That newsletter opened doors for me that I never thought possible. Soon I was speaking to elected officials and candidates, getting tips and news from inside sources, and being asked to write and edit for other organizations. Wayne Hoffman gave me my first real job in politics, and that in turn taught me what I needed to know to make political writing my full time gig.

In late 2023, I launched the full Gem State Chronicle, laying the foundation for something much bigger than a single newsletter. Today, my columns are a very small part of a much larger platform. Visitors to gemstatechronicle.com can access press releases, newsletters, and op-eds by Idaho’s leading center-right voices as well as Idaho Insider, your one-stop shop for information about all facets of state government.

From day one, my goal has never been to tell you what to think, or to provoke outrage in order to accomplish some political end. I want to give you the tools to be a more engaged citizen, because I believe an informed and engaged citizenry is the only way to make our republican form of government function in the way it was designed. I’d rather help you think through the complex issues before us than just give you talking points to post on social media and repeat ad nauseum.

Day one was January 7, 2022, on which I wrote:

I intend to use this newsletter to share my thoughts on what is happening in Idaho and in our country. I want to help you be informed, to know what is going on, and to understand the historical context. I want to encourage and motivate you to get involved at the local level, to build a movement that is capable of saving our state and our country. I invite you to join me on this journey as we struggle to preserve the Gem State for our own posterity.

This endeavor has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Your support has allowed me to commit to this project as my day job, and the Gem State Chronicle has had real influence on the political process in Idaho. Together, we are making a difference!

Today I would like to give paid subscribers a roadmap for where this platform goes next, and explain how you can help it get there.

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If you’re trying to put together a championship baseball team, how do you evaluate potential players and decide who is worth investing your limited resources? In the old days, you picked a few statistics, such as batting average, hits, and home runs for position players, or strikeouts, earned run average (ERA), or wins for pitchers. This seemed to work for a long while, but Major League Baseball eventually reached a point where those stats had become ends unto themselves, with the real goal—winning games and championships—secondary at best.

In the 1980s, statistician Bill James began developing the idea of a “replacement player”—a generic baseline by which to judge real players. A replacement player isn’t a random person off the street who has never played the game; rather, it is someone a team manager could expect to get on short notice, such as an out-of-work veteran or a minor leaguer. Other nerds expanded on the concept through the 1990s and 2000s, creating the field of “sabermetrics,” and by 2008, baseball media had settled upon a calculation called WAR, or Wins Above Replacement.

The idea behind WAR is to take everything a player does—how often he gets on base, how many runs he generates, how well he plays the field, or—in the case of pitchers—how well he keeps batters off base—and combine that into the answer to a single question: how many more wins does this player generate for the team compared to a replacement player?

WAR gives managers, executives, sportswriters, and fans a coherent framework with which to compare players. According to ESPN, the highest WAR in 2025 came from New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge at 9.7. That means he accounted for nearly ten more wins than the Yankees would have had if his position had been played by a generic Major League replacement. Note that his defensive WAR is negative, meaning a replacement player would likely have been better in the outfield, but Judge’s offensive output was so incredible that he still led the league in the overall statistic.

WAR also allows baseball geeks to compare players from different eras. According to baseball-reference.com, the highest WAR ever recorded in a single season was Babe Ruth’s 14.1 in 1923. Incidentally, Ruth also holds the 2nd- and 3rd-highest single-season WAR totals, not to mention the 6th, 13th, 28th, 45th, and 50th. Obviously, nobody ever needed sabermetrics to understand that Babe Ruth was one of the greatest baseball players in history, but it helps to quantify it.

Why am I writing about nerdy baseball statistics on a website devoted to Idaho politics? Because I have long believed we need the equivalent of WAR for legislative candidates.

There have been many attempts to quantify the value of a legislator with regard to a particular ideology or agenda. Many organizations, including the Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry (IACI), the American Conservative Union (ACU/CPAC), the Institute for Legislative Analysis (ILA), and others publish scorecards showing how lawmakers vote on each organization’s priorities. The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s (IFF) Freedom Index is perhaps the gold standard of scorecards because its analysts rate hundreds of bills each session, rather than a small handful that are directly related to specific priorities.

Former IFF president Wayne Hoffman explained the Freedom Index in a 2022 post:

The Freedom Index solves the mystery. The Freedom Index doesn’t ask whether a new program, government function, or restriction on liberty is good or bad. It just evaluates if the bill creates a new program, government function, or restriction on liberty. Every bill that was ever introduced in any lawmaking body is argued to be “good” by its supporters. Legislators will often cling to these positive narratives in order to justify the expansion of government. Whether a proposal is deemed good is not of interest to us. We’re only interested in its impact on a free society.

I believe scorecards can be a valuable tool for voters to evaluate their lawmakers, which is why I created Scorecard Explorer at the Gem State Chronicle. However, scorecards only tell a small part of the story when it comes to the job of serving in the Idaho Legislature.

Voting is easy. All it takes is speaking the words “aye” or “nay” when the secretary calls your name. Members of the House don’t even have to speak—they just press a green or red button on their desk phone. A legislator could score 100% on any given scorecard simply by showing up each day and voting exactly how that organization wants them to. I believe that voting is just the beginning of being a good legislator—you could say that someone who votes right is your replacement-level lawmaker.

Over the past few years, I’ve had a somewhat front-row seat to the legislative process and have seen how difficult it can be to turn an idea into law. Legislation must run a tough gauntlet, starting with being drafted by Legislative Services Office personnel, making it through a print hearing, then a committee hearing, then a floor vote, then another committee hearing, then another floor vote, then finally receiving the governor’s signature. An ideal conservative legislator must therefore not only vote right on the issues, but must also have the ability to work within the system to get things done. And, of course, that person must be able to win competitive primary and general elections as well.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to simply create a scoring system to evaluate legislator effectiveness. Lawmakers often pass bills around, doing the work of drafting and lobbying but allowing someone else to put their name on it and present it on the floor. That means it’s hard to tell who deserves how much credit for any piece of legislation. I would love to someday create an Effectiveness Score, but right now I see far too many variables to be able to make something like that with any degree of accuracy.

Effectiveness alone doesn’t tell us whether someone is ideologically aligned or not, however. Gov. Brad Little and then-Rep. Megan Blanksma were very effective with regard to getting the Idaho Launch Grant through the Legislature in 2023, which passed the House by only a single vote. However, most conservatives agree that Launch is a bad idea. We need effective, conservative legislators.

We also can’t forget that sometimes killing a bad bill is even more important than passing a good one. That, too, is hard to measure—I know of no scorecard that can explain which conservative lawmakers did the most to kill some of the bad bills we’ve seen come through the Legislature in recent years. Much of that involves conversations that you and I never see. How can we measure what we don’t know?

Sabermetrics changed the game of baseball, and that new way of looking at player performance is changing other pro sports as well. Today, the AI revolution is taking data analysis to revolutionary levels. However, as great as it would be to apply modern statistical analysis to our elected officials, there’s a lot that goes into being a good legislator that simply resists being quantified in such a way. That’s why the Gem State Chronicle exists—to bring you as much information as possible so that you can make an informed decision as a voter and an engaged citizen of our Republic. Scorecards are part of that decision, but they should be the beginning of the discussion, not the end-all, be-all.

Bookmark Idaho Insider, especially the Legislative Branch page. Use its resources to learn more about your senator and representatives. Call them up and have a conversation, or sit down for a cup of coffee and discuss your perspective. Become an ambassador in your community, the person all your neighbors come to with questions or concerns about our political system. Be prepared to offer answers, not just complain from the sideline. Who knows, maybe in a few years it will be your name on that list of legislators.

Feature image made with ChatGPT.

Consumer alert

Attorney General Raúl Labrador has a new list of products that are being recalled for being unsafe:

“The global marketplace gives consumers access to a variety of products from around the world,” said Attorney General Labrador, “but it also means that consumers need to be vigilant about product safety, especially when it comes to children. Our office works to protect Idaho families every day, and keeping families aware of these federal recalls is important.”

Read the full list

Ninth Circuit issues stay

Idaho Family Policy Center issued a press release following the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay on Judge Lynn Winmill’s order regarding Idaho’s pro-life laws:

Judge Winmill attempted to invent a right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution where no such right exists. We agree with the Ninth Circuit’s decision today to temporarily stay Judge Winmill’s earlier order pending briefing and oral argument. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment do not protect a right to abortion. We’re confident that our laws will be vindicated on appeal, and we’re grateful for Attorney General Raúl Labrador and his team’s work in defending the Defense of Life Act and Heartbeat law from Dr. Seyb and others who want to use the judiciary to circumvent the will of the people.

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Substack of the day

Sen. Brian Lenney wrote a long and comprehensive post about the state of our immigration system, and why deporting those not here legally is so difficult in our current political and business climate:

Brian Lenney

The Cheap Slave Labor Catechism™

Two of Idaho’s ag men recently sat down on a podcast and laid out the whole case for keeping cheap slave labor flowing into this state. Worth listening to. Worth answering, too…

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2 days ago · 8 likes · 4 comments · Brian Lenney

Video of the day

Linus Sebastian explains how to stop your smart TV from spying on you. It turns out to be more difficult than you might think:

Idaho Insider

I’m continuing to build out the state agencies hub at Idaho Insider. Explore the profiles of the offices that execute the policies created by our elected lawmakers, and get to know the people leading those offices as well.

Have you been catching the Daily Minute? It’s an exclusive publication of the Gem State Chronicle summing up what you need to know. You can subscribe on YouTube, Facebook, X, and even TikTok!

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you all!

Earlier this summer, pro-life activist Titus Folks was cited for trespassing because he was at the same public park in Nampa where an LGBTQ+ pride event was taking place:

The Idaho Family Policy Center announced this morning that it is defending pro-life evangelist Titus Folks, who was cited for trespassing at Canyon County Pride at Lakeview Park in Nampa last June. According to Caleb Pirc, director of the IFPC Legal Center, Folks was in the process of setting up a table at the park when organizers demanded he leave and called the police. Folks moved his table across the street, but police still cited him for trespassing.

The IFPC Legal Center represented Folks in the case and yesterday announced that Canyon County Prosecutor Christopher Boyd moved to dismiss the case. Boyd’s motion draws on extensive case law and concludes that the organizers of the pride event were attempting to exclude Folks based on the content of his speech, even though the park remained public property during the event:

Thus, Folks could only be properly excluded if the reserved portion of the park was no longer a public forum because the permit holders had exclusive control of the property such that it was effectively their right to exclude whomever they wanted. Because this event was advertised and permitted as open to the public in a location that is traditionally a public forum, Folks could not be properly excluded for the content of his speech.

The motion notes that Folks asked for the citation, presumably hoping to maintain a paper trail rather than simply leaving despite his belief that he was standing on solid constitutional ground.

Another trespass case was in the news yesterday as well. A jury found Sara LaWall, the activist Unitarian reverend who led an occupation of Gov. Brad Little’s office following the signing of House Bill 752, which mandated that people use the restroom corresponding with their biological sex, guilty of trespassing. According to a sympathetic article from the Idaho Capital Sun, LaWall was arrested on the evening of April 1 after refusing to leave the governor’s office. In testimony, LaWall’s attorney tried to argue that it was unclear whether the governor’s office was potentially private property because it was part of the public Capitol. However, police bodycam footage showed LaWall and the other protesters receiving multiple warnings and admonitions to leave the office.

I’m sure left-wing commentators are already firing up their word processors to denounce the injustice of a pro-LGBTQ+ activist being found guilty of trespassing while a pro-life activist had his charges dropped. But it’s clear that the two situations are remarkably different.

