Two Democratic lawmakers in Idaho filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court against the Legislature and the Republican speaker of the House contending the Statehouse is unsafe for them and others with chronic health conditions because coronavirus precautions are being ignored.
2 Idaho Dems sue top House official, Legislature over coronavirus risks during session
Hayat Norimine, Idaho Statesman
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BOISE (Idaho Statesman) Two House Democrats are suing the Idaho Legislature and the House speaker for the ability to work from a secure office at the Statehouse just days before the 2021 legislative session is scheduled to begin.
Reps. Sue Chew, of Boise, and Muffy Davis, of Ketchum, on Thursday filed a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the Legislature and House Speaker Scott Bedke, citing fear over the coronavirus risks and crowd control challenges at the Capitol.
The U.S. District Court complaint comes a day after thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol and forced a delay of Congress’ Electoral College count. Affidavits in the lawsuit listed concerns over the ability to control crowds at the Idaho Statehouse.
BY KEVIN RICHERT / IdahoEdNews.org
Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on January 7, 2021
The Idaho Legislature will begin an unsettling and potentially unsafe 2021 session in four days. The state’s 105 part-time lawmakers will meet in the midst of a surging pandemic that has killed more than 1,500 Idahoans, and in the aftermath of rioting at the U.S. Capitol that left four people dead.
Policies and proposals almost feel irrelevant. Perhaps this year’s overriding goal should be to reach adjournment with everyone’s health intact.
In any other year, that would sound hyberbolic. In 2021, it just sounds pragmatic.
Hundreds of citizens (most unmasked) crowd the Statehouse hallways during a special legislative session in August. That contentious special session, combined with the state’s rising coronavirus case numbers, has education leaders uneasy about the 2021 session, which starts Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. CREDIT: Sami Edge/Idaho Education News
USOPC chair: Russia decision angered and disappointed people
By EDDIE PELLSDecember 21, 2020 GMT
The chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said the recent decision to reduce doping punishments against Russia “really angered and disappointed many people, including ourselves.”
The statement Monday from Susanne Lyons was part of a newly concentrated effort by the federation to speak up about what it deems a global anti-doping system that it says is not fully protecting clean athletes.
The USOPC board of directors approved a policy at its meeting last week to become a more involved voice in the anti-doping debate.
“We hold concerns that the current status quo deeply threatens the short and long-term prospects of athletes and the Olympic and Paralympic Movements as a whole,” the statement read.