Month: March 2026

Danielle Mullenix

Idaho (KIFI) – Idaho lawmakers are considering legislation to make Kratom illegal—a major development for advocates pushing for stricter regulation of the substance and its use.

House Bill 864 could classify Kratom as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, Idaho’s most restrictive drug category. If enacted, all forms of Kratom would be added to the Schedule 1 list, effectively prohibiting and criminalizing its sale and use.

The bill also equips the Idaho State Police to test for Kratom’s chemicals, whether natural or synthetic, should they become illegal. Under these provisions, Kratom’s entry into the supplemental market in Idaho would not just face barriers—it would be fully prohibited.

If the bill passes, even simple possession would become a criminal offense. Anyone found with Kratom—including products purchased legally before the law’s enactment—would be guilty of a misdemeanor, facing up to one year in prison, a $1,000 fine, or both.

Kratom is a plant-based substance indigenous to Southeast Asia, primarily used to relieve muscle pain, boost alertness and energy, and reduce stress. Currently, it is sold without specific regulation in Idaho and many other states.

Although Kratom is widely available and sold as an herbal supplement in smoke shops and convenience stores across Idaho, many doctors warn that it can carry health risks.

Bonneville County Coroner Shante Sanchez has reported six Kratom-related deaths in the past year alone and believes restrictions are necessary.

“I strongly believe Kratom should have more warning labels and restrictions, and not be so readily available,” Sanchez said. “You can’t drive down the street without seeing advertisements everywhere. People don’t truly know what Kratom is or what it does—the benefits and the dangers—so it shouldn’t be advertised as openly as it is.”

The Idaho State Affairs Committee voted on March 10th to advance the proposal, but for now, Kratom remains legal.

If lawmakers approve House Bill 864 and it is signed by Governor Little, the distribution of Kratom in Idaho could change dramatically.

Local News 8 will continue to monitor this bill’s activity.

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News Release

The following is a news release from the Idaho National Laboratory:

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — The U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office has approved a key safety document for the MARVEL microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory. The approved document, called a Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis (PDSA), marks a major milestone toward building and operating the microreactor for research, development and end-user demonstrations.

MARVEL, the Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation project, is a sodium-potassium-cooled microreactor developed at INL to produce 85-100 kilowatts of thermal energy and approximately 20 kW of electricity.

The PDSA outlines a dry initial criticality configuration, a near zero-power experiment that will generate essential data on reactor physics behavior. This configuration is a foundational step on the pathway to full power operation.

The approval reflects the culmination of extensive safety calculations and engineering analyses that define the safety basis for MARVEL’s initial criticality. The PDSA affirms that the reactor can operate safely under this configuration and paves the way for final safety documentation and full assembly of the reactor.

“This is more than just a regulatory requirement — it’s a blueprint for the future of advanced nuclear,” said INL’s Abdalla Abou-Jaoude, MARVEL microreactor lead. “By receiving approval for our safety documentation, we are now able to share this template with developers to learn from our process and streamline their own timelines.”

“This is a pivotal moment,” added John Jackson, national technical director for the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Microreactor Program. “We’re proud to play a leading role in helping to make microreactors commercially available.”

The approved PDSA builds on a 2024 version and incorporates updated modeling, lessons learned and a risk-informed methodology — an approach that uses risk analysis to guide design decisions and enhance safety. MARVEL’s approach has already influenced other DOE-authorized reactor projects such as Pele, the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment and the Versatile Autonomous Lightweight Kilowatt-class Reactor Experiment, commonly known as VALKRE. 

Researchers will conduct the dry criticality experiment at INL’s Transient Reactor Test Facility, a DOE-authorized research facility that supports a variety of reactor experiments. The next phase includes engagement with DOE-Idaho and project stakeholders to finalize the safety basis for full reactor assembly and fuel loading. This phased approach is designed to identify and address potential issues earlier in development.

The MARVEL team encourages the public and stakeholders to follow progress via INL’s social media channels and the MARVEL project webpage.

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Seth Ratliff

CHEYENNE, WY (KIFI) — Governor Mark Gordon has signed Wyoming’s “Human Heartbeat Act,” the state’s strict new abortion ban. The legislation, also known as HB 126, prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which usually happens around 6 weeks before many women even know they’re pregnant.

According to the Bill’s text, violators face felony charges punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. While the legislation includes narrow exceptions to protect the life or physical health of the mother, critics say it lacks exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

HB 126 reached the Governor’s desk after passing with significant majorities in both the Wyoming House and Senate. Despite his signature, Governor Gordon expressed skepticism regarding the law’s ability to withstand inevitable litigation. In a statement released on Facebook, Gordon described the act as a “well-intentioned but likely fragile” effort, warning that it risks ending in a protracted court battle rather than becoming “lasting, durable policy.”

“The solution I had hoped for is to put the issue before a vote of the people of Wyoming, from whom, according to Article 1 of our Wyoming Constitution, all governmental power derives,” wrote Gordon.

Legal Challenges on the Horizon

Several groups in Wyoming have already signaled their intent to challenge the ban in court. Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access—Wyoming’s only abortion clinic—labeled the ban an “attack on Wyomingites’ constitutional freedom to make their own health care decision.”

“Every day that this law is in effect means people in our state will face even greater barriers to abortion care — and some may be denied this care altogether,” said Burkhart in a statement to ABC. “With so many across Wyoming already struggling to access reproductive health care, restrictive policies like these take us further in the wrong direction.”

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