Treasured Valley

We don’t like you but we want your money, Luna’s plan, LIDs, double funding and pay-to-graduate…

Media:

• Idaho Statesman editorial: The feds: a kindly uncle — or nuisance of a nanny? Yes, Idahoans love to bash Uncle Sam. Idahoans also love to hit up the old fella for money. The latter is readily evident this week as the Air Force comes to Idaho to begin hearings on its F-35 fighter jet proposal.
• Bill seeks to rein in cities’ use of LIDs. An Idaho House committee will give a full hearing to a bill that would restrict cities’ use of local improvement districts to pay for infrastructure improvements without a vote by taxpayers, including the proposed streetcar project in downtown Boise.
• Kevin Richert: Wasden skeptical — but undecided — about plan to offset Idaho K-12 budget cuts.
• Concerns surface over Tom Luna’s school funding plan. Idaho Schools Superintendent Tom Luna’s plan to take $52.8 million from an endowment lands reserve fund has some state officials concerned that it defies the requirement of preserving land reserve funds for future generations of students.
• Eye On Boise: Hammon: ‘They’re double-funding this’.
• GOP congressional candidate Vaughn Ward vows limits on campaign activity. GOP congressional candidate Vaughn Ward promised Monday to never take time off from official duties to campaign or raise funds.
• From the Editor: Concerns about Tom Luna’s $52.8 million ‘Land Board’ funding idea should be carefully examined.
• Governor Otter’s Task Force Crunching Numbers of Traffic Study. Legislators are still searching for answers to Idaho’s transportation needs as Governor Butch Otter’s transportation task force crunched some numbers today.
• Idaho House clears bill to waive tax for shelters. The Idaho House voted unanimously to temporarily waive sales taxes for homeless shelters.
• Bill that could speed up graduation heads to committee. Idaho Rep. Steven Thayn of Emmett said a committee voted Monday to print a bill that would give public school students the ability to graduate up to three years early from high school. Thayn said the House Education Committee could have a hearing on the Mastery Advancement Pilot Project as soon as Thursday. The bill has the potential to improve education at no extra cost in several ways, Thayn said.
• Investment manager opposes Idaho schools chief Tom Luna’s plan. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna wants to tap a reserve fund for $52.8 million to offset looming cuts of at least $135 million for K-12 education.
• Lawmaker: Nix ‘retarded,’ ‘lunatic’ from Idaho law. Boise Democrat Senator Les Bock says changing language in the state code will help educate the public — and send a message Idaho doesn’t tolerate insulting language.
• Tax rebate for jet owners could spur Idaho company. Idaho lawmakers hope a proposed sales tax rebate up for debate in the House will prompt an aircraft maintenance company to expand.
• Republican veteran Pete Cenarrusa reflects on how tough decisions get made. No less an authority than the longest-serving elected official in Idaho history says 2011 could bring tax reform rivaling the 1965 session that enacted a 3 percent sales tax.

Blogs:

• Fort Boise: The wrong way to reform Congress (and the federal budget).
• Notes From The Floor: Bureaucracy.
• 43rd State Blues: Murtha’s gone.
• Boise Guardian: ACHD To Install New Style Left Turn Signal.
• Idaho Conservative Blogger: Much Ado About Nothing-Gate?
• Idaho Reporter: Task force investigating the fairness of road funding.
• Idaho Freedom Foundation: Government’s attempts to regulate milk go too far.
• Left Side of the Moon: Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell.
• morialekafa: On The Contrary,
• The Johnson Post: The Lion of Idaho – Part II.