Titus Folks was outside the fenced area set aside for the Nampa pride event, speaking to passersby and handing out literature. He was told to leave because pride organizers did not like what he was saying. Sara LaWall and her cohorts were inside the governor’s private office, remaining there even after being told multiple times to leave. She was told to leave not because of the content of her speech, but because she was occupying a private area.

Folks was at the park to share his faith with others. LaWall was in the governor’s office to draw attention to her cause, attention that outlets like the Idaho Capital Sun were only too eager to provide.

Juxtaposing these two cases brings the cultural battles we face in Idaho into sharp relief. Will we be a state that affirms the traditional values that made our civilization great in the first place? Or will we follow blue states like California and Washington down the road to Hell, where innate differences between men and women are erased, children’s innocence is eliminated, and unborn babies face death for the crime of being inconvenient? No, our laws and societal expectations should reflect reality and our shared values, not the delusions of mentally ill activists.

Justice was done in both cases this summer. Idaho needs more people like Titus Folks, and fewer like Sara LaWall.

Feature image created with Grok, based on photographs of Titus Folks and Sara LaWall.

Press releases

• Superintendent Critchfield submits FY2028 budget proposal

• Attorney General Labrador and Gov. Little award first responders

• Congressman Simpson votes for resolution condemning socialism

• Idaho GOP chair Dorothy Moon appoints new finance chair

• Gov. Little announces new partnership with ICE

• New administrative rules published

• Attorney General Labrador statement on Prop 1 lawsuit

Video of the day

Rufo & Lomez were joined by Dr. Richard Ebright to discuss the evidence for a lab leak of Covid-19 as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci’s potential role in its creation:

Idaho Insider

I’m continuing to build out the state agencies hub at Idaho Insider. Explore the profiles of the offices that execute the policies created by our elected lawmakers, and get to know the people leading those offices as well.

Have you been catching the Daily Minute? It’s an exclusive publication of the Gem State Chronicle summing up what you need to know. You can subscribe on YouTube, Facebook, X, and even TikTok!

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you all!

I’d like to share a sneak preview with you of the latest addition to Idaho Insider. Idaho has dozens of state agencies, even hundreds depending on how you count them. I’ve taken the 3-4 dozen most important agencies and am in the process of adding them to Idaho Insider. Each agency will have its own profile page, showing its director, its establishing statute in Idaho Code or the Idaho Constitution, and a list of helpful links including social media and contact info:

Just like the legislator and legislative committee pages, you’ll be able to see the most recent articles and press releases at the Gem State Chronicle relating to this particular agency. I’m also looking into potentially having budget information on this page as well.

Theo Wold likes to say that Idaho has a full time government, but it’s the bureaucracy, not our elected legislators. I hope this tool will be helpful in understanding the depth and breadth of Idaho state government. What can be measured can be changed, and understanding the way things are now is the first step in serious reform.

Here comes the Liberty Bell

The 2026 Idaho Liberty Bell Tour is part of Idaho’s America250 celebration and will bring the Liberty Bell to communities across the state throughout the year. The tour will visit all 44 Idaho counties, giving Idahoans an opportunity to see this historic symbol of American liberty in their own communities.

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Healthy desserts?

Just because we eat a proper human diet doesn’t mean we have to give up our sweet tooth! Low carb desserts are so satisfying because healthy proteins and fats increase satiety and pack in vitamins and minerals. Plus, they don’t spike blood sugar or leave you bloated and water-logged like sugary, junky desserts do. Let’s dig in!

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Charges against evangelist dropped

Caleb Pirc, director of the Idaho Family Policy Center’s Legal Center, has good news regarding the case of Titus Folks, who was cited for trespassing at a Nampa pride event last summer:

I recently told you that the IFPC Legal Center is defending an evangelist who was prosecuted for trying to share the gospel at the Canyon County Pride Festival.

And now – only a few weeks later – those charges are being dropped!

Titus Folks was unconstitutionally charged with trespassing at a Nampa public park when he tried to respectfully discuss his faith outside the Pride festival fencing.

The case was referred to the county prosecuting attorney—and after investigating, they agreed with us that the charges against Titus violated the First Amendment.

Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Boyd has now officially asked the judge to dismiss the charges.

Read more at IFPC

Video of the day

Jake the Lawyer explains why Buc-ee’s seems to be suing every mom & pop convenience store around. Turns out, it’s a feature, not a bug, of copyright law:

Have you been catching the Daily Minute? It’s an exclusive publication of the Gem State Chronicle summing up what you need to know. You can subscribe on YouTube, Facebook, X, and even TikTok!

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you all!

Opinion contributor Art da Rosa took a closer look at House Joint Resolution 4 this week, a ballot question which would amend our state constitution to remove drug legalization from the initiative process. Is this a good idea? Or is it a step in the wrong direction?

Set marijuana policy itself aside for a moment and look only at the structure of what the Legislature is doing. HJR 4 invokes the exact principle this piece opened with — that lawmaking power belongs in one elected, deliberative body — and writes it permanently into the state constitution. But it does so for exactly one subject, at exactly the moment that subject threatens to be decided against the Legislature’s wishes by initiative, while leaving every other subject, including a wholesale rewrite of the state’s approach to abortion law, fully open to the same process it’s foreclosing here.

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Labrador: Holding Meta Accountable

Parents are the first line of defense for children in Idaho, and that role depends on accurate information. A mother deciding whether her thirteen-year-old can have an Instagram account is relying on what the company says the product does. When a company misrepresents that, the parent loses the ability to make the decision at all. Consumer protection law exists for exactly this reason. The requirement is that a company tell the truth about what it is selling, and Meta purposefully misled the public about the safety of its platforms. Enforcing that requirement is not the government substituting its judgment for a parent’s. It is the government making sure the parent has what she needs to exercise her own.

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McGrane: From Timber to Textbooks

As Secretary of State, I serve on the Idaho Land Board alongside Governor Brad Little, Attorney General Raúl Labrador, State Controller Brandon Woolf, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield. Together, we oversee nearly 2.5 million acres of state endowment land, much of which was granted to Idaho at statehood for a specific purpose: to generate revenue for public schools and other beneficiaries.

At our recent meeting, the Land Board approved a record $132.5 million distribution to Idaho’s schools, universities, and other beneficiaries, surpassing last year’s record of $117.3 million.

I had all of this on my mind during a recent visit to Lewiston, where I got to see two very different sides of Idaho’s forest products industry.

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Simpson on the move

Earlier this week, I sent out a survey asking Idahoans if they support protecting women’s sports. Despite this being an absolutely common-sense issue, given the recent WNBA headlines, I felt it was necessary to reaffirm my commitment to protecting women’s athletics and spaces.

As Idaho’s only appropriator, I take the responsibility of bringing taxpayer dollars back to Idaho very seriously. Personally, I’d rather see taxpayer dollars go to Idaho communities rather than communities in New York or California, wouldn’t you? I recently advanced funding for the USDA-ARS University of Idaho Aberdeen Research and Extension Center Potato Breeding Facilities Project in Aberdeen.

As Congress returns in the next few days, I am looking forward to a productive week back in DC. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please feel free to contact my office or send me an email.

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Press releases

• Labrador demands answers on accounting firms’ climate policies

• Fulcher signs on to bill meant to protect privacy

Lenney pushes back

Over on X, Sen. Brian Lenney responded to Attorney General Labrador’s newsletter regarding the Meta settlement:

$17.1 billion over ten years (a third of it contingent) against $200 billion a year in revenue?

For that, Meta bought a decade of goodwill, a press release from 47 states, and its preferred policy architecture entered as a court order that nobody had to vote on.

That’s not a company that got spanked.

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Video of the day

Rufo and Lomez had a robust discussion recently about the place that social media has in our society in light of the Meta settlement and the Lindsey Clancy trial. Worth watching, whether you’re a parent or not:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the Judicial Branch, which I’ve been building out over the past few days. I’m also working on an ambitious project to catalog all of the major state agencies, bringing you information about the bureaucracies that truly run our government. Stay tuned!

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Feature image from KTVB.

A debate is brewing over how Idaho should fund its public schools. Our State Constitution mandates that the Legislature “establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.” The debate ahead of the 2027 legislative session is over exactly how the Legislature should accomplish that mandate.

Idaho’s public school funding formula is rather complicated, but the basic idea is fairly simple: the state counts the children who actually attend school, converts that number into “support units” based on factors such as grade level, school size, and special needs, and then uses those support units to determine how much money each district receives. While activists and policymakers often point to approximately $9,000 in Idaho tax dollars spent per public school student, the formula is more complex than a single chunk of money allocated for each student. Attendance is the starting point, and the number and type of students being served determine how many support units a school generates.

According to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield, this formula has not undergone any meaningful updates for more than thirty years. Earlier this week, she issued an op-ed calling upon the Legislature to be open to reforming the funding formula:

When I think about what schools looked like 32 years ago, I can confidently tell you it’s not the same now. To name just a few: schools used blackboards, overhead projectors, and dial-up internet, available in a computer lab (if at all!). Our state was smaller, and we were over a decade away from the population boom we’ve recently experienced.

Between 1994 and today, the Idaho classroom has changed. Your life and household looks different from 1994 too. These changes are not limited to education; it’s just life. Our students deserve to be supported by a formula that reflects the needs of the 21st century, not those of students who sat in classrooms over three decades ago. In fact, many of the students from the early 90s now have their own children in our schools! And trust me, they have opinions on how we should educate.

[…]

So, what’s next? Now that the formal work of listening is logged, what can Idahoans expect as we dig into the work of revising and rewriting?

We will be working with legislators to help shape what changes will look like. That will include financial analyses and putting together models to be shared with districts and charters, the public at large, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, and anyone else that’s interested, as we head into next legislative session this winter.

The superintendent did not make any specific policy prescriptions regarding the funding formula, but I’m sure her office is already in discussions with legislators to craft a new system.

Something else is different between the 1990s and today, and that is how many students are enrolled in our public school system. Last December, I examined how the student population of Idaho has changed over the past few decades and found that, as a percentage of the total population, public school enrollment has dropped from 21.72% in 1991 to just 15.89% in 2024. Total public school enrollment peaked at just under 319,000 in 2022 but then declined over the following two years.

What does this mean for public school funding?

This paradigm has significant implications for budgeting and public policy in Idaho. Despite continual historic and unprecedented investments in public education, K-12 enrollment is not only shrinking as a share of the population but is now declining in raw numbers. Because the funding formula is based on enrollment, this means the cost per student can only increase. It costs a certain amount to run a district office, maintain buildings, and pay teachers and support staff regardless of how many students are enrolled. Inflation has made all of this more expensive as well.

Note: In the December 2025 article, I used the term “enrollment” to refer to the funding formula. “Attendance” is a more precise term, as Chris Cargill explains in his recent op-ed.

Schools have certain fixed costs, no matter how many students are enrolled. A building made to accommodate 1,000 students still has the same basic costs for electricity, heating and air conditioning, water and sewer, and some support staff even if it is serving only 500. If each grade level loses five students, that’s not necessarily enough to lay off one teacher and consolidate classrooms, but it could decrease the amount of money received from state coffers. This is a real issue districts face, but preserving the status quo should not be the goal of our funding formula.

Earlier this year, I took a look at Boise School District’s open enrollment reports, which showed how many vacancies there were in classrooms and grade levels throughout the district. The state requires districts to publish these reports so families who want to enroll their children in a different district than the one in which they live can know where there is available space. It never made it into an article, but what I found was that many grade levels throughout Boise had up to dozens of available seats. At the time, there were more than 4,000 open spots in the district as a whole, not counting virtual or special schools. That many vacancies would suggest that some sort of consolidation might be warranted to account for decreasing enrollment. However, the Boise School Board decided to raise taxes by 18% instead.

