Idaho
Abortion, school funding, 'library porn' expected to resurface at Idaho capitol
Idaho legislative leaders say we should expect a sort of re-run of issues for this year’s session.
House Speaker Mike Moyle (R-Star) told reporters Thursday morning that lawmakers have been trying to clarify Idaho’s ban on most abortions.
Currently, mothers can only terminate a pregnancy when their life is threatened – not when her health or future fertility is threatened.
“There’s been more movement, though, to work together this last summer as those discussions have carried on,” said Moyle. “Sometimes, when you have a difficult issue like that it takes time to find those solutions.”
Other exceptions allowing women to abort their fetus are when a pregnancy stems from rape or incest.
A lawsuit challenging Idaho’s abortion ban is currently progressing through state court.
Moyle said legislators are also working to potentially revive a committee that studies deaths of the state’s pregnant women. Lawmakers declined to renew last year leaving Idaho as the only state in the country that didn’t have some sort of maternal mortality review panel.
Other issues expected for the upcoming session include bans on “obscene” materials in public libraries and initiatives allowing parents to use taxpayer money for private school tuition.
“I think we’ve seen really great movement in that in this state over the last couple years,” said Sen. Lori Den Hartog (R-Meridian).
She sponsored a bill last year to create a pilot program that would’ve funneled taxpayer dollars to paying for private schools. It passed the Senate, but it failed to gain traction in a House committee.
Assistant House Minority Leader Lauren Necochea (D-Boise) said Democrats would stand firm in opposing such ideas. Instead, Necochea said, that money should go toward addressing the significant backlog of public school facility maintenance that totals more than $800 million.
“We don’t have really a dime to spare, let alone the millions that could be gobbled up by a voucher scheme,” she said.
Gov. Brad Little gave a short preview of his priorities for the upcoming legislative session Thursday morning as well. He dedicated about half an hour for talking about the significant demand facing his signature Idaho Launch tuition grant program.
Legislators narrowly approved the initiative last year, which gives graduating high school seniors up to $8,000 for in-demand career training – whether that be at colleges and universities or private trades programs.
As of Jan. 3, 11,482 students have submitted applications to receive these grants.
State officials said not all of them will be funded, due to high demand. Lawmakers allocated $75 million toward Idaho Launch.
“A year ago, we didn’t’ know whether we would use the whole [$75 million], but it sure looks like we’re going to need the whole [$75 million] right now,” Little said.
He declined to say whether his proposed budget includes additional funding for the program. Because of that high demand, state officials will begin prioritizing recipients based on a list of in-demand careers approved by Idaho’s Workforce Development Council last September.
The top three career choices submitted by applicants are healthcare technicians, nursing and engineering. Efforts to expand Idaho Launch could run into opposition at the capitol, where many conservatives view it as a bloated government handout.
Lawmakers reconvene in Boise to kick off the session on Monday when Little gives his state of the state address.
Copyright 2024 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
Idaho Lottery results: See winning numbers for Pick 3, Pick 4 on April 19, 2026
The results are in for the Idaho Lottery’s draw games on Sunday, April 19, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 19.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 19 drawing
Day: 9-5-1
Night: 8-0-6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 19 drawing
Day: 2-7-0-3
Night: 4-3-3-3
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Idaho Cash numbers from April 19 drawing
15-28-31-38-45
Check Idaho Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 19 drawing
32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Idaho Lottery drawings held ?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Pick 4: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 8:35 p.m. MT Monday and Thursday.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- 5 Star Draw: 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Idaho Cash: 8 p.m. MT daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Idaho
‘Unrelenting’: Statehouse reporters recap 2026 legislative session in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS — Two prominent Idaho Statehouse reporters say this past legislative session was “unrelenting,” chaotic, largely driven by budget cuts, and they see the Legislature getting more powerful.
Kevin Richert and Clark Corbin recapped this past legislative session at a forum on the ISU Idaho Falls Campus on Thursday.
Richert is a senior reporter at Idaho Education News, with more than 30 years of experience covering education policy and politics. Corbin is a senior reporter at the Idaho Capital Sun who has covered every Idaho legislative session, gavel to gavel, since 2011.
The event was hosted by the City Club of Idaho Falls, which “exists to sponsor and promote civil dialogue and discourse on all matters of public interest” and strives to be “nonpartisan and nonsectarian,” according to its website.
Budget cuts
Both Richert and Corbin said this session was driven by budget cuts. Corbin said this was due to a lack of revenue stemming from past income tax and the adoption of new federal tax cuts.
“Cuts for almost every state agency and state department dominated the legislative session,” Corbin said. “We’re talking about 4% budget cuts for most state agencies and departments in the current fiscal year, and we’re talking about an additional 5% budget cuts for almost all state agencies and departments starting next year — fiscal year ’27 — and continuing permanently.”
RELATED | Gov. Little signs so-called ‘crappy bill’ to cut state budget
Richert said he thought higher education was taking the brunt of budget cuts. “It’s not a question of whether tuition fees are going to go up at the universities; it’s a question of how much,” he said.
