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Guest Column from IFF President Ron Nate: Heroes Needed, Heroes Helped

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Observer Staff
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July 28, 2026

Heroes Needed, Heroes Helped

By: IFF President Ron Nate

IFF President Ron Nate

Idaho has many heroes, and here’s the remarkable thing about the heroes I’m writing about today: heroism begets more heroism. Unexpected and unwanted pregnancies are an opportunity for some Idaho heroes to help mothers-to-be become heroes for their babies.

Try this: do a Google search for “Idaho family pregnancy centers” and you’ll find dozens of institutions and locations ready to help women who are pregnant and are unsure of their futures.

These organizations, in whatever the circumstances, offer support to all women who are pregnant or might be pregnant. Prenatal care, postnatal care, clothes, food, supplies, equipment, housing, housing assistance, adoption services, and other forms of assistance are all available through great institutions like Stanton Wellness, Birthright Idaho, WeCareIdaho, LifeLine, Treasure Valley Path, Roman Catholic Diocese, Hope Center, and the list goes on.

Don’t buy the myth that those who support pro-life policies “don’t care about children once they’re born.” The truth is the opposite. There are many, many more pregnancy care centers ready to help and care for new moms and their babies than there are abortion centers; and religious, pro-life folks are more likely to adopt babies into their families. Nationally, the ratio is more than 3 to 1 of family care centers (helping with births and adoptions) compared to abortion centers (focused on killing babies and likely leaving the moms with years of trauma to follow).

Did you catch that? The heroes operating family (“crisis”) care centers are three times the number of abortion clinics nationally and probably even more so now that the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision allows states to outlaw abortion (as Idaho has done). There are over 2,600 family care centers in the U.S.

These family care center heroes help moms-to-be become heroes for their babies. Care is provided, needs are met, services are rendered, not just immediately but for months and years helping moms be moms, and kids be alive. Sometimes adoption is the best path, and the care centers help there too. Moms become heroes, helped by heroes. And children are saved.

Heroes Wanted

No matter how many heroes we have, one truth seems inevitable: the world always needs more heroes.

This November, you can be heroic too. Idaho faces a choice. The ballot initiative, Proposition 1, is up for a vote. The proposition is an extreme measure to make abortion legal and more frequent for women — even up to the point of birth — and minor girls, without the consent of their parents. It is a radical, extreme measure leading to more babies being killed through abortions and moms being harmed and traumatized for years to come.

Heroes are needed. Defeating Prop. 1 is only the first (but very important) step to helping moms and babies. Heroic Idahoans will defeat this proposition. Also, a heroic Idaho will make sure moms and babies all get the care they need. There will be a culture of life and thriving. Because abortion as contraception will be prohibited, there will be fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer babies put to death. We will see the blessings coming from care and compassion for both the carers and those cared for.

To get there, maybe we need to think of the unwanted pregnancy and the mother’s predicament in a slightly different way. The mom-to-be isn’t a victim, she is a potential hero for her baby.

Let’s Make Life Be the Hero’s Act

Here’s a story written in the song, The Soldier by Harvey Andrews (1972):

The soldier moved towards the bomb his stomach like a stone
Why was this his battle, God?  Why was he alone?
He lay down on the package and he murmured one farewell
To those at home in England to those he loved so well

The song is about a young British soldier, Michael Willetts — a reluctant hero.  Michael finds himself in the middle of the war with Ireland. Stones, bottles, and petrol bombs are hurled toward the soldiers in the streets, so this soldier takes cover in a train station. He’s in the middle of a crowd of Irish fathers, mothers, and children. These families, full of hate for the British Crown, stare at the soldier in disgust.

While he wishes he was home, he recalls his decision to join the army. It seemed so simple. With high unemployment, little work experience, and relative peace, joining the army made sense. He would earn a little money, see the world, and have experience on his resume once his tour ended. A brighter future, happier life, and some hope to earn his prosperity.

