The 2025 legislative session in summary
By Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle
Reader Contributor
The first regular session of the 68th Idaho Legislature adjourned April 5. The session spanned 89 days — typical in length, although 15 …
By Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle
Reader Contributor
The first regular session of the 68th Idaho Legislature adjourned April 5. The session spanned 89 days — typical in length, although 15 …
By Reader Staff
Elected officials from Idaho and nine other Western states joined the nonprofit The Mountain Pact to send a letter to the Trump Administration and Congress on March …
By Lauren Necochea
Reader Contributor
State revenue funds the building blocks of a strong economy and protects our quality of life. Public schools and career training prepare the next generation. …
By Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle
Reader Contributor
A few weeks back, I mentioned that funding of private schools with public money would be a significant policy question this legislative session. …
By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
The Trump administration walked back a temporary pause on a swath of federal loans and grants Jan. 29, adding a coda to more than 24 …
By Ben Olson
Reader Staff
Food insecurity is a terrible thing, but it’s especially heartbreaking when it involves children.
For the past 15 years, the nonprofit organization Food for our …
By Reader Staff
Local philanthropic organization 101 Women Sandpoint announced the recipient of its 2024 fall grant cycle, awarding $10,000 to the Sandpoint Teen Center.
The nonprofit Sandpoint Teen Center …
Compiled by Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson and Soncirey Mitchell
Publisher’s note: Before each election, the Sandpoint Reader reaches out to candidates in state and local contested races to ask questions …
By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
Sandpoint residents recently received mailers outlining the details of a proposed 1% local option sales tax, which will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 5 ballot. …
By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
When Sandpoint voters go to the polls in November, they’ll be asked whether they support levying a 1% local option tax on their purchases — …
The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned, in a partnership between Publisher Ben Olson and Keokee Co. Publishing, the media company owned by Chris Bessler that also publishes Sandpoint Magazine and Sandpoint Online. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.