Idaho News (Boise, Nampa, Meridian: houses, homebuyer, property taxes)

[Publius4]

Latest population growth estimate report

[clearwater66]

She lived in Hayden and died in CDA a few hours ago.

Patty Duke Is Dead at 69 - ABC News

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by clearwater66

She lived in Hayden and died in CDA a few hours ago.

Patty Duke Is Dead at 69 - ABC News

Just heard that on the radio a little while ago....very sad news. I would have never guessed she lived in that area.

[clearwater66]

Idaho Fish and Game - Clearwater Region Fishing Report

[clearwater66]

March 31, 2016

BOISE, ID - A federal judge has ordered the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to create additional safeguards to protect the state's Medicaid participants. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, Judge B. Lynn Winmill's decision comes as the latest victory in the K.W. v. Armstrong class action which claims that the state agency cut Medicaid participants' assistance for adults with developmental disabilities without adequate notification or procedural protections.
The ACLU says the federal court agreed this week, holding that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare “arbitrarily deprives participants of their property rights and hence violates due process.”
“This case defends basic, fundamental constitutional rights for some of Idaho’s most vulnerable,” according to Leo Morales, ACLU of Idaho Executive Director. “It should not have taken a four year, federal class action to vindicate these essential rights, but the ACLU of Idaho is proud to have had the privilege of representing adults with developmental disabilities, who are such an important part of our Idaho communities.”
From ACLU of Idaho:
The decision follows a long-standing injunction that has restored about $30 million of Medicaid assistance in Idaho annually. The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction in 2015. Before the lawsuit was filed, the Department of Health and Welfare refused to disclose the reasons for cutting individuals’ Medicaid assistance, claiming its decision-making formulas were “trade secrets” and the formula used to calculate the benefits was not available to the public. The ACLU of Idaho, representing a class of about 4,000 Idahoans in the Medicaid programs at issue, has “prevailed at every turn,” the federal court remarked in its latest decision, despite that “IDHW has fought plaintiffs on every issue.”
The court’s decision orders specific remedies, requiring IDHW to develop a plan to ensure that all of the participants have people to help them in getting all assistance they are entitled to, mandating that IDHW to identify the standards it uses to make assistance determinations, and ordering testing to ensure the reliability and accuracy of IDHW’s automated systems.
The decision will require IDHW to propose further plans for compliance for court approval.
Richard Eppink, Legal Director of the ACLU of Idaho and one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys in the case, remarked that “the amount of trouble Idaho’s government has gone through to avoid its constitutional responsibilities in this case is staggering. Let’s hope that this decision will turn its focus from fighting against constitutional protections and toward embracing them.” James Piotrowski, another of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, added: This case demonstrates that constitutional rights are critical to improving the day to day lives of Idahoans.”
The case has been handled by the ACLU of Idaho and Mr. Piotrowski, of the law firm of Herzfeld & Piotrowski, LLP. The Idaho Attorney General’s office represents the government defendants.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

This is breaking news from Spokane's East Valley, so it may be relevant for North Idaho:

Local, federal law enforcement end search for escaped mental patient for the day | The Spokesman-Review

A violent mental patient who escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Western Washington boarded a Greyound bus for Spokane, sparking a massive manhunt in the foothills of Mt. Spokane Thursday.
Deputies and U.S. Marshals called off the search for Anthony Carver at nightfall, but said they’d keep extra patrols in the area and resume the search Friday.
Carver had visited his parents’ house near Forker Road in East Valley after arriving in Spokane.
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich called the search “a pretty intense situation,” involving both federal and local law enforcement, police dogs, SWAT teams and helicopters.

Law enforcement has received information in the past that Garver may have a cache of weapons hidden in the East Valley area that haven’t been located, the sheriff said.
“We are looking for him with everything we’ve got,” Knezovich said, adding that he’s frustrated the state of Washington continues to treat Garver as a “low-risk individual.”

Be safe, NID'ers. Don't pick up hitchhikers if they look like the guy on the right...(the other man has been recaptured)

[LionFamily]

Inmate is still on the loose in the Spokane area.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

They caught him!

Escaped psychiatric patient captured near Mount Spokane | The Spokesman-Review

With the help of a search dog, Spokane County deputies and U.S marshals found Garver at 8:15 p.m. dehydrated and hiding beneath a pile of debris in the 17600 block of East Judkins Road less than a mile from his parents’ home. He was not armed and did not resist arrest.

[banjomike]

I hope Garver goes into highest security for the rest of his life. I was taken aback at the pure menace his face radiated in that mugshot of him.

[f5fstop]

Yea, if I met him on the street, I probably would have my hand under my shirt, firmly gripping the Beretta.