<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of today's (March 19, 2015) Spokesman-Review.</div><div><br></div><div>-------------------------------------</div><div><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; line-height: 1.2; font-size: 28px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">Idaho House to hear giant salamander bill</h1><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">BOISE – An Idaho House committee on Wednesday abruptly reversed itself and overwhelmingly passed a bill proposed by an Idaho eighth-grader to make the Idaho giant salamander the official state amphibian. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The bill now moves to the full House with a recommendation that it pass.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, and House State Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, both said they decided on the change a day earlier when the House passed a resolution marking “National Diaper Need Awareness Week.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I turned to my seatmate and said, ‘If we have time for a diaper bill, we have time to hear the salamander,’” Batt said. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rep. Don Cheatham, R-Post Falls, who opposed HB 1 in January citing fear of “federal overreach,” switched his vote and supported the bill on Wednesday, as did Reps. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I was new to Idaho, really, and the Legislature,” Cheatham explained. “I was trying to show my commitment to the state of Idaho.” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fourteen-year-old Ilah Hickman has been pushing for the designation since she studied the issue as a fourth-grader; she’s returned to the Legislature each year to present her bill. Last year, Ilah’s bill passed the Senate on a 33-2 vote, but never got a committee hearing in the House.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This year, the House State Affairs Committee held a hearing just a week into the legislative session, but the bill died on a 10-6 vote. On Wednesday, there were just two “no” votes, from Reps. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Ken Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho House Bill 1</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><img src="cid:BE94FA13-FB24-4BA3-BEEE-331E2561B9B7" alt="image1.jpeg" id="BE94FA13-FB24-4BA3-BEEE-331E2561B9B7"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/Idaho_Legislature/HouseBill01_StateAmphibian_011915.jpg">http://www.moscowcares.com/Idaho_Legislature/HouseBill01_StateAmphibian_011915.jpg</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;">--------------------</p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fourteen-year-old Ilah Hickman</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IdahoGiantSalamanderForStateAmphibian/photos/a.431533353599229.1073741825.431533256932572/707862885966273/?type=1&source=11">https://www.facebook.com/IdahoGiantSalamanderForStateAmphibian/photos/a.431533353599229.1073741825.431533256932572/707862885966273/?type=1&source=11</a></p></div><div>-------------------------------------</div><div><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"How is gerrymandering like a <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">salamander</strong>? In 1812, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a law that established an odd-shaped Congressional district. It was redrawn by political cartoonists into a <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">salamander</strong>-type creature and thus the term gerrymander was born."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- Eldridge Gerry</span></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div></div></body></html>