Indeed, the contrast between Boise and neighboring West Ada School District is a reminder that money isn’t everything. Boise taxpayers spend more than $16,000 per student, compared to less than $10,000 per student in West Ada. Yet West Ada clearly outperforms Boise when it comes to several measures of student outcomes. Its graduation rate is 88.8%, compared to Boise’s 82.3%. On the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT), West Ada students averaged 69.1% in English language arts and 57.6% in math, compared to 53.3% and 46.4% in Boise.

If money were solely responsible for student success, then Boise would be at the top of the charts. Yet public school advocates inevitably demand more money every year, arguing that our public schools are underfunded. Late last year, a coalition of school districts, teachers’ unions, and individuals sued Idaho over the Parental Choice Tax Credit, claiming that the $50 million appropriation detracted from the Legislature’s constitutional mandate to fund public schools—despite the state already spending around $3 billion a year on public education, plus much more from local taxpayers in the form of bonds and levies.

Money isn’t everything; how we spend money is perhaps more important than the total amount. So how should we fund our public schools? Mountain States Policy Center President Chris Cargill’s recent op-ed warned that shifting to an enrollment-based formula, rather than our current system based on attendance, is the wrong idea:

Idaho’s ADA system isn’t as unforgiving as critics sometimes portray it. For funding purposes, the state can use the 28 weeks with the highest average daily attendance. There are also protections for unusual attendance disruptions. In other words, a flu outbreak, a terrible snow week or a child staying home sick for a few days doesn’t automatically blow a hole in a district’s budget.

There is another reason Idaho lawmakers should be cautious about turning enrollment into a blank check. We recently discovered that the definition of “enrolled” can be considerably more expansive than many parents realize.

During implementation of Idaho’s new Parental Choice Tax Credit, some homeschool families were surprised to discover that their children were considered enrolled in public schools because they participated in activities such as sports, cheerleading or after-school clubs.

Some families didn’t even know their children were considered enrolled until it suddenly mattered. That became an issue because Idaho’s original parental choice law generally prohibited families from receiving the credit during a semester in which their child was enrolled in a public school. Lawmakers wisely corrected the problem in 2026, clarifying that participation in nonacademic extracurricular activities does not make a student “enrolled” for purposes of the parental choice program.

Cargill concluded with this:

The purpose of Idaho’s education system is to serve students. The purpose of students is not to fund the system.

As we near the 2027 legislative session, let’s have a sober and rational discussion about how to best fund the students our public education system is meant to serve. Superintendent Critchfield is absolutely right that the 21st century has changed the way classroom education takes place. We need a nimble and agile system that gets the best bang for its buck and produces well-educated adults ready to take up the mantle of citizenship in our Republic—not one that exists to serve ossified special interests like the teachers’ union.

I believe there are some basic principles around which conservatives should be able to unite:

• Funding must be based on real students, not accounting categories.

• Fixed costs are real, and districts need predictability, but they don’t justify permanently insulating districts from enrollment changes.

• Funding must be transparent enough that citizens can understand how their money is being used. Conversely, districts must be held accountable for how they use taxpayer money.

• The funding formula should be based on what works best for students, not designed to protect existing institutions.

• Most importantly, more money should no longer be treated as synonymous with better education.

Our students deserve the best education possible, and taxpayers deserve the best investment possible. I think it’s possible for a system to accomplish both, but it’s going to take hard work and involvement from you. If you’re not talking to your lawmakers, know that special interests and lobbyists are, and their concerns might not be the same as yours. As a reminder, you can share your thoughts on this issue directly with your elected legislators using tools like Email the Legislature at Idaho Insider.

Feature image created with Microsoft Copilot.

Critchfield and Cargill talk public school funding

Here are the two op-eds to which I referred in my article today.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield:

Last winter, we began work on a task that many in Idaho have said is long overdue: updating our K-12 public school funding formula. We’ve heard it from our school leaders doing the high-level strategic work that keeps our educational communities healthy. We’ve heard it from our teachers on the frontline who see how funding challenges create struggles in the classroom for both students and faculty. And – perhaps most importantly – we’ve heard from parents who rightfully expect our public school system to deliver an education for their student, no matter what their needs may be.

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Mountain States Policy Center President Chris Cargill:

For several years, Idaho’s public school establishment has pushed lawmakers to make a seemingly simple change in the way taxpayers fund public education: Stop funding schools based largely on the students who actually attend and start funding them based on the students who are enrolled.

It sounds like an accounting change. It isn’t.

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Prop 1 represents a culture of death

Idaho GOP chairwoman Dorothy Moon warned this week that Prop 1 would take Idaho down the path that leads to partial-birth abortion, infanticide, and assisted suicide:

Any student of history knows where dehumanizing language can lead. Look no further than our own nation’s struggle with African slavery, or the genocidal campaigns of Nazi Germany less than a century ago.

Idaho has another choice: vote no on Prop 1 and continue building a culture of life rather than death. Idahoans are rightfully proud that our state stands for the personhood of the unborn and for the right of children to live free of fear, persecution, or indoctrination.

Life and death are literally on the ballot this November. I am confident that Idaho will choose life. Vote no on Prop 1.

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Press releases

• Labrador to honor first responders

• DEQ seeks comment on proposed settlement

• Labrador wins settlement with Glenmark

• Labrador wins settlement with Meta

• Labrador wins settlement with Tactical Traders

• Little announces administration changes

• Little honors Major General Darrell Manning

• Dept. of Insurance plans to take over Idaho School Benefit Trust

Lenney is nonplussed with Meta settlement

Sen. Brian Lenney is concerned that the new deal with Meta will do little to protect children:

What is “continuous spending”?

Brett Farruggia at Idaho Freedom Foundation digs deeper into off-book spending, which is insulated from transparency for legislators and citizens alike:

Idaho spent around $17.6 billion in fiscal year 2025 (FY25), with $4.62 billion of that spent on what are called continuous appropriations. This amounts to roughly a quarter of the budget, and it was about the same amount as all expenditures of federal funds ($4.94 billion). As opposed to the regular appropriations process, where the Legislature fixes a specific dollar amount in an annual appropriation, continuous appropriations authorize agencies to spend money within a fund without an annual dollar cap. These are often created in statute, and spending is determined by cash flow into these accounts rather than appropriated directly.

Read more at IFF

Video of the day

Did you catch Idaho Signal’s coverage of new laws related to public school instruction? Dr. Samuel Lair, Sen. Tammy Nichols, Rep. Barb Ehardt, and others joined Matt Edwards to talk about education policy as students headed back to school this month:

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Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the Judicial Branch, which I’ve been building out over the past few days.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Democrats have a tenuous relationship with the concept of private property. If you do business, they want to regulate it; if you make money, they want to confiscate it; if you have an idea, they want to expropriate it. Despite claiming they are not communists or socialists (well, most of them still deny it), it’s an article of faith on the left that your money belongs collectively to the people, and, as the voice of the people, they get to decide how to use it.

I was reminded of this when I read an op-ed in the Idaho Capital Sun over the weekend by Robert Huntley, a 94-year-old former Democratic legislator who also served on the Idaho Supreme Court in the 1980s. Huntley was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1998, losing to Republican Dirk Kempthorne 67.7% to 29.07%. In his piece, Huntley asserts that Idaho’s economy has been severely damaged by tax cuts, and he proposes a committee to decide how to raise them. He calls Idaho the “Mississippi of the Northwest” with regard to public school funding. He apparently has not heard of the “Mississippi Miracle,” in which student performance in that state has risen not because of additional funding, but because of policy changes regarding how students are taught, including a switch to phonics for reading instruction.

Huntley cites numbers from the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy (ICFP) which claim that state revenue was reduced by more than $4 billion because of tax cuts over the past few years. Longtime readers will recall that ICFP is not a disinterested nonprofit, as the Capital Sun implies, but one small part of a massive, multibillion-dollar NGO complex designed to divert your tax dollars to its own programs, most of which involve settling refugees in Idaho.

In December 2025, I wrote an article titled “The NGO Hydra Using Your Money to Reshape Society” about an organization named Jannus and its many heads, each working in tandem to separate you from your money and replace you with migrants and refugees:

So how independent is ICFP, which just released a report lamenting that the government “allowed” citizens to keep too much of their own money? Not very. It is one small part of a massive web of NGOs and nonprofits, all designed to convince the government to take more of your money and give it to them for their own purposes. While the mythical Janus had two faces, the modern Jannus is akin to the hydra, which had many.

One head of this hydra issues reports like this, claiming that we need higher taxes to support more government spending on social programs. Another head lobbies the Legislature to create more of these social programs and to appropriate more money—federal and state—to them. Finally, yet another head stands ready to apply for these new grants and distribute them as they see fit. Oftentimes, the purpose of the grants is to incorporate more people into government dependence. Refugees, for example—the primary focus of Jannus now—are brought here and immediately enrolled in myriad taxpayer-supported programs, all with Jannus acting as the middleman.

As IFF’s Fred Birnbaum said during testimony against an IVC-supported bill last year: “You know the old saying ‘All roads lead to Rome?’ Well, all government-created committees lead to the call for more government spending.”

This is not the first time that the Idaho Capital Sun has laundered ICFP talking points under the guise of objective news. Late last year, it published an article that was essentially a rewritten ICFP press release, announcing the $4 billion gap and urging the Legislature to reverse recent tax cuts. Yet the opposite happened during the 2026 session. Facing uncertain revenue numbers, lawmakers and Gov. Brad Little cut the budget instead, much to the consternation of Democrats, their friends in the news media, and a few confused Republicans like Sen. Jim Guthrie.

Last month, Kevin Richert at Idaho EdNews reported that Gov. Little and House Republicans were arguing over who deserved more credit for the budget cuts. What a welcome change from the way blue states—and blue outlets in red states like the Idaho Capital Sun—cover budgetary issues. Nearly every Republican in Idaho agrees that your money belongs to you, and that it is the government’s job to make do with as little of the people’s money as possible.

Republicans have traditionally believed that governments at all levels have certain roles to play in society, and that maintaining freedom for the people necessarily entails putting limits on the role of government. Just because a legislator, bureaucrat, or activist has what they believe to be a terrific idea (or, more likely, sees an opportunity to enrich themselves off the taxpayer) doesn’t mean it’s something the government should do. Most conservatives agree that the government is too big already, which means cutting budgets and programs should be on the agenda, rather than raising taxes and spending even more.

The worldview of people like Robert Huntley seems to be one in which government is the spoke in the wheel, at the center of all things, without which nothing is possible. Huntley (or whomever wrote his op-ed) assumes the premise that the economy is dependent upon government programs, and that anything “we can be proud of” is dependent upon raising taxes.

Huntley and his friends are always welcome to relocate to California, Illinois, or New York, where the rotten fruits of their presuppositions have become apparent. As for me, I’m happy to be in Idaho, where government is a necessary evil rather than the all-consuming center of our lives.

Feature image created with Microsoft Copilot.

Today’s press releases

• DEQ to hold meeting on Felt hydro project

• Labrador to honor nine first responders

Video of the day

Rufo and Lomez were joined by Nick Freitas to discuss where the American right goes from here. Perhaps the most intelligent group of podcasters in one room, except when Victor Davis Hanson broadcasts alone.

