The LATEST from ID
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- Opinion
- Election Initiatives
Fixing the Vote
State lawmakers should speed consideration of election reforms that would permit online voter registration, fight fraud, save money and spare Ohio from lawsuits in the 2012 national elections. more
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- Stateline Story
Idaho's Tom Luna Offers Sweeping School Overhaul Plan
If Idaho's school superintendent gets his way, the rights of teachers would be sharply curtailed. more
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- Stateline Story
As Unemployment Insurance Debts Mount, Interest Payments Loom
States have borrowed $42 billion from the federal government to continue paying unemployment benefits to people who can't find work. As it stands now, they'll have to begin paying interest on that tab this fall. more
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- Stateline Story
'One Person, One Vote' Still an Unsettled Question for States
Two courts have issued conflicting rulings on how much population equality is required for state legislative districts. The U.S. Supreme Court may have to resolve the issue. more
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- Infographic
Legislative Control and Redistricting, 2011
Of the 7,382 state legislative seats, Republicans gained nearly 700 in 2010.
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- Stateline Story
Idaho State of the State Address 2011
BOISE, Idaho - Jan. 10 - Following is the prepared text of Gov. C. L. "Butch" Otter's (R) 2011 state of the state address: Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Honorable Justices, my fellow constitutional officers, distinguished legislators and members of my Cabinet, honored guests, friends, my family and our First Lady …
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- Stateline Story
Serving the Wide Open Spaces
Representing rural constituents is a chore when it takes a day's drive for a legislator to reach them. The problem is about to get worse.more -
April 1, 2010
Prison Count 2010
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in the United States has declined, according to Prison Count 2010, a survey by the Pew Center on the States. more
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- Stateline Story
State Lawsuits Likely Over Health Care Bill
TODAY'S TAKE: If and when President Obama signs legislation revamping the nation's health care system, several Republican-led states appear likely to fight a key provision of the new law in court. Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter on Wednesday (March 17) became the first governor to sign a bill setting up a legal showdown, while Virginia's attorney general vowed to do the same.more -
- Stateline Story
The Squeeze on Big Bird
Idaho Reports is a weekly news program about politics that appears all over the state on public television. Normally it's quite civil. But one recent show took an awkward turn when the host asked about Governor Butch Otter's proposal to eliminate the program's funding. "Can you give us an update," moderator Thanh Tan asked, "on where we stand in terms of the agencies that face a possible phase-out…which includes the agency that produces this program?" Guest Wayne Hammon, the state budget director, replied that "the governor felt he had no other choice." The challenges that Idaho Public Television is facing are emblematic of the decisions that public television agencies and stations around the country will have to make if states decide that public television is no longer a business they can afford to be in. According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), state and local funding for public television stations nationwide declined by $36 million between 2008 and 2009. CPB forecasts an additional $45 to $49 million in state and local cuts for the upcoming fiscal year.more
