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SPR's Inland Journal for April 17, 2025

On this week's program, a legislative recap from Boise, an investigation into collaboration between the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and immigration officials, and a conversation with an actor and comedian whose tour is bringing him to Spokane on April 25.

Courtesy State of Idaho
This file photo shows the Idaho Senate Chambers at the state capitol in Boise.

The legislature in Boise has been busy this year, passing a $450 million tax cut, as well as taking on issues from "medical freedom" to transgender bathroom and dorm restrictions to school choice funding.

Boise State Public Radio's Idaho state government reporter, James Dawson, joined to talk about the policy shifts and what they’ll mean for Idahoans moving forward.

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Emails obtained in a public records request show federal immigration agents sharing addresses of people who Kootenai County sheriff’s Deputy Harvey Ballman believed to be in the country illegally, along with Ballman’s response.
Rachel Spacek/InvestigateWest
Emails obtained in a public records request show federal immigration agents sharing addresses of people who Kootenai County sheriff’s Deputy Harvey Ballman believed to be in the country illegally, along with Ballman’s response.

We were also joined by InvestigateWest's migrant labor reporter, Rachel Spacek.

She uncovered email exchanges between the Kootenai County sheriff’s office and federal immigration agents to reveal not just cooperation from the local law officers but collaboration with the federal agents to detain undocumented migrants — regardless of whether the people have committed a state crime.

Spacek joined the program to break down her reporting on a county where the sheriff has been especially eager to assist federal immigration agents just across a border from a state where such collaboration is against the law.

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Actor and comedian Jeremy Piven performs a stand-up comedy set at the Miami Improv. Piven is currently on tour around the country with his stand-up and will be at Spokane's Bing Crosby Theater April 27.
Ted Castillo
Actor and comedian Jeremy Piven performs a stand-up comedy set at the Miami Improv. Piven is currently on tour around the country with his stand-up and will be at Spokane's Bing Crosby Theater April 25.

You might remember Jeremy Piven from his role as the over-the-top, witty and sometimes crass talent agent Ari Gold in the series "Entourage."

In his new movie, “The Performance,” he’s playing a very different character: A talented but underemployed Jewish American tap dancer in the 1930s whose attempt to revitalize his career ends up giving him the opportunity to perform for Hitler.

But outside of film and TV, Piven has a plethora of other experience on stage, including as a stand-up comedian. He’s on tour now, and he’ll be doing a set at Spokane’s Bing Crosby Theater on Sunday, April 27th at 7:30 p.m.

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Owen Henderson hosts Morning Edition for SPR News, but after he gets off the air each day, he's reporting stories with the rest of the team. Owen a 2023 graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studied journalism with minors in Spanish and theater. Before joining the SPR newsroom, he worked as the Weekend Edition host for Illinois Public Media, as well as reporting on the arts and LGBTQ+ issues.