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator. I recently made some adjustments to the calculator, including adding sliders for dedicated funds and updating the final FY2026 numbers now that DFM has published them.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Readers of the Gem State Chronicle recall how Democratic power brokers pushed their own nominee, David Roth, out of the U.S. Senate race in favor of “independent” candidate Todd Achilles. This morning in The Hill, I explain how this has become a nationwide phenomenon:

Democrats are purging their brand from red-state ballots and bracing for a civil war over that same brand everywhere else. When a party isn’t sure what it stands for, it is easier just not to say anything.

Idaho Democrats had made a habit of swapping candidates on their own ballot line, but the legislature closed that loophole in 2025, declaring that the winner of the primary must be the candidate in November, barring death or disqualification. Simply withdrawing in favor of an independent does not violate that law, but it is still a betrayal of the party’s own voters.

Read the whole op-ed at The Hill

Big tech tax breaks

I’ve written about the tax breaks that Big Tech firms enjoy in Idaho, and examined the pros and cons of using tax incentives to attract development. Over the weekend, Sen. Brian Lenney called for a full elimination of those tax breaks:

Brian Lenney

Idaho's $50 Billion Handout

A guy on X posted this week that the “experts are in shock,” that Micron is putting $50 billion into Boise, that it’ll produce 17,000 jobs, and that this is huge for Americans…

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14 days ago · 24 likes · 5 comments · Brian Lenney

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Money for rural health

Sen. Camille Blaylock says that grants for $97 million in federal funds for rural health initiatives are now open. Providers can apply for funding for building renovations, tech and cybersecurity upgrades, workforce support, and other investments that will benefit local communities:

Camille Blaylock

$97 Million Is on the Table

Remember when I told you I wanted small providers to actually have a shot at Idaho’s nearly $1 billion in rural health money…

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12 days ago · 2 likes · Camille for Idaho

What is kratom anyway?

Rep. Rob Beiswenger posted an essay for the Idaho Freedom Caucus taking a closer look at the controversy over kratom:

Idaho Freedom Caucus Substack

Kratom Crazies: Hero complex and media panic fuel poor legislation

The media loves to manufacture a crisis and many politicians love to play the hero to step in and save the day…

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13 days ago · 8 likes · 3 comments · Idaho Freedom Caucus

Congressman Simpson is out and about

It was a productive week in Idaho’s Second District! I enjoyed having meetings with constituents and businesses in Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, and Boise.

First and foremost, after returning to Twin Falls for several meetings, I have to say how amazed I am by the strength of the Twin Falls community following the horrific shooting. God bless the people of Twin Falls, our brave law enforcement and first responders, and the brave individuals who acted swiftly and courageously.

Over in Boise, I had the opportunity to visit Western States Cat and learn more about their new and used equipment. Their equipment serves homeowners, contractors, and businesses throughout Idaho and the West.

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Video of the day

John Doyle takes a provocative look at what the Founding Fathers really meant when they wrote “all men are created equal”. It’s important to seriously contend with their ideas and beliefs rather than handwaving them into avatars of our own political positions, which is something that occurs all too often on both the left and the right.

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator. I recently made some adjustments to the calculator, including adding sliders for dedicated funds and updating the final FY2026 numbers now that DFM has published them.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Vice President J.D. Vance raised some eyebrows at a rally yesterday when he alluded to Huey Long, a Louisiana politician from the 1930s who advocated outright socialist positions while using his power to maintain near-absolute control of his state. Vance said:

“The great southern populist—probably most of you in the room don’t know who I’m talking about, but he’s an interesting guy—kind of a crazy guy—his name was Huey Long, and he once said: ‘every man a king’ was the goal of his political program. But no man is a king if their castle is under siege by criminals. No man is a king if they can’t take their family out to dinner without being mugged or having their car jacked.”

Huey Long was a fascinating and larger-than-life character in American history. He was born into poverty, worked his way through school, and eventually passed the bar to practice law in Louisiana. He quickly found a populist niche, attacking big business and cronyism and developing a reputation for fighting for the common man. He was elected governor in 1928 and immediately began consolidating power. Depending on whom you asked, he was either a champion of the little guy or a complete dictator.

One of Governor Long’s first actions was calling a special session of the Legislature to enact a five-cent-per-barrel tax on refined oil in order to fund his social agenda. He accused anyone who opposed the tax of having been bought by the oil companies. Outrage over the proposal and his rhetoric drove legislators toward impeachment, and an attempt to adjourn the special session before a vote led to a brawl on the House floor. With his political future in the hands of the Senate, Long garnered enough support to avoid conviction, and the session disbanded without an ultimate vote.

Surviving impeachment only made Long more powerful than his enemies could possibly have imagined. He ran for U.S. Senate in 1930, winning with 57.3% of the vote. However, he refused to leave the governor’s office and occupied both seats for more than a year. He feared that if he resigned the governorship, his lieutenant governor, Paul Cyr, would undo his populist reforms. In fact, Cyr attempted to declare himself the acting governor when Long visited Mississippi in October 1931, but Long ordered National Guard troops to surround the Capitol to put down what he called a coup attempt. A court later agreed with Long that Cyr had illegally tried to seize power and expelled him from his seat.

According to historian T. Harry Williams, “the secret of Long’s power, in the final analysis, was not in his machine or his political dealings but in his record—he delivered something.” Under Huey Long’s administration, Louisiana constructed roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, and a new capitol building that remains the tallest in the fifty states. He invested a lot of taxpayer dollars in Louisiana State University, turning it into one of the top schools in the South.

He also ordered LSU to expel students who criticized him in the student newspaper, which is the flip side of the coin when it comes to populist dictators like Huey Long.

Long supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, but by 1935 he believed his New Deal programs didn’t go far enough. Long wanted to use socialist ideas to fix the Great Depression, including a 100% tax on earnings over $1 million and a cap on accumulated wealth over $100 million. He called it the “Share Our Wealth” plan and promised a basic universal household grant of $5,000 to start, followed by an annual income of one-third the national average. He promised free college and vocational training, subsidies for farmers, old-age pensions, mandatory vacation, a 30-hour workweek, and more. He promised that every man would be a king.

Roosevelt began to fear that Long would challenge him from the left in the 1936 election and began voicing support for programs such as Social Security to try to blunt Long’s populist appeal. History, however, would take the problem off the table. Carl Weiss, the son-in-law of a Louisiana judge whose district was being gerrymandered out of existence, walked up to Huey Long at the Capitol in Baton Rouge and shot him once in the chest. A day and a half later, the Kingfish was dead.

I find Huey Long to be a fascinating historical figure, though of course I disagree with nearly all of his policy positions. His career shows how socialists can seize populist issues to gain political power. Unlike some left-wing populists, Long accomplished things for his constituents, but at a terrible cost. Americans have always known that poverty and hard times are breeding grounds for communism and socialism, which is why we poured billions of dollars into Europe via the Marshall Plan after World War II to ensure communism did not gain a foothold in Greece, Italy, or West Germany. It was the equivalent of U.S. Army Surgeon General William Gorgas clearing the swamps of Panama to eliminate mosquitoes carrying yellow fever and malaria.

Some on the right have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, believing that recognizing the problems with poverty and hard times is akin to advocating for socialism itself. Some free-market conservatives have been attacking Vice President Vance for expressing sympathy with young people today who find the American Dream increasingly out of reach. “Just let the market work,” they say, forgetting that we haven’t had a truly free market in America for generations. We can recognize the problem without adopting the left-wing solutions advocated by men like Huey Long or Bernie Sanders.

This is exactly what Vance was doing in that speech yesterday. He recognized the struggles facing young Americans today and recognized that the obstacles in their path are not the same obstacles faced by previous generations. Our government has imposed innumerable barrier over the past century, from mass migration to DEI policies to the welfare state, each of which makes the American Dream that much harder for hardworking young people to achieve.

Removing these barriers is not “government overreach.” Securing our borders, cracking down on companies hiring foreign workers instead of Americans, eliminating DEI requirements, and reducing the confiscatory taxation necessary to support an expanding welfare state are not the same things as imposing wealth taxes, capping incomes, and overregulating free enterprise. Yet to the free-market critics of men like J.D. Vance, they’re the same picture.

Yesterday’s announcement by President Donald Trump regarding beef imports perfectly demonstrates the paradigm at play here. American beef prices are sky-high right now, and ranchers say it will take years to rebuild American cattle herds after the mismanagement and overregulation of the Biden administration. Americans are suffering (I’ve been buying more ground turkey for my family than ground beef lately), so Trump took action to eliminate tariffs on ground beef for the next three months. Ranchers are outraged, and even Congressman Thomas Massie denounced the plan, despite having opposed tariffs in the past. I suppose in his case, libertarian principles long ago gave way to simply being reflexively anti-Trump.

You surely see the conundrum here: American ranchers want high prices—after all, they have mortgages to pay and families to feed. Yet regular Americans have families to feed as well, which is harder to do when the cost of food is going up along with everything else. This is just the sort of populist moment that left-wing demagogues can seize upon to advance their own power. A Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would suggest that the problem is greedy ranchers and beef processors, and the answer is high taxes, more regulation, or perhaps even just nationalizing the industry altogether.

President Trump didn’t do that. He relaxed import duties for a set period, with the express goal of allowing American ranchers more time to increase supply. It makes sense to me.

When generations face a moment of crisis, they care less about ideological purity than they do about solving the problems at hand. We understood this in 1948, when we sent billions of dollars to rebuild Europe lest those war-weary and impoverished populations turn to the communist banner. We seem to have forgotten it today, as we tell millions of young Americans that they are to blame for their situation and that they must simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps despite the way in which the game has been rigged against them.

Simply repeating “socialism sucks” is not going to stop the specter that is haunting America. We must remove the barriers that government has placed in front of young people and allow the free market to work rather than giving it lip service while ignoring the reality of the situation. J.D. Vance understands this at a much deeper level than most politicians, having grown up in the wreckage of outsourcing, decline, and economic despair. In the same speech in which he invoked Huey Long, Vance pointed out that Democrats like former Ohio senator Sherrod Brown pretend to be the friend of the working man while supporting policies—such as mass migration—that undermine American workers at every turn.

There is no third way in front of us. We either follow Vance’s lead, or we open the door for a modern Huey Long who will promise young people everything they’ve ever dreamed of, the cost of which they won’t know until it’s too late.

Labrador Letter

The grizzly bear is one of the most emblematic animals of the Mountain West, and it is a perfect example of the federal government continuously overreaching into state affairs and management. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been a frequent vehicle bringing federal bureaucracy into states, particularly in the West. Spotted owls, wolves, salmon – each one with stifling regulation and economy-collapsing rules.

Grizzly bears were listed as a protected species in 1975. Fifty years later, the grizzly population has grown, and the bears have naturally pushed into areas where Idahoans live, work, and recreate. That expansion comes with public safety risks, damage to private property and livestock, and a heavy management burden on our state agencies and local communities.

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McGrane reflects

Our lives can become consumed by whatever is immediately in front of us. The next election. The next controversy. The next deadline. But spend time with these texts and you quickly realize that many of the questions we think are uniquely ours aren’t unique at all.

We are a small part of a much longer human story.

At the same time, we have inherited something extraordinary. Our constitutional system of self-government has been built, tested, debated, defended, and improved upon by generations before us. We don’t own it. For a time, we are simply its stewards.

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Video of the day

Rufo & Lomez discuss the craziness of the modern world, from universities rallying around DEI plagiarizers to Flock cameras on every street corner:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator. I just made some adjustments to the calculator, including adding sliders for dedicated funds and updating the final FY2026 numbers now that DFM has published them.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

The Legislative District 14 Republican Central Committee unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday opposing Proposition 1, the abortion measure appearing on Idaho’s November 3, 2026, general election ballot.