But the war broke out, he was called to service, and now he’s in the middle of it all. With a gun in his hand and Irish civilians regarding him as a murderer, the scene takes a turn. A grenade comes crashing through the window. Fathers and mothers scramble with their children for cover. With only seconds to react, the soldier knows what he must do.

As he waits for the blast he recalls his predicament once more. He didn’t ask to be here. He didn’t expect war, didn’t want to be in this fight, and he surely didn’t want to die. But, despite it all, he realizes he is the only one who can save the families. He reluctantly — heroically — sacrifices his life for the innocents.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could use Willetts’ example to inspire would-be heroes among us today? Reluctant heroes are sometimes the most heroic heroes.

Many young women, both married and single, find themselves in a similar predicament to the young British soldier. Unwanted pregnancies put these women as the only bulwark between life and death of innocents. Whether through questionable choices, lapses of self-control, imperfect birth control, or even horrific offenses committed against them, these women are now the only ones who can save the innocent unborn babies within them.

They wish they could be home, or wonder why this is their battle, but the fact remains they are the only ones who can save those lives — even if there may be significant hardships. They may be worried and scared; but, they can be heroes to their babies, and we can help them rise to the occasion.

And, the good news is they need not sacrifice their lives, livelihoods, and emotional well-being to do what is heroic. The work of family care centers helps moms be heroes every day. There are many willing heroes ready to accept those innocents into their families. If only we could encourage more pregnant women to be their babies’ first heroes — reluctant or not.

The First Step is Important

Idaho needs to be heroic this November. Prop. 1 must be defeated. If we value life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we should start by protecting life first and foremost. Prop. 1, if passed, stops the promises of a free country to babies not yet born. A culture of freedom must start with a culture of protecting life. Heroes can get the job done. Let’s be heroes today, tomorrow, and in November. Vote NO on Prop. 1, help moms and babies, and contribute to family care centers. Idaho can and should be the beacon of life and liberty for all of America.

Editor’s Note: Learn more about the work of the Idaho Freedom Foundation here:  About – Idaho Freedom

Idaho Secretary of State: Who Actually Runs Idaho’s Elections?

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Observer Staff
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(Idaho Secretary of State, August 14, 2026)

Many people think of America’s elections as one big operation. In reality, they’re administered locally across more than 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide.

In Idaho, we have 44, one for each county, and at the helm of each is an elected county clerk.

When I talk about the integrity of Idaho’s elections and the things our state does well, much of the credit belongs to these clerks and their dedicated teams of election staff and poll workers. Elections are personal for the people who administer them. Our clerks are locally elected. They live in the communities they serve, and trust is a very real currency. The election staff working behind the scenes and the poll workers greeting you on Election Day are your friends and neighbors.

I was reminded of that this past week when I had a chance to spend time with Idaho’s county clerks at the annual conference of the Idaho Association of County Recorders and Clerks in Lewiston.

I’m somewhat rare among secretaries of state, having served as a county clerk before taking on this role, and as Chief Deputy before that. In fact, I started my career in elections back in 2005, counting ballots and training poll workers. I’ve had the opportunity to see this work from nearly every level, and I can’t overstate the responsibility our county clerks take on.

And elections are only part of the job.

Idaho’s county clerks also serve as recorders, maintaining important public records such as marriage licenses and property documents. They also serve as county auditors, with responsibilities for county finances and the budget process. Their offices touch many of the basic functions of local government that Idahoans depend on every day.

Then there is the important, and often difficult, work that goes into running an election. Maintaining voter records. Preparing ballots. Testing equipment. Training poll workers. Managing polling places. Reconciling results. Undergoing audits. Much of it happens behind the scenes, but every step is crucial to running elections smoothly.

The work has become more complex and more scrutinized, but Idaho is fortunate to have dedicated people willing to take it on. They’re professionals. They’re neighbors. They care deeply about getting it right for the communities they serve.

The 44 clerks can’t do this alone. On Election Day, Idahoans across the state step up to help their neighbors vote. Consider being one of them.

