James Ruchti is a District 29 Senator who is very passionate about the school choice debate. He brought with him many data points from the national debate that I had not heard before. I am pro-education, and if that means we fund public schools, private school contractors, charter schools, home schoolers, I am here for all of it, but I certainly want to understand how and why our dollars are going to the best thing. Senator Ruchti gave me a ton to think about. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislativ...
Feb 05, 2025•26 min•Ep. 321
Stoney Winston is the superintendent for Fruitland School District. He came in to speak on some of the issues facing public schools, including administration bloat, special ed population explosion, ESL populations, and lower competing pay when compared to bordering states. Whether the school choice bills come to pass or not, we need to figure out a way to continue improving Idaho public schools, and Stoney gave me a ton to consider. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are suppo...
Feb 05, 2025•49 min•Ep. 323
Mark Niemeyer is the Fire Chief of Boise and is working extensively with surrounding state and federal agencies to make sure the Urban-Wildlands Interface where our communities meet enormous fire risk environments stay as safe as possible. We are experiencing a new age of fire risk, and with Idaho’s exploding population, we need everyone participating to preserve life and property. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit medi...
Feb 05, 2025•29 min•Ep. 324
Jason Sevy is the Marsing School District School Board Chair and the president-elect of the Idaho School Boards Association. He is also a Marsing graduate and a lifelong supporter of his community and the school community. He answers the question very clearly that few like myself in an urban environment understand, which is, what is the real value of a rural public school? Enjoy. The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organiz...
Feb 05, 2025•33 min•Ep. 322
Scott Bedke is the Lt. Governor of Idaho and came in to speak about the SPEED Council, a group formed by an executive order from Governor Little comprised of several state agency directors that will expedite the review of permits, increase collaboration with project proponents, boost public transparency, and seek to eliminate duplicative or unnecessary statutes and rules. The world supply chain problems exposed over the last few years made it abundantly clear that if we are to have consistent de...
Feb 05, 2025•23 min•Ep. 320
Rod Gramer is the former president of Idaho Business for Education. This is a group comprised of hundreds of leading businesses in the Gem State that work together to advocate for a pragmatic, effective education system that yields competent, employable business leaders of tomorrow. I invited Rod in to better understand what businesses in Idaho actually need from our education system. As a father of three young men, I want to make sure that they’re positioned to be as successful as possible as t...
Feb 04, 2025•37 min•Ep. 319
Nick Fasciano is the Executive Director of Idaho Wildlife Federation, the oldest association dedicated to representing hunters, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts in the state of Idaho. During the legislative session, Nick and IWF watch legislation and advocate on behalf of sportsmen and conservationists. He came in to give me a legislative analysis through the lens of wildlife and conservation. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a no...
Feb 04, 2025•34 min•Ep. 318
Ilana Rubel is the House Minority Leader from District 18. She has been in the Idaho legislature for roughly a decade and came in to speak on the take cut that just passed. The $300+ million was put together with many small pieces, like property and grocery tax cuts, as well as one big income tax cut. Ilana picked apart these pieces and shed light on who the winners and losers were from this structure. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundati...
Feb 04, 2025•24 min•Ep. 317
Brett Wilder is an Ag Economist, Proprietor of Boise River Lamb, and an incredible lamb chef. He kindly agreed to smoke a boneless leg of lamb to bring in that we devoured and share his recipe. The more I engage with local providers and find out how they work their homegrown proteins, the more I’m drawn to cooking at home myself with high quality, locally sourced food. My mouth is watering recounting this! Thank you as always to FARE Idaho for connecting us. Enjoy! www.theRanchPodcast.org The Ra...
Feb 04, 2025•45 min•Ep. 316
Heather Scott is a District 2 Representative and brought a joint memorial as the first act of the 2025 legislative session to tell the SCOTUS to re-visit its 2015 decision on gay marriage. She feels it is a state’s rights issue and not something to be determined by the federal government and Supreme Court. She is also bringing bills regarding local rights to fly flags as well as labels for alternate meats, including lab grown meats and bug proteins. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session e...
