Tag: idaho

Kentucky, Montana, Idaho Among States Looking to Ban mRNA Vaccines

As calls to ban mRNA shots intensify worldwide, a growing number of U.S. states and communities are eyeing laws to prohibit or pause their use.

A bill introduced Tuesday in the Kentucky House of Representatives would ban until July 1, 2035, the administration of “any human gene therapy product for any infectious disease indication, regardless of whether the administration is termed an immunization, vaccine, or any other term.”

Lawmakers in Idaho and Montana recently introduced similar bills. Legislative initiatives are in the planning stages or have been passed at the county level in at least four other states, including Iowa, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

“A critical mass will soon be reached, forcing the federal government to follow suit,” said epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher of the McCullough Foundation.

Dr. Kat Lindley, president of the Global Health Project and director of the International Fellowship Program for the Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), said such initiatives are “important in sending the message” to public health agencies “that states recognize the damage mRNA shots have done to U.S. citizens.”

Hulscher said the McCullough Foundation “will be actively engaged in legislative efforts to ban mRNA injections” in several states.

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Donald Trump Cancels Construction of One of America’s Largest Wind Farms

Donald Trump halted construction on what was set to be the largest wind farm in the U.S. on his first day in office.

The president stopped building work on over 100,000 acres of clean energy infrastructure at the Lava Ridge Wind Project in Idaho via an executive order on Tuesday.

Newsweek contacted the White House and developers Magic Valley Energy for more information on the order, the decision and the implications for those involved in the project via email. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) declined to comment when approached by Newsweek.

Why It Matters

The move is part of a series of day-one promises that Trump pledged to fulfill once he was sworn in.

In his inauguration speech, Trump said that the U.S. would “drill, baby, drill,” and expand oil and gas initiatives at the expense of renewable energy projects. This order, along with his removal of the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, symbolizes Trump’s move towards traditional fuel sources.

What to Know

The Lava Ridge Wind Project would have been a 104,000-acre wind farm in Lava Ridge, Idaho, with over 271 turbines planned by developers Magic Valley Energy.

This would have made Lava Ridge the largest wind farm in the U.S. by area, beating out the 100,000-acre titleholder in Roscoe, Texas.

However, because of the project’s scale, it was met with skepticism by local campaigners, including Republican Idaho Senator Jim Risch. In 2023, Idaho lawmakers issued a statement with concerns over how the project was being managed by the BLM.

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New Idaho Bill Would Set Mandatory Minimum Fine For Marijuana Possession

A Nampa legislator introduced a bill on Thursday to implement a $300 minimum fine for adults possessing three ounces or less of marijuana.

Under Idaho Code, individuals possessing more than three ounces of marijuana can face a felony conviction and may be imprisoned for at least five years, or fined at least $10,000, or both. However, there are no specific penalties for individuals possessing less than three ounces.

Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced the bill to the Idaho House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, noting that Idaho judges can apply fines ranging from $2 to $500 for people possessing three ounces or less of marijuana.

According to the bill, individuals possessing three ounces or less of marijuana would be subject to a misdemeanor upon conviction and subject to a minimum fine of $300. Individuals under the age of 18, however, would be exempt from the penalties, Skaug said.

“We do not want this to become a marijuana state,” Skaug told the committee.

Last year, Skaug introduced a similar bill attempting to implement a minimum $420 fine for marijuana possession of three ounces or less, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

The bill died in committee after legislators pointed to concerns that it would take away judicial discretion.

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Man Arrested in Payette, Idaho After Police Find Improvised Bomb in Train Car

Payette Police arrested 40-year-old Brent Sharrai after discovering an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to a railcar in Payette, Idaho.

Officers responded to a report of a suspicious individual attempting to ignite an object near a parked railroad car in the 600 block of North 8th Street.

Upon arrival, they observed fresh footprints in the snow leading to a train car, where they found an undetonated PVC pipe-bomb-style device affixed to a step.

Following the footprints, officers located Sharrai in a nearby camp trailer. He attempted to flee but surrendered after a brief pursuit.

During the arrest, Sharrai reportedly claimed he was “just trying to make a loud explosion or loud boom” and did not intend to cause harm or property damage, Idaho Stateman reported.

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Idaho Man Paralyzed 10 Days After Getting J&J COVID Vaccine

An Idaho man who received a COVID-19 vaccine when his employer “strongly implied” he should get the shot was left paralyzed 10 days later from a blood clot.

Doug Cameron, who previously avoided getting a COVID-19 vaccine, was 64 and healthy when he received his first and only Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine on April 5, 2021.

He was a manager at TLK Dairy Farms in Mountain Home, Idaho, where he had worked for 15 years.

COVID-19 vaccines had been available for months at local pharmacies when TLK Dairy Farms hosted an on-site vaccination clinic to encourage vaccination.

