Author Cheryl Head is known for her page turning novels and her newest book, "Time’s Undoing", is her most personal yet. She joined Idaho Matters to talk more about how her outrage over the murder of George Floyd in 2020 compelled her to write her latest novel.

The Idaho House has voted to criminalize health care for trans youth, there’s a petition to dissolve the Meridian Library District, grizzly bears may lose federal protection, Micron is making more cuts, a bill supporting the education savings account has moved forward and we take a look at some alarming warming trends in the Mountain West.

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:

There’s a controversy brewing in the Idaho Legislature, this time about public schools and the phrase “in God We Trust." Our Morning Edition host George Prentice found out more about the controversy and a little history behind it.

A proposal working its way through the Idaho legislature would change the way a citizen initiative gets on the ballot.

Right now anyone wanting to get their initiative to a vote of the people must get a required number of voter signatures from 18 legislative districts in Idaho. The new proposal would change that, requiring a minimum number of signatures from all 35 districts.

Supporters of the change say it will “more fairly distribute voter involvement” and “eliminate the current practice of “venue shopping” by well-funded activist organizations.” Opponents say it will make it harder to get a citizen initiative on the ballot.

The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center is one of those opponents. They track ballot measures around the country and they also train ballot measure activists and provide strategic advice on how to run and win ballot measure campaigns.

Gin Moore is the Senior Manager of the Defend Direct Democracy Campaign at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and she joins Idaho Matters to talk more.

Skiing and horses are two things the Mountain West has no shortage of, so why not combine them? Well, there’s already a sport for that called skijoring \ and competitions are held across our region.

A horse and rider pull a skier by a rope, similar to water skiing, but on snow. KUER’s Ciara Hulet reports for the Mountain West News Bureau on a recent competition in Heber City, Utah.

This weekend, the annual Wood River Extreme Skijoring races kick off in Bellevue. Skiers, cowboys and horses come together at the event and have a blast in the Wood River Valley.

Josh Glick, Vice President of Wood River Extreme Skijoring and Hollis Lloyd, one of the skiers, joined Idaho Matters to talk more.

One of the hardest parts of being a kid is not fitting in. Being a little different can be tough, especially for children, no matter what that difference might be.

One local company is helping kids talk about being different and learn how beautiful being unique can be by combining the characteristics of two animals into one, like a horse and a shark or an elephant and a gorilla, and turning them into stuffed toys.

The company is called Randimals and their goal is to help spread a very special message, which is that “what makes us different makes all the difference in the world.” Randimal co-founder Nick Harman joined Idaho Matters to talk more.

Every week we take a look at the latest going on with COVID-19 and other public health issues. This week there are some concerning developments around Avian Influenza and there are new outbreaks of a form of Hemorrhagic Fever. We take a look at how much of a threat these new outbreaks may be and whether we are prepared to deal with them.

Plus, a new study says a healthy lifestyle could lower your risk of long COVID.

Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and current member of the Idaho Coronavirus Task Force, joined Idaho Matters to talk more.

You probably won't have to close your eyes to imagine the “perfect mom.” All the videos with appropriate lifestyle tips, balancing work, wellness and home.

And at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she ran the classroom for the neighborhood kids in the living room, and she got up at 5 a.m. to meditate and, of course, work out.

It's crazy, bBut too many of us have embraced that stereotype, particularly in western cultures. And that is at the beginning of a new book called “Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood.”

New York Times opinion writer and author Jessica Grose sat down with our Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about her research, which led her to mothers of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds, and how they balance parenthood and work.

If you had an apple lately, you can thank a honeybee for making it happen.

Bees pollinate 85% of flowering plants and most of the stuff we eat that gets grown in the ground, but bees are dying. Each year, beekeepers lose up to 40% of their bees.

A new study says we could lose 97% of all western bumblebees in the next 30 years. A University of Idaho researcher is trying to help bees by helping them fight off a nasty disease in a brand new way.

James Van Leuven is an Assistant Professor in the school’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and he joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this problem.