Idaho Matters

(Liz Ahlberg / Flickr) Have you ever wanted to grow strawberries? Or grow mushrooms? Or raise goats? Or try your hand at small-scale farming or ranching? These and other questions, like how to use worms to make the best compost, will be answered at the third annual Harvest and Hearth event next month in Caldwell. The event brings local producers together for a day of classes and networking to help...

( Creative Commons 2.0, 3.0, Shutterstock) During the pandemic, a couple of things happened in the Treasure Valley. A lot of people couldn’t pay their rent, due to illness or losing their job, or other factors. And the cost of rent in the area skyrocketed, as the housing crunch in the valley continued to grow out of control. Those factors lead to an unprecedented number of folks facing eviction. T...

( Pegasus Books) On another rather cold January morning here in Idaho, we consider ice, not so much what the natural elements have delivered to our doorstep, but the ice that we create for our comfort, for our consumption, our leisure for so much of our lives. But at what cost? That’s just one of the many questions at the heart of a new book. It is titled " Of Ice and Men .” Its author is Fred Hog...

( Sourcebooks) Erika Bolstad is a long-time journalist who has reported on environmental issues, politics and more for places like Climatewire, The McClatchy Washington Bureau, Anchorage Daily and even the Gem State's very own Idaho Statesman where she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her work in breaking news. Now she is adding author to her resume with her debut novel " Windfall: The Pr...

(James Dawson / Boise State Public Radio) A senate committee is advancing a bill that would change the legal definition of abortion , an Idaho lawmaker is telling anyone under the age of 18 that he doesn’t want to hear from them , how much teachers get paid depends a lot on geography and we take a look at school choice . It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Mat...

Protesters raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls on May 5, 2022. (Will Walkey) In 2021, more than 9,500 Indigenous people were reported missing through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. That’s a higher rate of disappearance than the general U.S. population. Murder is also the third-leading cause of death among Native women, according to the Urban Indian Hea...

Elk have a snack on the Boise River WMA. ( Idaho Fish and Game) Every winter up to 10,000 elk and mule deer migrate to an area of the Boise Foothills to eat, rest and wait for the cold weather to pass. Right now the animals are living on the 18,000 acres of the Boise Front trying to conserve their limited fat reserves so they can survive the winter. They don’t have any energy to spare and running...

(Nii Passerani / flickr) January is National Mentoring Month and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho is in need of big brothers. CEO Hillary Xoumanivong joins Idaho Matters to tell us more.

(Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images) Can you believe it? It’s almost time for the Oscars again. What happened to 2022? Oscar nominations are around the corner and we want to understand just how those nominees are chosen. Plus, Avatar 2 continues to dominate the box office, so we check in on what else is going on with its director James Cameron. Our resident movie critic and Morning Edition ho...

(Demetrios Manolatos / Flickr) There was a flurry of news reports after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released information Friday that they were investigating whether the bivalent Pfizer vaccine could be linked to a higher risk of stroke in people 65 and older. The CDC saidseveral studies indicated it is “very unlikely” that there is a “true clinical risk” and it was investigating...

(Neil Conway / Flickr) We have occasional opportunities – perhaps at a farmers market – to source our food. FARE Idaho would like to change that, beginning with their first-ever “ Field to Fork Festival ,” on Jan. 19 at JUMP in downtown Boise. Katie Baker, the Executive Director of FARE Idaho, spoke with Morning Edition host George Prentice about her organization’s hopes for the festival, and how...

Acclaimed author Leah Konen is back with a new domestic thriller, " You Should Have Told Me ." She joins Idaho Matters to talk about her latest novel.

(THE FRANK CHURCH INSTITUTE/Boise State University) A new House subcommittee is investigating what they call the weaponization of the federal government and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and other republicans insist on comparing their subcommittee to the "Church Committee," the highly regarded bipartisan inquiry of the 1970s. Our Morning Edition host George Prentice sat down with Monica Chur...

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention month and a group of folks have gotten together to offer training on how to spot and prevent this crime from occurring. However, one of the biggest obstacles officials have is convincing Idahoans that human trafficking happens here, making it harder to get the public’s help to stop it. Jeannie Strohmeyer, Executive Director of the Namp...

(Nicholas K. Geranios / AP Images) After nearly five decades of advocacy, four dams are about to be demolished to help salmon, but they’re not the dams we’re usually talking about. These dams are on the Klamath River in Oregon and California. The restoration project will help re-establish salmon habitat, improve water quality and result in the largest dam removal ever seen, anywhere. Rocky Barker...

Bryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old criminology Ph. D. student accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November. (Matt Rourke / AP) University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger is back in court, the Idaho Legislature threatens to cut off money to cities over its abortion ban, a Caldwell School Board Meeting devolves into chaos, lawmakers get set to set state budgets , we get an...

Money Last year the economy saw a steep decline in consumer sentiment, an increase in inflation and added pressure to the cost of living crisis. This year economists like Robert Spendlove are visiting with Idaho lawmakers to discuss these trends and provide insight into how they may change or stay the same in the coming months. He'll also be providing economic updates, which will help legislatures...

(Globe Newswire / Associated Press) The College of Western Idaho is one step closer to building a permanent campus on the Boise river. The community college bought the property on Main Street in 2015, which caused some controversy . Then the school failed to get enough votes on a bond in 2016, which further slowed the process to get its own campus. CWI leases space in different parts of Ada County...

A new exhibit coming to the Idaho State Museum will bring the stories from four indigenous communities to life using videos, games and artifacts. The hope is that visitors will get a better understanding of the issues that face indigenous communities today and to highlight sustainability and practices that go back generations. The exhibit “Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge. Shared Science” include...

(TheKarenD / flickr) Terry Reilly Health Services delivers care for tens of thousands of patients in clinics across the Treasure Valley. Over the last 50 years, it's grown from a neighborhood clinic to over a dozen clinics and much more. They're adding new clinics in 2023, according to Heidi Hart, chief executive officer of Terry Reilly Health Services, who sat down with our Morning Edition host G...

(Jo / flickr) What’s going on with the new variant of COVID-19 in the U.S. and in China? Do those rapid tests work on the new strain? And bivalent boosters have been around since August - are they having any impact? Joining Idaho Matters to answer these questions is Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke’s Health System and a current member of the Idaho Coronavirus Task Force.

(Mike Gifford / flickr) The College of Idaho will be hosting an event for a very important initiative, “United Against Hate.” The initiative is nationwide and strives to connect community members with local government and law enforcement to help build trust and better combat hate crimes. The event is happening on Jan. 16 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Langroise Center for Performing & Fine Arts...

Idaho Gov. Brad Little's second inauguration in January 2023. (James Dawson / Boise State Public Radio) On Monday, we brought you live special coverage of Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s State of the State speech. It’s when the governor releases his proposed budget and talks about the policies he’d like to see the Idaho legislature approve during the current session. This year, Little continues to make e...

(Troy Maben / AP Photo) The Idaho Legislature kicked off its 2023 session on Monday and unlike in past years no one is quite sure what’s going to happen inside the walls of the Idaho Statehouse. There are dozens of new faces among the 105 lawmakers, after retirements, redistricting and election battles overturned long-held seats. A lot of those new republican lawmakers lean more conservative and w...

(Aaron Kunz / Aaron Kunz from Idaho Public Television) Last Thursday, Idaho's new Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced that he was moving to dismiss charges against Sara Brady. She was arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing in 2020 in a Meridian park that was closed due to COVID-19. Labrador said the case was a “profound waste of precious taxpayer resources." Meridian’s mayor and ch...