Page 6 - Doug Ricks News Today

Idahoans will see $300 million in property tax relief, with about $100 million of that coming from a surplus eliminator at the end of the fiscal year.

Initial estimates forecast between $205 million and $335 million in relief from House Bill 292.

Idaho has a budget surplus because state revenues came in $80.1 million ahead of projections and agencies spent $19 million under budget.

This editorial was published in the Idaho Statesman of Boise.

If you take away the arguments about cost, deterrence and closure, what’s left other than a call for vengeance? | Opinion

Convicted murderer Gerald Pizzuto has spent 37 years — more than half his life — locked up on Idaho’s death row. He’s dodged his scheduled execution by way of a

“Even assuming seeking the death penalty costs more than imposing fixed-life sentences, such costs would be justified. Capital punishment brings closure to victims of crimes and serves a deterrent effect,” Idaho AG Raúl Labrador said.

Idaho’s approval last month of a new law adding the firing squad as an execution method for death row inmates could one day play a role in the case of Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohberger, a Monroe County native.

MOSCOW (Idaho Statesman) — Idaho’s approval last month of a new law adding the firing squad as an execution method for death row inmates could one day play a role in the case of Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohberger. In December, police arrested Kohberger, 28, for allegedly killing four University of Idaho students in November. […]

Idaho is close to being fifth U.S. state to adopt executions by firing squad. It will only be used if the state cant get drugs for lethal injections.