Idaho
A 5% raise could be coming to most Idaho state workers
Most Idaho state employees could see about a 5% raise come July in a recommendation approved by a legislative committee Thursday.
Specifically, the proposal calls for a $1.55 hourly pay bump. That works out to at least a 5% raise for those earning less than $64,500 annually.
Democrats on the Change in Employee Compensation Committee, like Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking (D-Boise), voted against the measure, saying it didn’t go far enough – especially for higher paid workers.
“I’m worried that they’re not even going to keep up with the cost of living and that’s really a problem for me,” Ward-Engelking said.
After experiencing some of the highest rates of inflation in the country in 2022, prices in the Mountain region rose just 1.7% from November 2023 to November 2024.
The latest data from an Idaho Department of Human Resources labor market study show state workers here, on average, earn 15.1% less than the median wage of public and private sector employees in the region.
That’s also factoring in healthcare and retirement benefits, which are more generous than the private sector.
Base salaries across Idaho state workers are 25.1% below average compared to the median regional public and private sector employees.
The CEC Committee approved an 8% pay raise for Idaho State Police troopers to help retain and recruit more officers.
“It takes years of training and expense to produce a trooper with the experience to handle all the things that a trooper has to handle and this has become, in my opinion, a public safety issue,” said Sen. Dan Foreman (R-Viola).
Nurses and healthcare staff would get a 3% raise under the plan, with IT workers earning up to 4.5% pay hikes.
The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee will consider the recommendation before finalizing a bill.
Copyright 2025 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
Idaho AG warns Idaho renters about growing scam targetting home seekers
Idaho
Bond revoked for indicted Idaho mother
PAYETTE — A Payette mom’s bond was revoked Tuesday after she was charged with suffocating her twin children earlier this month and is believed to pose a danger to the life of her newborn child.
The case, which has drawn national headlines, concerns Andrea Renee Shaw, a 23-year-old Payette mother who in May 2025 said her 18-month-old fraternal twins died the same day, after receiving routine childhood vaccinations. In January, Shaw joined as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed by Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with several other plaintiffs claiming vaccine injury or death.
Kennedy, who now serves as secretary of Health and Human Services, is no longer part of the group after taking on the cabinet position, as was reported by the Associated Press.
In Idaho, the twins’ deaths prompted a 14-month investigation by the Payette County Sheriff’s Department. On June 29, the investigation yielded a grand jury indictment of Shaw on two counts of first-degree murder by suffocation. If convicted, Shaw can be punished by up to life in prison or the death penalty, and the court would have the ability to order the penalties be served consecutively, or back to back.
Tuesday’s arraignment at the Payette County Courthouse was primarily attended by Shaw’s relatives and members of the media. Payette County Judge Kiley Stuchlik, who serves Idaho’s Third Judicial District, presided.
A key consideration for Stuchlik on Tuesday was a request from Joseph Filicetti, the legal counsel for Shaw, to have her bond reduced from $2 million to $100,000. Filicetti said this would allow for Shaw to care for a newborn girl, who, according to court documents, was born by caesarean section on June 25, four days prior to Shaw’s grand jury indictment.
State prosecutors objected to the motion for bond reduction, noting at hand was a potential death penalty case and asserting, unlike her husband, Shaw’s story repeatedly changed during questioning. Prosecuting Attorney Mike Duke said releasing Shaw would ultimately put the newborn’s safety at risk.
“That child is the most at risk. We do not think she should be allowed to be anywhere near any children, let alone her own children,” Duke said.
Stuchlik decided to revoke bond entirely, stating Shaw posed a “risk of safety” to the newborn child that was not known to Stuchlik or prosecutors when the $2 million bond was initially set.
Also for consideration Tuesday was a request to have grand jury transcripts of witness testimony provided to prosecutors and defense counsel to prepare their respective cases.
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