Idaho Matters is a wonderful way to stay up to date, meet people and understand there’s much more to this great state. Hosted by Gemma Gaudette on Boise State Public Radio News, it features arts and politics, growth and education, and the interesting stories that make Idaho unique. Send us your questions, comments or story ideas by emailing idahomatters@boisestate.edu or sending us a voicemail using the “Talk To Us” feature on the free Boise State Public Radio app.
School choice: Tax credits versus voucher programs
Feb 20, 2024
Show notes(iStockphoto.com)
Idaho lawmakers have tried over the past several years to put some kind of program in place that would let parents choose where their kids go to school using everything from vouchers to education savings accounts, but none of those past proposals have become law.
This year’s proposal involves a $5,000 tax credit per child who is enrolled in private school.
Rod Gramer, the president and CEO of Idaho Business for Education, wrote an op-ed saying that tax credits have the same impact as a voucher program. He joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this topic.
Opera Idaho returns to the stage with 'Roméo et Juliette'
Feb 20, 2024
Show notes( Opera Idaho)
Opera Idaho is back this week with its latest performance of Romeo and Juliet. The stars of the show, Cecilia Violetta Lopez and Ben Gulley, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the upcoming performance.
Task force aims to review fatal and serious vehicle crashes in Boise
Feb 19, 2024
Show notes( Boise Bicycle Project)
The City of Boise created a task force in 2023 to look at the number of deaths and injuries caused by vehicle crashes. Called the Vision Zero Task Force, it includes Boise City Council Member Jimmy Hallyburton, Boise Bicycle Project Director of Bicycle Advocacy Nina Pienaar and Ada County Highway District Commission President Alexis Pickering.
The task force is in partnership with the City of Boise and ACHD.
Between 2005 and 2020, there were 125 fatal crashes and 1,914 incapacitating crashes in Idaho. 52% of those took place in intersections.
"This last year, 2023, we saw more traffic fatalities and more serious injuries in Boise, Idaho, across the country than we’ve seen for the most part in history,” said Hallyburton. “And so you’re seeing a higher number of people out there walking and biking, getting hit, victims of traffic violence.”
ACHD is in charge of managing, maintaining and building out the infrastructure for Ada County, excluding the state transportation system. The Board of Commissioners is made up of five members that are elected by residents
“With the growth we’re experiencing, the types of behaviors that we're seeing as well in drivers, it definitely needs us to really re-engineer our roads for safety first and not convenience,” said Pickering.
Some of the roads in Boise and Ada County were built with different means of transportation in mind compared to today. Pickering said now there is a different mindset about how we move people.
This is where the Boise Bicycle Project steps in. Pienaar has been working with Hallyburton and Pickering to make the streets a safe space for people on bikes.
One initiative the task force did last year is a Leading Pedestrian Interval. With this, when a person presses the pedestrian button, there is a lead time so they are further into the crosswalk before the turn light turns green, giving the pedestrian the priority.
The Federal Highway Administration says LPIs can reduce pedestrian crashes by 13%. ACHD says they have LPIs at 50 intersections, and they targeted State Street and 11th Street, as well as other big intersections where there have been a lot of near misses.
Pickering said they are going to be approving another 10 intersections in the next couple of weeks.
How LPI works (TL 5 distance on crosswalk to clear total width of all moving lanes; PL 5 distance on crosswalk to clear parking and merging lane, if any).(Leading Pedestrian Interval: Assessment and Implementation Guidelines / Semantic Scholar)
To help with bicycle advocacy, the Boise Bicycle Project holds monthly workshops where people learn how to be better bike advocates. The workshops include testimonies and training so people can learn to communicate with others to improve biking conditions and create a safe and more accessible environment.
The workshops are open to the public and are for anyone who wants to learn more about bike advocacy, changing the city we live in and build self-enforcing streets.
With the weather set to start getting warmer soon, kids are going to start walking and riding their bikes to school, and people will get out of their cars a little bit more. After several fatal and serious car crashes in 2023, Hallyburton said people are afraid and they're thinking about those tragedies.
"The bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure have to be better than they were designed before in the past."
If you want to get involved in thinking about streets, infrastructure and safety, you can join your local neighborhood association or look at projects that are coming up on the ACHD website. People can testify and engage with the ACHD team as they design the project during open houses and filling out surveys.
And of course, be an alert driver and look for people riding their bikes, walking or running on the sidewalks and the streets.
Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable: February 16, 2024
Feb 16, 2024
Show notesThe Idaho House of Representatives meet for a special session at the Statehouse in Boise, Idaho.(Keith Ridler / AP)
It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean talks about the top issues facing the city
Feb 15, 2024
Show notes Boise Mayor Lauren McLean( City of Boise)
The City of Boise is back in the market for a new police chief after current Chief Ron Winegar announced his retirement. It’s the fourth time in four years that the city has been in the market for a new head for the department.
Boise has also been in the news after finding out a grant proposal to study a future train route between Salt Lake City and Boise never got submitted because of a clerical error.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean sat down with our Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about the top issues facing the city today.
Meridian company creates job opportunities for adults with disabilities
Feb 15, 2024
Show notes
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than double compared to the rest of the population.
What to Watch: A movie to whet your appetite and a preview of Wicked: the movie
Feb 15, 2024
Show notesKristin Chenoweth, left and McKenzie Kurtz participate in the curtain call during the 20th anniversary performance of "Wicked" on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, at Gershwin Theater in New York. (CJ Rivera/CJ Rivera/Invision/AP / Invision)
If you’re hungry right now and you like movies, we've got a film for you! Plus, there are those who say the best part of the Super Bowl are the ads, and one of the most popular ads this year was a movie preview.
Resident movie critic George Prentice joined Idaho Matters to help us figure out What to Watch the weekend.
Idaho Matters Doctors Roundtable: February 14, 2024
Feb 14, 2024
Show notes(iStockphoto.com)
The bubonic plague dates back to the Middle Ages, when it killed millions of people in Europe. This was, of course, before the advent of antibiotics.
Just this week, a person in Central Oregon contracted this disease. And someone else died from a virus called Alaska pox. Not to mention, we are still dealing with COVID-19 and the flu.
Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System, joined Idaho Matters to help break all of this down.
Local campaign brings awareness to the dangers of youth vaping
Feb 14, 2024
Show notes(Gabby Jones / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
For nearly a decade, the use of e-cigarettes has grown in popularity among one of America's most vulnerable demographics, it's youth.
And as a whole new generation becomes addicted to nicotine, people are looking for a way to help. Which is why Idaho Public Television has launched a new campaign geared towards prevention called "Be Smart, Don't Start."
Jennie Sue Weltner, the Executive Producer of the "Be Smart" campaign with Idaho Public Television, and Katie Chauvin, a tobacco prevention specialist, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the health risks of vaping.
Idaho students share their values as part of Boise State Listens
Feb 14, 2024
Show notes( Boise State University )
What happens when you put people with different backgrounds and different core values in a room together and ask them to just listen to one another?
It’s a phenomenon that’s happening more and more across the country, and Boise State has already tried it twice, last spring and last fall.
There’s another Boise State Listens coming up Wednesday, Feb. 21 and we wondered how things are going and what’s next for this program. So we asked folks involved to join Idaho Matters. Isaac Castellano, an associate clinical professor and associate director of the institute for advancing American values, as well as Boise State students Ethan Lahaug and Isaac Stone, sat down to talk more about the upcoming event.
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