The Neal Larson Show
Neal Larson is an Associated Press Award-winning newspaper columnist and radio talk show host. He has a BA from Idaho State University in Media Studies and Political Science. Neal is happily married to his wife Esther with their five children in Idaho Falls.
Julie Mason is a long-time resident of east Idaho with a degree in journalism from Ricks College. Julie enjoys reading, baking, and is an avid dog lover. When not on the air she enjoys spending time with her three children and husband of 26 years.
Together these two are a powerhouse of knowledge with great banter that comes together in an entertaining and informative show.
Episodes
414 episodes
4.3.2026 - Sine Die, School Boundaries, Harriman Fallout
The session is finally signed sine die, and it feels like a relief—but also like we’re closing the book on a year that was all over the map. We walked through the rough spots (budget turbulence, cultural bills, and the frustration of basically ...
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1:25:01
4.2.2026 - INTERVIEW: Sgt. Brian Lovell (FOP), Legislative Sauce, ICE Cooperation, Artemis 2
Today’s show had that late-session “everybody’s a little saucy” energy—Neal Larson and Julie Mason were feeling it, the listeners were feeling it, and the Idaho Legislature was absolutely feeling it. We dug into the end-of-session maneuvering (...
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1:27:57
4.1.2026 - INTERVIEW: Rep. Mike Simpson, SCOTUS hears Birthright Citizenship, DHS, SAVE Act
This episode was a whirlwind look at two big, very “right now” stories: the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on birthright citizenship (with President Donald Trump in the chamber) and the ongoing partial government shutdown centered on DHS fundin...
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1:27:54
3.31.2026 - Parental Transparency, Attorney General Power, Culture & Family
Today we worked through a packed slate of Idaho policy and a few national flashpoints, with the big focus on the Senate moving bills that have been stuck in the pipeline. We dug into House Bill 822—framed as closing a loophole in Idaho’s vulner...
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1:29:41
3.30.3036 - No Kings Protests, Bathroom Bill, Confirmation Bias
Neal Larson and Julie Mason kicked off the week sizing up a busy weekend in East Idaho—especially the “No Kings” protests—and the bigger point they kept coming back to was this: if you’re going to rally, at least be clear about what you’re tryi...
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1:28:58
3.27.2026 - TSA Showdown, Immigration Power Plays, SOS Benefit Concert
We spent the first part of the show chewing on the TSA/DHS funding standoff and how it feels like Democrats are deliberately leveraging airport misery—especially during a heavy travel week—to force unrelated outcomes like targeting ICE. The con...
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1:26:14
3.26.2026 - Shutdown Standoff, Iran Update, Updated Party Cohesion Index
Today’s show was a mix of national chaos and local accountability. We started with US Senator **Jim Risch** laying the blame for the ongoing government shutdown at Democrats’ feet, calling it completely avoidable and emphasizing how unfair it i...
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1:25:50
3.25.2026 - Housing Bills, Classroom Silence, Capitol Power Plays
We spent time unpacking the late-session Idaho housing “affordability” bills and the common thread running through them: loosening planning and zoning to allow more density—duplexes, apartments, even backyard tiny homes—plus talk of rent caps t...
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1:28:36
3.24.2026 - Election Deadlines, Political Surveillance, Bullying Backlash
Neal and Julie spent the morning bouncing between a few stories that all, in their own way, come back to trust—trust in institutions, trust in elections, and trust that people will be held accountable when they cross the line. We started with “...
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1:26:26
3.23.2026 - Dana Perino Dinner, Idaho Culture Bills, Parental Rights Fight
Neal Larson and Julie Mason kick off the Monday show comparing March Madness notes (including a fun Idaho tie with Dylan Darling’s buzzer-beating moment for St. John’s) before shifting to the weekend’s bigger highlight: being invited to the Mou...
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1:31:07
3.20.2026 - S4C: Rawlston Smith covers Dean Martin, Immigration Arrest Data, District 93 Levy
On today’s Friday show, Neal Larson and Julie Mason mixed a little “inside baseball” with a lot of local and state issues—and a fun listener perk. We set up a giveaway for two pairs of tickets to the Mountain States Policy Center dinner in Bois...
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1:30:41
3.19.2026 - AI Brackets, Idaho Policy, Conservative Infighting
Neal Larson and Julie Mason bounce between March Madness fun and a few heavy headlines, starting with the great experiment: letting multiple AIs build NCAA brackets (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok—and maybe Claude) to see if the machines can out-pick th...