The resolution formally declares the committee’s opposition to Proposition 1 and urges Idaho voters to vote NO on the measure.

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Chairwoman Moon busts abortion myths

In just a few short months, Idaho voters will be asked if they want to legalize abortion in the Gem State. In spite of all the rhetoric you’ve heard about Proposition 1—how it’s about reproductive freedom, about choice, about saving women’s lives—in the end, it comes down to abortion: the willing destruction of an unborn human life.

I’ve seen a lot of myths and misinformation being spread about both Prop 1 and Idaho’s abortion laws, so I’d like to set the record straight.

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Update from Congressman Fulcher

Law-abiding Idahoans should never have to worry that their firearm or ammunition purchases are being tracked by financial institutions.

H.R. 1181, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act, protects the privacy and Second Amendment rights of gun owners by prohibiting payment card networks and processors from assigning merchant category codes that specifically identify firearm retailers.

I am glad to share that this legislation has passed the House with my support.

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Press releases

• Sen. Crapo is working to find information on missing service members

• Judge Gene Petty to be sworn in to Idaho Court of Appeals

• DEQ seeks comment on proposed settlement

Video of the day

Nick Freitas on what a DSA victory in Florida means for the political situation nationwide, as well as what conservative activists should be doing in their own states:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator. I’ll be making some adjustments to the calculator in the near future now that the final FY2026 numbers are official.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Yesterday, Gov. Brad Little selected Judge Jason Scott of Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District to succeed retiring Justice Richard Bevan on the Idaho Supreme Court. Bevan, who currently serves as chief justice, steps down on October 30; his fellow justices have already chosen Justice Robyn Brody to take over as chief. The governor was given three names by the Judicial Council, which is made up of nine members, including the sitting chief justice. Scott will be up for election in 2030, and if tradition holds, he will likely run unopposed.

Longtime readers may recall my 2025 article “Voting For Justice,” in which I laid out how Idaho’s judicial elections have become an exercise in theater: only one sitting Supreme Court justice has lost a contested race since the 1940s, and only one sitting justice has even been challenged since 2000. Four of the court’s five current members reached the bench through gubernatorial appointment rather than a contested election.

Today, I want to go further and ask what alternatives Idaho might have. The other 49 states and the federal government have their own methods for filling judicial vacancies, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Ballotpedia lists eight major methods for filling judgeships:

• Partisan election

• Nonpartisan election

• Michigan method (hybrid)

• Legislative election

• Gubernatorial appointment

• Assisted appointment (Bar-controlled)

• Assisted appointment (governor-controlled)

• Assisted appointment (hybrid)

Idaho has a sort of hybrid method for electing judges, though Ballotpedia lists us as having purely nonpartisan elections. Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges are elected to six-year terms, while district judges serve four-year terms. Magistrates—the judges who handle traffic tickets and other minor issues—are appointed by commissions overseen by district judges and then face retention elections. Voters are asked whether to retain the magistrate, and the only options are “yes” or “no.”

However, should a vacancy occur at the district level or above, the Judicial Council forwards three or four names to the governor, who then selects one. That person serves the remainder of the term and then stands for election in his or her own right, often unopposed. That means that, in practice, Idaho is much closer to an appointment method than simply nonpartisan elections.

The Judicial Council, which controls which candidates reach the governor’s desk, is made up of nine members: the sitting chief justice, plus eight others—a district court judge, a magistrate judge, two lawyers, and four non-attorney members—each appointed by the governor and subject to Senate approval. However, the judge seats are, in practice, controlled by the Supreme Court, and candidates for the lawyer seats are nominated by the Idaho State Bar Commission.

This is very different from the way our federal government works. Federal judges are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate, and they serve life terms. This is meant to insulate them from the political process by ensuring that they neither have to face a direct election nor feel pressure from an executive for renomination. Citizen oversight of the federal judiciary, then, is indirect, through the elected president and senators.

Idaho could adopt the federal system and give the governor authority to appoint anyone qualified for a judgeship, with Senate approval. Rather than being limited to a handful of names submitted by the Judicial Council, the governor could choose from among the thousands of Idahoans qualified to serve as a district judge or on the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court. That candidate would then face tough questions in the Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee and then a vote of the whole Senate. Imagine Sen. Brian Lenney asking pointed questions of a prospective Supreme Court justice in a public hearing!

Of course, it’s possible that Idaho voters would balk at taking away even the pretense of voting for judges and justices. Another option would be the Texas model: full partisan elections at every level of the judicial branch. Judicial candidates run just like legislative and executive candidates: in a partisan primary, with the winners advancing to the general election. Candidates in this system are forced to be much more open about their judicial philosophy and how it fits into the modern political context. Parties campaign on behalf of their judicial candidates, just as they do for other candidates.

One effect of partisan judicial elections is that many voters simply vote the party line, and this could result in less-qualified candidates being elected to the courts. However, in theory, voters have complete control over the process. Another potential downside is the influx of campaign contributions into these races. A 2003 paper published by the Federalist Society suggested that plaintiffs’ attorneys have a much larger pool of cash with which to influence judicial elections.

Right now, Idaho seems to exhibit the worst of both worlds. We elect our judges, but most run unopposed, making the process more theatrical than anything else. The governor has authority to fill vacancies, but is given a selection of names that have already been vetted by a small cartel of insiders, and the Senate has very little involvement in the process.

In 2022, Reps. Mike Moyle and Greg Chaney sponsored House Bill 782, which would have overhauled the Judicial Council and judicial appointment process. It would have increased the council’s membership from seven to eleven, given the governor more leeway in appointing members to the council, reduced the terms for judges and justices from six to four years, explicitly allowed the governor to reject the list of candidates from the Judicial Council, and added more public transparency regarding the Judicial Council’s deliberations.

H782 passed both chambers but was vetoed by Gov. Brad Little. In his veto letter, the governor said he agreed with many provisions of the bill but wanted more time to examine the ideas with relevant stakeholders.

The Legislature came back in 2023 with Senate Bill 1148, carried by Sen. Abby Lee, who was the floor sponsor for H782, and Rep. Bruce Skaug. This much more limited bill increased the Judicial Council to nine members, gave the governor the ability to choose from a slate submitted by the Idaho State Bar rather than allowing the Bar to directly appoint members, allowed the governor to ask for additional nominees from the Judicial Council, and increased public transparency. This bill passed both chambers overwhelmingly and was signed into law by Gov. Little.

That same year, Sen. Lee introduced Senate Bill 1157, which would have denied senior status to judges who resigned before the end of their term. It was sent to the amending order by the Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee and never taken up. Sen. Phil Hart introduced similar legislation in 2026 that also failed to reach the floor.

If you could snap your fingers and change the way Idaho selects judges, which method would you choose? Which method do you think would have the support of the people and their elected representatives? Judges and justices make up the third branch of our state government and have enormous power over policy, the structure of our society, and our daily lives. It’s important to ensure that these judges are men and women of good character who have a deep understanding of and respect for the law and the traditions of our civilization, and who resist ephemeral political pressure. What’s the best way to accomplish that?

If you have ideas, share them with your legislators, especially with those who sit on the Senate and House judiciary committees. The only way things change is if enough people demand it.

Feature image created with Microsoft Copilot.

Labrador weighs in on grizzly management

Attorney General Raúl Labrador submitted formal comments this week to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, calling on the agency to delist grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act and warning that the current federal rule invites activist lawyers to hijack Idaho’s wildlife management at taxpayers’ expense.

The comments respond to a revised proposal the Trump Administration issued July 17, 2026, revising the Endangered Species Act’s “4d rule” governing grizzly bear protections in the Lower 48 states. That proposal followed a separate version the Biden Administration issued January 15, 2025, the week before leaving office, which Idaho criticized at the time. The Trump Administration undertook a fresh review of the rule before issuing its own proposal this summer. Labrador’s letter supports the Administration’s stated goal of cutting federal bureaucracy and expanding state flexibility, while identifying specific changes still needed in the July proposal to achieve that goal.

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DEQ seeks comment

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) seeks public comment on a proposed settlement action with the City of Bellevue (City), regarding its central wastewater treatment and reuse facility in Blaine County, ID.

DEQ alleges that the City failed to comply with conditions of Reuse Permit No. M-112-03, which was issued under IDAPA 58.01.17, Recycled Water Rules. Alleged violations include permit renewal deficiencies, noncompliance associated with treatment system failures and bypass operations, inadequate operation and maintenance practices, improper management of the rapid infiltration basins, monitoring and sampling deficiencies, failure to conduct required lagoon seepage testing, and incomplete reuse groundwater monitoring compliance activity.

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Is our children reading?

Late last year, I wrote about attempts to move Idaho public schools back to a phonics-based instruction for early reading. Today’s press release from the Idaho Department of Education suggests that it is paying off, though it’s still very early to draw decisive conclusions:

Idaho students made gains across the state’s spring assessments, with significant growth in early literacy and increased proficiency in every subject measured by the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) and the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT), according to newly released statewide results.

This year’s scores demonstrate overall gains on both assessments. ISAT results show an increase in students scoring at grade level for the past three years, while IRI results indicate that K-3 students and teachers have had success in the second administration of a new, more rigorous IRI assessment.

Both assessments are administered to Idaho students each school year. The ISAT, designed to assess students in grades 3 – 8 and 11 on math and English language arts as well as students in grades 5, 8, and 11 on science, is administered every spring. The IRI, which assesses phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, is given to K-3 students every spring and fall.

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Video of the day

What exactly is a data center, anyway? Linus Sebastian, who took a tour of Micron a few years ago, donned his lederhosen to visit a German data center that prides itself on being as cheap and efficient as possible:

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Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

This morning, Gov. Brad Little announced his selection of Ada County District Judge Jason Scott to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice Richard Bevan, effective October 30. Scott has spent the past 12 years as a district judge in Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District, which includes Ada and Valley counties. Prior to that, Scott earned a degree in accounting from Idaho State University and a law degree from Duke University. He clerked for U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill before spending seven years with the Boise law firm Hawley Troxell.

Scott was one of three names submitted to Gov. Little by the Judicial Council, along with Leslie Hayes, a judge in the Office of Administrative Hearings, and Cynthia Yee-Wallace, a fellow judge in Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District.

Judge Scott has made several impactful rulings during his tenure as a district judge. Last year, he heard Adkins v. State of Idaho, in which a group of women and doctors asserted that Idaho’s abortion ban was unconstitutionally restrictive regarding a physician’s determination of when an abortion might be necessary to save the life of the mother. He ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the medical question, stating that Idaho law allowed doctors to perform an abortion if there was a non-negligible risk of death, but upheld the law on the constitutional question.

The opinion suggests that Judge Scott applied a careful reading of Idaho’s traditional laws regarding abortion—the practice was prohibited in the Idaho Territory—as well as the precedent set by the Idaho Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. State of Idaho, which upheld our state’s abortion bans. That opinion was written by Justice Robyn Brody, who was elected chief justice by her colleagues last week.

In early 2024, Judge Scott ruled against Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s claim that the State Board of Education had violated Idaho’s open meetings laws regarding the proposal for the University of Idaho to buy the University of Phoenix for more than $500 million. The Supreme Court later remanded the case, overruling Scott’s decision, but the purchase fell through before a final determination could be made.

