while the turkey may be the centerpiece of the table, it’s the side dishes that see the most traffic. “You want your plate to be beautiful,” said J...

(Chris Chabot / Flickr Creative Commons ) Thanksgiving means turkey, football and family gatherings, and it also means the start of the holiday travel season! Close to half a million Idahoans will travel this weekend, and a record amount of people will be on the road this year around the country. Matthew Conde, the Public and Government Affairs Director with AAA Idaho, joined Idaho Matters for mor...

Will Wilson (b. 1969), <i>Will Wilson, Citizen of the Navajo Nation, Trans-customary Diné Artist</i>, 2013, printed 2018, archival pigment print from wet plate collodion scan, 22 x 17 in. Art Bridges. (Will Wison / B&W photography) For 30 years, Edward S. Curtis photographed Native Americans living in the early 20th century. His pictures, which documented the daily lives and cu...

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Smoke rising above the Boise Foothills due to the Valley Fire. ( Patrick J. Cusick) Residents of East Boise looked on with trepidation as last month’s Valley Fire burned through more than 10,000 acres of the Boise foothills. Some homes were told they might have to evacuate, and Warm Springs Road was closed for a time before firefighters knocked down the flames. More and more homes are springing up...

The Idaho state flag hangs in the State Capitol in Boise, Idaho. (Kyle Green / AP) The trial challenging Idaho's abortion ban is on pause for now , an update on the BSU Volleyball case , the latest on Debbie Critchfield and PragerU , Trump picks former WWE President for Secretary of Ed, a lawsuit involving a failed Union 93 project in Meridian, and Idaho's Attorney General visits Mar-a-Lago . It’s...

Nampa's 100-food-tall water tower was built in the 1970's. (City of Nampa) The City of Boise recently adopted a new comprehensive plan , a long-term set of guiding principles that cities use when building, growing and deciding where to put everything. Caldwell also announced this week that it’s rewriting its plan. City planning is actually required by state law in Idaho, but the process can be mys...

(iStockphoto.com) Boise has recently taken a step towards a greener city as they expand their recycling program . The change comes thanks to improvements made by Republic Services Idaho Recycling Center , which has made it possible for residents to fill their blue carts with two new types of plastic. Rachele Klein, the Municipal Director for Republic Services, joined Idaho Matters to talk more abo...

Earlier this year Morgan Buckert was the recipient of the "2024 Nest Heritage Craft Prize: Women of the West" for her "Cosmic Cowboy" boots. (Morgan Buckert Custom Boots) For more than a century, cowboy boots have been an iconic part of American Western culture. And in recent years they’ve had a resurgence in mainstream fashion thanks to musical artists like Beyonce and popular shows like "Yellows...

Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande arrive at the premiere of "Wicked" on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. (Jordan Strauss / Invision/AP) As we reported a while back, the Sun Valley Film Festival has moved to December , and now they have announced their full line-up for this year’s star-studded extravaganza. “Wicked” is coming to the big screen. Plus it’s tim...

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FILE - John Adkins, left to right, and his wife Jennifer, along with family physician Julie Lyons, talk to the media outside the Ada County Courthouse, Dec. 14, 2023, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, File) (Kyle Green/AP / FR171837 AP) This is the second week of a trial in Idaho where four women are challenging the state’s abortion laws . Tuesday, a doctor for the plaintiffs testified the la...

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(Darren McEvilly / Flickr) This month, Story Story Night is back for their 15th season, and it will be full of strategy. In the game of chess, much like in life, it’s important to know when to make a move and when to be patient. Which is something that this year’s storytellers are experts at. Jodi Eichelberger, artistic director of Story Story Night, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this fl...

The University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. (Geoffrey von Zastrow Photography / Flickr) Will the University of Idaho buy the University of Phoenix ? That’s still the question more than a year and a half after the deal was first announced. The $685 million deal to buy the for-profit online university got off to a rocky start with Idaho lawmakers and is still in the middle of a Supreme Court lawsuit....

Eryn Pierce submitted her own design for the Scrap to Sculpture Challenge. Her piece, “Birds of a Feather Fall Together,” is a delicate lattice of feathers. In her artist statement she wrote, ” This work serves as both a tribute to these birds and a call to action, encouraging us to rethink how we design and interact with our surroundings to create safer spaces for the natural world.” ( Eryn Pierc...

A Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse displaying its feathers and performing a rhythmic mating ritual. (Stephanie Galla / Boise State ) Many bird species around the world are struggling, trying to adapt to a world that’s changing around them, as humans encroach on their homes. The West is seeing this happen with the Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse, where birds can only be found on 5% of the habitat where...

Cyclists and pedestrians take over Latah near the railroad crossing. (Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio ) Right around noon on a bluebird September Sunday in Boise, a pack of cyclists dozens strong turned south onto Latah Street, a chorus of bike bells sounding. A large group of cyclists cruises south on Latah around noon on Sunday, Sept 22, when Boise held its first Open Streets event....

(Downtown Boise / Facebook) Every year, U.S. News and World Report releases a list of the best places to retire in America , based on everything from health care, taxes, affordability and even overall happiness. Last year, Boise was number 80 on the list of 150 cities. The new numbers have just come out, and Boise has jumped to number five ! Dawn Bradbury, Senior Real Estate Editor with U.S. News,...

U of I students gather data on water flowing through a spring in Bolivia. (University of Idaho) Thousands of miles from Idaho, in a small, rural community in Bolivia, people struggle to get irrigation water to their crops during a very long dry season. Because it often doesn’t rain for six months of the year farmers rely on dams and pipes to move water around, pipes that often clog up, putting cro...

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act , the law that gives Congress the authority to establish wilderness areas. Some of the most beloved outdoor recreation spots in our region are wilderness areas. Decades later, land managers and advocates say it’s still a valuable tool to protect landscapes and hope to expand its legacy. Aspen Public Radio’s Caroline Llanes , reporting for...

(Dennis Amith / Flickr) Pickleball is our nation’s fastest-growing sport; in fact, pickleball courts seem to be popping up everywhere. Even major pro athletes, like Lebron James and Tom Brady, have invested in the growth of major league pickleball. Author Ilana Long has taken on this latest craze and made it a main character in her debut novel, “ Pickleballers .” She joined Idaho Matters to talk m...