Author: KIFI

Kaelyn Blessinger

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – When people think of public health pests, mosquitoes and ticks often come to mind. But experts say the common house fly deserves just as much attention.

House flies are among the most common insects found in homes and, because of their close proximity to people, they can pose a significant health risk. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), house flies can carry and spread disease-causing illnesses after coming into contact with contaminated materials.

“They have the ability to carry over 100 different disease causing pathogens,” said Laura Rosenwald, an entomologist with the National Pest Management Association.

House flies spend much of their life in environments filled with decaying organic matter, making it easy for them to pick up bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms.

“So when we think about housefly lifecycle, a lot of what they do is getting done in rotting organic material or waste or things like that,” Rosenwald says. “So they’re already living in environments that are not the cleanest to begin with.”

Those environments can include a wide variety of places around homes and neighborhoods. And when these areas have lingering rotting materials, the housefly will go for it.

“Anything that is organic is generally what these houseflies are going after it,” Rosenwald stated. “So it can be anything ranging from things like compost piles or garbage that you maybe left a little bit too long, garbage cans, dumpsters. It can also be things like pet waste. So they can really kind of take advantage of pretty much any rotting organic material that they can get their little tarsi on.”

After landing on contaminated materials, flies can then land on kitchen counters, food or other household surfaces, potentially transferring disease-causing pathogens.

According to the National Pest Management Association, house flies are capable of spreading illnesses including typhoid fever, salmonellosis and norovirus, along with other foodborne diseases.

Experts say prevention starts with good sanitation practices.

“One of the main things that you can do in terms of house fly management is just making sure that you are cleaning up after yourself,” Rosewood said. “So not only making sure that you’re doing regular taking out of the garbage, but also making sure that you’re doing regular cleaning and everything like that.”

In addition to keeping homes clean and disposing of garbage regularly, homeowners can reduce the number of flies entering their homes by installing window and door screens and making sure doors and other entry points remain closed whenever possible.

To understand more about flies and mosquitoes, you can visit the National Pest Management Association’s website.

For more pest prevention information, you can visit PestWorld.org.

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Maile Sipraseuth

BINGHAM COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI)– Two people are dead following a late-night police pursuit that ended in a rollover crash on Interstate 15 near Shelley, according to the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office.

The incident began around 11 p.m. Saturday, July 11, when deputies with the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office and the Joint Investigation Division responded to a residence on 1250 North West of Shelley to locate an adult man with a confirmed felony warrant.

Deputies were announcing their presence outside the home when the suspect fled in a car. Investigators say the suspect drove around the residence before heading west on 1250 North toward Interstate 15. The suspect reportedly drove without headlights and crossed into oncoming traffic before entering southbound Interstate 15 in the northbound lanes, driving the wrong way toward oncoming vehicles.

Officers attempted to position themselves to deploy spike strips to stop the vehicle. Before the strips could be used, a Bingham County deputy performed a Pursuit Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, to end the pursuit. This resulted in the car to roll and leave the roadway, ejecting the suspect driver and female passenger.

The male suspect died on the scene. The female passenger was transported to Eastern Idaho Medical Center via Shelley Ambulance, where she later died from injuries.

The Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force has been called in to conduct an independent investigation into the incident along with ISP District 6.

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Maile Sipraseuth

OVID, Idaho (KIFI)– Three people were injured Saturday night after a wheel detached from a Jeep and struck an oncoming vehicle on State Highway 36 west of Ovid, according to the Idaho State Police.

The crash happened around 10:06 p.m. on July 11 near mile marker 32.

The Idaho State Police say a 22-year-old man from Idaho Falls was driving a 2012 Jeep Wrangler when the vehicle’s front wheel came off. The detached wheel struck a 2016 Hyundai Elantra driven by a 21-year-old man from Lovell, Wyoming and had two passengers, both 22-year-old females from Montpelier, Idaho.

The Hyundai struck a tree after being hit.

The driver and both passengers in the Hyundai were taken by ground ambulance before being airlifted to a local hospital.

