More money for teachers?
Post Published: 06 August 2010The U.S. Senate yesterday approved a spending package that includes $10 billion to help school districts stave off teacher layoffs. It comes as school districts, including Idaho’s, are adding furlough days, cutting pay and otherwise making efforts to preserve education amid a downturn in state funding.
For Idaho, it’s share of the $10 billion would be $51.6 million, which could fund 800 jobs, based on preliminary estimates of the U.S. Department of Education.
The House is expected to take up the issue next week.
Higher school nutrition standards could be ahead
Post Published: 06 August 2010First Lady Michelle Obama is pushing for better school nutrition standards and the U.S. Senate is agreeing with her, the Associated Press reports.
Here’s the AP report:
Pizzas and hamburgers in the school lunch line would be healthier under child nutrition legislation passed by the Senate Thursday, a key part of first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity.
The legislation passed by voice vote would create new standards for all foods in schools, including vending machine items, to give students healthier meal options. It would spend $4.5 billion more over 10 years.
New standards would not remove popular foods like pizzas from schools completely, but would make them healthier, using whole-wheat crust or low-fat mozzarella. Vending machines could be stocked with less candy and fewer high-calorie sodas.
Creation of new standards, which public health advocates have sought for a decade, has unprecedented support from many of the nation’s largest food and beverage companies. The two sides came together on the issue as a heightened interest in nutrition made it difficult for the companies to push junk foods in schools.
Congressional passage of the bill would be only the first step. Decisions on what kinds of foods will be sold — and what ingredients may be limited — will be left up to the Agriculture Department.
The legislation would also expand the number of low-income children eligible for free or reduced cost meals, a step Democrats say would help President Barack Obama reach his goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015.
Sarah Palin steps up to fundraising plate
Post Published: 06 August 2010 The Associated Presss is reporting that 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is helping the Republican National Committee raise money. From the AP:
In a solicitation letter and survey the RNC is sending to people across the country, she says she’s working within the nation’s two-party system to, in her words, return the country to greatness.
The 2008 vice presidential GOP nominee and former Alaska governor has spent the past two years castigating both Democrats and Republicans, taking a more independent tone. But she now is calling the RNC the political home for commonsense conservatives.
And Palin says there’s no question that President Barack Obama’s policies and those of the Democratic-controlled Congress are hurting the country.
Simpson expects GOP victory for U.S. House
Post Published: 05 August 2010In an interview with U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, the Idaho Republican predicted that Republicans will emerge as the majority party for the U.S. House of Representatives. There are about 100 seats up for grabs and while Simpson’s not expecting them all to become red after Election Day, plenty hang in the balance.
“I think we have the opportunity to take back the House if we don’t blow it,” Simpson said.
Here’s a video from the interview.
Simpson on CIEDRA
Post Published: 05 August 2010U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson’s still pushing the proposed Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act.
It would create three wilderness areas totaling 332,775 acres, including the Boulder Mountains and White Cloud peaks.
Simpson’s come into some resistance from U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, his Republican colleague in the Congressional Delegation. Risch is interested in working more differences out, but Simpson notes that groups like the Idaho Recreation Council want it to die — not a compromise.
Simpson, who’s been working on the bill for 10 years, acknowledged that Risch could stop the legislation. Risch, a member of the Senate Commitee on Energy and Natural Resources, could simply ask for the bill not to be placed on the committee’s agenda. But Simpson hopes Risch will allow it to move forward.
“We’ve been doing this for 10 years,” Simpson said in an interview. “It depends on whether Sen. Risch will let it move forward because he can stop it just by just saying he won’t allow them to put it on the agendea.”
No float trip for Simpson
Post Published: 05 August 2010It would have been the ideal trip for U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
He had planned to be on a floating trip down the Salmon River’s middle fork next week, an occasion that would have included his staff and people from the Department of Interior. Simpson uses such trips to show those from Washington, D.C., what Idaho’s all about.
It was not to be — for Simpson at least. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., cut short the August recess of the U.S. House, calling congressmen back to Capitol Hill to cast votes on a $26 billion spending bill with money for school districts and an extension of increased Medicaid benefits for states.
Simpson’s not sure how’s he’s going to vote yet on the bill — he hasn’t seen the particulars.
But chances are that when he takes his seat on the House floor, he’ll be wishing he didn’t have to cancel his river trip.
