Month: July 2025

News Team

EDITOR’S NOTE: Barbara Turner’s date and location of passing have been corrected.

AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) —Barbara Turner, the co-founder/director of the Snake River Montessori School and the second passenger involved in the fatal rollover crash on June 29, has passed away from her injuries Friday at the University of Utah in Salt Lake. Her husband, Bruce Turner, was killed in the same incident.

“We do not have the words to express our deep sorrow over the passing of Barbara Turner. Her smile lit up a room and her laughter filled our school with happiness,” wrote Snake River Montessori on its Facebook page. “She poured her heart and soul into our school and left an indelible mark on all of us. Her kind, caring, joyous spirit was evident the moment you met her. Whether you were a co-worker, parent, or student, your lives were made better by knowing Miss Barbara.”

Crash Details

The Idaho State Police reported that the crash occurred on June 29 when the Turners were traveling eastbound on I-86 in a 2001 Ford Explorer. The vehicle, driven by a 35-year-old man, overcorrected and rolled into the median. Both Bruce and Barbara were transported by ambulance to a local hospital. Bruce Turner succumbed to his injuries on the day of the crash, with his death confirmed by the Bannock County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday, July 2.

A Legacy of Faith and Service

Bruce and Barbara Turner were well-known and respected members of the Idaho Falls community, deeply involved in both their local Episcopal Church and the Rotary Club. Barbara supported Bruce throughout their marriage in his roles as President of the Idaho Falls Rotary Club and as a Precinct Committee Officer of the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee (BCRCC).

The BCRCC honored Bruce Turner’s life at their monthly meeting last week. They also collected donations for a St. Luke Episcopal Church fundraiser to help the couple’s two sons with Barbara’s medical bills.

Elaine Gray, who worked alongside Bruce Turner for four years during his time as Rotary Club Secretary, remembered the couple’s dedication. She says Bruce and Barbara could be found at almost every club service project, including spring and fall cleanups along the Idaho Falls Greenbelt, manning concession stands at the Mountain America Center, and participating in the annual Idaho Falls Duck Race.

“Barb and Bruce Turner were an amazing couple who gave their time and talents to many organizations in our community. Their life of service and giving should be an example for us all to follow,” said the post. “Our world is forever changed with this tragic loss, and our thoughts and love are with their family during this time.”

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Noah Farley

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — A 12-year-old Idaho Falls girl was safely located in Colorado Sunday evening, a day after police say she left home with two adult men Saturday night. While details of this specific case are still emerging, the incident serves as a stark reminder for parents about the importance of keeping their children safe both in person and, ever increasingly, online.

This scenario is every parent’s nightmare, leaving many wondering who their children are talking to in an increasingly digital world.

Long summer days with no school, combined with parents at work and unlimited access to cell phones and the internet, can create environments where children, seeking connection and validation, might inadvertently engage with unsafe individuals, according to Ascend Mental Health Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr. Matt Larsen.

Dr. Larsen emphasizes the heightened risks in the digital sphere. “Kids need to be outside more and in the real world more,” Dr. Larsen states. He cites social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, noting, “Parents overprotect in the real world and under-protect in the digital world.”

While direct online grooming details have not been confirmed in this particular case, the broader concern for parents about their children’s safety — both physically and digitally — should be at the forefront of their minds. Dr. Larsen suggests that while many parents focus on dangers outside the home, the online realm often poses a greater threat.

To counter this, Dr. Larsen recommends that children and teens recommends kids and teens get more experience outside of the home and meet all different kinds of people. That way, they will learn people are complicated and there’s a risk-benefit level to every interaction.

For parents concerned about their child’s online interactions, especially with teenagers, Dr. Larsen points to several potential warning signs.

“One is look at how much older they’re trying to look than they are,” he advises. “How much are they trying to age up their appearance? How much are they trying to look physically older and more attractive and more sexual than their age.” These behaviors could indicate attempts to appeal to, or emulate, older individuals, which can be a red flag for online exploitation.

