Capitol Report for KUOI

Just posted - here's an update on my stories broadcast on KUOI, the University of Idaho's student-ran radio station.

Link found here.

Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut

LGBT service-denial bill passes in committee

Here's a brief right from the pages of the Argonaut - find the link here.

BOISE — The House State Affairs Committee in the Idaho Legislature unanimously passed a bill that would allow businesses and medical professionals to deny service to gay individuals, as well as unmarried mothers, without losing licensure — as long as they cite religious beliefs.

Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, said the bill would also allow teachers to deny educating a student if they are gay.

Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, is a proponent for the “Add the Words” campaign — a campaign to add equal protections for the state’s LGBT population to the Idaho Human Rights Act. Burgoyne said Luker’s bill is bringing an opportunity to have a conversation in the legislature about the state’s slashing equal rights for gays. He said he is hoping to change minds on the issue before the bill is passed.

There is no date set for the hearing. More information will be available next week.

Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut

Week in review

Jeff Brooks, chair of UI's Department of Leadership and Counseling
 gives a presentation to educators and students on leadership
and curriculum needs to celebrate the 125th birthday of UI.
Brooks has lived in Boise for six months and Idaho's biggest
problem in education is crafting a connection between curriculum
and the various ways students process information.

Wow - this week has brought with it a lot of rumbling in the Idaho legislature. So much I haven't quite had time to update the blog. Here are a few quick links to my stories in The Argonaut with a bit of a review.

Here's the official Argonaut updated on Campus Carry. Link found here.

Here's a piece celebrating the 125th birthday of the University of Idaho on Vandals working in Boise. Link found here.







Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut

Campus carry

(L-R): Sen. Fulcher, secretary Twyla Melton, Chairman Senator McKenzie
prepare to discuss workers' compensation rights, Idaho's draft legislation,
wine manufacturing and campus carry. 

The Senate Affairs Committee is meeting now to discuss multiple subjects, one of them being campus gun carry. The University of Idaho currently allows students to store personal firearms in a lock box in the "police substation," and allows students to check out their firearms for recreational use. 

Campus carry is the last item on today's agenda. I'll be posting the Associated Student's of the University of Idaho, ASUI's, official statement once it's official.

Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut

Rebooting Otter's executive budget

Here's the full story from the Argonaut on Mike Ferguson's "Responsible Alternative to the Executive Budget."


Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut

"Meet the Vandals"

The University of Idaho sponsored "Meet the Vandals" at the Riverside Hotel in Boise yesterday to educate prospective students and their parents. The event offered seminars on financial aid and student life, and also included an opportunity for students to apply to the university.

Here's a shot published in the Argonaut today of ASUI lobbyist Ashley Morehouse answering questions at the event. Morehouse will be living in Boise until the end of the legislative session -- her main duty is to discuss the needs of UI students with state legislators.

Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut

New session, new ideas

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter gives the  State of the State address Monday, Jan. 6  in the House Chambers. Otter said furthering education funding tops  his list of priorities for the 2015 budget.

Update from The Argonaut. Read the full article here. Published Jan. 16.

BOISE — Today marks the end of the second week of the 2014 legislative session, and much has been discussed, beginning with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State address Jan. 6. 

 In it, Otter said his three primary goals for this year’s budget are education, securing state water and control of Idaho’s wolf population, but other issues including the changing hands of the Idaho Correctional Facility, an increase in state employee compensation and more have crossed the desks of legislators so far.

Otter introduced his “blueprint for going forward,” which will include a focus on K-through-Career education funding and a five-year plan to replenish the state’s rainy day funds.

Twitter: @crchloerambo | Instagram: @crchloerambo | The Argonaut