Idaho lawmakers resisted expanding Medicaid on grounds that they don’t want to make Idaho more reliant on the federal government or have the feds dictate policy. But Idaho already takes billions from Washington. More than one-third of all state spending is federally funded, higher than average for all states and 15th overall. Article

The semiautomatic rifle a shooter used to kill three people in Gilroy, Calif., is banned for sale in that state. It lists for $700 at a Fallon, Nev., gun dealer where the man legally bought the weapon over the internet. Article

The longest story ever published online at the Review-Journal ran in two parts in the print edition. A functional session reference, it was among the most visited news story pages ever. Article

The embattled sheriff of a rural Nevada keeps winning re-election amid charges of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination, allegations of sexual crimes, and three confirmed state ethics violations. Article

As the 2018 legislative session rushed to a close, leadership of the GOP-controlled body engineered a modern-day land grab to wrest control of a lucrative economic development plan from Democrats in Salt Lake City. Article

A review of the costs of issuing debt in Idaho showed the longtime state treasurer’s practices wasted millions of public dollars financing the borrowings. Article

Idaho’s faith-healing exemption removed penalties for withholding medical assistance in cases where a parent or guardian “chooses for his child treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone.” Lawmakers face the the question of whether First Amendment religious freedoms protect the faithful at the cost of protecting children. Article

Idaho dragged its heels on expanding Medicaid coverage as provide for under Obamacare. Opposition to doing it was built on a raft of faulty or flat out wrong assumptions. Article

Those unlucky enough to collide with livestock in the open range are financially liable not only for their injuries and damage to their vehicles, but also for the animal they strike. In Idaho and other Western states, as traditional land uses cede ground to development and people, not everyone thinks that’s a fair deal. Article

Idaho Republicans always want to cut state taxes. But the state’s taxes are already lower, and fairer, than most other states. The state spends less per capita on its residents than any state in the nation. And its stingy spending matches its overall tax burden: it ranks 41st in taxes paid as a percentage of personal income. Article

In 1955, a county probation officer arrested three men for “immoral acts involving teenage boys.” In McCarthyesque fashion, he alleged hundreds more incidents. Eventually 16 men would be charged in a witch hunt that, decades later, still makes Boiseans squirm. Article

The top corporate contributors to Idaho elections might just be who you thought they’d be in an mostly rural agricultural state with vast natural resources. Article