Judge Scott’s decisions seem to show a pattern of threading the needle—deciding cases on narrow procedural grounds rather than making sweeping legal statements. In 2020, Scott ruled that Kanye West could remain on Idaho’s presidential ballot as an independent, rejecting arguments from the Idaho Democratic Party that he should be disallowed because he was registered as a Republican in Wyoming. In 2025, Scott dismissed a lawsuit by the Oneida School District regarding a change in school funding options. In 2024, Scott ruled against a Meridian woman who was cited by the city for living in a tiny home in a manner that violated the city’s zoning ordinances.

Judge Scott will be sworn in as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court effective October 30, 2026, and will be up for reelection in 2030. As the incumbent, it is not likely that he will face a challenger. Whatever one’s opinion of Judge Scott himself, the fact is that Gov. Little was given a choice of three names out of the more than 2,000 Idahoans who meet the criteria to serve as a Supreme Court justice, and his selection is likely to remain on the court until he decides to retire. Idaho voters don’t have much of a say in the matter.

Several Idaho lawmakers have called for reform of the judicial appointment process over the past few years. Sen. Brian Lenney wrote in 2025 that the Judicial Council, which submits a list of names to the governor for appointment, is the “gatekeeper” of the process and demanded its abolition. Sen. Phil Hart introduced legislation in the 2026 session to disallow judges who retire before the end of their term from assuming senior status, as well as another bill that would prohibit judges appointed to fill a vacancy from standing for the next regular election. Neither made it to the Senate floor.

Nevertheless, calls for reform are growing. I’ll take a look at our options in a future piece.

Feature image is a file photo from East Idaho News.

Little appoints Scott

“Judge Scott has dedicated his career to the law and to serving the people of Idaho. His experience as a practicing attorney and a district judge gives him a strong understanding of both the courtroom and the broader legal system. I am confident he will bring thoughtful judgment, a strong work ethic, and a deep commitment to the rule of law to the Idaho Supreme Court,” Governor Little said.

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Labrador versus Meta

Ahead of opening statements, Attorney General Raúl Labrador today issued the following statement as a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general began presenting their case against Meta, alleging the social media giant knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Facebook and Instagram that drive compulsive use of the platforms by children and teens, while falsely assuring parents and the public that its platforms were safe for young users.

“Protecting children in Idaho is one of the most important responsibilities of my office,” said Attorney General Labrador. “Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict young, developing minds while misleading parents about the dangers of its platforms. Meta put profits ahead of the well-being of children, and we intend to hold the company fully accountable.”

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DOPL warns of new scams

The Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL) is warning licensees to remain vigilant against fraudulent phone calls, emails, and other communications from individuals pretending to represent DOPL or a professional licensing board.

Scammers may contact licensees claiming to be investigators with DOPL and inform the licensee that their license is under investigation for illegal or unlawful activities. The scammers may threaten license suspension and/or revocation over fabricated investigations, sometimes involving federal agencies or federal law enforcement. The scammers may also request sensitive personal or financial information, including date of birth, Social Security number, payment information, and other identifying information. Licensees should be especially cautious when receiving unexpected communication that asks them to provide personal information, make a payment, click a link, or otherwise take immediate action.

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Video of the day

Speaking of legal stuff, Jake the Lawyer on YouTube has a new video explaining the background on the Fifth Amendment, presidential pardon power, and what it means that Dr. Fauci refused to answer questions in a Senate committee a few weeks ago:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

I think it’s fair to say that most Christians and conservatives don’t believe in relative truth. We believe that some things are true, and some things are false. Yet recognizing the difference is becoming harder and harder, despite—or perhaps because of—the flood of information at our fingertips.

I used to believe that, had the internet, social media, and smartphones been around in 1963, there would be no question as to who shot President John Kennedy. Yet Charlie Kirk was assassinated in front of hundreds of people, with numerous video streams recording the event, and there is nevertheless a thriving ecosystem of podcasters and influencers whose audiences will believe the most absurd theories while dismissing the most obvious explanation as “fedslop.”

Over the weekend, the internet was full of women concocting fantastical alternative explanations regarding the story of a woman who murdered her three children. I saw many examples of women projecting their own feelings about men, children, postpartum depression, and the healthcare industry in general onto this case, then using those feelings as a basis for their opinions about the facts.

Neither side of the aisle is immune to this. Democratic politicians still promote lies about the deaths of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, and about President Trump and Russia. People on all sides seem to believe that the lesson of the Epstein situation is that all their political enemies are pedophiles.

Despite—or perhaps because of—instantaneous access to the sum total of human knowledge, combined with the dopamine cycle generated by social media, we’ve lost the ability to discern the truth. We can adopt the most ridiculous positions and then find an online community that validates them. We can shut out opposing viewpoints until we live in a bubble that creates a cycle of reinforcement.

Conservatives have developed a well-earned distrust of the government over the past few decades. Incidents like Ruby Ridge and Waco, the buildup to the Iraq War, and the 2020 presidential election each damaged our confidence in our government’s willingness to be honest and transparent with the American people. Yet it was Covid-19 that destroyed the last shred of credibility for millions of Americans. A virus that, for many people, was little more than a bad flu was treated like the Black Plague, and our leaders responded by shutting down society, closing schools, churches, and businesses, prohibiting people from visiting their loved ones, and arresting people for the crime of being outdoors—all while they themselves ignored the rules they set for others. Remember Dr. Birx visiting her family for Thanksgiving while telling us we must stay home, or California governor Gavin Newsom having a fancy dinner with his wealthy friends after shutting down churches in his state.

Yet at the same time that we lost trust in the government and so-called official sources, I think we became too credulous toward a lunatic fringe. We overcorrected. We scrambled to find brave truth-tellers who weren’t bought or controlled, and in doing so, we lost a sense of discernment. Even during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, it seemed like the country was divided into two distinct groups: one that believed the vaccine was a miracle drug that was not only “safe and effective” but would prevent 100% of infections, and the other that believed anyone taking the shot would be dead within two years.

Charting a middle route between those two extreme positions only resulted in being denounced by both sides. I still have a meme from that era that sums up what it was like for those of us who didn’t fall into either camp:

How we understand truth is foundational to our politics. We advocate for policies based upon what we believe to be true about the world. But if we’re stuck in some bubble that has drifted away from reality, then our politics will drift away as well. This has enormous implications for the decisions we and our elected leaders will make over the coming years—decisions regarding taxes, data centers, automated license plate readers, crime and punishment, and more.

The first step toward truly learning the truth is being willing to challenge your own preconceptions. Take the things you believe and subject them to the same standards of evidence you would demand for your opponents. Step outside your bubble and read different perspectives on issues that you feel strongly about. Find the strongest argument against your position and see if you can overcome it. You will either strengthen your existing position, or recognize its shortcomings and get one step closer to the truth. Either way, you are stronger for it.

Beware of those who take absolutist positions on most issues—claiming that their ideas have no downsides or that opposing ideas have no upsides. Remember Thomas Sowell’s maxim that there are no solutions, only tradeoffs. Be willing to discuss and debate the tradeoffs inherent in any issue.

Above all, resist the temptation to adopt your positions as part of your identity. It’s too easy to take debate personally when we make our political beliefs a core part of who we are. Practice the ability to examine an idea without necessarily adopting it. Hold it up to the light, subject it to stress, and see if it withstands all you can put against it.

Truth is perhaps the most important thing in politics, but it’s often the first casualty when our political debates turn into online flame wars.

Feature image “Ecce Homo” by Antonio Ciseri, 1880

The Simpson Standard

Congressman Mike Simpson published his weekly newsletter yesterday:

Deadly wildfires are continuously impacting communities throughout the West. My colleagues in both the House and Senate are grateful to the Department of Agriculture Secretary Rollins and the Department of the Interior Secretary Burgum for coming to Boise’s National Interagency Fire Center, the nation’s support and information center for wildland firefighting, and for taking the time to visit the Claremont Fire site.

I was excited to spend the week in Idaho’s Second District and celebrate the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the LeRoy Craig Jerome Center at the College of Southern Idaho, a community funding project that I am proud to have secured funding for.

Last but not least, I enjoyed meeting with constituents, including Idaho’s dairy farmers earlier this week and discussing some of our shared priorities.

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Back to school

Sen. Tammy Nichols published an informative post about new laws in effect for the new school year:

Nichols for Idaho

Nichols for Idaho: Back to School in Idaho

It’s back to school time in Idaho! Across the state, students are heading back to learning, whether that means returning to a public, charter or private school classroom, beginning another year of homeschool, or taking part in one of the many other educational options Idaho families choose…

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19 days ago · 6 likes · Tammy Nichols

Video of the day

Rufo & Lomez had a fascinating discussion with paleoconservative Paul Gottfried about the evolution of the left in America and Europe. It’s gone beyond communism now:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Earlier this week, the Idaho Supreme Court announced that Justice Robyn Brody had been elected chief justice by her colleagues, succeeding outgoing Chief Justice Richard Bevan, who will retire on October 30. Brody’s term as chief justice will begin on October 1.

Last year, I explained how the system in which judges often retire mid-term turns Idaho’s judicial elections into a farce:

Technically, judges in Idaho are accountable to voters, but in reality, they owe their positions to an entrenched system overseen by the Idaho Judicial Council. Four of the five current Supreme Court justices were appointed to their positions by the governor, who receives a list of qualified candidates from the Council.

I don’t think it’s far-fetched to compare this system to a cartel, as its purpose appears to be ensuring that only insiders are ever considered. Both the Idaho State Bar—a self-governing agency operating under the Supreme Court—and the Judicial Council consist of figures whose priority is to protect the existing system.

Earlier this year, the Judicial Council—which is chaired by Chief Justice Bevan—submitted three names to Gov. Brad Little:

• Leslie Hayes, a judge in the Office of Administrative Hearings

• Jason Scott, a judge in Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District

• Cynthia Yee-Wallace, a judge in Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District

Gov. Little has not made an appointment as of this writing.

All that said, Robyn Brody is the only current member of the Supreme Court to have reached the bench via a competitive election. In 2016, then-Chief Justice Jim Jones completed his term rather than retiring early, setting up a contest for the open seat. Brody and then-State Senator Curt McKenzie advanced to the runoff after taking the top two positions in the May election, and Brody defeated McKenzie with 53.8% of the vote that November.

Brody wrote the majority opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Idaho, a 3–2 decision that upheld Idaho’s laws banning abortion. The dissenters in that case were Justices Colleen Zahn, who remains on the Supreme Court, and John Stegner, who retired in 2023. Stegner is currently running an independent campaign for governor, having raised nearly $500,000 from a variety of contributors, including the maximum contributions from Democratic megadonors A.J. and Susie Balukoff, as well as Tom Arkoosh, the attorney who ran as a Democrat for attorney general against Raúl Labrador in 2022.

Stegner recently boasted that polling shows him with a commanding lead over Gov. Little in a head-to-head matchup. However, the poll was conducted by Change Research, an unabashedly left-wing organization that has a picture of Kamala Harris at the top of its homepage, so I would take it with a grain of salt. It seems likely that the Stegner campaign is using the same tactic used by the Todd Achilles campaign that successfully pushed Democratic Senate nominee David Roth out of the race.

One more Idaho judge was in the news this week. Lynn Winmill was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho. Historically, presidents have tended to give deference to a state’s two U.S. senators in appointing judges. In 1995, Clinton followed the lead of Sens. Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne, who convened a bipartisan commission that vetted 38 candidates before recommending Winmill as one of three finalists.

Winmill took senior status in 2021, giving him greater flexibility over which cases he hears. At the time, Idaho had only two federal district judges, and Winmill said the state “desperately” needed a third. That vacancy was eventually filled in 2023, when President Joe Biden appointed Amanda Brailsford, a former Idaho Court of Appeals judge, to the federal bench. Nevertheless, Winmill continues to carry a large caseload.

