Nampa students stand next to the plows they helped name.(City of Nampa)

In anticipation of the winter weather, Nampa's Street Division is preparing its fleet of snowplows to help keep the roads safe.
 
Which tends to be a bit more fun when the snowplows have names, so for the second year in a row, the city's elementary students are holding a contest to name the snowplows.

Amanda Shaw, a second-grade teacher at Reagan Elementary and Trenton Bothwell, a heavy equipment operator with the Street Division Nampa school district, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this contest.

Host Ashley Ahearn riding her mare, Pistol, and leading her three-year-old mustang, Boo, in the mountains of Washington.( Ashley Ahearn)

As the Mustang podcast series comes to an end, host Ashley Ahearn looks at the complicated relationship between ranchers and wild horses and meets an Indigenous woman working to save reservation horses from being sold for slaughter.

This series for the Mountain West News Bureau is adapted from the podcast.

(David Hoffman / Flickr)

Winters are warming up in the West, graffiti ordinances are changing in Boise, there's upset in the Idaho GOP, red pandas are getting a new home at Zoo Boise and the latest on the Jeremy Best case.

It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up-to-date on all the news that made headlines this past week.

Our journalist panel today:

Kaleb Roedel, Reporter for  KUNR’s Mountain West News Bureau

Ian Max Stevenson with the Idaho Statesman

George Prentice, Morning Edition host with Boise State Public Radio News

Several conservation and fishing groups say the Snake River dams are making the river too hot for sockeye salmon.( Bonneville Power Administration)

Since the online news site Clearing Up reported two weeks ago on a leaked Biden administration plan to remove the four lower Snake River dams, a lot has happened.
 
The leak took a peak at a proposed agreement from the federal government that would spend billions of dollars to replace the energy the dams currently generate plus spend more money to help save salmon in the Columbia Basin.

 Since that leak, Idaho asked a court to decide if the courts could order the breaching of the dams as part of the Endangered Species Act. A house committee held an oversight hearing on the plan, and Thursday morning, Clearing Up reported the 30-year fight over salmon and dams may be done after a "negotiative session" where a final agreement was reached.

 This all came before a Friday deadline to find a solution to the questions of dams, fish and energy.

 Longtime environmental reporter Rocky Barker has been following this story, and he joined Idaho Matters for an update.

The Critical Mass Vocal Artists sing at a concert. (Brenda Winkle / Critical Mass Vocal Artists)

Christmas music and Charles Dickens, what better ways are there to celebrate the holiday season? Which is why Opera Idaho's choral group has put them both together in a special concert celebration!

The Critical Mass Vocal Artists group will be singing classic Christmas songs this Saturday, Dec. 16, while the talented Samantha Silva reads Charles Dickens.

Dr. C. Michael Porter, CMVA's Artistic Director and author Samantha Silva joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the upcoming event.

Guided fishing and rafting trips can be a boost to Idaho's economy, according to a new University of Idaho study.( GuideTime)

Tourism is big business in Idaho, but quantifying just how big that business is can be tricky.

A new study said one piece of the tourism industry, the outfitters and guides industry, brought $600 million to Idaho last year, created over 4,900 jobs and brought in $50 million in taxes.

University of Idaho economics professor Steve Peterson and economics major Jimmy Bulger joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.

(Louis A Habash
/ Flickr)

After a year of tears and joy on tv and the big screen, our resident movie critic George Prentice has put together his top 10 thing to watch for 2023!

( G.P. Putnam's Sons)

This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on July 25, 2023.

Laura Sims is the critically acclaimed author of the novel "Looker," which is now in development for television. And now she is out with her latest book "How Can I Help You."

Sims sat down with Idaho Matters to talk more about new book and more.

( Viking Publishing)

This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on June 1, 2023.

It's probably fair to say that, at some point, we all need a little bit of advice and guidance in our lives.

New York Times Bestselling author Kevin Kelly has written a new book that offers just that. It's called, "Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier." Kelly Joined Idaho Matters to talk more about his newest book.

(Penguin Random House )

This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on July 10, 2023.

Could your clothes be making you sick? The new book "To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick -- and How We Can Fight Back" by award winning journalist Alden Wicker answers this question.