The Gem State Brief

Curated by Locus Lectorum

May 22, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

$49 million in federal grants to Idaho health department canceled

This week the federal government has canceled $49 million in grants to the Idaho health department as part of a larger cancellation of Health and Human Services grants. The canceled grants were predominantly meant for COVID testing and vaccination projects.

Boise police find multiple IEDs while serving a narcotics search warrant

Boise Bench | May 16 | Idaho Statesmen

BPD discovered several improvised explosive devices in a house on the west Bench while serving a search warrant looking for drugs, resulting in 2 arrests. The Boise bomb squad was able to safely remove the devices and detonate them at their training facility later.

New Idaho Interim Committee holds its first meeting on Idaho housing issues

State Capitol | May 15 | Idaho Capital Sun

The Idaho Legislature formed a new land use and housing interim committee to study state and local land use regulations and how they affect Idaho's housing difficulties. In addition to this study, it is expected that the committee will make recommendations to the Idaho Legislature during the 2026 session.

Idaho colleges will be able to seek exemptions for summer classes that would violate Idaho's new anti-DEI law

State Capitol | May 16 | Idaho Ed News

Despite a new law that prohibits requiring a DEI-related course for graduation, the Idaho State Board of Education just released a memo stating it would consider applications for exceptions allowing required DEI courses for the upcoming summer semester.

Several hundred protesters gather in Pocatello to rally against the Trump administration

Pocatello | May 17 | East Idaho News

Just a few weeks after Pocatello's "Hands Off!" rally against Trump's actions, more protesters gathered this week in an attempt to maintain the momentum from the previous protest. This rally also featured many people seeking justice for Victor Perez, a teen who was recently shot by Pocatello police in a controversial encounter.

US Justice Department files lawsuit against Troy, ID for religious discrimination

Troy | May 20 | Idaho News

Christ Church, located in Troy, Idaho, has filed for a conditional use permit to allow them to expand to a larger space in the center of the town, which has been denied. The Justice Department is suing the city claiming this denial violates laws relating to religious land use.

70-year-old Challis man admits to shooting and then dismembering another man with a chainsaw

Challis | May 16 | Idaho State Journal

Alan Bruce of Challis has been arrested and charged with murder after confessing to the killing of another local man. Bruce confessed to watching the man for several hours with night vision devices before approaching him with a rifle. When the man produced a pistol, Bruce claims that he shot him, then dismembered the body with a chainsaw before burning the remains and dumping them in the Salmon River.

Highlights & Insights

📖 Other Recommended Read

"The Second Amendment Doesn’t End at State Lines" - This op-ed piece by Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador summarizes the ongoing litigation surrounding Hawaii's law that prohibits the possession of weapons on private property and in many public places, and provides a useful argument regarding the universal application of Second Amendment rights across state lines.

🏛️ Apologetics Fact

The Improbability of DNA Arrangement: Research by Dr. Stephen Meyer has shown that the probability of a random DNA sequence forming a single protein (the most fundamental cellular components) is 1 in 10^164.

🗣️ Quote

"For socialism is not only a problem of labor... but is in the first instance a problem of atheism. The contemporary problem of atheism. The problem of the tower of Babel, constructed expressly without God. Not for the attainment of heaven from earth, but the abasement of heaven to earth."– Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov)

🏅 Person: Skanderbeg (1405-1468)

Gjergj Kastrioti, more commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian noble who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. Sent as a child to be a hostage in the Ottoman Empire, he was forced to convert to Islam and serve as a Janissary, in whose ranks he fought for the next 20 years before reverting to Christianity and finding the opportunity to desert the Ottomans. He began to unite the disparate Albanian localities against the Ottoman Empire, and proved to be the most significant military threat to their empire, fighting until his death 25 years later. He is still remembered to this day in eastern Europe as a model of Christian resistance to Muslim occupation.

📕 Book: The Winter Fortress

In 1942, the Germans were actively seeking to build an atomic bomb, but their efforts were dependent on one particular ingredient, heavy water, produced only in one remote plant in central Norway. This book tells the gripping story of the secret Allied mission to destroy the plant and deny the Nazi science machine this critical resource. Few books so ably demonstrate the outsized effect that a few men in the right place at the right time can have on world history.