All occupants involved in the crash were wearing seat belts.

All lanes of travel was blocked for six hours.

The crash remains under investigation by Idaho State Police.

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Hadley Bodell

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – As part of a multi-year project called “Bringing War Home,” professors and students from Utah State University partnered with the Museum of Idaho to host a roadshow on Saturday, July 11 to find wartime artifacts in the community.

The project is funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities in their dialogs on the experiences of war. Organizers say it’s a community-facing project that has traveled around the state of Utah, and now, Idaho.

“We’re aiming to document people’s experiences of war through the objects that they keep at home,” said Molly Cannon, assistant professor at USU and co-director of the “Bringing War Home” project. “Today, we’ve seen family photo albums, medals and various artwork that hangs on walls.”

The organizers also had someone bring in a fragment of a Japanese aircraft that had been shot down by an ancestor. The team doesn’t take the objects from the owners, rather takes photos of them and interviews the people who bring them in. With the interviews, the stories behind the items are preserved in the exhibitions.

“We archive them in a publicly accessible digital archive through our library at Utah State University,” Cannon said. “Through the 11 events we’ve hosted over the last few years in Utah, we’ve curated a traveling exhibit that currently travels around Utah.”

This year, as part of the Utah 250, some of the stories and artifacts were preserved at the Utah State Capitol. Organizers said they were excited to see what the community of Idaho Falls could bring to the collection. If you participate in a road show, you’ll find different stations to attend.

“You’re greeted at the registration desk, then students will meet with you to learn more about the objects you’ve brought in,” Cannon explained. “They’ll document all the information about the object, and then at the final station we photograph them.”

The benefits of the project go far beyond the exhibitions. Students use the artifacts for research papers, teachers use them for lessons in their classrooms, and families find a place where a piece of their history, as well as the country’s history, is preserved.

Cannon said she is most looking forward to the next stage of the project where they’re beginning to share the curation with exhibitions and Utah Public Radio stories. At the same time, they’re still documenting hundreds of artifacts from communities across state lines.

“I’m looking forward to working with teachers to really get this curriculum into their classrooms,” she said. “Our project has a website which directs you to the current digital archive.”

Cannon said the most common items so far have been photographs and letters from wartime. They also get random objects like service medals, dog tags, canteens, uniforms, buttons and commemorative gifts like silk fabric and jewelry. Mainly, families want the stories connected to these items preserved.

“People can learn from them not only from their own families, but what we’re gathering is this collective of stories from our community. So we get to understand a whole community’s experience of and legacy of these conflicts,” Cannon said.

The culminating assignment for the “Objects of War” class at Utah State University is to host a road show in Logan, just a short trip down from locals in Eastern Idaho, and Cannon said everyone is welcome to come with their historic items. The hope is to one have documenting kits to send countrywide for people to document their own artifacts to add to the collection.

The website for the project is https://www.usu.edu/mountainwest/bringing-war-home/ for more information and to view artifact stories.

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Maile Sipraseuth

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho (KIFI)– A 66-year-old Montana man died Friday afternoon after an off-highway vehicle crash at the St. Anthony Sand Dunes.

According to the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, crews were dispatched to the St. Anthony sand dunes around 2:20 p.m. on July 10, after reports of an off-highway vehicle crash.

When first responders arrived, bystanders were already performing CPR on the man. Emergency personnel continued lifesaving efforts, but the 66-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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David Pace

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Ask any child to name their hero – and Mom, Dad, fireman and policeman are likely to top the list.

Chase Mills, Idaho Falls Fire Department’s new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division Chief, took us behind-the scenes at Station One to learn about the intensive work paramedics and firefighters perform each day. 

“Our ambulances respond to any 911 call that is involving a medical situation,” Mills said. “So anything from someone who is just really sick and needs help to go to the hospital, to vehicle accidents or significant traumas.”EMS crews hit the road more than 40 times every day.

