Latest news with #Horman
Scoop
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
National Youth Orchestra To Take Audience On A Musical Adventure
Press Release – NZSO Rising opera star Madison Horman will join the NZSO National Youth Orchestra for an unforgettable evening of artistry and passion in Wellington and Auckland next week. NYO Adventure: Rachmaninov & Strauss, in association with the Adam Foundation, features Horman, a 2024 Lexus Song Quest semi-finalist, performing the exquisite 4 Lieder Op. 27, a set of songs originally composed as a wedding gift for composer Richard Strauss' wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna. With her refined talent and fresh experience from the Royal Academy of Music, Horman is poised to bring these romantic and expressive works to life in a way that is both intimate and breathtaking. NYO Adventure includes the world premiere of glacier by NZSO NYO 2025 Composer-in-Residence Luka Venter, offering a fresh and bold addition to the orchestral repertoire. Audiences can also revel in the daring and charismatic energy of Strauss' Don Juan, followed by the sweeping emotions of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony —a masterwork that dances between moods of deep longing, playful charm, and soaring passion. NYO Adventure also marks the New Zealand debut of acclaimed Canadian conductor Adam Johnson. From conducting Canada's top orchestras to collaborating with rock stars, Johnson is proving himself one of his homeland's best talents in orchestral conducting, including engagements with Opéra National de Paris and orchestras in Spain, Germany and the United States. Music Director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and Canada's Guelph Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Johnson completed his tenure as resident conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) in 2019 and has conducted over 90 concerts with the OSM. He recorded his first full album, Riopelle Symphonique, with the OSM in 2022 and won an Opus Prize with the famed orchestra in 2018. Don't miss the chance to support and celebrate these talented young musicians as they make their mark in the world of symphonic music. Tickets to NYO Adventure are $10. To book and for more information go to NYO Adventure: Rachmaninov & Strauss in association with Adam Foundation ADAM JOHNSON Conductor MADISON HORMAN Soprano R STRAUSS Don Juan R STRAUSS Lieder LUKA VENTER glacier (World Premiere NZSO NYO 2025 Composer-in-Residence) RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 2 TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre| Saturday, 5 July| 7.30pm
Scoop
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
National Youth Orchestra To Take Audience On A Musical Adventure
Rising opera star Madison Horman will join the NZSO National Youth Orchestra for an unforgettable evening of artistry and passion in Wellington and Auckland next week. NYO Adventure: Rachmaninov & Strauss, in association with the Adam Foundation, features Horman, a 2024 Lexus Song Quest semi-finalist, performing the exquisite 4 Lieder Op. 27, a set of songs originally composed as a wedding gift for composer Richard Strauss' wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna. With her refined talent and fresh experience from the Royal Academy of Music, Horman is poised to bring these romantic and expressive works to life in a way that is both intimate and breathtaking. NYO Adventure includes the world premiere of glacier by NZSO NYO 2025 Composer-in-Residence Luka Venter, offering a fresh and bold addition to the orchestral repertoire. Audiences can also revel in the daring and charismatic energy of Strauss' Don Juan, followed by the sweeping emotions of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony —a masterwork that dances between moods of deep longing, playful charm, and soaring passion. NYO Adventure also marks the New Zealand debut of acclaimed Canadian conductor Adam Johnson. From conducting Canada's top orchestras to collaborating with rock stars, Johnson is proving himself one of his homeland's best talents in orchestral conducting, including engagements with Opéra National de Paris and orchestras in Spain, Germany and the United States. Music Director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and Canada's Guelph Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Johnson completed his tenure as resident conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) in 2019 and has conducted over 90 concerts with the OSM. He recorded his first full album, Riopelle Symphonique, with the OSM in 2022 and won an Opus Prize with the famed orchestra in 2018. Don't miss the chance to support and celebrate these talented young musicians as they make their mark in the world of symphonic music. Tickets to NYO Adventure are $10. To book and for more information go to NYO Adventure: Rachmaninov & Strauss in association with Adam Foundation ADAM JOHNSON Conductor MADISON HORMAN Soprano R STRAUSS Don Juan R STRAUSS Lieder LUKA VENTER glacier (World Premiere NZSO NYO 2025 Composer-in-Residence) RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 2 TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre| Saturday, 5 July| 7.30pm
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho state revenues lag nearly $100 million behind Legislature's projections
