Category: kifi-local-news

Hadley Bodell

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – Each week, a dedicated group of ISU student dancers files into the Red Hill building on campus to rehearse solos, duets and group routines for their upcoming showcase. Just a few short months ago, the dance company didn’t exist at all.

“About two years ago they had a smaller bit of this dance club,” said Paige Robinson, the club vice president. “When it was about to be discontinued, we about lost all of our funds until Blue stepped up and said, ‘hey, we want to bring dance back.'”

The group formed through random connections and ISU-offered dance courses. They went through the process to ratify a club constitution, elect leadership, and get the company officially recognized by the university. They were told they had just under $1000 to get off the ground.

Then, on this year’s Bengal Giving Day, generous donors got that budget up to $8000. Now, the athletes are rehearsing for their first ever showcase, to be held at the Stephen’s Performing Arts Center on Monday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m.

“ISU Dance Company is a club dedicated to allowing students to continue their passion of dance,” said Blue Hill, the club president. “It is also the student led replacement of the dance program as the minor got cut last spring, and the major got cut a while before.”

The club is offering students a place to begin a new craft, continue honing in their skills and simply to have fun in a hobby. The best part of the club is that anyone is welcome.

“We wanted to make something for all levels,” said Cassidy Barrow, the club treasurer. “So you don’t have to be like, you know, really extremely well at dance. You can be an intermediate or beginner dancer and still have fun with it.”

The concert will be free with Bengal ID for ISU students and faculty, while community members will pay $5 for a ticket at the door. The concert will feature over 15 unique performances by the 22 members of the company. Each piece is entirely choreographed by the student dancers.

“Me and Blue are choreographing most of the group dances, and then everyone has their own solo they’re in charge of,” said Robinson.

The dancers are working hard in rehearsals for the upcoming weeks until the performance. Barrow says this is the first opportunity for the athletes to showcase their passion and talents with a live audience, especially since the club is so new.

“We put a lot of work into all of our dances that we are performing,” Barrow said. “ISU students that have joined, they kind of found a love for dance again and everyone has really enjoyed this club. And so we’re hoping to share that with the audience.”

 To keep up with the ISU Dance Company or for more information about joining, you can find them on Instagram at ISU Dance Company.

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Par Kermani

Blackfoot (KIFI) — The city of Blackfoot has implemented water restrictions due to concerns about water supply heading into the summer months.

Mayor Scott Stufflebeam said the decision came after reviewing regional water data and seeing warning signs tied to this year’s water outlook.

“I received several emails about the regional water supply, and at that point I decided that we needed to do something so that we can be conservationists in terms of how to make sure we have enough water,” Stufflebeam said.

The restrictions are aimed at reducing demand on the city’s system early, as officials prepare for what could be a difficult summer.

Currently, watering is based on odd and even house numbers. Stufflebeam said he plans to propose a change to a more structured weekly schedule at an upcoming city council meeting to make it easier for residents to follow.

Under that proposal, homes with odd-numbered addresses would water Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while even-numbered addresses would water Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. No watering would be allowed on Sundays.

The mayor said enforcement will rely in part on community cooperation, with warnings issued before any citations.

“We have a limited police force, but everybody has a neighbor,” Stufflebeam said. “If someone’s not following the rules, they can call it in and we’ll start with a warning.”

The restrictions apply only to city water use. Stufflebeam said residents using irrigation ditches, private wells or other water sources are not subject to the city’s watering schedule.

“Our proclamation only applies to the use of city water,” he said.

The move comes as hydrologists warn this year’s snowpack is significantly below normal in parts of eastern Idaho.

According to Erin Whorton, a hydrologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, snowpack in the Blackfoot area peaked at about 58% of normal this year.

“This year we had a very low snowpack, and in the Blackfoot area it only peaked at about 58 percent of normal,” Whorton said.

Whorton said the issue is not just the amount of snow, but how early it melted.

“The snowpack peaked in mid-March, and that’s earlier than normal,” she said. “In some areas around Blackfoot, it melted out almost five weeks earlier than normal.”

Snowpack plays a critical role in Idaho’s water supply, acting as a natural reservoir that slowly releases water into rivers and streams during the spring and summer.

“The majority of the water we see in our rivers, lakes and streams actually comes from the snowpack,” Whorton said. “About 75 percent of that water comes from the melting snowpack.”

Whorton said warmer temperatures this winter caused more precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow, reducing the amount of water stored in the mountains.

“When precipitation falls as rain rather than snow, you’re not storing that water in the mountains,” she said. “It just runs off earlier instead of being available later in the summer.”

That shift in timing, combined with lower overall snowpack, could lead to reduced streamflows during peak demand months.

Stufflebeam said the situation is concerning not just for residents, but for agriculture and the broader economy.

“I’m concerned for all of Idaho,” he said. “This affects our farmers, our economy — it affects everyone.”

He said conservation now is key, especially as uncertainty remains about future water conditions.

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Maile Sipraseuth

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)— Healing doesn’t always happen in a traditional setting. For some girls and women, it starts in the saddle. A partnership between Champ’s Heart and Bridle Up Hope gives women the opportunity build confidence, resilience, and inner strength through horsemanship.