When asked what the future would hold, Corbin said the budget cuts aren’t likely to go away, and their effects will be felt over time.
“There could always be a change of leadership in the House, but they do expect the budget crunch to continue in the next year’s legislative session,” Corbin said.
‘Radiator capping’
Richert said he has one word to describe this year’s legislative session: “unrelenting.”
One thing that made it feel that way was that some bills were recycled over and over, he said. For example, Richert said the Legislature saw five different versions of a bill that proposed cuts to the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance.
“We had multiple bills that came from the dead,” he said.
The journalists said this is partly due to a tactic called “radiator capping.” The term means to replace the entire car — the bill’s text, in political terms — while only keeping the radiator cap: the bill number. By rewriting a bill on the House or Senate floor while maintaining its number, failed bills can effectively bypass the committee process.
“Those are the changes they tried to make on immigration bills, on union bills this year,” Corbin said. “It made it extremely difficult for the public to have any idea what was going on, to have any opportunity to participate in the legislative process and share their opinions.
A more powerful, more chaotic Legislature
Richert said Idaho’s annual legislative sessions are trending longer, commonly going into the early part of April, and producing a record number of bills.
“There are rumblings that this Legislature, as a body, is wanting to expand its reach over more and have even more power over the other branches of government to the point of — are we trending towards more of a full-time professional legislature?” Richert said. “We’re a long way from there.”
“The legislative branch of government, particularly the Idaho House of Representatives, is the most powerful I’ve seen it in 16 years of covering state government,” Corbin said.
He added that this year’s legislative session was unlike any he’s experienced.
“The overall temperature in the building was bad,” Corbin said. “It was divisive. It was chaotic. People were not hiding their feelings of disgust for each other. These traditional ideas of decorum and respect very much fell by the wayside.”
Richert said Gov. Brad Little vetoed very few bills that came across his desk, and the ones he did weren’t high-profile.
RELATED | Idaho Gov. Brad Little issues 5 vetoes. Here are the bills affected
“I think the governor behaved like he was very concerned about the supermajority-controlled Legislature, and I think that that Legislature, in turn, asserted itself and took control of the agenda this year,” Corbin said.
Are legislators representing Idaho?
Corbin said some bills this year also focused on the LGBTQ+ community, such as a bathroom restriction for transgender individuals, and a bill that banned the City of Boise from waving a Pride flag.
RELATED | Idaho governor signs bill to criminalize trans people using bathrooms that align with their identity
RELATED | Boise removes LGBTQ+ pride flag as Idaho governor signs bill to fine city for its display
When asked if these were what Idahoans wanted, Corbin said it doesn’t necessarily appear so to him, based on his review of Boise State University’s annual public policy survey.
“For years and years, I’ve heard concerns about affordability of housing, access to housing, managing the growth of the state of Idaho, having quality public schools available for our young people — that also generates a workforce pipeline for some of our businesses,” Corbin said. “I’ve heard about paying for wildfires. I’ve heard about having good roads, supporting access to public lands, public recreation, those are the concerns I hear from Idahoans.”
“But the Legislature spent a significant amount of time over the last two, three, four years placing additional restrictions on LGBTQ communities, placing restrictions on what teachers can and cannot teach in their classrooms, what school boards can and cannot do,” Corbin continued. “They talked about requiring a moment of silence every day to begin the public school day, where children could pray or read the Bible.”
RELATED | Gov. Brad Little signs public school ‘moment of silence’ bill into law
Corbin said it may be his own opinion, but perhaps it is easier to “make a bunch of noise about what’s going wrong and (distract) people with social issues” rather than focus on harder issues that Idaho faces.
“I think what you saw on the policy space is a reflection of the fact that you had legislators thinking about reelection, and legislators with time on their hands — and that’s not always a good combination,” Richert said.
Accountability
When asked how people can keep legislators accountable, Corbin said it can be done by following the state Legislature through trusted news sources, going to community events and voting.
“This is a great year to practice accountability, because all 105 state legislators and all statewide elected officials are up for election this year,” he said.
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Idaho
Idaho Lottery results: See winning numbers for Powerball, Pick 3 on April 18, 2026
The results are in for the Idaho Lottery’s draw games on Saturday, April 18, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 18.
Winning Powerball numbers from April 18 drawing
24-25-39-46-61, Powerball: 01, Power Play: 5
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 18 drawing
Day: 9-5-1
Night: 0-2-4
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 18 drawing
Day: 4-6-0-4
Night: 9-9-8-2
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from April 18 drawing
18-21-22-32-42, Star Ball: 10, ASB: 03
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Idaho Cash numbers from April 18 drawing
08-19-22-31-44
Check Idaho Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 18 drawing
17-19-47-48-55, Bonus: 04
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Idaho Lottery drawings held ?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Pick 4: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 8:35 p.m. MT Monday and Thursday.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- 5 Star Draw: 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Idaho Cash: 8 p.m. MT daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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