Idaho Matters

Students at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs show their IDs and their phones inside Yondr pouches to security guard Lonny Barrett. The school district started a new policy this year banning cell phones for middle and high schoolers. (Rachel Cohen / KUNC ) It's the third day of school at Doherty High in Colorado Springs. 1,700 teenagers file through the doors as security guard Lonny Barrett...

Since the atomic bomb program began during WWII, countless Americans have been exposed to radiation — either from mining uranium or from the tests themselves. But compensation for the cancers caused by this exposure has been limited, and this summer, Congress allowed the main way of paying for treatment to expire that’s been especially harmful to Native Americans and Mexican Americans living in th...

( Berkley) Author Emma Noyes is back with her latest novel, " How to Hide in Plain Sight ." It's a story about Eliot, a 21-year-old woman who's spent years building up walls, separating herself from her family, so she can try and control her struggle with OCD. However, when she returns home for a wedding, the reappearance of her childhood love threatens to bring down the barriers she's so carefull...

(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9977722@N02/">albussan</a> / Flickr) The Boise Foothills trail system sees a lot of traffic throughout the year. Which is why the folks over at Ridge to Rivers are constantly working to improve people's experience. In order to do that, though, they need feedback. So they're asking you to share your experience on the trails in an annual survey . L...

(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/drlisamariecannon/">Lisa Marie Cannon</a> / Flickr) As Mpox continues to hit African nations hard, here at home we are dealing with bird flu and a rise whooping cough. Dr. David Pate , former CEO of St. Luke's Health System, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about these issues.

Acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo is the author of 'What My Bones Know' ( Penguin Random House, Stephanie Foo) By the time she was a teenager, Stephanie Foo had been abused and abandoned by both parents. She spiraled into trauma, and the feeling of, ‘‘Why didn’t anybody want me?’ Diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, years later, Foo was able to look at that teenager and think, "...

(Idaho Transportation Department) Contests to name a snowplow are becoming more common around Idaho. It’s a great way to involve and educate kids about what road departments do each year to get ready for winter weather. For the past two years we’ve told you about Nampa's name that plow contest where elementary school kids came up with names like "Darth Blader" and "Frosty the Snowplow." Now the Id...

(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/127122884@N04/">Matt McClintock</a> / Flickr) The partisan division in national politics in recent years has also come to define much of local politics. Candidates up and down the ballot regularly tap into fears that their opponents threaten the way people live their lives.   In Colorado, that political schism has split one rural country in half....

(Otto Kitsinger / AP Images) What happens when you go to vote and you don’t have a driver’s license? Can you still vote? What kind of identification do you need , and how do you get one? Voters will decide the future of our country for the next four years as well as many key state and local races in the upcoming November election. Because it’s a presidential election year, there’s been a lot of fo...

(Frankie Barnhill / Boise State Public Radio) One of the things that seems to be missing from the upcoming November election is civility on all sides, and we wanted to find out more about the tenor of the campaigns. Dr. Sam Martin is a professor and political scientist at Boise State University. She sat down with our Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about the reliability of polls and w...

(Hanna Merzbach / Wyoming Public Media ) Excitement was in the air as people spent one of the last Saturdays of summer lined up in a coffee shop parking lot in Teton Valley in Eastern Idaho. They were there for fresh Alaskan salmon — 10-, 20- and 40-pound boxes of fillets and ground sockeye. “This is it right here,” said Carlen Hervig, standing at the front of the line under a blue tent “So, see....

(iStockphoto) Doctors prescribe a lot of things every day, like medications and advice to help their patients feel better. Now some doctors are prescribing electricity to their patients. They believe not having access to reliable power can have a direct impact on the health of their patients. Dr. Anna Goldman is the medical director of climate and sustainability at Boston Medical Center, which has...

People carry flags as members of the Jewish community gather at a park in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) (Rick Rycroft/AP / AP) Today marks one year since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack in Israel, the deadliest attack ever on Israeli soil, taking 1,200 lives. Since then Isra...

( Boise City) Many Boise homeowners have three trash cans: a gray one for trash, a blue one for recycling and a green one for compost. The compost program started in 2017 and has been very successful, turning one-third of the waste that used to go into the landfill into compost. Now, Boise is expanding that program for people who live in apartments and condos who might not have the green compost c...

(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/94287501@N05/">Raymond Lines</a> / Flickr) October is a great month to look up into the night sky and see some of the wonders of the universe including “the comet of the century,” the northern lights and a second moon. Dr. Irwin Horowitz is a mathematics professor at the College of Western Idaho and past president of the Boise Astronomical Societ...

The 2021 Memorial Day commemoration will be a full in-person ceremony. ( Idaho State Veterans Cemetery / Facebook) Every December, wreaths are placed at each headstone at the Idaho Veterans Cemetery. The program was recently taken over by the Idaho Veterans Network , and they need community support to ensure that every grave gets a wreath this year. Ron Bowers and Jake Faulkner, State Veterans Cem...

Smoke from the Valley Fire in southeast Boise. ( Michael Martin) The Valley Fire threatens homes in southeast Boise , Boise State's decision to forfeit a women's volleyball game continues to make the news and it's political debate season but some candidates aren't taking part . It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news tha...

The Missouri Capitol is shown on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb) (David A. Lieb/AP / AP) After months of gathering signatures, filing petitions, and navigating lawsuits, constitutional amendments that will protect or expand abortion rights will appear on the ballot in ten states in November. These states include blue-leaning, red-leaning, even swing states a...

FILE - Actor Alec Baldwin, center, reacts as he sits between his attorneys Alex Spiro, left, and Luke Nikas after the judge threw out the involuntary manslaughter case for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie "Rust," Friday, July 12, 2024, in Santa Fe, N.M. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, a movie armorer has asked a judge to dismiss her involuntary...

(Indiana Public Media / Flickr) The number of children dying from influenza in the 2023-2024 flu season has unfortunately set a new record - 200 children have lost their lives to flu this year - according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. David Pate , former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and co-author of the book "Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak," joined Idaho Matters...

Boise Police Chief Chris Dennison ( City of Boise) A greater focus on mental health. More transparency. Gaining trust. Those are just a few items on Boise Police Chief Chris Dennison’s to-do list. It has only been a matter of days since he officially took the job, after the city hired Dennison, a 20-plus veteran of the Tucson, Arizona police department. “There were three things, growing up, I want...

(Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman) Former President Donald Trump has a plan to bring water to thirsty parts of the West by turning on a ‘big faucet’ out of the Columbia River. Rocky Barker, who covered environmental issues for the Idaho Statesman for decades, and who now publishes his blog “Letters from the West,” recently wrote an article about the ‘faucet’ and he joined Idaho Matters to tell us mo...

(Katie Kloppenburg / Boise State Public Radio ) How does absentee voting work in Idaho ? What do candidates have to report when it comes to how they spend their money? And in the age of social media, where can we find trusted sources of information ? These are just some of the questions we’re looking at today. Because it’s a presidential election year, there’s been a lot of focus on not just who g...

In this combination of photos taken in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event, Aug. 18, 2024, in Rochester, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Aug. 19, 2024, in York. (AP Photo) (AP / AP) We are a few weeks away from what many political scholars are calling an histori...

(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/francochristian/">Christian Franco</a> / Flickr) Have you ever wondered what it takes to create a piece of art? Well, this weekend the Boise Open Studios Collective Organization is inviting you to find out as they kick off their 21st annual Open Studios Tour. The event gives people a behind-the-scenes look at how local artists make their pieces a...