“Our mission is to inspire girls and women to learn habits and horsemanship and build hope, confidence and resilience,” said Savannah Christiansen, one of the program instructors.

The non-profit goes beyond a typical riding experience. Participants learn life skills alongside horse training, forming a partnership between rider and animal.

“The fun part about Bridle Up Hope is we’re reaching a new generation of girls,” said Emily Sellers, the executive director, “We can help instill confidence, resilience, and that self-worth that sometimes feels like it’s lacking. It’s really hard to be a teenage girl these days.”

Participants begin with classroom sessions focused on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, learning principles like responsibility, goal-setting, and leadership.

From there, they head to the arena for equine-assisted learning, applying those habits in real-time with horses.

“We’re helping teach life techniques and training and helping them apply those in their everyday lives,” Seller said, “Because if you don’t have confidence, your horse doesn’t want to work for you.”

The program has a global reach, with locations spanning from Utah to Ukraine, and now a growing presence in Idaho Falls since it’s grand opening in September.

Bridle Up Hope recently had their first advancement with their girls, and is now enrolling for our second session of girls and women.

“The confidence that radiates off the girls is empowering in itself,” Emily said. “At first, they’re quiet, shy, and soft-spoken. By the end, it’s like a new flower has bloomed. That’s pretty incredible.”

For more information on this program click HERE.

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Kaelyn Blessinger

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Frontier Center for the Performing Arts, formerly the Idaho Falls Civic Center, has finished its expansion, making the local landmark more ADA accessible.

Wednesday, city officials and community leaders gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of a multi-year, multi-million dollar expansion designed to modernize the historic venue.

The venue has served generations of Idahoans since the early 1950s. However, as the region’s population surged, the building’s aging infrastructure became a concern for city leadership.

Today’s celebration marks the end of a decade of work that began with auditorium improvements, including new seating and carpet, acoustic enhancements, updated lighting, and a new marquee. Phase 2 brought the most dramatic change, as Frontier Credit Union bought the naming rights to the building, gifting the city $4.4 million to renovate the venue and expand the lobby.

Today, the lobby has tripled in size, growing from 2,200 square feet to 6,600 square feet.

“This is exactly the kind of project our community does best,” said Mayor Lisa Burtenshaw. “We all enjoy the shade of trees we did not plant, and the Frontier Center for the Performing Arts is one more gift we’ll enjoy for generations because people in Idaho Falls stepped forward to make it happen.”

Frontier Credit Union CEO Dan Thurman says he hopes that the facility lives up to the Civic Center’s legacy and remains a community pillar for years to come.

“I hope that the Frontier Center continues for twice as long and it continues to be a place where families can gather and enjoy the arts in our community,” said Thurman. “Our mission at Frontier Credit Union is building better lives, and I hope that this helps us build better lives in Idaho Falls for years to come.”

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Meghan Elaine

By: Meghan Elaine

Originally Posted 4:45 PM, Apr 21, 2026

WEST YELLOWSTONE (KBZK)— A vehicle crashed into a family-owned gift shop in West Yellowstone last week, sending merchandise flying and narrowly missing striking employees inside.

Surveillance video shows the moment a car drove straight through the side of the Cradleboard Gift Shop, shattering glass and sending merchandise across the store.

“It was just absolutely crazy,” said shop operator Jennifer Reinsch.

Reinsch said she received a call about the crash on Friday and has since reviewed video and photos of the aftermath.

“She calls me, and she’s just like, ‘Oh my God, a car just drove through the side of the building,’” Reinsch said.

The vehicle traveled several feet into the store, coming close to hitting an employee.

“It was all the way in the store, not even sticking out a little bit — it was a couple of feet in the store,” she said.

Reinsch said her father-in-law was behind the counter when the crash happened. Glass shattered around him, and he was briefly buried under debris.

“You can literally see it hit so hard it just tipped over and just shattered,” she said.

The shop, known for selling Yellowstone-themed souvenirs ranging from jewelry and clothing to rocks and hats, sustained significant losses as items were thrown throughout the store. The Merchandise damages totaled 17,000 dollars.

“We had so much stuff just fly everywhere,” Reinsch said.

West Yellowstone police said the driver was operating a rental vehicle and that the crash was accidental.

The West Yellowstone police chief tells MTN the vehicle was a rental car and drugs or alcohol were not factors.

As cleanup continues, Reinsch said the experience is something she will not forget.

“You watch stuff like ‘caught on camera’ and think that will never happen to you — but it can happen to anybody,” she said.

Despite the damage, Reinsch said insurance is expected to cover repairs and lost merchandise, and she hopes the business will continue for decades to come.

“People have been coming since my husband was 2 years old and he’s 50 now, so they’ve watched him grow up,” she said.

She said the incident reinforced what matters most.

“The building can be replaced — people can’t,” Reinsch said.

The store is expected to be repaired sometime in May. In the meantime, it remains open to customers through a single entrance.

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Kaelyn Blessinger

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — This week, 1st graders in District 91 got to experience agriculture firsthand.

