This week, Idaho made national news as Boise and Bonners Ferry passed resolutions to continue flying flags – pride and organ donor flags in Boise and a Canadian flag in Bonners Ferry – despite a recently passed law that prohibits government entities from flying flags that aren’t state, city, tribal, military, or the US flag. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador discusses the new law, recent litigation, his views on civic discourse, and much more.
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Episode: U.S. Refugee Resettlement on Hold with Holly Beech, Idaho Office for Refugees
President Donald Trump issued an executive order upon taking office in January that suspended the U.S. Refugee Admission Program. Associate producer Logan Finney sat down with Holly Beech from the Idaho Office for Refugees which oversees refugee resettlement in Idaho in partnership with local community resettlement agencies. They discuss the effects of the program pause and funding freeze, as well as the case of a resettled Twin Falls man in ICE deportation proceedings with no country that will accept him.
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Season 53 Episode 26: Fuel for Thought
Three decades after a monumental agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy over radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel storage, Idaho this week agreed to a waiver that will allow the federal government to send a cask of spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory. Plus, increased attention on wildfire management and the possible impacts of the Trump administration’s budget proposal.
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Episode: Idaho's Role in Federal Forest Management with Dustin Miller, Idaho Department of Lands
Gov. Brad Little signed an executive order last week directing the Idaho Department of Lands to collaborate with the U.S. Forest Service in support of the Trump administration's goals of increased timber production and improved forest health. Associate producer Logan Finney sat down with Department of Lands Director Dustin Miller to ask what that relationship will look like.
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Extra: Investment in the Parks with Susan Buxton, Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
Over the course of three fiscal years starting in 2022, the legislature appropriated a total of $160 million to improve Idaho’s state parks, with $95 million coming from state surplus funds, and another $65 million coming from the American Rescue Plan Act. On Thursday, the Idaho Reports team headed to Bruneau Dunes State Park to catch up with Director Susan Buxton and find out how that money was put to use, and to tour the facilities at the dunes.