The Neal Larson Show

Send us Fan Mail Thursday’s show bounced between national politics, Idaho’s governor’s race, and a surprisingly sticky local controversy—while still making room for the truly important work: Julie’s ongoing hunt for the perfect “better-than-a-Cabbage-Patch” doll for her upcoming granddaughter (and a detour into whether chocolate hummus is a real thing). Neal and Julie unpacked the sudden exit of M...

Send us Fan Mail The show bounced between international uncertainty, national political intrigue, and a very Idaho-style local headache. Neal and Julie dug into the fast-moving situation with Iran—skeptical that any “deal” or ceasefire can hold as long as the current regime remains in power, while also acknowledging how limited and risky America’s options are if the goal is protecting U.S. forces...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason opened with the escalating political fallout in Maine surrounding Democratic Senate candidate **Graham Platner**, arguing the party’s sudden rush to distance itself looks less like “new information” and more like a power-and-polling calculation. They walked through why prominent Democrats and major donors previously excused a long list of controversies,...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason kick off the Monday show coming off a massive America 250 weekend—sharing local and national highlights, quick personal stories from the holiday, and a broader reflection on why celebrating the country so often comes with an unnecessary “America isn’t perfect, but…” qualifier. Neal argues that constant caveats concede ground to critics, and the conversa...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason leaned into a lighter, holiday-minded Thursday show ahead of the Fourth of July, mixing friendly banter (block party plans, travel to Salmon, food debates, and a running riff on everything from kebabs to Doritos) with a sincere invitation for listeners to share short “greetings for America.” They also explained why they *weren’t* diving into a fast-movi...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson spent much of the show reacting to two big storylines shaping Idaho’s political and cultural moment: the Supreme Court ruling allowing states like Idaho to keep protections for fairness in women’s and girls’ sports, and the looming Idaho abortion initiative expected to land on the November ballot. Neal zeroed in on how legacy media framed the sports decision—especially...

Send us Fan Mail It was a headline-making morning on *The Neal Larson Show* as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in a 6–3 decision. Neal brought in the bill’s sponsor, Representative Barb Ehardt, for an emotional, victory-lap conversation about the six-year fight—from early backlash and ACLU attacks to Idaho becoming the first state to pass a law like it, inspiri...

Send us Fan Mail In a recent interview on Newstalk 107.9, Ellie Gilbreath, the Democratic nominee for Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District, shared her policy priorities and vision for the state. Speaking with hosts Neal Larson and Julie Mason, Gilbreath positioned herself as a moderate focused on collaborative problem-solving as she prepares to challenge longtime incumbent Mike Simpson in the upcomi...

Send us Fan Mail Supreme Court decision day had Neal Larson and Julie Mason glued to SCOTUSBlog, tracking rulings in real time and waiting (again) for the Idaho “Fairness in Women’s Sports” decision—only to learn from Rep. Barbara Ehardt that the opinion wouldn’t drop today, and that tomorrow is likely the final day. Along the way, they reacted to the Court’s split decision allowing states to coun...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason opened the show with a fast-moving Washington update from U.S. Senator Jim Risch, who walked through the stakes of Iran’s nuclear ambitions and why he believes the Trump administration’s posture has fundamentally changed how Tehran calculates risk. Risch also weighed in on the housing package that cleared Congress with overwhelming Senate support, sayin...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason dug into the ongoing tension inside Idaho Falls School District 91—starting with this year’s teacher contract talks and widening into a broader conversation about trust, transparency, and leadership. Former IFEA leader Julie Nawrocki joined the show to explain how negotiations moved from “everything’s going well” to a sudden push toward mediation, and w...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason opened with a sobering update in the Nancy Guthrie case, after reports that a second ransom note suggests something “unexpected” happened and that she may have died—raising new questions about what’s real, what’s a scam, and why key details were held back for weeks. From there, the show moved into District 91’s latest turbulence, with Neal and Julie arg...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason kick off the Monday show with a Father’s Day reflection, then pivot to a big weekend in Idaho politics: Dorothy Moon winning a third term as Idaho GOP chair (and congratulations to Julie Young for winning second vice chair unopposed). Neal and Julie spend meaningful time on what they see as a discouraging fracture among conservatives—less about core ide...