From April 21–23, the Future Farmers of America at D91’s Career Technical Education Center is hosting its second annual 1st Grade Agricultural Fair.

The event is designed to offer first graders a hands-on look at the industry that powers their community. The fairgrounds were abuzz as students learned about farming and agriculture through hands-on activities, such as petting farm animals, sitting in tractors, and planting flowers.

Organizers say introducing younger students to agriculture could help them develop an appreciation for their planet, and teaching them about how food is created as a result of hard work and natural cycles.

Tomorrow, even more 1st graders will get to experience the program.

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Seth Ratliff

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — There will be no classes at Hawthorne Middle School in Pocatello tomorrow, Thursday, April 23, due to an unexpected plumbing issue.

Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 is working to address the issue and anticipates classes will resume as scheduled on Friday, April 24.

District leaders say all after-school activities, including track practice, are canceled Wednesday and Thursday, due to the issue. All activities are expected to resume Friday.

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Seth Ratliff

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) — Fall River Electric Cooperative crews are responding to a widespread power outage affecting almost 1,000 customers in the Rexburg area Wednesday afternoon.

According to updates from the utility provider’s Facebook page, the outage is impacting residents in the Burton, Hibbard, Archer, & Salem areas. While the specific cause of the outage remains under investigation, Fall River Electric confirmed that repair teams are “en route to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”

Fall River Electric anticipates that service should be fully restored within two hours or by about 5 pm. For more information or to monitor the outage, click HERE.

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Seth Ratliff

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — A 34-year-old Pocatello man faces up to over a decade in federal prison for receiving child pornography following a joint undercover operation between the FBI and Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Clint Lusk to 135 months in federal prison to be served consecutively to any future sentence stemming from pending state charges. In addition to his prison time, Lusk must pay $45,000 in restitution, serve 15 years of supervised release, and register as a sex offender.

The Investigation and Arrest

The case stems from a joint investigation by the FBI and the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force into child enticement on the Whisper messaging app. According to court records, in November 2024, Lusk used the app to contact an undercover investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl.

Prosecutors say Lusk, identifying himself as a man in his early thirties, quickly steered the conversation in a sexual direction and proposed they meet up.

Authorities arranged a meeting at the Red Lion Hotel in Pocatello, where they identified and arrested Lusk upon his arrival.

Following his arrest, a search of Lusk’s home and phone uncovered a cache of more than 52,000 images containing child pornography.

The search also unveiled several videos of voyeurism involving known adult victims, for which Lusk has been charged separately.

Additional Charges

During the search, investigators also discovered several voyeurism videos involving known adult victims. Lusk faces separate charges for these discoveries in Bannock County District Court, where he is currently awaiting sentencing.

Lusk pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography on October 21, 2025.

U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis commended the collaborative efforts of the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the ICAC Task Force, and the Pocatello Police Department with the arrest and investigation.

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CNN Newsource

Originally Published: 22 APR 26 15:31 ET

By Andrew Adams, KSL

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    KAYSVILLE, Utah (KSL) — It was an unlikely problem that showed up out of the blue Monday, just outside Jeannette Stokes Memmott’s front door.

Bees.

And just not a few. There were thousands.

“It was quite the sight,” she said. “I thought, ‘What do we do, what do we do, what do we do, who do we call, who do we call?'”

Though she initially feared they were yellow jackets, Memmott soon discovered they were honey bees.

“We thought, ‘No, no, no, no, no — we can’t spray the honeybees,” she said.

Instead, they reached out to the Davis County Beekeepers Association. It turned out one of its beekeepers was a neighbor.

“I would probably say we had around 30,000 bees on the column,” said the beekeeper, Shane Hughes.

Hughes carefully extracted the bees from the column and transferred them into a bee box, although he acknowledged there were still some bees left inside, including possibly the queen.

Swarming, he explained, is a natural part of bee reproduction this time of year, although sometimes it can prove to be a little unpredictable.

“What swarming does (is) if you have a really healthy and vigorous hive, naturally, the bees want to split and make two really strong hives, and it’s just a way for them to reproduce,” Hughes explained. “The queen will hatch and take about half of that hive somewhere else, and we never know where it’s going to go.”

Memmott said she believed it was possible the bees may have come from another neighbor’s home.

“For whatever reason, the hive split, and here they landed right on my very home,” Memmott said.

Hughes said on Sunday he was helping a different homeowner with a similar issue.

“It’s really hard to find the queen,” he said. “Last night, I was in Farmington and had to start tearing off siding of a home and reaching in 2 or 3 feet and trying to pull out every single bee from inside their home.”

Hughes said he believes Memmott’s bees were Italian, and planned to bring them back to his home. He said those types of bees can produce 80 to 100 pounds of honey per hive.

He said there are beekeeping groups in various counties that can help to mitigate these issues, and people in Davis County who encounter swarms can report them to Brent Rasmussen with the Davis County Beekeepers Association at 801-390-0222.

“Shane came to the rescue,” Memmott said of her beekeeper neighbor. “It’s fascinating, but I don’t want them to live in my home, because I’m told if they get in your attic, you’re looking at some trouble.”

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