The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Idaho to enforce its strict abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, while a legal fight continues. The justices said they would hear arguments in April and put on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked the Idaho law in hospital emergencies, based on a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration, per the AP. The Idaho case gives the court its second major abortion dispute since the justices in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to severely restrict or ban abortion. The court also in the coming months is hearing a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s rules for obtaining mifepristone, one of two medications used in the most common method of abortion in the United States.
In the case over hospital emergencies, the Biden administration has argued that hospitals that receive Medicare funds are required by federal law to provide emergency care, potentially including abortion, no matter if there’s a state law banning abortion. The administration issued guidance about the federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, two weeks after the high court ruling in 2022. The Democratic administration sued Idaho a month later. US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Idaho agreed with the administration. But in a separate case in Texas, a judge sided with the state. In a statement Friday night, President Biden objected to the high court’s decision and said his administration “will continue to defend a woman’s ability to access emergency care under federal law.”
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Idaho makes it a crime with a prison term of up to five years for anyone who performs or assists in an abortion. The administration argues that EMTALA requires health care providers to perform abortions for emergency room patients when needed to treat an emergency medical condition, even if doing so might conflict with a state’s abortion restrictions. Those conditions include severe bleeding, preeclampsia, and certain pregnancy-related infections. “For certain medical emergencies, abortion care is the necessary stabilizing treatment,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in an administration filing at the Supreme Court.
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The state argued that the administration was misusing a law intended to prevent hospitals from dumping patients and imposing “a federal abortion mandate” on states. “EMTALA says nothing about abortion,” Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador told the court in a brief. Just Tuesday, the federal appeals court in New Orleans came to the same conclusion as Labrador. A three-judge panel ruled that the administration cannot use EMTALA to require hospitals in Texas to provide abortions for women whose lives are at risk due to pregnancy. Two of the three judges are appointees of former President Donald Trump, and the other was appointed by another Republican president, George W. Bush. The justices’ order Friday takes the case away from the appeals court. A decision is expected by early summer. More here.
Former Idaho receiver Mark Hamper will take an official with the USC Trojans starting Thursday, Dec. 19. His former teammate, receiver Jordan Dwyer is taking a visit of his own with the Trojans starting Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Hamper entered the transfer portal on Sunday, Dec. 15 following the Vandals loss to Montana State in the FCS quarterfinals and immediately garnered a ton of interests from Power 4 programs. The Oregon native is being pursued by Washington State, Utah, Arizona State, Wisconsin and Stanford. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Hamper was a three-star prospect coming out of West Linn (OR) in the 2024 recruiting cycle. In his first season with the Vandals, he reeled in 49 receptions for 961 yards and six touchdowns, which earned him FCS Freshman All-American honors. Hamper was also a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding freshman player at the FCS level.
The two former Idaho teammates are high on the Trojans priority list during this transfer portal window because of the departures of former five-star recruits Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson, and Kyron Hudson since the portal opened. All three were key contributors of offense this past season.
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The Trojans have already missed out on one transfer receiver when former Tulsa pass-catcher Joseph Williams committed to Utah Wednesday morning. Williams took an official visit with USC last weekend and was set to take four more this week, starting with Mississippi State, Utah and Washington during the week and finishing up with Colorado over the weekend. However, Williams decided to end his recruiting process in Salt Lake City with the Utes.
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USC coach Lincoln Riley is also targeting former Purdue receiver Jaron Tibbs, who has a busy schedule himself. Tibbs was at Wake Forest last weekend and is taking visits to Kansas State and Arkansas this week before making his way out west for his official visit with the Trojans this weekend.
USC signed three receivers in the 2025 recruiting cycle, four-stars Tanook Hines, Romero Ison and Corey Simms. Freshman Xavier Jordan was a four-star prospect coming out of local Sierra Canyon (CA) in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Jordan was the No. 20 receiver and No. 98 overall prospect, per the On3 Industry Rankings. Depending on what receivers the Trojans are able to land in this transfer portal window and when it opens again in the spring, they may be forced to play a number of young players to compliment Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane in 2025.
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GOLF’s Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor
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Coeur D’Alene remains one of golf’s funkiest — and most sought-after — vacation spots.
Joel Riner
As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Idaho. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.
GOLF’s other course rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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The best golf courses in Idaho (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE # = Top 100 Course in the U.S. Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S. V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S. P = Public/Resort
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
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1. Gozzer Ranch Golf & Lake Club (Harrison) [#]
Tom Fazio at his artistic best. Overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene, Gozzer Ranch plays through majestic pines and black rock outcroppings to some of golf’s most scenic green complexes. The layout features two drivable par-4s and a postcard-perfect collection of par-3s. Every hole is memorable, and the brilliant back nine is one of the best nines west of the Mississippi, capitalizing on the Pacific northwest’s unsurpassed beauty. For sheer wonder, it’s hard to top the 15th, a 431-yard par-4 that plays toward a green framed by the distant lake and mountains.
2. The Tributary (Driggs)
3. The Club at Black Rock (Coeur d’Alene)
4. Circling Raven Golf Club (Worley) [P, V]
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5. Blue Lakes CC (Jerome)
How we rank our courses
For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.” Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.
Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it historically has produced results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily complicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.
The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the worldwide golf meccas, each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries, some over 2,000. Their handicaps range from +5 to 15.
Because the nature of course rating is so intensely subjective, no one opinion carries the day. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into one ranking.
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Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.
Utah Valley Wolverines (5-6) at Idaho State Bengals (5-5)
Pocatello, Idaho; Wednesday, 9 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bengals -1.5; over/under is 135.5
BOTTOM LINE: Utah Valley visits Idaho State after Dominick Nelson scored 20 points in Utah Valley’s 70-66 loss to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
The Bengals have gone 4-0 in home games. Idaho State leads the Big Sky in rebounding, averaging 38.4 boards. Jake O’Neil paces the Bengals with 9.9 rebounds.
The Wolverines are 1-5 in road games. Utah Valley is the WAC leader with 25.5 defensive rebounds per game led by Carter Welling averaging 4.8.
Idaho State scores 75.8 points per game, 3.8 more points than the 72.0 Utah Valley allows. Utah Valley averages 9.8 more points per game (74.1) than Idaho State allows (64.3).
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TOP PERFORMERS: Dylan Darling is scoring 13.3 points per game with 2.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists for the Bengals.
Nelson is averaging 14.1 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Wolverines.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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