For more insights from Dr. Larsen can see the full interview above.

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CNN

CNN

By Devan Cole, John Fritze and Sunlen Serfaty, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Monday said President Donald Trump may proceed with his plan to carry out mass layoffs at the Department of Education in the latest win for the White House at the conservative high court.

In an unsigned order, the justices lifted for now a lower court ruling that had indefinitely paused Trump’s plan. The Supreme Court’s decision puts that ruling on hold while the legal challenge plays out.

Within two hours, the Department of Education sent notices to employees indicating it is immediately resuming its plans to shrink the department.

CNN has reviewed emails sent Monday to some employees, who were initially fired in April before the judge stepped in, informing them of the Supreme Court decision and saying they would be let go on August 1.

“The Department appreciates your service and recognizes the difficulty of the moment,” the notice states. “This RIF action is not a reflection upon your performance or conduct and is solely due to agency restructuring, as described in previous correspondence.”

The Supreme Court decision was attached to the notice.

In a scathing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s senior liberal member, said her colleagues had made an “indefensible” decision to let Trump proceed with taking apart an agency that ordinarily can be dismantled only by Congress.

“The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave,” Sotomayor wrote in the dissent, which was joined in full by the other two liberal justices.

Trump ordered mass layoffs at the department earlier this year — cutting its workforce in half — but lower courts have blocked that effort, noting that the Education Department was created by Congress.

The president praised the high court’s decision in a Truth Social post Monday.

“The United States Supreme Court has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country, by declaring the Trump Administration may proceed on returning the functions of the Department of Education BACK TO THE STATES,” Trump said, thanking the Supreme Court for their decision. “Now, with this GREAT Supreme Court Decision, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, may begin this very important process.”

McMahon in a statement described the court’s decision as a “significant win for students and families.”

“We will carry out the reduction in force to promote efficiency and accountability and to ensure resources are directed where they matter most — to students, parents, and teachers,” she said. “As we return education to the states, this Administration will continue to perform all statutory duties while empowering families and teachers by reducing education bureaucracy.”

US District Judge Myong Joun, nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden, indefinitely halted Trump’s plans to dismantle the agency and ordered the administration to reinstate about 1,400 employees who had been fired en masse. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a teachers union, school districts, states and education groups.

Noting that the department “cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval,” Joun said Trump’s planned layoffs “will likely cripple” it. “The record abundantly reveals that defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without an authorizing statute,” he wrote.

The Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously declined to reverse that order in early June and Trump appealed.

Sotomayor warns of ‘untold harm’

The Education Department, created during the Carter administration, is tasked with distributing federal aid to schools, managing federal aid for college students and ensuring compliance with civil rights laws — including ensuring schools accommodate students with disabilities. Most public-school policies are a function of state government.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration countered that its effort at the Education Department involves “internal management decisions” and “eliminating discretionary functions that, in the administration’s view, are better left to the states.”

Despite Trump’s campaign trail promises to eliminate the department entirely, his lawyers told the Supreme Court that wasn’t what is happening in this case. Instead, they said, the department could continue to carry out its legally obligated functions — just with far fewer employees.

Sotomayor made clear in her dissent that she thought Trump’s arguments to the high court disregarded the reality on the ground.

“The record unambiguously refutes that account,” she wrote. “Neither the President nor Secretary McMahon made any secret of their intent to ignore their constitutional duties. President Trump repeatedly called for the immediate abolition of the Department both during his campaign and after taking office.”

She continued: “Rather than wait for legislative action to begin shuttering the Department, McMahon slashed the agency’s work force in half, concededly without analyzing the effect of those terminations on the Department’s statutorily mandated functions.”

The court’s decision, Sotomayor wrote, “will unleash untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended.”

“The majority apparently deems it more important to free the Government from paying employees it had no right to fire than to avert these very real harms while the litigation continues.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.

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