Editorials

Voters wait Tuesday for a voting booth to open up at the District 19 precinct at Riverglen Junior High School in Northwest Boise. A polarized national political climate and the citizen-proposed Medicaid-expansion measure on Idaho’s ballot likely contributed to extraordinary voter turnout, a Boise political scientist says.

Editorials

Listen up, IFF: Idahoans should get what they voted for with Prop 2

Idaho taxpayers should not have to bear the cost of defending a lawsuit aimed at subverting the will of the people if the Idaho Freedom Foundation challenges Medicaid expansion, the Idaho Statesman Editorial Board writes.

Westbound traffic backs up on the Interstate 184 Connector in Boise during an evening rush hour in May.

Latest News

Vote no on higher car fees

Let’s agree that if current revenues cannot fund road improvements adequately, then all parties should pony up to pay more to cover our growth, not just individuals who own cars.

In Ada County, mobile voting comes to you. And it’s easy.

Editorials

Not sure who to vote for? Here are the Idaho Statesman’s Editorial Board’s endorsements

Here are our Editorial Board’s endorsements for the Idaho 2018 election from the Statesman. Find our candidate recommendations for governor, other statewide offices and ballot initiatives for the November midterms.

A look at College of Western Idaho’s proposed health science building

Editorials

College of Western Idaho fills a critical need as state’s economy grows

The Idaho Statesman Editorial Board enthusiastically endorses the College of Western Idaho’s $39 million levy issue to construct a new health sciences building.

Cindy Wilson has more than thirty years of classroom teaching experience in schools throughout Idaho.

Editorials

Idaho schools deserve better leadership — with Cindy Wilson

Cindy Wilson has been endorsed in the Idaho race for superintendent of public instruction by Statesman Editorial Board. voters should pick her over incumbent candidate Republican Sherri Ybarra in the election.

Why does Idaho’s lieutenant governor want to be governor?

Editorials

Pragmatic and responsible, Brad Little is ready to lead Idaho

Republican Lt. Gov. Brad Little has the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board endorsement in the 2018 Idaho governor race, over Democratic candidate Paulette Jordan. Voters should pick him in the November election.

Kristin Collum, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, talks to delegates at the Idaho Democratic Party State Convention.

Opinion

Kristin Collum has the potential to become an influential leader in Idaho

No matter who prevails in the lieutenant governor’s race on Nov. 6, the winner will make Idaho history as the first woman ever to serve in the post.

Republican Russ Fulcher thanks supporters for his victory in the Idaho GOP primary at an election night party Tuesday, May 15, 2018, in Boise.

Latest News

Russ Fulcher is the best choice to replace Raul Labrador in Congress

Russ Fulcher has said that he could work productively with Mike Simpson, the Second District congressman, for the good of Idaho.

School districts in Idaho have used the personnel exemption in the Idaho Public Records Law to cloak information about hiring and paying ditsrict superintendents.

Editorials

Some agencies treat Idaho Public Records Law like it’s the Fool the Idaho Public Law

It bears repeating: Idaho Public Records Law is not the Embarrassment Prevention Law. Because something is sensitive or looks bad or is likely to spark citizen outrage is not a legitimate reasons to hide it from citizens.

President Donald Trump walks toward the White House.

Editorials

We’re not the enemy. President Trump, end your war on the free press.

President Donald Trump has veered into perilous territory with his assault on the First Amendment. His references to journalists as the “enemy of the American people” are no less dangerous because they happen to be strategic.

Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi is carried off the field by team members, including guard Jerry Kramer, right, after the Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl II in 1968.

Editorials

Jerry Kramer was slighted, as a grind-it-out lineman, a kid from Nowhere, Idaho. No more.

Idaho gets to revel in the achievement of a native son, who grew up here, played high school football here, starred here for the University of Idaho, and made his home here when his pro football days were over, a humble hall-of-famer who remains true to his humble roots.

Protesters stacked symbolic child-sized coffins at the Idaho Capitol in February 2018, seeking repeal of a faith-healing exemption for parents who deny their children medical care.

Editorials

‘It’s God’s will.’ Should that belief ever excuse any form of child abuse or neglect?

Children are not old enough or independent enough to make life-and-death decisions. Yet state law denies those children their right to life and liberty in order to protect the religious freedom of their parents.

The Cabin, a writing academy based in a 78-year-old building south of Boise's main library, is absent from plans for a new library. Though the new building wouldn't overlap The Cabin's headquarters, it would come close to touching it, raising concerns that The Cabin and its building might have to move.

Editorials

Parking, costs, the Cabin: Are city leaders listening to citizens on new library design?

Is the city truly open to incorporating citizen suggestions? We ask this because this is big project with a lot at stake, and Mayor David Bieter has a tendency to get his back up and dig in his heels when his ideas are challenged.

Editorials

Repeal Idaho’s absurd, unenforced ban on aerial fireworks. We need a law people will respect.

Idaho law regulating aerial fireworks starts by asking customers to commit perjury. It gets worse from there. It's ignored by all, disrespected by citizens, not enforced by authorities, and offers little recourse for victims.

Hundreds of Treasure Valley residents gathered at City Hall on Monday to support the refugee community and the victims of the mass stabbing in Boise on Saturday.

Editorials

Following stabbing attack, Boise translates welcoming words into community action

Boise has a long and proud tradition of welcoming people fleeing strife, from Bosnia in the 1990s, and from Africa and the Middle East in recent years. A European Union delegation visited in 2016 to learn how we welcome and integrate refugees.

Signs like this greet visitors in the parking lot and entrances to Idaho’s Garden Valley School, which has about 250 students in pre-k through 12th grades.

Editorials

Armed guards at Idaho schools: Is this the best choice for rural classrooms?

We worry about putting guns in the hands of security guards who are not trained for dealing with students, hostages or active shooters – the very scenarios for which we need qualified, trained experts.

Editorials

Let the sun shine in: Idahoans deserve to know all the donors to The Idahoan's mailing

Now that we've discovered this loophole, it's up to Secretary of State Lawerence Denney to urge the Idaho Legislature to make a simple tweak to state code to ensure that our laws designed to guarantee transparency reflect that spirit.

Rep. Paulette Jordan is challenging A.J. Balukoff for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Editorials

Democratic primary: Jordan offers Idaho voters a new face, new approach for governor

Paulette Jordan brings a unique biography to electoral politics in Idaho, having grown up in rural Idaho, worked in tribal government and represented North Idaho in the Legislature. She is the only serious candidate for governor who is a woman and is under 40.

Lt. Gov. Brad Little pictured as the Senate prepares to adjourn in March 2017.

Editorials

GOP primary: Experience, knowledge make Little best prepared to be Idaho's governor

With doubts about Tommy Ahlquist and Raul Labrador piling up, the dependable, trustworthy, even-keeled Brad Little looks all the better. As Labrador and Ahlquist have traded nasty barbs, as Ahlquist has tacked right, Little has campaigned as himself: Grounded and down to earth.

The dome inside of the Idaho Statehouse, looking up through the rotunda.

Editorials

Kelley Packer gets our nod in Republican race for Idaho lieutenant governor

Rep. Kelley Packer from McCammon has stood up to the Idaho Freedom Foundation and brooked the House leadership in fighting for health care.

Editorials

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