“They were seeing that a lot of people weren’t getting the shot, and they decided to bring the shot to the farm,” Cameron told The Defender. His company’s leadership team didn’t mandate that he get the shot. “They just strongly implied” that they expected it, he said.

Cameron said the “intimidation” to get a COVID-19 shot “was extremely strong all the way around” for him and his co-workers.

“People can deny it all they want,” he said, “but the fact of the matter is that if they had never brought it and never pushed it on people, I know a lot of people would’ve never got it — I am one of those people.”

Cameron told them he didn’t want a COVID-19 shot. “They said, ‘Well, you’re a manager and it’d be good if your name was first on the list of people’” who signed up to receive a shot.

Cameron said, “Well, OK,” and got the shot. He sat for 15 minutes as instructed by the clinic workers, then hopped back in his pickup truck to continue working around the 10,000-acre farm.

That was Monday. The next day, he didn’t feel quite right. His hips hurt a lot. Sitting or lying down was uncomfortable. “That just kept getting worse,” he said.

More symptoms occurred, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Cameron wanted to finish his workweek. He told his wife, Carla, he would go to a clinic on Saturday to get checked out.

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Outraged Citizen Unleashes on City Council For Passing One of the Nation’s Toughest Hate Crime Laws

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, now has one of the nation’s toughest hate crime laws.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council unanimously approved a new hate crime ordinance, introducing a significant addition to the municipal code. 

This new chapter establishes a separate offense for individuals who commit an existing offense with a bias motive, Krem2 reported.

The Idaho Tribune described the law as “draconian,” arguing it “will basically make it illegal to think the wrong way.”

“If found guilty, you’ll be sentenced to ‘[re]education.’”

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War On Nation’s Food Supply?: Idaho Restricts Water To 500,000 Acres Of Farmland 

In late May, Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mathew Weaver issued a curtailment order requiring 6,400 junior groundwater rights holders who pump off the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer to shut off their spigots.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued a statement following the order on May 30, “Water curtailment is never desired, but the director must follow Idaho law and the Constitution in issuing this order.” 

Brian Murdock, an East Idaho farmer, said the water curtailment affects 500,000 acres, which equates to roughly 781 square miles of farmland. 

“Well, as you said, the state of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Water Resources has issued this curtailment of 500,000 acres. And to help put that in perspective, that’s basically 781 square miles of farm ground that is being taken out of production,” Murdock told the hosts of Fox News. 

The grain and potato farmer continued, “And, of course, the worst problem is this is happening during a very plentiful water year. We have the reservoirs [that] are completely full, and when I mean full, they’re dang near breaking. The rivers are running as high as they possibly can. Just trying to keep those dams from breaking.” 

In eastern Idaho, groundwater users with junior water rights breached the 2016 agreement in 2021 and 2022. Currently, Gov. Little, the lieutenant governor, the Director of Water Resources, and representatives from groundwater and surface water user groups are discussing a new deal. The plan is to strike a new agreement before the curtailment dries up the farmland. 

Murdock told co-hosts Dagen McDowell and Sean Duffy that his family’s century-old farm faces a $3 million loss due to the state-issued order. 

“This is the largest curtailment in the history of the United States as far as farm ground,” Murdock said in a video posted on X. 

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Botched execution of serial killer in Idaho puts focus on capital punishment secrecy laws

In 2012, two Idaho prison officials chartered a private plane and flew to Washington state with thousands of dollars in cash.

They met with a pharmacist behind closed doors and bought the drug for a convicted murderer’s lethal injection.

Only a years-long public records lawsuit revealed the pharmacist’s name, the pharmacy and other details of the exchange. After prison officials said the pharmacist’s exposure had scared away other lethal drug suppliers, Idaho lawmakers barred such information from getting out again.

Idaho tried and failed Wednesday to execute Thomas Eugene Creech, a 73-year-old serial killer who had been in prison for 50 years. Neither his attorneys nor the public knew where the state obtained the drug or the exact qualifications of his executioners.

Opponents say secrecy laws are are a significant hurdle to accountability and make it hard to ensure that the procedures aren’t unconstitutionally painful, whether the deaths are carried out successfully — as Texas did Wednesday in the case of Ivan Cantu — or botched like Creech’s.

Idaho long kept the identities of execution team members and drug suppliers secret but judges were still able to force disclosure of the information if it was relevant to lawsuits or appeals. The new law prohibits state officials from disclosing the information, even if under court order.

The law also prevents professional licensing boards from taking disciplinary action against people for participating in executions.

Such secrecy is typical among states that impose capital punishment, including Texas, where lawmakers passed a similar measure in 2015 to ensure drug suppliers did not face retaliation or harassment for cooperating with executions.

“States are saying, ‘We don’t need to show you the information about … how we find or drugs or the training of the prison staff,’” said Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that tracks executions. “And then, when things go wrong, they can’t be held accountable.”