The rotunda at the Idaho Capitol in Boise on Jan.17, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) Through April, state revenues are $97.7 million below the Idaho Legislature's forecast for the current 2025 fiscal year, according to a new monthly revenue report released by the Idaho Legislative Services Office. Although revenue collections are more than they were last year at this time, they are below the Idaho Legislature's forecast for the current fiscal year, according to the April edition of the Fiscal Year 2025 General Fund Budget Monitor report. That's important because the Idaho Legislature used the forecast in the state's 2025 fiscal year budget. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX When legislators left the Idaho State Capitol in Boise at the end of the 2025 session, they were forecasting to end the 2025 fiscal year on June 30 with a positive ending balance of $420.3 million. But just over a month later, the projected ending balance has shrunk to $322.7 million, according to the new budget monitor report. 'Thats why we left such a strong ending balance,' said Rep. Wendy Horman, an Idaho Falls Republican who serves as the co-chair of the Idaho Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC. JFAC is a powerful legislative committee that sets every budget for every state agency and department. 'At the time we adjourned Sine Die there were questions about the impacts of tariffs, and we gave more tax relief than the governor proposed,' Horman added, using the Latin phrase Sine Die that signifies the annual legislative session has ended for the year 'We wanted to make sure we had a cushion there to cover us – not only through the end of this fiscal year, but also carrying over to start FY26, and that's what we did.' 'At this time, we are still very well positioned moving into the next fiscal year,' Horman said. Idaho's budget runs on a calendar where fiscal year 2025 ends June 30 and fiscal year 2026 begins July 1. For fiscal year 2025, the Idaho Legislature adopted a revenue figure that was $42.1 million higher than the revenue projection Gov. Brad Little and the Idaho Division of Financial Management issued. Sales tax distributions appear to be a major driving factor in the revenue picture. The state's April revenue report indicates sales tax distributions to the state's general fund are $95.6 million less than last year. In a written statement Tuesday, Idaho Division of Financial Management Administrator Lori Wolff said she does not foresee the need for any holdbacks in the current budget. With the April revenue numbers coming in, Wolff said the state is still within 1% of its revenue projections. 'The governor and the Legislature left $400 million on the bottom line as cushion, and we do not anticipate any holdbacks will be necessary for FY25,' Wolff wrote Tuesday. 'The Governor's Office and (Division of Financial Management) will continue to monitor revenue, but the strength of our economy combined with responsible budgeting do not create any significant concerns about the state budget at this time.' With only two months left in the 2025 fiscal year, it doesn't look like the state will have a problem finishing this year with a balanced budget. CONTACT US But Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, is worried that revenue cuts approved by legislators could lead the Idaho Legislature to cut funding for programs Idahoans depend on during next year's legislative session. 'It may cause some havoc; in the next session we may see the Legislature cutting things,' Wintrow said in a phone interview Tuesday. 'Overall what I am deeply disturbed by – and what we are seeing in revenue collections – is I don't think Gov. Little or the Idaho Legislature is keeping its promises to Idahoans,' Wintrow added. In addition to serving as the leader of the Democrats in the Idaho Senate, Wintrow is a member of the Legislature's budget committee, JFAC. During the 2025 legislative session, Idaho legislators cut taxes by about $400 million and provided an additional $50 million in a refundable tax credit for education expenses including tuition at a private, religious school. In a press conference Monday, Little said the state can afford the $400 million in tax cuts this year, but it's important to consider the future. To pay for the tax cuts and tax credits, legislators reduced revenue that is available for funding in the state budget by about $453 million. Some of the Idaho Legislature's laws, like 2024's House Bill 521, divert sales tax revenue away from the general fund and put it to other uses, like paying for school facilities or reducing other taxes. On Tuesday, Horman did say she is concerned about the sales tax revenue diverted away before it reaches the state general fund. She said she first spoke out about the issue a couple of years ago. 'There has been a concern as we continue to draw from gross sales tax revenues in a way that distributes them before they are appropriated that we need to be cautious that the percentage going to cities and counties doesn't get so out of balance that when the next recession hits they feel the worst of the brunt of reduced revenues,' Horman said. Wintrow is also concerned about diverting sales tax revenue before it reaches the general fund budget. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Instead of cutting income taxes and diverting sales tax revenue, Wintrow said legislators should push to increase funding for special education programs and increase pay for state employees. Between the revenue cuts and Republican legislators announcing a new Idaho Department of Government Efficiency task force that seeks to consolidate state agencies and reduce the number of state employees – an effort similar to the Trump administration's and Elon Musk's DOGE process –, Wintrow worries cuts to programs are coming next year. 'Its not very conservative to hack your revenue stream so hard it potentially puts us in a place where we may have to continue to whittle at the oak tree until it's a splinter,' Wintrow said. 'Many of us (Democrats), and some Republicans, really were raising the alarm bell on that, to cut revenue so deeply at a time when the economy is going haywire.' The new April budget monitor report isn't the first sign that revenues were lagging projections. Little's budget office released a preliminary revenue report in March that showed revenues were lagging behind state projections at that point. JFAC is scheduled to conduct interim committee meetings next week in Idaho Falls. JFAC members are scheduled to receive a general fund and budget update Monday. Budget and Revenue Monitor 10
