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The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved an increase effective Oct. 1 in the surcharge that subsidizes the high cost of rural telephone service. What? You did not know that you are helping to pay for rural phone service. Idaho Code 62-610A requires that "all consumers in this state, without regard to their location, […]

The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) says that it can expect to take in $2.6 million in rent through its investment in a commercial building in downtown Boise, but critics of public involvement in private-sector business operations claim that this expectation is overstated because it doesn't take into account the actuarial uncertainty of potential business […]

High school sports from the Friday night football game to basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball track and field, tennis, golf … you name it, it has a constituency who live and die with the outcome of the events. High school sports rank right up there with mom, apple pie and Chevrolets. Every year, big bucks are […]

SWATting? What the heck is that? Star, Idaho, resident David Fix knows. He has had an up close and personal view of it and he did not enjoy the experience. The term is a not-so-veiled reference to the actions of police SWAT teams, which descend in force to a perceived problem that may require an […]

The Riverside Hotel ballroom in Boise burst at the seams Thursday night as more than 600 supporters of the Idaho Freedom Foundation joined in the organization's third annual Idaho Freedom Celebration and Banquet. This nearly doubled attendance from last year's event, with the capacity crowd turning out in record numbers to see the event's keynote […]

Recent data compiled by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) and released in a report by the Idaho Freedom Foundation says that almost 31 percent of Idaho teens aged 16-19 were unemployed in 2011. Another study found that at least 2,000 additional Idaho teens would have been employed if the minimum wage had not been increased […]

Media reports have proliferated across the country in recent days regarding the Idaho State Liquor Division's decision not to stock Five Wives Vodka, a brand manufactured by Ogden's Own Distillery in Utah. The earliest stories especially focused on the brand's indirect reference to polygamy, indicating that it had been rejected for sale because the state's […]

A pair of national surveys ranking the business climates in each state show that, according to respondents, Idaho stacks up fairly well—with distinct room for improvement. They also shed light on the differences between what managers of large and small businesses are looking for in a growth-friendly state. The 2012 survey by Chief Executive magazine gauges the opinions […]

The Idaho Land Board has come under some amount of fire for its dealings in commercial properties. On one side of the controversy is the sentiment that the Land Board is just another government bureaucracy and should not be involved in anything that competes directly with the private sector, such as a storage unit facility […]

Idaho ranks 36th in the nation for the occupational licensing burdens it imposes to work in the state, according to a report from the Institute for Justice (IJ), a non-profit, libertarian public interest law firm based in Arlington, Va. Founded in 1991, its website says its “mission is to provide pro bono legal advice and […]

Rising costs in the health insurance industry moved to the forefront before one committee in the Idaho Legislature during the 2012 session. The discussion was on a proposal to open up the Idaho market to insurance providers from out of state. Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, introduced House Bill 587, which would have allowed insurance companies […]

Silence. Deafening and bill-killing silence. That’s what backers of a bill to stop the state Land Board from buying and running businesses were treated to after testimony concluded on their measure to end the practice. After two days of testimony on House Bill 495, senators killed the measure because no motion was made on the […]