Phil McGrane

ABOUT SECRETARY PHIL McGRANE

Phil McGrane was elected Idaho’s twenty-eighth Secretary of State and took office on January 2, 2023. McGrane served as elected Clerk of Ada County from 2019-2022.McGrane holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a juris doctorate, and a Master of Public Administration. As a fourth-generation Idahoan, Phil has dedicated his career to making elections in the state of Idaho accessible, secure and transparent.

INL: Protecting the Grid from Wildfires

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Observer Staff
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(Idaho National Laboratory Press Release, August 17, 2026)

By Paul Menser, INL Communications

As devastating wildfires continue to burn across the western U.S. and Canada this summer, they’re taking a serious toll on the electrical grid. Every year, wildfires, some sparked by birds or even high winds, cause significant damage to grid infrastructure.

With the frequency and intensity of wildfires on the rise, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response and Office of Electricity are studying not only how wildfires threaten the grid, but also how grid infrastructure can contribute to wildfire ignition — and ways to reduce both types of risk.

The 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California remains perhaps the most searing example. High winds contributed to the failure of a fatigued metal hook on a transmission tower. An energized power line then struck the tower, creating an electrical arc that melted metal. The molten metal fell to the ground and ignited dry brush below, starting a fire that lasted 18 days, killed 85 people and devastated nearly 240 square miles. While the town of Paradise was reduced to ash and Pacific Gas and Electric Company ultimately filed for bankruptcy, the underlying conditions that led to the disaster—aging equipment, extreme weather, and stressed vegetation—are challenges faced by utilities across the country.

In the aftermath, Idaho National Laboratory has taken a leading role in building wildfire resilience, testing advanced conductors, insulators, coatings and power poles across its 890-square-mile site. With nearly 100 miles of reconfigurable transmission and distribution lines, INL can string test spans of 500 to 1,000 feet — a capability few research institutions can match.

“INL is unique. We have nearly 80 years of at-scale research and development expertise combined with extreme geography,” said Abby Neumann, program manager on INL’s Advanced Conductor Testing team. “We’re expanding our capabilities with room for further expansion. We’re not at capacity and don’t expect to be anytime soon.”

New materials need testing

Mitigating wildfire risk requires modernizing aging equipment. According to a 2015 DOE assessment, about 70% of U.S. transmission lines are at least 25 years old. Restringing existing lines with advanced conductors is far cheaper than building new infrastructure. These conductors can be made of new materials, have new configurations or use novel coatings, all designed to transfer power more efficiently.

“There are a variety of advanced conductors and products that have not been fully tested,” said John “Crash” Bell, an INL power engineer. “Understanding their performance under stress will be critical to providing utilities the data needed to make informed decisions.”

Since 2024, INL has teamed up with the National Electric Energy Testing Research and Applications Center and the Electric Power Research Institute to test five types of advanced conductors for heat and cold resistance, tensile strength, fatigue and aging. Samples are superheated in INL’s fire chamber to temperatures ranging from 250 to 400 degrees Celsius, then pulled until they break. INL also planted and burned 18 poles — some wrapped in fire protectant — to measure damage at different exposure times.

The information collected from these tests could be especially valuable to smaller utilities and electrical co-ops that lack the resources to conduct their own tests. Bell said INL has become a trusted voice in the field because it is unbiased, offering science- and engineering-based research that is repeatable and verified.

Bird danger

Birds interacting with electric grid features, like poles, lines and substations, are another major cause of power line faults. Burning feathers and nests can start brush fires. INL is testing bird diverters — reflective devices hung in groups along power lines — by measuring bird activity before and after installation and sharing findings with U.S. Geological Survey and Wildlife Imaging Systems, a company that performs AI-assisted analysis.

While diverters cost only $20 to $30 each, the cost of installing them on the nation’s 600,000 miles of transmission line could add up fast. Good data will help engineers determine deployment strategies, including the ideal product and placement for a utility’s environment and wildlife challenge said Hayden Town, INL critical infrastructure security analyst.

