The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced grizzly bears will be coming back to Washington’s North Cascades. (Courtesy of the National Park Service) Grizzly bears are coming back to Washington’s North Cascades. The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday a decision to actively restore the animals in the region, where they lived for thousands of years. The last confirmed sighting of a grizzly bear in this area was in 1996. The plan is to move three to seven grizzly bears from the Rocky Mountains or British Columbia every s ..read more

Seated poll workers help Canyon County voters at a polling place at the College Church of the Nazarene on the NNU campus in Nampa, Idaho, on Nov. 8, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) Thomas Jefferson famously wrote in the Declaration of Independence that, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This affirmation laid the groundwork for our nation’s democratic process, which remains the standard for the free world. However, in recent years, federal support for our election infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the sys ..read more

Ada County Clerk Trent Tripple, center, joins Civera CEO Adam Friedman, left, and Ada County Elections Director Saul Seyler, right, introducing the online Ballot Verifier tool on Wednesday at the Ada County Elections Office. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun) Ada County Elections officials unveiled a new online Ballot Verifier tool for the public on Wednesday, saying the first of its kind program is designed to increase election transparency.  Members of the public can use the free online Ballot Verifier tool to view scanned images of all ballots and those ballots’ corresponding cast vote ..read more

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 25, 2024, while the justices heard arguments about whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on criminal charges related to his actions while in office. (Jane Norman/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of former President Donald Trump’s argument he is immune from criminal charges that he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. But conservatives who dominate the court appeared open to returning key questions to a trial court, possibly delaying Tr ..read more

A fireball ascends from the first atomic artillery shell in history, tested at the Nevada Test Site in 1953. Radiation from the test site fell across the West, including in Montana and Idaho. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress) For decades, downwinders have criticized the Radiation Compensation Exposure Act, or RECA, for being too narrow. Designed to compensate people exposed to and sickened by nuclear weapons development, activists say RECA has glaring cracks — for starters, it only covered 10 counties in Utah despite research suggesting the whole state was exposed to dangerous, canc ..read more

Idaho Gov. Brad Little delivers his State of the State address in the House chambers of the State Capitol building on Jan. 8, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) Idaho Gov. Brad Little will conduct his first Capital for a Day event in Idaho City on Friday, giving local residents there the chance to ask questions of the governor and many of the state’s top agency directors.  The free event is open to the public and runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at Ray Robinson Community Hall, 206. W. Commercial St. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUBSCRIBE Little, like ..read more

A "Vote Here" sign is placed outside a polling place at the Hispanic Cultural Center in Nampa, Idaho, on Nov. 8, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) Para leer esta historia en español, haga clic aquí. Friday is the deadline for Idaho voters to register to vote early before the May 21 primary election. In order to register to vote or update their voter registration, Idahoans may visit the state’s official www.voteidaho.gov website or visit their local county elections office by Friday’s deadline.  With all 105 state Legislature seats up for election, candidate filing p ..read more

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, speaks during a press conference inside the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — An additional $95 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is on a glide path to passage in the U.S. Senate after a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted Tuesday to limit debate on the package. The 80-19 procedural vote sets up a final passage vote as soon as Tuesday evening, though that could move into Wednesday depending on how quickly debate wraps ..read more

At a Planned Parenthood Great Northwest rally on Sunday, April 21, Idahoans advocated for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal law protects access to abortion procedures in emergency situations, even in states like Idaho with strict abortion bans. (Otto Kitsinger/Idaho Capital Sun) A doctor in Idaho recently saw a pregnant patient whose water broke at 15 weeks of pregnancy — something that normally happens at 38 weeks or later.  It was about eight weeks before the fetus could be delivered and survive, even with medical intervention. Amniotic fluid, released when the water breaks ..read more

Because of Idaho’s abortion ban and a court decision that does not protect emergency room physicians from prosecution under that law, some Idaho physicians are advising their pregnant patients, or those trying to become pregnant, to purchase memberships with companies like Life Flight Network or Air St. Luke’s in the Boise area to avoid potentially significant costs if they need air transport in an emergency. (Courtesy of Life Flight) Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided in January to consider a case about whether a federal law regarding emergency medical treatment supersedes an abortion ban ..read more