Judge Winmill, therefore, has a good chance of being the first stop for federal issues originating in Idaho, and as someone appointed by a Democratic president, his decisions are often denounced by Idaho conservatives. Over the past few years, Winmill has ruled that prisoners deserve state-subsidized sex-change surgeries, that Idaho’s ban on transgender surgeries for children was unconstitutional, and contravened DHS enforcement in Idaho.

This week, Judge Winmill ruled in a case brought by Dr. Stacy Seyb that Idaho cannot ban abortion in cases where a pregnant woman threatens suicide or self-harm should the pregnancy continue. Attorney General Labrador had harsh words in response to the ruling:

Judge Winmill did exactly what the Supreme Court rejected in Dobbs: he legislated from the bench and manufactured a new constitutional right to abortion. The Supreme Court made clear that abortion policy belongs to the people and their elected representatives, not a single federal judge. Not only did he ignore Dobbs, he compounded that mistake by ignoring clear precedent stating that district judges lack authority to issue universal injunctions. We will appeal immediately, and we are confident this decision will be overturned.

As a federal judge, Lynn Winmill is outside the jurisdiction of Idaho’s judicial branch. The federal district court system is part of the federal judicial branch, which is led by the U.S. Supreme Court. The next step in appealing rulings by Judge Winmill is the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and, following that, the Supreme Court. Issues of federal jurisprudence go through Winmill’s court, while state-level issues are decided by Idaho’s district judges, as well as the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

I am continuing to build out the Judicial Branch section of Idaho Insider in an effort to bring more understanding and transparency to our complex legal system. Hopefully, we will see reforms in the near future that allow judges and justices to be more accountable to voters, rather than to a small cartel of insiders. The first two years of the second Trump administration have shown how much power federal judges have to dictate policy in our country. It’s important for engaged citizens to keep a close eye on our own judicial branch as well.

Labrador versus scammers

Someone here in Idaho received a call from a person claiming to be a Wells Fargo investigator, warning him that his bank account had been compromised. The caller convinced him to withdraw $14,000 in cash and mail it overnight to an address in Florida for “safekeeping.” He did it, and only realized afterward that he had just mailed away his savings to a stranger. My Consumer Protection Division got it back before it ever reached them.

These scammers are professionals. They know how to sound official, invoke a real bank’s name, and create enough urgency that even a careful person acts before stopping to question it. That is not how banks protect your money. No legitimate financial institution will ever instruct you to withdraw your savings and mail it to a stranger in this way, but in the moment, with someone on the phone claiming to be protecting you, it can sound entirely plausible.

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Your local election officials

I’m somewhat rare among secretaries of state, having served as a county clerk before taking on this role, and as Chief Deputy before that. In fact, I started my career in elections back in 2005, counting ballots and training poll workers. I’ve had the opportunity to see this work from nearly every level, and I can’t overstate the responsibility our county clerks take on.

And elections are only part of the job.

Idaho’s county clerks also serve as recorders, maintaining important public records such as marriage licenses and property documents. They also serve as county auditors, with responsibilities for county finances and the budget process. Their offices touch many of the basic functions of local government that Idahoans depend on every day.

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Video of the day

James Lindsay was once a darling of the right, explaining the foundational beliefs behind modern progressivism. Yet now he spends most of his time attacking some of the most effective conservatives in politics today. John Doyle says it’s time for us to stop listening to liberal atheists who hate nearly everything we stand for:

Terence Holton from KTVB was also onsite yesterday to see Money Metals present Jordan Salinas a 25 ounce silver bullet. He wrote a good article.

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

On Friday evening, Money Metals presented Twin Falls hero Jordan Salinas with a plaque containing a 25-ounce pure silver bullet in recognition of his act of bravery and selflessness during the August 1 shooting at the Twin Falls In-N-Out Burger.

Salinas was recorded on video engaging the shooter, an action police credited—along with two other armed citizens who engaged the gunman—with potentially saving lives by diverting him away from the restaurant. The shooter eventually took his own life after killing three people and injuring several more.

Money Metals director Mike Gleason and Rep. Rob Beiswenger, who works for the company, presented the plaque to Salinas in a short ceremony at the Money Metals office in Eagle. Sen. Tammy Nichols and Rep. Josh Tanner were also present.

Gleason presented the plaque and silver bullet on behalf of everyone at Money Metals—and, he said, all Idahoans—praising Salinas for being prepared to exercise his Second Amendment rights in defense of others.

For his part, Salinas said that he “trained for the situation, not for the attention,” and added that the only nightmare he had since the incident was one in which his phone wouldn’t stop ringing. He was in Eagle on Friday on his way to meet with gun YouTuber Garand Thumb.

Salinas began training for the possibility of an active shooter situation after seeing news coverage of the 2021 shooting at Boise Town Square Mall, which killed two and injured four.

When asked about how that training prepared him for what happened in Twin Falls, Salinas pointed to what he called “stress inoculation”. Even intense training in a controlled environment cannot fully prepare someone for the chaos of a real life situation.

Salinas said he heard the first gunshot from across the street and immediately ran in that direction, assessing the situation as he approached. By the time he engaged the shooter, he said, he had a good idea of what was happening. He also identified a brick wall behind the shooter, giving him confidence that any shots he fired would not endanger anyone else.

Salinas said that he relied on the OODA Loop, a mental model developed by USAF Colonel John Boyd in the 1970s. The acronym stands for “observe, orient, decide, and act.” The idea is that in a rapidly developing situation, a person must continually process what is happening, determine how to response, make a decision, and act on it. The faster and more accurately someone can move through that loop, the better prepared they are to respond.

Although people have reached out to Salinas seeking training, he said he would rather point them toward the professionals who taught him. I had an opportunity to ask Salinas a question, and I chose to ask why he carries an FN Five-seveN—a somewhat unusual handgun chambered in the distinctive and relatively expensive 5.7×28mm cartridge that has become the subject of countless internet memes, including the one below from 4chan:

Salinas said his original reason for choosing the Five-seveN was considerably less tactical: He played Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell frequently as a teenager and thought the gun was cool. But after researching ammunition, he said he came to believe the cartridge offered some advantages, including armor-piercing ability while producing less over-penetration than some other defensive ammunition.

Salinas was also asked whether he was concerned about running afoul of Idaho law in the process of shooting back at the Twin Falls gunman. He said he wasn’t.

“I was putting some faith in Idaho, and I believed in it, and hoped it believed in me,” Salinas said.

After a short interview with Money Metals employees, Salinas was asked if he had anything else he wanted to add.

“Look out for each other,” he said. “Division is not the reality; we are more united than we aren’t.”

Money Metals is a sponsor of the Gem State Chronicle and invited me to attend Friday’s event. They did not review or direct this story in any way.

Spending drives property taxes

Chris Cargill, president of Mountain States Policy Center, pointed out that the debate over property taxes can’t ignore the spending side of the equation:

One of the most persistent misconceptions about property taxes is that rising assessments are themselves responsible for rising tax bills.

Assessments matter, but they aren’t the whole story.

Idaho doesn’t have a statewide property tax. Property taxes are imposed locally to fund local governments, school districts and other taxing districts.

Ultimately, local spending matters.

If government wants to collect more property-tax revenue, taxpayers should be able to clearly see that decision, understand why officials are asking for more money and hold those officials accountable for it.

Instead, homeowners often receive a new assessment showing that their home’s value has increased dramatically and understandably conclude that the assessor “raised their taxes.”

That can obscure the far more important question: How much money is the taxing district collecting, and how much has that amount increased?

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Idaho Values Life

Idaho GOP chairwoman Dorothy Moon explained the meaning of all those signs that are popping up throughout our state:

Many critics say Republicans only care about life until birth, but that’s absurd. Republicans believe that all human beings are made in God’s image and deserve both dignity and equality under the law. We believe that children deserve to grow up in safety and innocence, not groomed or exploited for political purposes. We believe human dignity is best served by hard work and voluntary charity, not confiscatory taxation to support a welfare state. Finally, we believe that the most heinous criminals—those who brutally and wantonly take the lives of others—should face the ultimate penalty following a fair trial and conviction by a jury of their peers.

Valuing life means wanting each and every human being ever conceived to reach his or her full potential. Abortion destroys life before it even has a chance to see that potential. That’s not the Idaho way. Vote no on Prop 1 this November, and keep Idaho a state where all life is valued.

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Press releases:

• Brody named next Idaho Chief Justice

• State Treasurer supports veterans cemeteries

• Attorney General Labrador backs reform to stop activists from blocking projects

• Idaho Family Policy Center denounces latest abortion ruling

• Gov. Little announces administration changes

• DEQ seeks representative for advisory group

• DEQ seeks comment on proposed settlement

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Gun YouTuber (and soon to be congressman from Texas) Brandon Herrera explained how one of the biggest wins for Second Amendment rights in recent memory came about:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

All that is to say I don’t have a new article for you today, but I was gratified to see Sen. Camille Blaylock post a great Substack about the Rural Health Transformation Program, and thankful for permission to report. The debate over whether or not we should have accepted the nearly $1 billion over five years is done—the money is coming. The question is, how can we help ensure it goes where it is really needed?

A large hospital system has grant writers, accountants, attorneys, government affairs staff, and lobbyists who can sit in Boise all day watching this process.

A small rural clinic may have one administrator doing payroll at 9:00, credentialing at 10:00, filling a staffing hole over lunch, and then trying to decipher a grant application before they go home.

If we make this process complicated, we already know who has the advantage.

So one of my biggest priorities on this committee has been making sure smaller rural providers have a real shot. I’ve pushed to simplify the subgrant process, remove requirements that don’t actually add value, make the scoring more transparent, and make sure the process itself doesn’t become the barrier.

Read the whole thing

Talking wildfire

Sen. Jim Risch met with several cabinet officials to discuss the ongoing wildfires that are burning this region:

I hosted Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and fellow Idahoan Tom Schultz, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise this week to discuss this issue directly.

As the only trained forester in the U.S. Senate, and one of the few members of Congress who has worked on a fire line, I’ve seen what happens when our public lands are not properly managed.

Idaho’s public lands are one of our greatest assets. They are not only beautiful landscapes, but are vital to our economy and rural communities.

However, years of fuel build up, insects, and disease have left these lands vulnerable.

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Closing the loophole

Sen. Mike Crapo has introduced legislation to ensure that criminal illegal aliens cannot be released back into America if no country will accept them:

The Keep Our Communities Safe Act addresses the six-month legal loophole created by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis ruling. The legislation would amend Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to expand the authority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain criminal aliens.

“Dangerous individuals should not be released into communities simply because their removal cannot be completed within an arbitrary timeframe,” said Crapo. “The Keep Our Communities Safe Act would close this legal loophole and ensure DHS has the tools needed to continue detaining individuals who pose a threat to public safety, national security or public health. This commonsense legislation will help protect Idaho families and communities.”

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Video of the day

Nick Freitas broke down yesterday’s results from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Polls turned out to be wildly wrong, as DSA candidate Francesca Hong lost a close primary while pillow king Mike Lindell was solidly defeated in his own primary:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator.

Once again, a big thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

The Idaho Family Policy Center announced this morning that it is defending pro-life evangelist Titus Folks, who was cited for trespassing at Canyon County Pride at Lakeview Park in Nampa last June. According to Caleb Pirc, director of the IFPC Legal Center, Folks was in the process of setting up a table at the park when organizers demanded he leave and called the police. Folks moved his table across the street, but police still cited him for trespassing.