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho legislative session marked by budget conflicts, ‘medical freedom,' tax cuts
Day after day inside Idaho's Capitol, a group of hardline conservative lawmakers calling themselves the 'Gang of 8' rejected dozens of proposed budgets this legislative session. They told fellow lawmakers that they wanted no new government employees, no federal money and limited spending. Meanwhile, the Legislature approved $450 million worth of new tax cuts, which will come out of the state's general fund every year. In interviews with the Idaho Statesman, several said their approach was at least partly inspired by President Donald Trump's cost-cutting actions. 'The DOGE phenomenon is sweeping across the nation,' said Sen. Joshua Kohl, R-Twin Falls, referring to the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. 'We want to be part of that in Idaho. We want to truly be a leader in the conservative movement, really slashing the growth of government.' But the group's approach clashed with other lawmakers' desire to ensure government agencies had the funding they said they needed to perform their duties. 'I like to give the agencies what they need, within reason, and it doesn't feel to me like we were giving them their asks,' Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, told the Statesman. These diverging philosophies were a key source of disagreement this legislative session, sparking fierce debate and contributing to the extension of the legislative session past its target end date. In a whirlwind of last-minute budget approvals, Idaho lawmakers Friday wrapped up this year's regular legislative session, three months marked by fierce debate over how to fund state agencies and departments. The adjournment date was two weeks past their goal of ending by March 21. 'Our job is to run the government and our state. So we have to pass budgets,' said Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston. 'This session probably killed more budgets than I can ever remember.' She said she wished lawmakers would use 'a pocket knife instead of a chainsaw to balance the budget,' she told the Statesman. Idaho lawmakers have long sought to keep budgets trim, but many this year invoked the idea of DOGE when rejecting budgets they deemed excessive, Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, told the Statesman. McCann attributed that in part to a growing number of far-right legislators joining the body. Those who wanted to cut agencies' budgets expressed distrust of the funds those agencies requested through the Legislature's powerful budget-setting group, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. The committee approves budget proposals before they move to the House and Senate floors. Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who co-chairs the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, has said that lawmakers on JFAC have done their job of holding agencies accountable for the money. Horman on Thursday touted the work they accomplished on budgets. 'We have work that we can all be proud of,' Horman said on the floor. 'We have been able to fund essential government services while returning as much money to the taxpayer as possible.' In the last few days of the session, lawmakers also sped through approving a controversial measure that banned businesses and schools from requiring medical interventions, including vaccines and any action taken to prevent the spread of diseases. The first version of the proposal was the only bill Little vetoed so far this year. The bill would have converted the state's Coronavirus Stop Act into a broader 'Medical Freedom Act,' a law that prohibits businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, and bans requiring medical interventions and action taken to prevent the spread of disease. Little said the bill would have forbid schools and day cares from sending contagious children home. To override a veto, lawmakers must vote on the bill again and secure two-thirds majority support in both chambers. An attempt to do so for the 'medical freedom' bill failed in the Senate. Lawmakers then passed a new version of the bill that allows some exceptions for schools. When asked about a potential veto of the latest bill, Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, told reporters in a news conference that 'I think everyone's in agreement and the issues are resolved.' Little signed the bill into law 15 minutes after it arrived on his desk. Idaho Republicans ultimately accomplished passing several of their longstanding proposals, including the use of public funds for private school tuition, also known as school vouchers; cuts to the state's voter-approved Medicaid expansion; and the creation of a state crime for illegal entry, directing local police to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ACLU of Idaho immediately sued the state and temporarily blocked the immigration law from taking place. They continued on the body's streak of tax cuts, which Little has called 'historic,' with a measure on property tax relief, a reduction on income tax and an increase of the state's grocery tax credit. 'We did a really good job this year,' House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, told reporters Friday. 'It was a good year for Idaho.' Lawmakers also said they tried to address Idaho's doctor shortage. After years of the state operating under one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, prompting an exodus of OB-GYNs, the Legislature passed a bill that would allow judges to dismiss frivolous lawsuits against medical professionals being sued for an illegal procedure. Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, told the Statesman that the bill doesn't address doctors' concerns about liability. The law, which threatens doctors with up to five years in prison and loss of their medical license, allows abortions only in cases of reported rape or incest, ectopic pregnancies, or when saving the life of the pregnant patient. The narrow exemptions have created uncertainty and anxiety among doctors about what treatment is legally allowed, and when, Keller said. 