“Without data, you don’t know the extent of the problem or the effect of the mitigation efforts,” he said. “We start by putting thermal cameras in the field at power lines and substations and filming those assets for a few months to get data on how much wildlife activity there is around them. Then we bring in products designed to reduce wildlife presence or mitigate the problems they cause and continue filming to test their efficacy.”

The larger vision is to temporarily install cameras in as many places as they can around the country to gather data on the locations and volumes of wildlife activity and appropriate levels of mitigation.

Setting off sparks

The Grid Event Signature Library, hosted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and funded by DOE-OE, shares open-source waveform data with labs, universities and utilities developing fault detection tools. INL and CESER are collaborating to add wildfire-inducing fault data to the library, with INL engineers triggering arcing faults on transmission lines by novel means like dropping bird carcasses collected by INL’s environmental team on them.

Several other national labs are involved in the effort. Sandia National Laboratories has collected fault data to supplement INL’s, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have collected available fault records from cooperating utilities.

“The best simulations come from real data,” said Becca Avery, INL power systems engineer. The goal is to distinguish fault types quickly, so operators know whether to trigger an auto-reclose or dispatch a fire department. “This is all part of prevention,” Avery said. “After something happens, whether it’s a bird, tree branches or line slapping, we don’t want it to become a fire.”

New test bed

The research will advance significantly with the opening of the Modular Power Systems test bed at INL’s proposed Energy Technology Proving Ground, which is expected by the end of the year. Funded by DOE-OE, the flexible site will support energized and de-energized conductor trials, higher voltage AC testing, lineworker training and robotic grid applications. National Environmental Policy Act review of the project is underway, with approval pending.

With an on-site fire department, a runway for unmanned aerial vehicles, and AI and data center research already slated for the site, INL’s value to the broader grid resilience ecosystem continues to grow.

About Idaho National Laboratory
Battelle Energy Alliance manages INL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. INL is the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development, and also performs research in each of DOE’s strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and the environment. For more information, visit www.inl.gov. Follow us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.

Endowment Lands within the Kelly Canyon Block Reopen to Recreation Following Big Rock Fire

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Observer Staff
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(Idaho Department of Lands Press Release, August 17, 2026)

Ririe, Idaho – Endowment lands within the Kelly Canyon block south of Moody Creek are open again for recreation.

Due to the risk of erosion on lands that have burned, it is more important than ever that people stay on established roads and trails.

The endowment lands in Kelly Canyon had been closed to recreation during the Big Rock fire as a safety measure for both the public and firefighters.

The wildfire was discovered on July 31 near the Kelly Canyon Ski resort about five miles east of Ririe. It was managed by the U.S. Wildland Fire Service with a final acreage of about 2,142 acres.

Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claimants Must Thoroughly Document Work Search Actions

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Observer Staff
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(Idaho Department of Labor Press Release, August 17, 2026)

The Idaho Department of Labor has identified an increase in UI claimants being denied benefits as a result of insufficient work search documentation.

Claimants must prove they are actively searching for work by completing five work search actions a week. Details and contact information for the action are then submitted by the claimant in their weekly certification. If the information provided cannot be verified by the department, benefits may be denied and overpayments may be established.

Examples of insufficient work search documentation include being unable to provide proof of applying to a job; providing incomplete, incorrect or false employer contact information; providing employer information for contacts made outside of the claimed week; or repeatedly reporting the same employer and job opening week after week.

To avoid a work search denial, the department encourages claimants to save proof of their work search actions such as correspondence with employers as well as screenshots showing dates, interview invitations and workshop attendance records. The department also suggests responding to all agency requests in a timely manner and being honest and accurate on weekly certifications.

Learn about work search requirements on the department’s FAQ page.

Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern Affirm Strength of Merger Application, Offer New Customer Assurances

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Observer Staff
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(Union Pacific Press Release, July 28, 2026)

Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) [last month] enhanced their merger application by offering customer protections that go beyond those provided in any prior rail merger. The new commitments are provided with the supplemental information requested by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) when it accepted the companies’ merger application as complete on May 28, 2026.

