The newly expanded format of Idaho Reports kicked off on Friday, introducing an interesting panel of citizen experts, including three former law makers and one Simplot Corp. maverick type who refuses to be pinned down, though he acknowldges a crush on Ayn Rand.

Hostess Thanh Tan interviews Senate President Bob Geddes and Speaker of the House Lawerence Denney, both of whom stick with the line that it's going to be a budget driven session. (Can someone please tell me when it has not been a budget driven session?) The two have been coy about pre-session negotiations with the governor on the degree of current year holdbacks and cuts to next year's budgets. But we'll hear from Otter tomorrow how he intends to cut spending.

Check out how relaxed and fit Dolores Crow is on Idaho Reports. NOTE: The embed seems to be broken ... watch the show here. PPS: IdahoPTV has fixed the embed code, so you can watch it here or there ... but they need the Web traffic today, so click on through.

Tomorrow you can listen to the 1 p.m. State of the State on Boise State Radio, or watch it at Idaho Public Television's Legislature Live. Ironically enough, should Otter decide that public television is no longer an essential state function, if may be the last State of the State you'll see for a while.

Unda' the Rotunda will also be in the newly refurbished House of Representatives public gallery, blogging live for the duration of the speech. So check in with us again tomorrow.