Feb 03, 2025•53 min•Ep. 315
Brad Richy is the Director of the Idaho Office of Emergency Management. He recently helped organize just over 100 local firefighters to go assist in the fire crisis in California. We spoke about the organizations involved in this type of work, the cost to the take payers, and why this is good for Idaho. We also moved away from fire talk to discuss other emergency management issues including emergency evacuations, earthquakes, and floods in Idaho. This state is not only beautiful and amazing, but...
Feb 03, 2025•37 min•Ep. 314
Bobbi-Jo Meuleman is the CEO and President of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce. She advocates for local patronage of businesses and services in the greater Boise area as well as advocates for effective policy on behalf of her membership with state and local governments. We spoke about education, housing, stresses on the area, and more importantly, where to get the best Ribeye in Boise. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-prof...
Feb 03, 2025•46 min•Ep. 313
Scott Bedke is the Lt. Governor of Idaho and came in to speak about the SPEED Council, a group formed by an executive order from Governor Little comprised of several state agency directors that will expedite the review of permits, increase collaboration with project proponents, boost public transparency, and seek to eliminate duplicative or unnecessary statutes and rules. The world supply chain problems exposed over the last few years made it abundantly clear that if we are to have consistent de...
Feb 01, 2025•23 min•Ep. 312
Russ Fulcher is a United States Congressman representing the great people of Idaho. He has been working on several things, including finding a way to improve management of our public lands, ways to supply more and better energy to Idaho, and a way to eliminate income taxes on overtime pay. He also offered an explanation about why Idaho has public lands owned by the federal government that I had never heard before, which was fascinating to say the least. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Sessi...
Jan 31, 2025•25 min•Ep. 311
Quinn Perry is the Idaho School Board Association Government Affairs officer. She advocates on behalf of the elected school board officials from across the state of Idaho. We spoke about education extensively, as you might imagine, and she brought up points like due process and parental vs school rights that I had never heard before. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Idaho focus...
Jan 31, 2025•31 min•Ep. 310
Rich Stover is the Administrator of the Governor’s Office of Energy and Mineral Resources. The SPEED Council has recently been created to offer a more streamlined, efficient process for companies to engage in to bolster our energy production and mineral harvesting processes. This is NOT a rubber stamp program, but instead one focused on making a more attractive review and regulation process for companies looking to work and produce things like power and crucial materials in Idaho. Enjoy! The Ran...
Jan 31, 2025•32 min•Ep. 309
Monica Church is a District 19 Representative, school teacher, and ferociously Idahoan. She has a very clear perspective on what makes Idaho, Idaho, and her articulation about what Idaho was and is becoming was something I had never heard so clearly before. I greatly appreciated her time and energy and am confident this is the first of many. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Ida...
Jan 31, 2025•39 min•Ep. 308
Dr. Derek Bub is the superintendent for West Ada School District, the best public school district in the state of Idaho and one of the best in the country. The district is not just academically successful, but it also has culturally conservative policies in place, like banning all flags other than US and Idaho flags, removing inappropriate books from libraries, and prohibiting political speech in classrooms. Idaho is working feverishly to figure out what the structure of their publicly funded sc...
Jan 30, 2025•38 min•Ep. 307
David Leavitt is a District 25 Representative fighting to repeal the grocery tax. This particular tax in Idaho is not popular among the populace and many attempts have been made to repeal it with no success. The state does offer a grocery tax rebate that you can file to recoup some of your tax burden, but that naturally begs the question, why have a tax in the first place if I can file to get it back? Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundatio...
Jan 30, 2025•29 min•Ep. 306
Janie Ward-Engelking is a District 18 Senator who has been on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) for years. JFAC is responsible for establishing a revenue estimate and then dolling out said revenue. This is a crucial piece of the entire legislative process as the legislative session cannot conclude until Idaho has a budget. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Idaho ...