“We are more confident than ever that creating America’s first transcontinental railroad is good for America. The merger will provide our customers faster, more reliable and efficient coast-to-coast service from day one and create cost savings that will flow through to consumers,” said Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena. “We talk to our customers every day, and as we listened to them and reviewed the STB’s comments, we saw opportunities to provide additional assurances through an unprecedented set of voluntary commitments to our customers.”

Today’s filing includes four new or expanded commitments:

  • New Competitive Opportunities. The combined railroad will significantly expand Committed Gateway Pricing (CGP), doubling the number of eligible shipments, and extending benefits to bulk unit train shippers. The expanded program is the functional equivalent of thousands of haulage agreements in a single enforceable commitment, creating even more opportunities for customers to benefit from the merger.
  • Expanded Customer Protections. The railroads will preserve Class I rail options for 3-to-2 shippers as well as 2-to-1 shippers, where they can legally grant access to another railroad. No prior rail merger has included a similarly broad commitment to preserve 3-to-2 access.
  • New Service Level Protections. In the unlikely event that service performance declines during merger integration, customers will be able to obtain temporary access to alternative rail service. This commitment provides an additional safeguard to help keep freight moving if unexpected service issues arise.
  • Stronger Oversight. If the merger’s public benefits are not being delivered in a timely manner, customers will gain access to a new rate relief process. Combined with the new integration period service protection, this new process provides added accountability to customers.

“The public benefits of our merger are clear,” said Norfolk Southern President and CEO Mark George. “A stronger supply chain makes American businesses more competitive. Shifting freight from road to rail reduces wear on taxpayer-funded roads, improves safety, relieves congestion and lowers emissions. Reinvigorating the rail industry creates high-paying union jobs.”

With [last month’s] filing, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have completed their responses to the STB’s requests for supplemental information. In a previous filing on July 7, the companies reaffirmed they have no interest in controlling the jointly owned Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA), Kansas City Terminal Railway (KCT) or TTX Company and provided options for implementing that commitment. Union Pacific’s new binding agreement with CN directly resolves the TRRA and KCT ownership questions by transferring Norfolk Southern’s interests to CN.

As the Board continues its review of the merger application, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern expect the transaction to be completed in mid-2027. For more information, visit AmericasGreatConnection.com.

About Union Pacific

Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) delivers the goods families and businesses use every day with safe, reliable, and efficient service. Operating in 23 western states, the company connects its customers and communities to the global economy. Trains are the most environmentally responsible way to move freight, helping Union Pacific protect future generations. More information about Union Pacific is available at www.up.com.

About Norfolk Southern

Since 1827, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and its predecessor companies have safely moved the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. Today, it operates a 22-state freight transportation network. Committed to furthering sustainability, Norfolk Southern helps its customers avoid approximately 15 million tons of yearly carbon emissions by shipping via rail. Its dedicated team members deliver approximately 7 million carloads annually, from agriculture to consumer goods. Norfolk Southern also has the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S. It serves a majority of the country’s population and manufacturing base, with connections to every major container port on the Atlantic coast as well as major ports across the Gulf Coast and Great Lakes. Learn more by visiting www.NorfolkSouthern.com

DOW Orders Research Security Audits at 30 Academic Institutions

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Observer Staff
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(Department of War Press Release, August 17, 2026)

The Department of War has issued formal notifications to 30 domestic academic institutions, directing them to initiate immediate and comprehensive reviews of their academic, financial and research collaborations with foreign entities of concern.

These notifications address active institutional ties and collaborations with foreign entities identified under Section 1286 of the FY19 NDAA, as well as organizations associated with rebranded Confucius Institutes. Executed by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, this action is designed to protect American taxpayer-funded research investments from unauthorized technology transfer, intellectual property theft and adversarial exploitation.

“The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security,” said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. “Institutions that receive funding from American taxpayers must uphold the highest standards of research security, and these mandated audits will ensure accountability across the board.”

To maintain eligibility for future federal research funding, the notified universities must complete a comprehensive audit of all identified foreign collaborations, assess the exposure of sensitive or export-controlled research, and implement strict mitigation plans, including the termination of problematic partnerships. Institutions are required to report their findings and actions directly to the Department no later than August 31, 2026.

