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A special thank you to everyone who tuned in live on Thursday night for Festival on Idaho PTV and got to watch an exclusive extended edition of this week's Idaho Reports episode! We'll be back again at 8pm on Thursday, March 12, with another special show for Festival.

This week on Idaho Reports...

As testy as this year's legislative primaries are shaping up to be, the statewide primaries are shockingly quiet. We discuss the factors , and how it could affect the session, at the pundits' table with former Attorney General David Leroy, former Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho Education News reporter Kevin Richert, and Dr. Jaclyn Kettler of Boise State University.

Institutional Insights | March 6, 2026

On Thursday, Gov. Brad Little, Attorney General Raúl Labrador, and Coeur d’Alene Tribal Chairman Chief Allen announced a historic water rights settlement. After years of litigation, the agreement protects existing water rights and water for future growth for north Idaho communities, while also protecting and retaining tribal authority for their water rights.

"When I first started, the Tribe and the state of Idaho always didn't see eye to eye," Allen said. "There were some fights and disagreements, you know, but I always never looked at it that way. Just like a family. We're all a family – we're all Idahoans at the heart of it."

• BOISE STATE RESTRUCTURING: Bottom-line impacts are an unknown after BSU announced a major reorganization plan. The university will eliminate two dean’s positions. However, faculty and staff positions at the affected programs should remain intact, the interim president said. [🔗 Idaho Education News]

• LOCAL REACTIONS TO IRAN CONFLICT: Various Idaho political leaders issued statements in the wake of the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran. [🔗 KMVT] As the conflict escalates, some Iranian-Americans in Idaho say they are watching events unfold with a mix of hope and fear about what comes next. [🔗 KBOI]

• MEDICAID CUTS DELAYED: As the first major Medicaid cut bill debuted Thursday, House lawmakers shelved it for almost a week. Asked if the budget committee had guaranteed the cut, Rep. John Vander Woude said his understanding was JFAC had already “penciled in that this would go through, and this will be out of the base budget.” [🔗 Idaho Capital Sun]

• LICENSE PLATE READERS: License plate reading cameras have been installed in the rural Canyon County towns of Wilder and Greenleaf, prompting community debate over how the cameras were approved and what data they collect. [🔗 KIVI]

• ELK FARMS: Less than two years after lawmakers passed a bill loosening regulations on captive elk breeding and hunting operations, Idaho culled more than 80 wild mule deer inside a high-fence ranch over chronic wasting disease concerns. It was just the latest incident of biosecurity breaches at captive elk facilities leading to intermingling between wild and captive cervids. [🔗 Outdoor Life]

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