Jan 30, 2025•31 min•Ep. 305
Dr. Julie Yamamoto is a former Idaho State representative and chair of the house education committee, and is also currently on the board of several charter schools. She is a member of the group Idaho Children Are Primary and has insights into the difficulty with educating large populations of people and what we can do to improve our system. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Idah...
Jan 29, 2025•34 min•Ep. 304
Brody Harshbarger is one of seven Idaho Fish & Game commissioners directly appointed by the Governor, a rancher, and a wildlife enthusiast. He also has grizzly bears walking around his yard where his children play. Much conversation has been had regarding ranchers on public lands and what that relationship should be with wild predators, but very little is being said for individuals who are engaging in their everyday lives that have to contend with our apex predators on a daily basis. His per...
Jan 29, 2025•48 min•Ep. 303
Justin Buckley works for Idaho Coalition of Land Trusts, an organization working to help preserve agricultural land. Ag land is not only required for food systems, but it’s also an integral part of our tax base. Residential developments are a net negative from a county tax standpoint, whereas agricultural operations are a net benefit. Preserving this land is not only important for local providers and families, but it’s also important for the rest of us in the state. And thank you to FARE Idaho f...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 302
Soñia Galaviz is a District 16 Representative, a teacher, and a champion for addressing the problems with our rural school funding system. Funding for public schools in Idaho has a lot of pieces, including gross property value of the area, attendance in schools, and community willingness to fund said schools. This comes into conflict frequently with the constitutional obligation to provide a free public education to all Idaho children who want it as our rural schools have difficulty with tax bas...
Jan 29, 2025•34 min•Ep. 301
Elliot Tolbert is the manager and resident chef at Northwest Premium Meats. In this episode he brought in his slow cooked Buffalo Hump Birria Tacos, and let me tell you, they were INCREDIBLE. By far the best protein I have had in years outside of my own person Ribeye. The variety of meats that NW Premium offers paired with the right recipe is truly incredible. Check them out if you’re curious! And thank you to FARE Idaho for connecting us and helping us get this incredible episode out. Check out...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 300
Bill Mitchell is an attorney and advocate for equal rights in Idaho. He graciously came in to explain a large confusion most people have regarding employment law. Idaho is a right to work state as well as an At Will state, but even with these two designations, you cannot fire people for a protected reason, like their race or gender. You can, however, fire them because they are gay. Although title VII does provide protection on a federal level, it does not apply to organizations under a certain e...
Jan 28, 2025•31 min•Ep. 299
David Lent a District 33 Senator and recently waded into the School Choice discussion. Many people have criticized School Choice bills for having little or no accountability from the state on private schools that get state funding. Senator Lent has proposed a version of this but also indicated that if we are going to offer private schools funds with no strings attached, then we should do the same for public schools while still observing Federal Requirements. He also educated me on the movement t...
Jan 28, 2025•28 min•Ep. 298
Travis Ruby is the Eagle Chief of Police. Eagle PD recently busted a local massage parlor that was engaged in the sex trade as well as many other things. Chief Ruby spoke at length about the myriad of issues that having a crime center like this brings to our area as well as root causes of said services. This was a sobering conversation, but understanding what is being done to protect my family, your family, and our community as a whole was very comforting. The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session e...
Jan 28, 2025•39 min•Ep. 297
Jeremy Kitzhaber is a vet, cancer survivor, and advocate for medicinal marijuana in Idaho. In his extensive medical procedures, he has found marijuana to be the best assistance for things related to diet and weight gain. He also believes there are ways we can regulate it to minimize cross over problems with underage and non-medical use. Idaho as a state has been staunchly against any legalization of the plant, even as almost all surrounding states have liberalized their views of it. Enjoy! The R...
Jan 27, 2025•49 min•Ep. 296
Tracy Basterrechea is the Chief of Police in Meridian, Idaho. He has been in public service for several decades and is a champion for continuous officer training. He and the Chief of Police Association are also advocating for a revision in the law regarding searches of felons in the absence of a parole officer. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Idaho focused media. www.theRanchP...
Jan 27, 2025•38 min•Ep. 295
