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Word on the street: Some Idaho lawmakers want more health insurance regulations after consumer complaints about new, exorbitant out-of-network costs and the failure of some companies to pay claims. A real solution: Legislators in Idaho and elsewhere should remove insurance regulatory hurdles, including coverage mandates and market barriers. The healthcare system doesn't work because of […]

Every year we get to witness the raw economic value and human benefit that comes from those mad, mad, super-low, post-Thanksgiving SALES SALES SALES. Black Friday is now spread over an array of elaborately-named days that seem to extend clear ‘til Christmas. The benefit isn’t just to the shareholders of the big box stores, whose […]

Tell Idaho to stop hurting people like Josh Phillips! Sign the petition at HopeVetoed.com.

A few years ago, an Idaho businessman told me he wanted to hire a doctor to work with his employees, as a perk, to increase their quality of care and help keep insurance costs down. Idaho’s medical regulators rejected his idea because of a thinly-supported legal doctrine advanced by Gem State special interests since the […]

An Idaho law that allows public officials to award generous tax breaks to businesses that relocate or expand in the state has survived a legal challenge. On Monday, Idaho Fourth District Court Judge Samuel Hoaglund dismissed a lawsuit, filed by Boise-based human resources firm Employers Resource, because he believed the company lacked standing to bring […]

George and Mary Gersema will have their day in court — eventually. The Gersemas, who own and operate Boise-based human resources firm Employers Resource, will return to court in early August after District Judge Samuel A. Hoaglund delayed the first hearing, originally set for Wednesday. Hoaglund postponed the hearing because the Gersemas’ attorney, Christ Troupis, […]

For the second time in as many months, Gov. Butch Otter’s administration has stacked the deck against a Boise company by subsidizing a competing business. Otter’s Department of Labor announced Tuesday it will give up to $1.2 million to Paylocity to train its workforce. Paylocity, which announced its Idaho expansion last November, is an online […]

My 15-year-old son, Julian, on his way Thursday to a school event in Reno, sent this unexpected text message, “Why is there no tax on food at this gas station just across the border into Nevada?” Long-time readers will know the answer to this and the reason for my son’s confusion. Idaho is one of […]

Because of the Legislature’s failure to act this year, political favors and gifts for elected officials remain acceptable, even customary. It’s still perfectly legal to ply Idaho politicians with lavish gifts. You are only limited by your imagination to give and possibly get. And why not be imaginative, especially when you’re hoping to ingratiate yourself […]

Some in Idaho want to give cities and counties the authority to enact their own minimum wage ordinances. These same people argue that conservatives who oppose this “local control” concept are hypocrites. After all, aren’t conservatives in favor of local control? I must point out that proponents of limited government argue for policies that promote […]

By Clint Siegner Oregon Gov. Kate Brown sat in her office January 20th and drafted a letter to the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of the FBI. She wrote, negotiations with the “radicals”occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have failed and insisted on a “swift resolution to this matter.” Harney County Judge Steve Grasty made […]

When I first wrote about Black Friday sales, it was truly Black Friday, in the singular sense. Since that time, the shopping extravaganza has morphed into a multi-day binge of deals. Interestingly, the shopkeepers who offer some of the best deals are criminals. Yes, criminals -- because many of the prices-so-low-your-head-will-explode sales are illegal in […]