“The ambulances respond to approximately 15,000 calls a year,” Mills explained. “It’s roughly 80 percent of our call volume for the Idaho Falls Fire Department.”

The Department has about 50 paramedics.

Paramedics receive two years of additional medical training to care for and stabilize individuals facing emergencies or trauma.

“It teaches us the basics of intervening in life-saving measure,” said Idaho Falls Fire Paramedic Ryan Taggart, “such things as providing intubation for essentially placing a breathing tube into somebody’s trachea in order to be able to breathe for them, to be able to read cardiac rhythms and to be able to provide the appropriate intervention to save lives.”

The firefighters and paramedics are deeply committed to the mission they provide for the community.

“The work that we do can be tough. It’s challenging, and I love that,” said Firefighter EMT Donovan Hendrix. “I’m super fascinated with the human body and how it works and how we can affect it as providers.”

Hendrix will be attending paramedic school this fall at Idaho State University.

The preparation pays off in someone’s hour of need.

“Someone’s bleeding to death because of a significant trauma, childbirth – anything that happens in a hospital, we have to be prepared to take care of in the field,” Mills said. “Our goal is to stabilize patients and make sure that they get to the hospital in a better way than we found them.”

Idaho Falls Fire Department’s new EMS Division Chief Chase Mills (left), Paramedic Ryan Taggart (top right), and Firefighter EMT Donovan Hendrix (top left) helps about 50 paramedics plus EMTs handle 15,000 calls each year at IFFD.

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Dylan Carder

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI)- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terri Pickens is campaigning across East Idaho, holding an event in downtown Pocatello Friday night and another scheduled in Idaho Falls on Saturday. Pickens is seeking to unseat incumbent Gov. Brad Little, who is running for a third term, with Election Day set for November 3.

Pickens, a Pocatello native and attorney based in Boise, is making her second bid for state office after running for lieutenant governor in 2022. Her campaign efforts are intensifying as the election cycle approaches, with 116 days remaining until voters cast their ballots.

Pickens graduated from Highland High School and earned a postgraduate law degree from the University of Idaho. She currently works as an attorney in Boise. Pickens stated that her personal connection to communities across Idaho gives her an advantage if she is elected.

“What I’m trying to convince people to do is vote for the person, not the party,” Pickens said. “And when I go into these communities, I speak their language because I’ve lived it. They were my communities, too. And trust is a really big factor going into this election cycle. We have a governor that lacks transparency, spends a great deal of his time in Washington, D.C., doesn’t follow the will of the people, follows the will D.C. and people just don’t trust him anymore. And he’s not going into those communities. And I am.”

Pickens identified affordability as Idaho’s most significant need, stating that the current economy is not benefiting everyday Idahoans. She critiqued tax breaks given to the wealthy, arguing that the benefits do not extend to those needing affordable housing, less expensive groceries, and fuel for transportation.

“The economy is not working for everyday Idahoans,” Pickens said. “They’re not feeling the benefits of any tax break that was given to the, the top few. And so I’d like to restore the funding that was given away in those tax breaks and put them back into the the services that were providing Idahoans with the services and meet their needs.”

Following her event Friday night in downtown Pocatello, Pickens is scheduled to appear in Idaho Falls Saturday, July 11, at noon for an event at Freeman Park.

Gov. Brad Little is seeking a third term as the state’s chief executive. According to his campaign website, his top accomplishments include making Idaho one of the least regulated states in the country and establishing the Idaho Launch program for students, which has gained praise from President Donald Trump.

Along with Governor Little and Pickens, other candidates vying for the governor’s seat include Pro-Life of the Constitution Party, Libertarian Paul Sand, Unaffiliated John Stegner, and Independent Jacob Burnett.

Idahoans will cast their votes for governor on Election Day, November 3.

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Megan Lavin

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Shelby Murdock of Blackfoot has been named the 2026 National Young Adult Fiddle Player of the Year.

The competition, now in its 73rd year, was held in Weiser and featured competitors from across the country and as far away as Japan.