Send us Fan Mail Friday’s show had a little bit of everything: a big local announcement, some spicy Idaho GOP politics, and a much-needed patriotic reset. Neal and Julie talked through the news that this will be the final year for the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration fireworks at Snake River Landing, as development in the area makes the massive crowd increasingly hard to accommodate. They reflected o...

Send us Fan Mail Decision day at the U.S. Supreme Court had Neal Larson and Julie Mason glued to SCOTUSblog—only to get a couple of smaller rulings (including a narrow Second Amendment decision involving a marijuana user) while the big Idaho-adjacent cases everyone’s watching remain pending. That wait became a jumping-off point for a bigger frustration: how national media frames Idaho’s “protect g...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason spent the morning digging into two fast-moving topics that hit close to home: the push for new data centers in Idaho and the realities (and risks) of everyday AI. The show’s big “learn something” interview was with Ali Khan, CEO of Moat I.T. in Pocatello, who walked through how modern data centers can be designed—especially around the hot-button concern...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason kicked off the week with a clear-eyed look at the newly announced U.S.–Iran framework deal—what it *does* cover (a halt in hostilities, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and a commitment to stop pursuing nuclear weapons) and what’s still unresolved (enrichment details, inspections, proxy groups, missiles, long-term sanctions relief, and Israel’s role). Th...

Send us Fan Mail Bonus comedy parody, in honor of Pocatello's recent yard sale crackdown!

Send us Fan Mail Neal kicked things off with a rare opening-day movie run — and a surprisingly thoughtful review of the new Spielberg “Disclosure Day” film. Beyond the symbolism and layered storytelling, the conversation turned to the most talked-about detail: the “disclosure” scenes near the end felt so vivid compared to earlier CGI moments that Neal floated an interesting *what-if* (clearly labe...

Send us Fan Mail Senator Jim Risch joined Neal Larson and Julie Mason from Washington, D.C. for a wide-ranging conversation that started with rising tension around Iran. Risch argued the regime can’t be trusted to honor agreements, emphasized the difference between the Iranian people and the ruling hardliners, and said the Strait of Hormuz must remain open—both for global stability and because no...

Send us Fan Mail Today we bounced between three conversations that all hit the same nerve: what we expect from institutions—and what happens when reality doesn’t match the expectation. First up was Congress stepping into the mess of modern sports broadcasting, where following the NFL can mean juggling a pile of platforms and potentially spending hundreds (even up to $600+ depending on what you cou...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason are back in the studio after Neal’s roadtrip loop through the Northwest, including a strong recommendation to put the Route of the Hiawatha Trail on the bucket list—an easy-to-plan, beautiful ride with a memorable tunnel stretch. From there, the conversation shifts into heavier territory: the Pentagon’s chaplain-faith categorization list that initially...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s show had a little bit of everything: Julie Mason and Adam Hall held down the fort while Neal Larson was out, and we started with an incredible conversation with veteran Brandon Seine. Brandon walked us through his path from small-town Montana to the Marines—boot camp at Camp Pendleton, infantry life, and the intense sniper indoc process that really tested his limits. He sh...

Send us Fan Mail On the 50th anniversary of the Teton Dam disaster, we spent the hour walking back through the *whole* story with Dr. Nathaniel Gee—dam safety engineer and author of *Failure and Fortitude* —starting with why the dam got built in the first place. We talked about the very human mix of ambition and pressure that pushed Teton forward: a political era where every district wanted a dam,...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson is out traveling with his family, so Julie Mason runs the show with Adam Hall (a.k.a. “HOA Adam / Car Show Adam”) and special guest  Tehren Likes —better known online as the **Rocky Mountain Farmer**. Tehren shares how a simple drone purchase turned into a massive YouTube presence (130,000+ subscribers) by leaning into a niche most farming channels ignored: **potatoes*...