Month: October 2026

Hadley Bodell

CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIFI) – After three years of planning and building, Legacy Assisted Living cut the ribbon on their facility in Chubbuck on Wednesday, October 28. Their approach is centered around wellness and providing residents with places to recreate and socialize.

“Every person who comes through these doors, they already have a legacy, a lifetime of experiences, relationships, accomplishments, family and stories,” said Legacy Administrator Teresa Christensen. “Our job isn’t to replace any of that, it’s to honor them and continue creating their legacy.”

The facility at Legacy also has amenities that make it easy for family to visit residents and participate in activities. They have a walking path around the campus, a pickleball court, gym, porch swings, a game room and common areas for socializing.

The staff at Legacy believe life doesn’t get boring and slow when someone moves into an assisted living facility. They will foster recreation, activities and a wellness-centered lifestyle.

Legacy has hired chefs for their full kitchen facilities, ready to treat residents to homestyle-cooked meals and low sugar.

“We want to take a wholistic wellness approach,” Christensen said. “We’re looking at nutrition for high protein, low sugar but still delicious. We want it to taste like Mom’s cooking.”

The goal is for residents to feel like a family, not just people living in the Chubbuck facility.

“We learn to love the residents, it’s definitely all about that feeling of love,” said Erin Hobbs, an accountant with Legacy. “We want our staff to show that feeling of love.”

Christensen added that small touches like the porch swings outside and the walking path will hopefully encourage grandchildren to visit their elderly family members at Legacy and recreate together.

Legacy Assisted Living also has a spa room with a sauna and red light therapy. One future resident who attended the grand opening said she can’t wait to move into a place where the people really care and provide top-notch amenities. She said it’s the only living place in the area she could find with a gym and physical activity opportunities for seniors.

Hobbs said they already have several people ready and eager to move in by this Friday. They also still have rooms available and encourage anyone who is interested to visit their website or come see the Chubbuck facility.

“We want you to come meet us and see the facility and see what we’re trying to do and help us build it,” Christensen said.

The dream for these two friends began three years ago with both Hobbs and Christensen working in administrative assisted living offices. The Legacy building itself, with a modern white-barn aesthetic, took around 15 months to come to life.

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David Pace

By Sahana Patel. Originally published 8:24 AM, Oct 28, 2026.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho (KIVI) — Mountain Home City Council approved an emergency moratorium temporarily blocking data center applications and permits after residents packed city hall, but some neighbors want a full ban.

“I would say about time,” neighbor Dara Corvus said.

READ MORE |Mountain Home neighbors raise concerns over proposed data center as zoning rules currently prohibit it

As Idaho News 6 reported Monday, Mayor Rich Sykes sent a letter to company owner Dan Weitz after Sykes said Weitz dropped off plans for four three-story buildings — about 3.4 million square feet total — planned for the Bennett Ranch Industrial Campus.

The letter noted that Weitz has not submitted a land-use application, conditional use permit or building permit. And under the city’s current zoning code, data centers are not listed as a permitted or conditional use.

But for some of the neighbors who came to city hall, a pause doesn’t settle their concerns.

“I am disappointed that it took this many people showing up after months to get this one thing addressed. This is something that has been brought up many times,” neighbor Andrew Toth said.

Others thanked the council for taking action but said they want Mountain Home to go further.

“We’re very appreciative about. However, I want to advocate for us to add data centers on the prohibited list so that this is not something that moves forward in the future,” neighbor Aaron Madison said.

The question on many neighbors’ minds now is what happens when the pause is up.

RELATED | Thousands of acres of public land south of Boise eyed for new data center

Corvus said she wants the city to use that time to draw a much harder line.

“I would like to see a very clear definition for a data center and outright ban them, especially these large AI data centers,” Corvus said.

The city said it’s been working since July to define and categorize data centers in its zoning code.

Under Idaho state law, an emergency moratorium can last no longer than 182 days — six months.

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David Pace

By Lorien Nettleton. Originally posted 6:06 PM, Oct 27, 2026.

JEROME, Idaho (KIVI) — A data center is in preliminary discussions for the desert of Jerome and Lincoln counties — the same area proposed for the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project.

The Bureau of Land Management Twin Falls District confirmed a data center on about 3,000 acres of public lands south of Shoshone Butte is in pre-application as of January 2026.

The company behind the Falcon Data Center, east of Highway 93 in the vicinity of Notch Butte, is Copia Digital LLC. The company has been discussing the proposal with the BLM ahead of an official notice of intent, which will initiate the public scoping process and National Environmental Protection Act review.

Jerome County Commissioner Ben Crouch took part in scoping meetings for the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project and says he expects the process for a data center on public lands to be similar.

“Personally, I’m against the data centers in Jerome County,” Crouch said.

“Frankly, we haven’t got the water. We don’t have the electricity, and we also know where Lava Ridge went, so we’re gonna have a lot of support behind us to fight this thing,” Crouch said.

This is the same area where the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project stalled, along with other proposals. The area is hot for development, largely due to the presence of the Midpoint Substation, an energy transmission hub connecting the Mountain West with the West Coast.

“Yeah, it’s a tiring process, and then we’re expecting more people to keep trying it,” Crouch said.

RELATED | Idaho lawmakers send strong message to Congress and Trump opposing Lava Ridge Wind Project

When I asked whether she got the sense this would keep happening, Lincoln County Commissioner Rebecca Wood said it would.

“Very much so I know it’s going to keep happening because we have midpoint substation right near us,” Wood said.

Wood told me county commissioners can play an advisory role, but the power to approve or deny projects on public lands happens higher up the food chain.

“It’s going to come down to the governor and the US senators really being in touch with the presidency,” Wood said.

Jerome and Lincoln counties are among the entities invited to be cooperating agencies in the NEPA review for two different projects that are further along: the Snake River Energy Solar Farm and its Ada County companion project, the Rhea Data Center.

“It does not mean you agree with it. All it means is that you get a seat at the table so you get to help them make some decisions on what is environmentally necessary for the NEPA process, and give your opinions and stuff, so it’s always good to have a seat at the table,” Wood said.

If the proposal advances to the next stage of the process, additional information about the project and applicant will be made available to the public. BLM said they are at least a year away from the formal notice of intent and public scoping process.

Idaho News 6 has reached out to Copia Digital to learn more about their proposal but have not yet heard back.

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

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