Betsy Russell retired Jan. 1, 2023 as the Boise bureau chief and state government and politics reporter for the Idaho Press. She is the former longtime president of the Idaho Press Club, and is also president and a founding board member of Idahoans for Openness in Government (IDOG). A graduate of the University of California-Berkeley, she holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Russell worked for the Idaho Press for five years, and previously worked for nearly 27 years for The Spokesman-Review, including five years as the newspaper’s Idaho editor in Coeur d’Alene and 22 as its Boise bureau chief. Before that, she worked five years as a reporter and editor for the Idaho Statesman in Boise, and earlier worked as a reporter for several California newspapers. She is married with two grown children, and is an avid skier and windsurfer.
