Emilie Ritter Saunders was StateImpact Idaho's multimedia reporter until the project merged with the Boise State Public Radio site in July 2013. She previously worked as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio and was a Senior Fellow with NPR's Economic Training Project from 2009 until 2010. She graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2007.
Emmett, Idaho resident Rebecca Smither (left) talks with Dr. Jennifer Petrie (right). Petrie is a graduate of the WWAMI program and now practices in Emmett.
The Legislature’s main budget panel has approved funding for five additional medical school seats in the WWAMI program, according to the Spokesman-Review’sEye on Boise blog.
The WWAMI acronym represents the five western states that send medical school students to the University of Washington on state-sponsored reduced tuition. Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho don’t have their own med schools, and since the 1970s they’ve been in this partnership with the University of Washington.
Idaho’s gross state product grew by less than 1 percent in 2011, according to the Idaho Department of Labor and Bureau of Economic Analysis. Gross state product is the total value of all goods and services produced within a state. At the national level, gross domestic product, is used as an economic indicator to gauge things like recessions, recoveries and depressions.
Bureau of Economic Analysis / U.S. Department of Commerce
After six hours of debate over whether Idaho should build a state-based health insurance exchange, one lawmaker paused for a little levity.
In his lukewarm support for the state-based exchange, Sen. Marv Hagedorn (R-Meridian) said, “I can’t ride this pig if it’s a federal exchange, I can ride it with spurs on if it’s a state exchange.”
Exchanges, or online health insurance marketplaces, are a cornerstone of the federal health care law. According to The Kaiser Family Foundation, Idaho is one of 18 states with plans to create a state-based exchange. Twenty-six states plan to default to a federally-operated marketplace.
The debate in Idaho has been going on for the last couple of years. Many Republican lawmakers said they wanted to wait for an outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the health care law, and the 2012 presidential election, before committing to a state-based exchange in hopes the law would get reversed. Continue Reading →
The Idaho Senate is heading into its fifth hour of debate on a bill written by the governor’s office to create a state-based health insurance exchange. Afternoon committee meetings have been canceled.
Debate stopped and started after a motion to send the proposal back to committee to be amended, and a motion to begin amending the bill on the Senate floor. Both failed.
The arguments for and against a state-based exchange are familiar. The senators in favor of a state-based exchange say Idaho will be better off if the online insurance marketplace is run locally, rather than by the federal government. Those against a state-based exchange are largely against the federal Affordable Care Act, altogether, and don’t want to engage with the law in any way.
As debate continues, you can follow along with Idaho Public Television’s live webstream. We’ll have a full report once the vote is tallied.
The U.S. Census Bureau has compiled data that looks at the top 5 percent in America, that's defined as households with an annual income of at least $191,469. Through Census' American Community Survey, they compiled data from 2007-2011 to understand which pockets of the country were the wealthiest. We mapped this data in Idaho, county-by-county. Continue reading →
These young Girl Scouts brush-up on their phone-banking skills.
Makayla Williams and Brenda Bennett handed out cookies and talked with lawmakers at the Capitol on President’s Day.
A Girl Scout rally wouldn’t be complete without the Girl Scout pledge. “On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.”
Katryna Kelly, 13, and Hailey Murray, 12, are in the same troop. Both girls sold hundreds of boxes of cookies last year.
These Scouts learn how to count change for their future customers.
Cosette is 8-years-old and recently became a Girl Scout. Here’s why she joined, “You get to learn new friends, and you get to sell some cookies, and maybe eat some.”
A song-circle formed before the rally kicked off.
These are Naomi Winkler’s badges. She’s in 6th grade and has been a Girl Scout for four years.
Famous for its potatoes, trout fishing, and blue AstroTurf, Idaho might not have much in common with Hawaii. But here’s one thing: Idaho and Hawaii are the only two states in the country to tax Girl Scout Cookies. Now, some local Scouts are beefing up their sales pitches and learning to lobby.
Thirty-nine days into Idaho’s legislative session, there has yet to be a bill or any public debate over eliminating the business personal property tax. That could soon change.
Chairman of the House Revenue and Tax Committee Gary Collins (R-Nampa) says a bill draft relating to the personal property tax exists, but he won’t divulge details of the proposal.
“There are those that think that’s the path we need to go,” says Collins. “I would say right at this time, there are probably more that say that isn’t the path to go.”
The path he’s referring to is the content of the draft proposal. Collins says the life of the bill depends heavily on the budgeting number that’s expected to be set by the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee tomorrow or early next week. Continue Reading →
Employees at the Hayden, Idaho based Empire Airlines work inside a plane.
Idaho exports continue to increase. Data from the Idaho Department of Commerce show exports from the Gem State grew 3.5 percent from 2011 to 2012.
Driving the export growth last year were food and agriculture products, transportation equipment, and office and home furnishings. More than $6.1 billion worth of Idaho exports headed to other countries last year. Canada led the way purchasing more than $1.3 billion in Idaho products.
Rep. Kelley Packer (R-McCammon) is a freshman legislator.
A bill that would give a sales tax exemption to pregnancy resource clinics that don’t offer abortion services has passed the House. In a 58-12 vote, Idaho lawmakers approved Rep. Kelley Packer’s (R-McCammon) proposal.
Packer introduced the bill on behalf of Boise’s Stanton Healthcare, after the organization purchased two ultrasound machines and were charged a sales tax. The organization didn’t think it should be subject to sales tax because it is a non-profit, and because it’s a health related entity, which are largely tax exempt in Idaho.
“That little amount of money to the state creates a huge concern for them,” Packer says. According to Packer, Stanton’s tax bill on the ultrasound machines was $6,000.
Rep. Grant Burgoyne (D-Boise) says the Legislature shouldn’t make policy based on one organization’s misunderstanding of the law. “We’re backing our way into a policy because someone got caught up in a mistake,” Burgoyne says. Continue Reading →
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