“Universities are critical partners in executing a wide range of Department of War research programs, and the Department must therefore ensure that our research investments are well protected from foreign exploitation,” said Dr. Joseph Jewell, Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology.

Through these audits, the Department of War will better anticipate emerging threats, adapt to evolving adversarial tactics and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation. The Department is pursuing this effort alongside partners in Congress. Together with the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the Department continues to build a robust research ecosystem that protects critical discoveries from exploitation.

Guest Columnist Julianne Young: I Am Mother

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Observer Staff
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August 14, 2026

I Am Mother

By: Julianne Young

I stand between two generations — watching my daughters become mothers, and watching my own mother age into needing to be mothered herself. I suppose that’s why we call it being a grandmother. We mother in both directions.

Between medical appointments, home-cooked meals, play practices, lessons, school preparations, and endless activities, I have the privilege of fighting for motherhood. And there is little more anti-mother than the pro-abortion movement. To them, our tiny sons and daughters are generic “products of conception” — sacrificed to the gods of pleasure or convenience. To mothers, each little one is priceless, worth sacrificing everything for.

I remember my husband’s excitement the first time he felt a kick back through my belly. I remember my babies fluttering around in the first trimester, rolling through long stretches in the second, hiccupping in the third. I remember bringing our first son home as a young mother of twenty, my own mother at my side. I laid him gently in his crib for the first time, and the two of us stood admiring his tiny perfection. Then my mom started laughing at me. “You’re rocking!” she said. “You are a mother!” She was right. Without realizing it, I was standing over my baby, swaying side to side.

Mothering spans the full range of emotion: the joy of holding each child for the first time, the fear of watching doctors fight to save a son born two and a half months early, the pain of losing a grandson, stillborn at twenty-four weeks. Yet, not once have I doubted the miraculous nature of new life. From the very first moments, through the joy and the pain, I understood that life is a sacred trust.

More than thirty years of mothering later, I’ve logged thousands of hours. I’ve dealt with colic and unexplained illness, learned to place a G-tube and monitor oxygen levels, developed strategies for learning disabilities, and learned to focus on what matters most amid the chaos. Watching my children experience joy, struggle, find answers, and grow has been a heart-stretching, soul-enriching adventure I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Most recently, we celebrated a family reunion four generations deep, including most of my mother’s thirty grandchildren. Mom has been struggling with severe GI pain for some time — yet surrounded by so many she loved, and who loved her back, I didn’t see pain cross her face once, all week. She was immersed in joy.

This — this motherness — is what the radical left despises. Motherhood is treated as weakness. Women are called incubators, or worse, victims of parasites. And somehow we’re supposed to believe these are the champions of womanhood?

Advocates want you to believe Idaho’s radical abortion initiative, Prop 1, is about doctors and women. It isn’t. The initiative eliminates the physician-only requirement Idaho put in place to protect women during the Roe era — and yet voters are being asked to simply trust doctors to handle it. Contrast that purported trust with the calloused disregard for life stamped on every page of Proposition 1, a proposal that allows abortion on demand for any reason well into the third trimester, prohibiting any regulation of abortion except where narrowly tailored to improve the mother’s health — effectively ensuring that abortion, by any method, can be performed up until a baby can be born and survive without extraordinary medical support.

We have already seen where that kind of trust, unmoored from real limits, can lead. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion provider, was a product of that trust: convicted in 2013 of murdering infants born alive during late-term procedures — babies he delivered, then killed. Gosnell is remembered as a serial killer, not a healer. His crimes were possible only in a system that had stopped asking what happens to a child who survives abortion — let alone a child killed while still in the womb. This calloused disregard for preborn life — the view of babies as parasites rather than people — is what makes it possible to describe the willful destruction of preborn life as a “service” to women.

To anyone who values women and motherhood, that framing is not compassionate. Proposition 1 is an affront. The disregard for the tiny life a mother nurtures could not be more offensive. The disregard for the miracle of mothering could not be more complete.

