IDOG

BOISE – Idaho has much at stake in Washington’s big U.S. Supreme Court case over whether referendum petition signatures should be public or not.

“Our initiative and referendum statute is very similar to Washington’s and Oregon’s,” said Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, at whose request Idaho joined 22 other states in filing “friend of the court” briefs backing Washington’s position – that the signatures remain public.

From The Spokesman-Review

It wasn’t Deep Throat and the story didn’t topple a presidency, but an anonymous phone call to a Moscow reporter did help establish the legal precedent that protects Idaho reporters today.

Two University of Idaho journalism students, Christopher Murray and Kyle Howerton, recently completed a documentary film marking the 25th anniversary of the case, known as In re Wright.
The film was shown to about 120 people a university symposium Monday, after which some of the main participants discussed the state of reporter privilege in the Internet Age.

From the Lewiston Tribune

The state of Idaho will pay $275,000 to settle a dispute over the seizure of 25 boat slips and docks at the Sandpoint Marina during a U.S. Highway 95 construction project.

The agreement ends an 18-month skirmish between Ralph Sletager, the marina’s owner, and the Idaho Transportation Department. The parties agreed to drop lawsuits against each other and pay their own attorneys fees. Sletager can reinstall the docks when the $98 million Sand Creek Byway project is finished, the settlement says.

From the Spokesman Review