Nearly 700,000 acres have burned across Idaho so far this year, and state officials are predicting fire risk will remain high through September.  As the costs to fight fires increase, state agency staff said they plan to increase Idaho’s dedicated funding to boost firefighting resources amid tight budget conditions as staff prepare the budget request […]

The board that oversees Idaho’s largest public health district on Friday approved a quarter million dollar fund to fight invasive rats.  The Central District Health board approved $250,000 in unspent reserve funds toward a “rodent abatement and prevention project.” The health district is still planning how to spend those funds, but some of it could […]

Pregnant women may receive abortions in many cases if there are serious risks to their health or if there’s a high risk she will harm herself, an Idaho federal judge has ruled.  The decision, released Thursday, marks a major change to the Idaho abortion ban’s exemptions. The judge determined U.S. constitutional protections under the Due […]

Dr. Kylie Cooper, a maternal-fetal medicine physician, practices in Minnesota after she left Idaho in the spring of 2023, shortly after Idaho’s criminal abortion ban went into effect.  Although it has been nearly three years since she left, Cooper retained her Idaho medical license, she said.   “I have a sliver of hope that maybe things […]

A new working group of state lawmakers tasked with probing the practices of health insurers is laying out its goals. At its first meeting, members of the Idaho Legislature’s Health Insurers Working Group lobbed questions for nearly an hour at a state official who oversees a state office that manages the state’s contract with a […]

For Ann Kirkwood, doctor appointments sometimes come all at once.  One week in mid-May, she had a big one coming up: To see if she had kidney cancer. Kirkwood, who uses a wheelchair, has tapped a free medical transportation program through Valley Regional Transit, a public transit agency in southwest Idaho.  But when she went […]

An Idaho county sheriff told a committee of state legislators on Thursday that partnership agreements with ICE should be local decisions, not required by the Idaho Legislature or state government.  “Participation in the ICE partnership programs is voluntary and should remain a decision of locally elected officials who are accountable to their communities they serve,” […]