I am Mother — and with that motherness comes deep strength and determination. I will defend these little ones. I will defend the legal protections that safeguard Idaho mothers, mothering, and the miracle of new life — for Idaho’s generations yet unborn. Join me in steadfastly opposing Proposition 1. It is far too extreme for Idaho!

Guest Columnist Senator Tammy Nichols: Beyond the Capitol

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Observer Staff
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August 14, 2026

Beyond the Capitol
A Summer of Legislative Work; Learning, Leading, and Representing Idaho

By: ID Senator Tammy Nichols

ID Senator Tammy Nichols (Photo Credit: Tammy Nichols)

This summer has been busy in a good way! I’ve had the opportunity to travel, learn, meet some incredible people, share ideas, and bring some back to Idaho that can help with my legislative work.

In Florida, I attended the ALEC Annual Meeting, where I served on the Environment, Energy and Agriculture Committee. We discussed agriculture, energy, natural resources, regulation, and private property rights issues that matter a lot to Idaho.

I also participated in conversations on child protections, custody, and CPS, where I was able to share some of the work being done through our Idaho Child Custody and Domestic Relations Task Force and talk about Benji’s Law. I always appreciate these opportunities because we aren’t just learning from other states, we also get to share what Idaho is doing.

We also heard from Dr. Mehmet Oz, who spoke about fraud and waste in government programs and the importance of accountability with taxpayer dollars.

One of the biggest highlights for me was seeing several pieces of legislation I have worked on involving adoption and protections for birth mothers approved as model legislation. Other states can now use those ideas as a framework for their own laws, which was pretty exciting to see.

My next trip was to Washington, D.C., where about 30 Idaho lawmakers attended a briefing hosted by the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. We heard directly from senior Trump Administration officials on agriculture, public lands, health policy, trade, technology, border security, federal regulation, and more, with plenty of opportunity for questions.

While there, I also met with the Heritage Foundation and Alex Adams at the Department of Health and Human Services. I really value those smaller meetings because they give me a chance to ask more detailed questions and make connections I can use later when working on policy.

I also had the chance to meet Dick Heller, whose landmark Supreme Court case helped affirm the individual right protected by the Second Amendment. That was definitely a memorable moment. And yes, we squeezed in a little sightseeing too!

My third trip was to Georgia with Live Action, where I was honored to receive an award for my work on adoption and birth mother legislation passed in Idaho.

We also heard from speakers on adoption, abortion, IVF, assisted suicide, declining birth rates, family trends, home ownership, and other issues affecting families today. Those conversations gave me a lot to think about as we look ahead to future policy in Idaho.

The Legislature may not be in session, but the work doesn’t stop. Summer gives me a chance to slow down a little, dig deeper into issues, build relationships, and prepare for what comes next.

My goal is pretty simple: learn as much as I can, share what Idaho is doing well, and bring home ideas and information that can help us do an even better job.

In Liberty,

Senator Tammy Nichols
District 10

City of Pocatello Calendar for August 17-21, 2026

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Observer Staff
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(City of Pocatello Press Release, August 14, 2026; Cover Photo Credit: City of Pocatello)

City of Pocatello Calendar of Meetings ~ August 17-21, 2026

MONDAY, AUGUST 10

  • No Meetings Scheduled

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11

  • Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee Meeting 12:00 p.m., Council Chambers
  • Site Plan Review 1:30 p.m., Paradice Conference Room
  • Library Board Meeting 4:00 p.m., 113 S. Garfield Avenue

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12

  • Pocatello Development Authority Meeting 11:00 a.m., Council Chambers

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13

  • Pocatello Police Department Swearing-In Ceremony 10:00 a.m., Council Chambers
  • Housing Alliance & Community Partnerships Mtg. 11:00 a.m., 750 N. 5th Avenue
  • Airport Bid Opening 2:00 p.m., Council Chambers
  • City Council Clarification Meeting 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers
  • City Council Meeting 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14

  • No Meetings Scheduled

 

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