“That kind of got canceled,” Simpson said of the planned float trip, in a visit with the Times-News editorial board. “At least I can’t go because Speaker Pelosi has called us back into session.”
Roads funding emerges as campaign issue
Post Published: 04 August 2010Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and Democratic challenger Keith Allred have traded barbs about what to do about the gas tax. Allred’s proposed lowering it by 3 cents for motorists of passenger vehicles, pointing to a study that shows an inequity between how much cars and heavy duty trucks pay for their share of roads maintenance. The 60-page study was commissioned by the governor’s task force that’s looking at transportation funding.
Otter’s proposal? Not much, yet. He’s waiting for the task force to finish its work, and its report isn’t due until December — after the election.
To read a story about the issue and a copy of the study visit here.
No love for Kagan from Idaho’s senators
Post Published: 04 August 2010Idaho’s two GOP senators aren’t supporting the nomination of Elena Kagan, whose facing confirmation votes for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo both have concerns about her lack of judicial record and activism, which includes not allowing military recruiters on the campus of Harvard University’s law school, where she was the dean. Here’s the story.
House Democrats “disappointed” about ethics committee’s decision
Post Published: 29 July 2010Idaho House Democrats, including the vice chair of the House ethics committee, are critical of how Republicans on the committee decided to dismiss the allegations that Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, had a conflict of interest in dealing with tax legislation while at the same time feuding with the State Tax Commission and IRS over thousands in unpaid taxes. Hart, a member of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, never declared a conflict of interest.
In a statement, House Minority Leader John Rusche said: “I appreciate the Speaker forming a committee in response to my complaint and am grateful for Chairman Loertscher’s leadership of the committee deliberations. With that said, I am disappointed in the dismissal of the conflict of interest issue by a majority of the members of the committee and their implicit conclusion that Representative Hart’s behavior and actions were acceptable.”
Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum and the committee’s vice-chair, said: “I believe that the circumstances of this case merit a different outcome. The Legislature’s internal ethics rules are designed to protect the integrity of the Legislature as an institution and to sustain the public’s confidence in legislators.”
The House ethics committee will still need to look at whether Hart abused legislative privilege in his case with the State Tax Commission.
Idaho’s odds of F-35 coming to MHAFB dwindling
Post Published: 29 July 2010The coveted F-35 project isn’t going to be coming to Idaho, it appears.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s office issued the following release:
Neither Mountain Home Air Force Base nor Boise’s Gowen Field were among the preferred alternatives announced by the Air Force today for operational and training bases for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
The Air Force chose Hill Air Force Base in Utah and Burlington Air Guard Station in Vermont as the preferred operations alternative, and Luke Air Force Base in Arizona as the preferred training alternative.
“This is not a final basing decision,” Kathleen Ferguson, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, said in a press release issued by the Air Force. “The preferred alternatives with other reasonable alternatives will continue to be evaluated in the Environmental Impact Analysis Process.”
Mountain Home Air Force Base was among five candidate operations sites identified by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley in October 2009. Gowen Field was among five candidate training facilities identified at the same time.
“We’re disappointed, but by no means are we defeated,” Governor Otter said. “It’s a long process for deploying an aircraft that will be in use for decades to come, and this is just round one. We’ll have more opportunities to get squadrons of F-35s based here in Idaho, with the careers and economic opportunity they will bring with them. We will use the coming months to keep making our case to the Air Force, loud and clear and united, that Mountain Home Air Force Base and Gowen Field are the best places in the country to locate this next generation of weapons systems, for training, operations, and possibly even foreign sales.”
The Air Force also announced today that Gowen Field is one of two candidate operations bases for the C-27J aircraft. The Air Force said it would conduct site surveys and begin the environmental impact analysis process at Gowen Field and Great Falls, Montana, in preparation for a final selection. No timeline for that process was announced.
The C-27J is a twin turboprop engine aircraft designed to meet an Air Force requirement for a rugged, medium-sized transport plane. According to the Air Force, the C-27J “gives U.S. military troops a unique, short-takeoff-and-landing capability, providing access to airstrips otherwise unusable by fixed-wing aircraft.”
“We feel our proven track record in basing our nation’s front-line aircraft will be a major factor in the F-35 decision,” said Major General Gary Sayler, Adjutant General of the Idaho National Guard. “The Idaho Air National Guard’s facilities and available airspace make us a logical candidate for the F-35 mission and the C-27J mission, should we be selected for that.”