Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun

Some progressives and conservatives alike are raising concerns about a new Idaho law from the recent 2023 legislative session that eliminates the state’s March presidential primary election.

With little debate or vetting, the Idaho Legislature overwhelmingly passed House Bill 138, which was pushed by Secretary of State Phil McGrane and Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, as a way to consolidate elections and save the state about $2.7 million every four years.

Idaho had been conducting its presidential primary election on the second Tuesday in March. Manwaring and McGrane said their law was designed to eliminate the March presidential primary election and move it back to another state election day: the third Tuesday in May. ...

With a wink and a smirk the Idaho House of Representatives last Wednesday passed a nonbinding memorial calling for formal talks between the Idaho and Oregon legislatures to discuss moving some rural Oregon counties out of their state and into Idaho.

The proposal is rooted in the so-called Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to include about 11 counties, or 63% of Oregon’s landmass, within Idaho’s borders because proponents of the plan think eastern Oregon is more politically and culturally aligned with Idaho than Oregon’s larger progressive cities in the western part of the state.

Such a large-scale change to state borders hasn’t occurred since the Civil War, and moving the borders would require the Idaho Legislature, the Oregon Legislature and Congress to all sign off in favor of the change. The move would also likely require multiple amendments to the Idaho Constitution, which defines the state’s borders and caps the number of state legislative districts at 35. ...

Timberline High School student Annie Birch Wright felt a connection to her school’s mascot because it wasn’t just another generic animal.

The mascot is the wolf, which led to a real pack of wolves living in the nearby Boise National Forest being named for, symbolically adopted by and studied at the high school.

“It is just a really cool thing to have,” said Birch Wright, who is a member of the school’s TREE Club, which stands for Teens Restoring Earth’s Environment. “It was a way for students to connect with the environment and wild species, especially because it is a wolf, which is our mascot, and because of how big of a role wolves play in our ecosystem.” ...

Ammon Bundy, the politically conservative anti-government activist who was renounced by the Idaho Republican Party, now says he will not run in the Republican primary for governor after all.

In a campaign announcement posted to Twitter Thursday morning, Bundy said he would run for governor as an independent candidate. Bundy, who previously announced he would run in the Republican primary, said found himself “in a conundrum” after the arrest of some Idaho Republicans over the past 30 years. All of the arrests occurred well before Bundy originally said he would run for office as a Republican, including former Gov. Butch Otter’s 1992 arrest for driving under the influence.

“Therefore I am announcing that I will not be running in the Republican primary and instead will run as an independent candidate,” Bundy wrote in Thursday’s statement. “I am certain that by unifying Idahoans behind the actual Republican platform we can take back control of the Idaho government and restore the conservative values that have made Idaho such a great place to live.” ...

Former Idaho Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger was arrested Friday afternoon on felony charges of rape and forcible penetration after being extradited to Idaho and booked into the Ada County Jail, according to Ada County booking records.

Von Ehlinger, 39, flew to Idaho on Friday from Atlanta, where he had been arrested as a fugitive of justice on Sept. 24 after returning to the United States from Central America. Online jail records indicate von Ehlinger remained in custody in Clayton County, Georgia until 7:04 a.m. Friday.

Von Ehlinger is accused of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after the two allegedly went out to dinner and returned to von Ehlinger's apartment. The woman, known as Jane Doe, said von Ehlinger held her down and forced her to perform oral sex on him, according to the woman's testimony during an April 28 hearing of the House Ethics and Policy Committee....