'That's a high bar,' Keller previously told the Statesman. 'What I hear our doctors say is, 'How close to death does she have to be? Has she lost 10% of her blood? Has she lost (more)?'' Last year, Idaho lawmakers decided to shake up their budgeting approach. Going forward, budget committee members decided they would separate out 'maintenance' budgets to keep agency operations intact, then consider any funding above last year's in a separate supplemental budget bill. That approach, some told the Statesman, has created the impression that keeping budgets flat year over year is enough to keep agencies operating. For example, the members of the 'Gang of 8' have promised to reject any budget that exceeds 1% growth over baseline funding in an effort to keep government spending flat and save money. But the additional 'enhancement' funds that agencies request are often critical, lawmakers said — such as money requested in Senate Bill 1160 to replace 60 aging vehicles in the Department of Health and Welfare. 'Those cars are eventually going to have to be replaced, and they're just going to cost more money' in the future as costs rise, said Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley, who expressed disapproval of this and other examples of 'deferred maintenance' to keep budgets flat. A supplemental budget for the state's Liquor Division, similarly, faced repeated pushback in part over its inclusion of shrink wrap — which the division uses to streamline packaging and prevent theft. Items like these are 'mandatory to keep things going smoothly,' said Senate Minority Caucus Chair Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise. There was an 'internal battle' in the Legislature when it weighed this approach to budgeting last year, Erickson said, because of concerns that it would slow the process and block funding for important government functions. 'There were several of us who said this is going to happen,' he said. 'And that's what we've seen play out.' Idaho Democrats in a news conference said their party leaders are the ones who have stood up for Idaho values, in the face of irresponsible governing by the Republican Party. They touted standing up for health care and public schools, and in a news release criticized GOP infighting that 'brought chaos' to the budget-setting process. 'Republicans siphoned money needed for public education to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy, they eliminated affordable housing funds, and actually managed to make our physician shortage worse, all while leaving us facing future revenue shortfalls,' Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said in the release. 'They have abandoned the values they once claimed to stand for: fiscal responsibility, local control and limited government. It is Idaho Democrats who champion these values.'
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho Legislature on the brink of wrapping up its work for the year
The Idaho State Capitol building in Boise on Jan. 23, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) After 88 days in session, the Idaho Legislature moved closer to finishing its business for the year Thursday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. On Thursday night, the Idaho House of Representatives adjourned until 10 a.m. Friday, while the Idaho Senate adjourned until 9:30 a.m. Friday. Legislators hoped to wrap up all of their work Thursday. But just before 7 p.m., Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, said the Senate was short on staff and the paperwork and procedural work necessary to wrap up would have taxed the staff and kept everyone at the Statehouse way too late. Moments later, House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian, said the House hopes to finish its work Friday, but House members may need to work into the afternoon. 'Hopefully we'll be able to finish it all up tomorrow,' Monks said Thursday night. To move closer to adjournment, legislators passed many of the unresolved agency budgets over the course of about 12 hours Thursday. The Idaho Senate kicked off the action Thursday morning by unanimously passing a key fiscal year 2026 natural resources maintenance of operations budget that the Senate had retained on its calendar for a month without taking action. The natural resources budget, House Bill 248, was the last of 10 maintenance of operations budgets that needed to pass both chambers of the Idaho Legislature. The Idaho House of Representatives had already passed the natural resources budget back on Feb. 20. By Thursday afternoon, the House picked up the budget-passing baton, passing key budgets for the Idaho Transportation Department, the Idaho Office of Energy and Mineral Resources and Idaho State Liquor Division — all three of which had previously failed. Thursday's action by the Idaho Senate and Idaho House to pass many of the final budgets built upon the momentum JFAC generated a day earlier by rewriting the final failed budget enhancements and sending those rewritten budgets on to the Idaho House and Idaho Senate. During a break in the action Thursday, Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, provided a summary of the fiscal year 2026 budget. Horman said the full budget represents a 6.7% increase over the current budget, with 5% of the increase accounted for in the maintenance of operations budgets. Horman said legislators are leaving a $400 million ending balance, in case of an economic downturn. 'We have work that we can all be proud of, because we have been able to fund essential governance services while returning as much money to the taxpayer as possible in setting a balanced budget,' Horman said. Thursday was the 88th day of the 2025 legislative session, which gaveled in back on Jan. 6. There is no requirement to adjourn legislative sessions by any certain date. Most legislative sessions run for about 80 to 90 days. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
