Month: October 2025

By Don Nelson

Click here for updates on this story

    EAGLE, Idaho (KIVI) — It’s that time of year to be on the lookout for wildlife crossing the highway as animals migrate from higher elevations into the valleys. So, what should you do if you come across roadkill?

If you’re an enterprising outdoorsman, you may consider “salvaging” the animal for its meat.

Close to Shadow Valley Golf Course, our crew noticed someone had just hit and killed a deer on Highway 55.

“My buddy makes dog treats out of roadkill,” said a driver who stopped at the site to salvage the deer carcass. He says that he regularly harvests roadkill.

This gentleman was not the one who hit the deer, but under Idaho State Law, he is legally within his rights to claim the carcass.

“I have carried deer bigger than this out of the woods myself,” he recounted.

Rick Ward, Fish and Game’s state wildlife manager, says if you happen to be involved in a roadkill accident, here’s what you do. “If everybody’s OK, pull off [to] the side of the road. Check to make sure everything is okay,” said Ward. “If that animal is dead and in the middle of the road, that’s creating another safety hazard.”

An Ada County Sheriff’s deputy stopped by to ensure the deer was completely off the road, which it was. The officer told us that drivers who hit wildlife on the road should call non-emergency dispatch immediately if the carcass is still in the roadway, so someone can come and pull it off to the side.

If you’re interested in salvaging the roadkill, you must fill out a salvage report with Idaho Fish and Game.

The man we met, who was salvaging the roadkill, followed all the right steps. “Me personally, I filled out a salvage report off IDFG’s website, which is Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and I just filled out the salvage report with the sex and time of day and everything like that, and I’m allowed to come out here and collect it.”

Another driver stopped and helped him load the roadkill into his jeep.

With deer season opening this weekend, Ward says Fish and Game will have check stations throughout the state for hunters to identify C.W.D. Chronic Wasting Disease in their harvested wildlife. “It’s great to get CWD samples from roadkill animals because we know CWD animals are more susceptible to roadkill just because of the condition they’re in.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Sahana Patel

Click here for updates on this story

    MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho (KIVI) — A former volunteer at NXT Dream Center in Mountain Home is sharing her experience working alongside Pastor Gregory Wayne Jones, who faces human sex trafficking and sexual assault charges.

Whitney Owens dedicated 20 hours a week at NXT Dream Center and attended Liberty Christian Fellowship Church in Mountain Home, both organizations run by Jones and his family. Jones is currently out on a $1 million bond awaiting trial.

Court records obtained by Idaho News 6 through a public records request state that Jones used his position in the church to sexually abuse women, claiming it was part of spiritual healing. The documents also said one of the victims was 17 at the time of the alleged offense.

“He was given a gift to lead in the church, and yet he used it to take advantage of many people,” Owens said.

Owens tells me she volunteered with children alongside Jones for about a year, and looking back, she says there were red flags.

“He never asked me to get a background check. I worked with these children for 20 hours a week. And I never had a background check. And I realized how many people were working with my child at this place who never had a background check,” Owens said.

She also recalls moments during church services that didn’t sit right with her. Owens said Jones would rebuke people during sermons, including a person she believed was the main victim in the case.

“He knew that somebody was watching on the video platform,” Owens said. “He said something along the lines of, ‘How dare you criticize your spiritual father’.”

In August, Idaho News 6 spoke exclusively with a group of survivors outside the Elmore County Courthouse, where we first met Owens, who was there to show her support.

“The victims that have come forward, I am so grateful [for them] because I could see that the road that I was going down with him, opening myself up, being so vulnerable, allowing myself to be there so much of the time, not asking questions about the red flags that were there, that it could have happened to me,” Owens said.

I reached out to both the defense and the prosecutor’s office for comment, but have yet to hear back.

Jones initially pleaded not guilty and in August, tried to strike a plea deal, which the judge denied.

When asked what she would like to say to Jones on behalf of the community and for herself, Owens responded: “How dare you? You stole so many good things from all of us. And you betrayed us. And you lied to us.”

Owens said she’s moving forward one day at a time but feels this case leaves a deep wound in the entire Mountain Home neighborhood.

“I do hope that our community can come back from this and we can find a way to support our children again and provide those things for them. Our kids deserve that,” Owens said.

Jones is set to appear in Elmore County Court on December 5th.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KIVI’s editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By WFTX Digital Team

Click here for updates on this story

    NORTH PORT, Florida (WFTX) — A North Port police officer’s quick thinking prevented a potential tragedy when dashcam video captured a child wandering onto busy U.S. 41.

The newly released footage shows a small child walking dangerously close to traffic on the major highway. A North Port police sergeant immediately sprang into action, turning on his lights and sirens before jumping out of his cruiser to chase down the child and bring them to safety.

According to North Port police, the child’s parents had done “everything they could” to install safeguards and prevent their child from wandering away from home. The child had developmental delays.

The incident has prompted police to share resources available to families with special needs loved ones, including tracking devices for children and older adults.

“We also have our special needs assessment program, or SNAP, which allows families to share important information about loved ones with special needs. It helps our first responders respond appropriately in any situation,” a police spokesperson said.

The department is also asking the public to show compassion for the family during this difficult time, requesting that people online give the family “grace” as they navigate the challenges of caring for a special needs child.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Jennifer Emert

Click here for updates on this story

    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A former western North Carolina pastor-turned-cabin builder has reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.

Jason Speier has agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud by wire. The charge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of a term of supervised release. A court date has not yet been set.