Pirc explained the situation in a video posted on Tuesday:

According to the iCourt Portal, Folks was charged in Canyon County Magistrate Court with a first-offense trespass, no property damage, having left when ordered, which carries a $300 fine:

Idaho code says that a person has committed criminal trespass when he “enters or remains on the real property of another without permission, knowing or with reason to know that his presence is not permitted.” It goes on to explain various circumstances under which criminal trespass can occur, such as a residence or place of business, a cultivated property, a fenced boundary of a private property, or a church or house of worship.

It’s unclear exactly how being at a city park that is open to the public constitutes trespassing. Nampa’s rules regarding use of city parks prohibit selling food or goods, camping, consuming alcohol, and driving vehicles on the grass, but do not explicitly prohibit evangelism. Nampa’s guidebook for reserving park facilities even explicitly states that organizers cannot prohibit anyone from using the park:

Nampa Parks and Recreation is a public agency and, therefore, exclusive use of a park facility cannot be granted. Public access to non-reservable park amenities such as playgrounds and splash pads must be maintained at all times. An event organizer may choose to restrict public access to an event, but may only restrict access to reserved facilities, such as picnic shelters.

More details will surely come out as this case progresses, including whether Folks was within the area designated for the pride event or without, and exactly how he responded when asked to leave. I’m not a lawyer, but I find the citation difficult to understand based on the facts currently available. The park was open to the public, the Pride event itself was open to the public, and Nampa’s own rules make clear that reserving a park facility does not give an event organizer exclusive control over the entire park. If Folks was in an area that remained open to the public and was not violating a lawful park rule or other condition of access, what legal authority existed to order him to leave?

The Idaho Supreme Court considered a related question in 2025 in State of Idaho v. Bundy. The court rejected Ammon Bundy’s argument that Idaho’s trespass statute applies only to private property, holding that it can apply to public property as well.

But the circumstances were substantially different. Bundy’s case arose from an incident at the Idaho Capitol in 2020. After a disturbance, then-Speaker Scott Bedke ordered the Lincoln Auditorium closed. Bundy refused to leave and was eventually removed by law enforcement. The Supreme Court upheld his trespass conviction.

Folks’ situation, at least according to the account provided by his attorneys, is quite different. He was in a public park, setting up a table, and left when he was asked to do so. The citation itself reflects that distinction: Idaho law provides a $300 infraction for a first offense when no property damage occurs and the defendant does not remain after being ordered to leave.

At a higher level, it is telling what pride organizers chose reject and what they chose to accept. A gaggle of satanists, mocking Folks, Charlie Kirk, and Christianity in general, was apparently acceptable—I’ve not heard that pride organizers asked them to leave. But a pro-life activist preaching the gospel was offensive to them.

Nearly four years ago, I attended the Boise Pride event on September 11 to see it firsthand. I noticed how the satanists were always mugging for the camera, just outside the main area, being as vulgar, rude and offensive as they could in order to provoke outrage in Christian conservatives:

The vile counter-protestors were definitely not the majority of festival-goers. I presume that these people show up to every controversial event, hoping to get attention and cause conservatives to clutch their pearls in shock. Most of them did not take part in the festival itself – they spent the entire day yelling at protestors. Yet their tactics worked – conservative media dutifully published their pictures and implied that they were the norm, which was clearly not the case.

This has two effects. First, it distracts conservatives from what is really going on. We breathlessly share pictures of satanists and say “this is what we oppose,” meanwhile the LGBTQ+ community simply dismisses our complaints, because they know that those people do not represent the community as a whole. Second, it serves as a shield for the activists themselves, who are spared from having to defend what is really going on beneath the surface.

Nevertheless, if the Canyon County Pride organizers saw fit to ask Titus Folks to leave, they could easily have asked the satanists to leave as well. They apparently chose to tolerate one form of offensive expression while rejecting another.

Why is that?

As Christians, we believe the Gospel of Christ is an offense to the world, and a necessary one. Yet that does not mean that those who are offended by it should be able to call upon law enforcement to evict the Gospel from a public park.

Just two years ago, Nampa’s first Pride event outraged much of the conservative community. A transgender-identifying man flashing his surgically augmented breasts led to changes in the law. Now, just two years later, Nampa police have cited a Christian evangelist for trespassing after Pride organizers objected to his presence at a public park.

What is going on in Nampa? In Idaho?

IFPC Legal Center director Caleb Pirc provided this exclusive comment to the Gem State Chronicle:

Nampa’s prosecution of Titus Folks for simply showing up to evangelize at a public park is unconstitutional and unjust. The First Amendment exists to protect the right of people like Titus to share the Gospel with their fellow man. We look forward to getting justice for him in this case.

Feature image is Titus Folks at Lakeview Park in Nampa on June 14, 2026, courtesy of Idaho Family Policy Center.

Note: I’ve known Titus for several years, and Caleb at IFPC is a friend of mine as well. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, I believe that conservative Christians need to hang together in these battles, otherwise we will surely hang separately!

Press releases

• Sen. Risch issues statement on the Clarity Act

• Attorney General Labrador’s Consumer Protection team stopped a banking scam in progress

• Man pleads guilty to $80,000 insurance fraud scheme

• DEQ needs volunteers for advisory group

Dept. of Insurance newsletter

The mission of the Idaho Department of Insurance is to “serve and protect Idahoans by equitably, effectively and efficiently administering the Idaho Insurance Code and the International Fire Code.” The office issued a summer newsletter today, covering an award for Director Dean Cameron, a request for feedback with a survey link, updates on health insurance rates for 2027, and more.

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Video of the day

Yesterday I shared Nick Freitas’ takedown of Tucker Carlson’s latest set of ideas. John Doyle reacted as well, in his own inimitable way:

Remember to check out all the tools at Idaho Insider, including the brand new Budget Calculator.

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Of course, the people who make such statements don’t usually have any plans beyond continued posting on social media. How many of us are really and truly prepared to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor in the course of violent revolution against the government? Because that’s the only real alternative to voting, isn’t it? Americans have always had four boxes available to us: the soapbox, the jury box, the ballot box, and the cartridge box. By saying we can’t vote our way out, we are really saying that the fourth box is the only remaining option.

But it’s not true. Your vote is a powerful tool to change society for the better. Consider the two different courses of history that were possible on November 5, 2024: Down one path, under Kamala Harris, was a society that would most likely resemble the modern United Kingdom, doubling down on replacement migration, radical gender hysteria, and jailing people for unapproved social media posts. Down the other, under Donald Trump, we have a closed border, significant reform of our immigration system, the biggest reduction in the federal government in more than half a century, a reversal of the DEI regime, and so much more.

President Trump isn’t perfect, and there are still things that his administration has done that I don’t support. But the alternative was never a magical libertarian utopia.

Conundrum Cluster posted a great essay on the subject that I encourage you to read:

The Conundrum Cluster

"Always chimp": A fundamentally defective strategy with no hope of success

A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ…

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a month ago · 151 likes · 28 comments · Conundrum Cluster

Your vote determines whether your city approves more high-rise apartment complexes or affordable single-family homes. Your vote determines whether your county raises taxes, or lowers them. Your vote determines if the Legislature protects children, or allows them to be exploited.

It’s easy to go on social media and complain, but it’s just as easy to vote.

It’s easy to go on social media and say we can’t vote our way out of this, while wishing and hoping that some strongman will arrive and set everything aright. But it’s harder to be part of the change you want to see. If you really want to make a difference, then take the next step and get involved. Knock doors for a candidate in whom you believe. Phone bank for your local Republican Party. Donate money to a cause that makes a real difference. Step into the arena and for office yourself.

I’ve put much time and energy into the Gem State Chronicle, and especially Idaho Insider, because I believe that we can make a difference through the political process. I want you to have the tools to be the most effective citizen of our Republic that you can be. We can vote our way out of this, and God willing, we will.

The latest at the Gem State Chronicle

• Dorothy Moon: Standing With Twin Falls

• Mike Simpson: Idaho Has Led the Nuclear Renaissance Before. We Should Lead It Again

• Raúl Labrador: Idaho Urges Congress to Give States the Tools to Stop Medicaid Fraud

• Phil McGrane: Idaho Business Isn’t Slowing Down. Neither Are We.

Video of the day

Nick Freitas breaks down Tucker Carlson’s 10 point plan for America, discussing where he is right, and where he is way off base:

Remember to check out Budget Calculator, the newest tool at Idaho Insider. Learn exactly where your tax money is going, and play around with the sliders to see what changes you would make if you were on JFAC right now. Check out this video I made explaining how it works:

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

DA ROSA: Prop 1 Is Wrong for Idaho

Idaho isn’t voting on a health policy footnote. It’s stepping onto a battlefield that’s been forming for more than thirty years. In 1991, the sociologist James Davison Hunter gave this fight its name — the culture war — and found that America’s real divide no longer runs between denominations but through a single question every faith and every family eventually has to answer: does moral truth come from somewhere fixed and outside us, or does it get rewritten every generation to fit the times? Abortion sits at the exact center of that question because it can’t be answered halfway. Either an unborn child carries a claim on us that no statute can dissolve, or that claim is negotiable, revisable, subject to a majority vote in a legislature or at a ballot box. Prop 1 doesn’t just pick a side in that argument. It writes one side’s answer into Idaho law and forecloses the other.

This is why the fight over Prop 1 will feel outsized to the actual policy language, and why it should. Angelo Codevilla saw this pattern before — he compared the modern American reckoning over abortion to the reckoning over slavery in the 1850s, when the country discovered that some questions can’t be split down the middle because both sides recognize, correctly, that the resolution defines what kind of country this becomes.

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Press releases

• Attorney General Labrador urges Congress to pass the STOP FRAUD Act

• Sen. Risch introduces legislation to support America’s nuclear industry

• Sen. Risch introduces bill to improve veteran access to disability benefits

Video of the day

Nick Freitas examines an ideology he calls “third-worldism,” an unholy alliance of Marxism and racial and religious grievances that has become the animating force in the Democratic Party:

Remember to visit the full redesigned Idaho Insider to find answers to all your questions about Idaho state government. I have many more big plans for the platform between now and the new legislative session in January!

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!

Savanna DeHay is our regular health & nutrition columnist. It’s not exactly political talk, but I find it interesting and educational, and Savanna does a thorough job with her research and writing. Saving our state for our posterity starts with fixing and maintaining our own health.

Weekly meals that are easy, animal-based, and delicious are a lifesaver for busy days and meal prep. Adding these meals into your weekly rotation will make life easier without breaking the bank. They’re so simple and customizable that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy it! Let’s roll up our sleeves and see what’s cookin’!

Read the whole thing

Press releases

• Sen. Crapo calls for H-2A reform

• Sen. Crapo lauds Working Families Tax Cuts

• DEQ seeks participation in Minidoka well study

• DOI publishes preliminary health insurance rates

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Video of the day

Jake the Lawyer has some thoughts on Flock cameras:

The Daily Minute

The second Daily Minute video in two days—that’s a great trend. I tried a new tool for generating subtitles this time that’s entirely local rather than cloud-based. It needed some correction on my name, and Savanna’s, but it got Sen. Crapo correct and even Minidoka County. Check it out on YouTube, X, Facebook, Rumble, or Tiktok!

Remember to visit the full redesigned Idaho Insider to find answers to all your questions about Idaho state government. I have many more big plans for the platform between now and the new legislative session in January!

As always, thank you to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and New Saint Andrews College. Thank you also to all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to do what I do, as well as all the readers who are constantly encouraging me to keep it up. I appreciate you!