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1:31:32
3.18.2026 - INTERVIEW: Rep. Russ Fulcher - SAVE Act Showdown, March Madness Brackets, Protecting Kids Online
Today’s show was a true “turn on a dime” mix of DC and local-life—starting with us rolling out a just-for-fun Neal Larson Show March Madness bracket group (text **BRACKET** to join), because honestly we all need a little relief from politics an...
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1:21:42
3.17.2026 - Julie's Birthday! Plus: Bathroom Bill Vote, Party Cohesion Index
Today’s show had that classic “welcome to Idaho politics” whiplash—in the best way. Neal Larson and Julie Mason dug into a high-profile cultural bill moving through the Idaho House: a “biological sex bathroom” policy meant to stop intentional u...
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1:26:12
3.16.2026 - Budget Stalemate, Iran Messaging, Parental Rights
Neal Larson and Julie Mason kick off the week already feeling like it should be Thursday, bouncing between birthday banter and real frustration with how things are going—especially at the Idaho Legislature. They dig into the Senate’s blow-up ov...
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1:26:00
3.13.2026 - S4C: 22nd Street Jazz -- Also: Budget Showdown, Rainy Day Fund, “Voucher” Wars
Idaho’s budget fight is getting real, and it feels like we’ve backed ourselves into a corner: big tax cuts, an economic forecast that isn’t exactly inspiring confidence, and now lawmakers are acting surprised that the math is tight. We walked t...
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1:25:06
3.12.2026 - INTERVIEWS: US Sen. Jim Risch, Idaho Dem. Chair Lauren Necochea, SAVE Act, Iran
Julie was out today, so Neal Larson took the mic solo and covered two big threads: election integrity at home and Iran abroad. First up was a conversation with Senator Jim Risch about the SAVE Act—requiring proof of citizenship to vote in feder...
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1:20:06
3.11.2026 - Obergefell Revisited, Jetsons Tech, Party Cohesion Index
Neal Larson and Julie Mason start in their usual gear-shifting way—riffing on Utah potentially becoming a real-life Jetsons test lab for personal aerial vehicles (cargo first, people later) and the creeping reality of humanoid robots—before piv...
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1:26:16
3.10.2026 - NEW: Party Cohesion Index, Oil Prices, Idaho RINOs, SAVE Act
Today’s show was a bit of a whirlwind, but it all circled around the same theme: people weaponizing narratives instead of dealing in reality. We dug into the spike (and quick drop) in oil prices tied to risk around the Strait of Hormuz—remindin...
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1:28:37
3.9.2026 - Iran Operation, Idaho Democrats, Participation Trophies
This episode was a classic “big picture to local politics to cultural weirdness” Monday. We dug into the fast-moving U.S. operation against Iran and the debate over what powers the president has versus Congress—acknowledging why some people are...
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1:25:50
3.6.2027 - S4C: Musai, covering The Weather, Noem Fallout, Union Money, Open Lines
Today we dug into the Kristi Noem shake-up and the way everyone’s trying to spin it. Call it whatever you want—“reassigned,” “moved,” “Western Shield” whatever—this wasn’t a lateral move, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help. We talked about w...
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1:23:18
3.5.2026 - INTERVIEW: Secretary of State Phil McGrane, Idaho Elections, Dark Money, Immigration
Today’s show was a classic “all of the above” kind of morning. We started with a mix of Idaho politics and everyday-life tangents—everything from why the governor’s race is crowded while other statewide incumbents are basically unopposed, to Po...
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1:29:47
3.4.2026 - Party Cohesion, Lawmaker Accountability, Idaho Politics
Neal Larson walks us through a new “party cohesion” metric he built (with help from AI and the legislative API) to measure how often Idaho lawmakers vote with the majority of their stated party on votes that break along clear partisan lines. Th...
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1:22:39
3.3.2026 - Idaho Immigration Bills, Party Integrity, Clinton-Epstein Fallout
Today we’re tracking the Idaho Legislature as two major immigration enforcement bills (H700 and H704) move from the House to what Neal calls the Senate “morgue” — State Affairs — chaired by Senator Jim Guthrie. We talk through why that committe...
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1:25:06
3.2.2026 - Iran Strike, E-Verify Showdown, What We Don’t Know
Neal Larson and Julie Mason unpack the U.S. (and Israeli) operation against Iran over the weekend, arguing it wasn’t some impulsive “assassination” but a long-overdue strike against a regime they see as an active, ongoing threat to America and ...
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1:28:09