Murdock said competitors ranged in age from 4 to 95. Despite the wide range of talent, she earned the top honor and took home the championship belt buckle.

Although she didn’t begin playing the fiddle until age 13, Murdock quickly fell in love with the instrument. She later majored in music at Idaho State University and continues to perform with Snake River Strings Music School, Sounds of Summit and several other musical groups.

Murdock also stopped by Local News 8 Live in the Morning for a special performance. You can watch the video at the top of this article.

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Hadley Bodell

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – Daytime temperatures in the next several weeks are expected to consistently reach the triple-digits, and the City of Pocatello is stepping up to keep residents cool. The City Hall Lobby, the Marshall Public Library, and the Pocatello Animal Shelter are designated community “Cooling Shelters.”

The three shelters opened Friday, July 10. The City Hall location is offering free bottled water and electrical outlets for charging devices. Marlise Irby, Public Information Officer with the City of Pocatello said when the Council Chambers aren’t being used for meetings, that space will also be available.

For those who don’t want to leave their furry friends behind, the Pocatello Animal Shelter allows pets inside the cooling shelter.

“This is a really critical time for your pets. We want to make sure that you have appropriate water and shade and ventilation for animals,” said Liam Hughes, Manager of Pocatello Animal Services. “We just ask that anybody that brings their pets up here that dogs are on leashes and cats are in carriers or crates, we don’t want any misunderstandings between animals.”

The animal shelter will have water available for the pets brought in for reprieve from the heat.

At the Marshall Public Library, people coming in to cool off can also enjoy a book or the public use computers.

“You can get on the computers, we have books and magazines and puzzles downstairs,” said Trina Bonman, Assistant Director of the Marshall Public Library. “We also have toys for the kids to sit and play, so the library is a fun place to be no matter what, but especially when it’s super hot outside, you know you can come and spend some time.”

Bonman added they welcome anyone for any amount of time during their open hours.

Mayor Mark Dahlquist stated in a press release that he hopes everyone takes advantage of the cooling shelters, saying “We want to make sure everyone has a safe, comfortable place to cool off…help spread the word so those who could benefit know these locations are available.”

The City is also encouraging residents to check on their neighbors, friends and family during the heat wave, especially those with no air conditioning.

Locations and Hours

City Hall Lobby911 N. 7th Avenue• Monday–Friday: 7:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.• Saturday & Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Marshall Public Library113 S. Garfield AvenueRegular hours of operation:• Monday–Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.• Friday & Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.• Closed Sundays

Pocatello Animal Services3100 Avenue of the ChiefsRegular hours of operation:• Monday–Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.• Saturday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.• Closed Sundays

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Par Kermani

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) — Powerball players in the United Kingdom will soon be buying tickets for the same jackpot available in the United States, but Idaho Lottery officials say the change won’t affect ticket prices or odds for players in Idaho.

Beginning July 21, Powerball sales will launch through The UK National Lottery. UK players will be eligible to play for the same Powerball jackpot starting with the July 22 drawing.

The addition brings the total number of participating lotteries contributing to the Powerball jackpot to 49.

According to the Idaho Lottery, only a portion of each UK ticket sale will be added to the Powerball jackpot.

Non-jackpot prizes won in the United Kingdom will be paid by The UK National Lottery and will not use USD funds according to an official statement from the Idaho Lottery

For Idaho players, the game remains unchanged. Powerball tickets with Power Play will continue to cost $3, and the odds of winning will stay the same.

Lottery officials say the biggest difference could be larger jackpots that grow more quickly as more players contribute to the prize pool.

Powerball remains the Idaho Lottery’s most popular game. The Idaho Lottery says about 38% of Powerball sales contribute directly to its annual dividend for Idaho public schools and state-owned buildings.

Since 1992, Powerball sales have generated more than $393 million of the Idaho Lottery’s $1.348 billion contribution to schools and public buildings across the state.

Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 8:59 p.m. Mountain Time from the game’s draw studio in Florida.

As of Friday, the estimated jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing stands at $457 million.

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