By Christina Lords | Editor-in-Chief
“Everything we do here is to provide access and to preserve.” - Angie Davis, outreach and collections archivist with the Idaho State Historical Society
Idaho State Historical Society Reference Archivist Owen Prout walks through the agency’s vault of historical records on May 21, 2026. (Photo by Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)
GOVERNMENT + POLITICS
How an Idaho state agency stores decades of old government records and artifacts
By Kyle Pfannenstiel
As the state shifts away from aging storage facilities elsewhere in Boise, the State Historical Society is building an expanded 50,000-square-foot storage facility at its headquarters in Boise.
That new facility, set to be finished in December, will house physical artifacts and tens of thousands of feet of physical records that the agency houses for other state agencies.
A mountain goat in Glacier National Park. (Photo by Micah Drew/Daily Montanan)
GOVERNMENT + POLITICS
National Park fees head to D.C., while Yellowstone, Glacier wrestle with backlogged maintenance
By Angus Thuermer Jr. and Micah Drew
Critics have needled Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and other administration officials about millions of dollars being spent to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall and for a July 4 fireworks show while parks are in disrepair. Reports that national park entrance fees are being used in D.C., not to preserve the parks where they are collected, aggravate the discontent.
“The administration has been plundering our national parks since it came into office, and Freedom 250 (the July 4 celebration in D.C.) is now the latest affront,” Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said in a statement Thursday. “The administration’s decision to now take those hard-earned fees away from parks and put them towards the President’s vanity projects adds further insult to injury.”
In a rental market that has become increasingly unaffordable for many Idahoans due to stagnating wages and the state’s recent housing boom, these fees may become the breaking point for some of Idaho’s most vulnerable renters, leading to housing insecurity and even homelessness, writes guest columnist Heather Owens. (Photo illustration by Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
The hidden costs of going month-to-month on your lease in Idaho are growing
By Heather Owens
In Boise, a worker must earn roughly $35 an hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment, writes guest columnist Heather Owens.
MORE REGIONAL AND NATIONAL NEWS FROM US
Body of kayaker found on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park | Daily Montana staff
Firearms drive majority of veteran suicides, federal data shows | Amanda Watford
ICYMI
Shining a light on other Idaho politics reporting
Note: Some links may lead to stories behind a news organization's paywall
Coeur d’Alene Press: Kratom splits town hall crowd
Idaho EdNews: Feds approve Idaho’s flexibility waiver for school funds
Thanks for reading The Sunrise. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.