Creech was convicted of five murders in three states and suspected of several more. He has been in custody since 1974 and was already serving a life term when he beat a fellow inmate, 22-year-old David Dale Jensen, to death in 1981 — the crime for which he was to be executed.

When his appointed hour came at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Creech was wheeled into the execution chamber and strapped to a table. Medical personnel poked and prodded at his arms, legs, hands and feet for nearly an hour, making eight attempts, but they couldn’t find a vein they thought would hold up long enough to deliver the fatal dose. He was returned to his cell.

It is unclear whether or when the state might try again, or how. Like other states concerned about the availability of lethal injection, Idaho recently passed a law allowing for firing squads as a backup, but the state has yet to write protocols for using that method or build a facility where it could shoot people to death. It has not approved the use of nitrogen gas, a method used for the first time early this year in Alabama.

Creech’s execution team comprised volunteers who, according to Idaho execution protocols, were required to have at least three years of medical experience, such as having been a paramedic, and to have “current venous access proficiency.” They were not necessarily doctors, who famously take an oath to “do no harm” — though Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt later told lawmakers that the executioners regularly use their IV skills to save lives in their day jobs. They wore white balaclava-style coverings to conceal their faces.

Tewalt defended the state’s approach, saying the department ensures execution drugs are acquired lawfully, provides test results showing their authenticity, and ensures medical members of the execution team meet or exceed required qualifications.

“I would argue we are very transparent about any information that speaks to the integrity of the process,” said Tewalt. “What we won’t do is tell you their names.”

Tewalt also disagreed with characterizing the attempt as “botched” — stopping the execution after the failed IVs prevented the process from truly going awry, he said.

Creech, according to his attorneys, suffers from several conditions that could have made vein accessibility challenging: Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and edema. It can also be more difficult for older people to have IVs inserted, as their veins can be less stable.

“This is precisely the kind of mishap we warned the State and the Courts could happen when attempting to execute one of the country’s oldest death-row inmates in circumstances completely shielded in secrecy,” Creech’s attorneys, with the nonprofit Federal Defender Services of Idaho, said in a written statement.

Among the arguments they made in their unsuccessful last-minute petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court was that the secrecy violated Creech’s due-process rights and could constitute cruel and unusual punishment if the lethal drug, the sedative pentobarbital, was of poor quality and caused unnecessary pain or complications.

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New Idaho Bill Would Apply $420 Mandatory Minimum Fine For Marijuana Possession

Anyone convicted of possessing less than three ounces of marijuana in Idaho would receive a mandatory minimum fine of $420 if a new bill introduced in the Idaho Legislature becomes law.

House Bill 606 is Rep. Bruce Skaug’s second attempt to pass a bill creating a mandatory minimum fine for possession of less than three ounces of marijuana, after House Bill 559 was introduced on February 13.

On Tuesday, Skaug, R-Nampa, told members of the House State Affairs Committee that House Bill 606 replaces House Bill 559 and makes a technical correction. The difference is the newest bill adds language that basically says any other penalties specified in state law can also be applied, in addition to the $420 fine.

If passed into law, the new bill would amend the existing penalties in Idaho law for manufacturing, delivery or possession of controlled substances. Idaho law already specifies that anyone possessing more than three ounces of marijuana can be punished with a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $10,000, or both. The new bill simply adds a fine of not less than $420 for possession of less than three ounces of marijuana. State law describes marijuana as “all parts of the plants of the genus cannabis, including the extract or any preparation of cannabis which contains tetrahydrocannabinol.”

The $420 fine is a known reference to slang for getting high on marijuana. During Tuesday’s short introductory hearing, Skaug also dropped several marijuana-related puns when he told committee he “smoked out” the problem in his last bill and ran the changes by his assistant, “Mary Jane.”

Other than Wyoming, Idaho’s neighboring states have legalized medical or recreational marijuana. Utah allows for the possession and use of medical marijuana for qualified patients who have a medical cannabis card. Washington, Oregon, Montana and Nevada allow recreational marijuana.

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Boise Police search Idaho Harm Reduction Project locations

The Idaho Press is reporting that the Boise Police have severed search warrants at both Idaho Harm Reduction Project locations in Boise and in Caldwell.

A spokesperson for the department told the Idaho Press report that the search warrants are part of an ongoing investigation into the distribution of drug paraphernalia.

The Idaho Harm Reduction Project “Works to serve the drug using community of Idaho, as well as the general public by creating safe communities through evidence based programming, education, needle exchange, and appropriate needle disposal,” according to their website.

The Idaho Harm Reduction Project provides harm reduction supplies like sterile injection equipment, sharps disposals, and Narcan, among other things. They also provide training on the use and administration of Narcan, a drug that can stop an Opioid overdose from killing a drug user if administered timely.

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