All posts tagged: Idaho News

A Pentagon List Overhaul Puts Mormon Church’s Christian Identity Back in the Spotlight

A Pentagon List Overhaul Puts Mormon Church’s Christian Identity Back in the Spotlight

Published by Sam Flores

The Pentagon’s revision to its list of Christian religions this week has reignited a nearly 200-year-old debate: Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a Christian denomination? Most Latter-day Saints do see themselves as Christians. But there are many prominent Christian clergy and scholars who disagree, citing core differences in how they view God and the Trinity and revere a scripture that is not part of the two-testament Christian Bible. Utah U.S. Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis, both Republicans and Latter-day Saints, challenged the Pentagon’s exclusion of their faith from its list of Christian religions. It was part of the Department of Defense’s recent effort to significantly pare down a list of more than 200 religious affiliations that troops could choose from, deleting categories such as atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans. “Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country,” Curtis posted on X in defense of his faith. “They are also unequivocally Christian — just look at who is in the name of the Church.” He also …

Overflowing Idaho Prisons Are Sending Women With Good Behavior to ‘The Hole’

Overflowing Idaho Prisons Are Sending Women With Good Behavior to ‘The Hole’

Published by Sam Flores

On the nearly four-hour drive from a southeast Idaho prison, Kristine Scott was optimistic. One of 15 women transferred on April 3 to a minimum security prison in Boise, Scott was told she’d work at the community reentry center and live in one of the least restrictive facilities in Idaho’s prison system. But when the women arrived at the South Idaho Correctional Institution, Scott said staff told them there weren’t enough beds available in the dorms. Instead, she and five other women were led to a segregated housing unit usually reserved as punishment for inmates who violate the rules or pose a safety risk — a unit known to prisoners as “the hole.” For 23 hours a day, the women were confined in pairs to small cells with only a bunk bed, sink and toilet, said Scott, who is serving a four-year sentence for drug possession. Every morning at 7, Scott and her roommate were handcuffed and taken to what women described as a 4-by-5 foot cage outdoors for an hour of recreation. Except for …

Idaho Transgender Bathroom Bill Is the Strictest in the Nation and Likely Veto-Proof

Idaho Transgender Bathroom Bill Is the Strictest in the Nation and Likely Veto-Proof

Published by Sam Flores

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmakers passed a sweeping bathroom ban Friday, approving legislation that would make it a crime for transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, even inside privately owned businesses. If Republican Gov. Brad Little signs the bill, Idaho will have the strictest bathroom ban in the nation, subjecting people to time behind bars if they knowingly enter a bathroom, locker room or changing area that does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to a year in jail for a first offense, or a felony with up to five years in prison for a second offense. Private businesses are included in Idaho’s bill At least 19 states, including Idaho, already have laws barring transgender people from using bathrooms and changing rooms that align with their gender in schools and, in some cases, other public places. The LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Movement Advancement Project’s tracking of the laws shows that three other states — Florida, Kansas and Utah — …

US Issues First Commercial Construction Permit for a Nuclear Reactor in Years to a Wyoming Project

US Issues First Commercial Construction Permit for a Nuclear Reactor in Years to a Wyoming Project

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday approved its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years, one that will allow a Bill Gates-backed company to build a sodium-cooled reactor in western Wyoming. TerraPower filed for the permit in 2024 and construction is now set to begin within weeks. Completion of the up to $4 billion plant is targeted for 2030, according to TerraPower. Microsoft co-founder Gates, who is eyeing nuclear generation as a power source for the electricity-hungry data centers behind artificial intelligence, is a founder of TerraPower and its primary investor. “We have spent thousands of manpower hours working to achieve this momentous accomplishment,” TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said in a statement. The TerraPower plant is set to be built near a coal-fired power plant that is being converted to burn natural gas outside Kemmerer, a town of about 2,500 people some 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City. Gates and his energy company are seeking to develop a next-generation nuclear plant that would “revolutionize” how …