Clients told News 13 it was Speier’s charisma that drew them in. News 13 investigative reporter Jennifer Emert first exposed client complaints in January 2024. In a News 13 exclusive investigation, what started with a dozen clients grew to more than 30 impacted in several states for more than $3 million combined.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s 11-page factual basis revealed at one point while Speier was taking another contract for a cabin in August 2023, Kabens, a Sandinavian-style log home kit building company, was behind on approximately 40 customer projects. The factual basis, however, focuses on the time frame from when Speier took over Kabens on Nov. 18, 2022 through Oct. 1, 2023.

During that time frame, U.S. Attorney David Thorneloe claims Speier accepted payments from 24 customers totaling $2,355,310.24. During that time, Speier also continued to accept payments from eight customers who contracted with Kabens prior to November 2022, totaling another $211,412.01.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s factual basis Speier after Nov. 18, 2022 Speier received approximately $2,566,722.25 in total customer payments. All payments moved in interstate commerce, resulting in charges of fraud by wire.

The government’s factual basis claims Speier “held his business out as a general contracting company that contracted with customers to build European-sourced log cabin kits into turnkey residences. Neither Speier nor his company was actually a general contractor, and he did not have a source of supply for European log cabin kits.” It claimed Speier and Kabens lacked the means, ability and intent to perform the construction services he promised in the contacts he made with his customers.

Speier started out as a salesman, hired when the company was known as Affordable Log Homes. That company was owned by an individual only identified as R.M. in the federal government’s paperwork. The company ran into delays and obstacles during the COVID pandemic and construction progress slowed. Speier then made numerous sales by setting unrealistic expectations.

Speier’s influence in the company during that time grew, and Speier assumed full control of sales sometime in 2021. When the company failed to complete cabin builds within the timelines, it quickly got behind schedule on 11 cabins and was $200,000 in debt. Speier sought to rebrand the company and registered a new business named KI Enterprises, which did business as Kabens. R.M. operated the construction side of Kabens with Speier over sales. The business continued construction on incomplete ALH builds. During that time, Speier started a new bank account for Kabens at First National Bank of Pennsylvania.

The government’s paperwork claims Speier developed an alluring online marketing and social media presence for Kabens and built a sales team which made numerous sales in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Speier promised customers turnkey builds from Eurpoean-sourced log cabin kits, knowing that he couldn’t fulfill the promises.

Kabens’ contracts required unusually large deposits, often as much as 50% of the total build cost. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Speier often misrepresented the purpose of the funds to customers. Rather than use the deposits to purchase kits, the funds were applied to overhead expenses, pre-existing projects, as personal profit, and for other non-Kaben related matters.

According to the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, Speier has never been a licensed contractor.

To build the cabins he was selling for over $40,000, he needed a licensed contractor’s name on the permits. The case alleges KI Enterprises, then owned by Speier, however, signed contracts using the name of licensed general contractor Terry Wray Bowling. Bowling had told clients that was not his signature on the contracts and that his signature had been forged.

The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors filed a civil case against Speier in Wake County, but Speier, despite, receiving the summons, never responded to the complaint, and the state court found in favor of the North Carolina’s Licensing Board for General Contractors complaint. That complaint is separate from the current federal charge, but the federal complaint points to the state’s allegations that Speier was not a licensed contractor and they had denied his application, because of repeat complaints.

The factual basis lays out three instances of when customers paid Speier a deposit for a turnkey cabin, and he failed to deliver. They include projects in Saluda, one simply identified as being in western North Carolina and another in Sylva.

In one instance, the factual basis claims Speier after receiving the first two deposits, encouraged someone identified at M.B. to move the client’s project forward in “little ways that he can see.” Speier then directed M.B. to stake the expected corners of the build site. According to the factual basis, “M.B. was not a surveyor and he did not have any home construction or surveying experience.” In a text message, M.B. told the client he was planning to stake the corners stakes in the ground at the build site. The client then wired an additional $47,188.27 deposit in September 2023. The same day, Speier wired $30,000 to a friend for a personal loan.

The factual basis for the government claims Speier did not order materials with the client’s deposit money, Speier did not have a materials supplier and never constructed a cabin for that client.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Concetta Callahan

Click here for updates on this story

    TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — A Tucson bicyclist was stabbed to death during his Tuesday evening ride along the loop in late September.

The crime happened just two months after a security patrol program ended that was being tested by the county along the loop.

A police investigation led to an arrest after several witnesses came forward.

KGUN9 News Anchor Concetta Callahan went to Pima County’s Office of Housing Opportunity and Homeless Solutions to see what came of the Chuck Huckelberry Loop Patrol Program.

She sat down with their director, Jenifer Darland.

Darland explained that for 10 months, security officers patrolled problem spots determined by the Parks Department.

Patrols were out there from sundown to 2 a.m., 7 days a week.

Jenifer said patrols saw a lot of drug activity.

From drug deals to drug use, but not camps set up along the loop.

“We were seeing more trash; we were seeing more foils,” Darland said. “You’ll hear people working in that space cleaning up the debris, seeing more drug paraphernalia, even you’ll see warming fires in some of those areas too, again that’s not necessarily an illegal activity in that space, but you just start to see some of the things that would suggest that there were people engaging in recreational drug use.”

The Santa Cruz section of the loop saw a lot of this delinquent activity.

Parks workers report that these areas are always trashed when they show up in the morning.

At both the Congress East and West banks.

Jenifer said parks with restrooms and ramadas are the most problematic areas.

So, does the county plan to bring back the patrols?

Darland says—no.

She said patrols would vacate the groups and they’d just move to another spot along the loop; felt like they kept chasing the problem.

She added that not a single person in the 10 months these patrols were out accepted help from their office to navigate the resources available.

Suggesting the problem isn’t solely a homeless issue.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.