Category: kifi-local-news

Hadley Bodell

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — The City of Pocatello is looking for a volunteer to fill a vacancy on its Golf Advisory Committee.

The position is open for immediate appointment, and applications will be accepted through Aug. 4.

The seven-member committee makes recommendations and decisions related to the city’s municipal golf courses. Members also help oversee communication between golfers, city officials and course employees at Riverside Golf Course and Highland Golf Course.

The committee meets at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month during the golf season, which runs from March through October.

Anyone interested in serving on the committee can apply by contacting the mayor’s office at Pocatello City Hall or by visiting pocatello.gov and selecting the Advisory Committees link.

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Maile Sipraseuth

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)– After five years in the making, downtown Idaho Falls has a new pet mural.

The Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation and the Snake River Animal Shelter celebrated its completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.

Painted by Marina Zavalova on the north wall of Blackrock Fine Wine & Craft Beer, the mural is designed to give pet owners a place to honor and remember their pets.

“People love their pets and they love supporting downtown,” said Kerry Hammon, executive director of Idaho Falls Downtown Development.

The project began as an effort to revitalize downtown Idaho Falls while supporting the Snake River Animal Shelter.

Hammon said she hopes the mural is just the beginning of a larger effort to make downtown a destination where people can support local businesses and connect with one another.

“We’re going to do more exciting things. It’s the 30th anniversary of the Idaho Falls Downtown Development and our Business Improvement District next year, so we’re going to be rolling out more programs, more art, nature, and different activities to revamp downtown Idaho Falls,” Hammon said.

The Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation is also encouraging artists and community members to submit ideas for future public art projects.

More information is available on the organization’s website and social media pages. Its Instagram account is @idahofallsdowntown.

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Hadley Bodell

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – The Friends of the Marshall Public Library (FOMPL) are hosting their annual summer book sale this Friday and Saturday in the community room at the Marshall Public Library. The seasonal book sales are the main fundraiser for the FOMPL organization, to help keep library programs and services running throughout the year.

It’s also the 30th anniversary of the FOMPL organization, meaning there are special extras at this year’s book sale. “We have some raffle baskets, if you spend 30 bucks at the sale, you get a chance for the raffle,” said Melanie Gygli, Secretary of the FOMPL. “Everything you buy goes back into supporting the library’s various programs that are not part of their usual budget.”

RAFFLE TICKET SIGN, PHOTO CREDIT MARSHALL PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Friends have helped the library support projects like the new Pocatello mural near the staircase, tickets to the symphony and the zoo and the 3D printer in the library.

They will have thousands of books at the sale, ranging from adult mystery, thriller and romance, to children’s books and large coffee table books. Paperbacks will be $1 and hardbacks are $2.

“The majority of what we get is mystery and fiction in adults, but we get sociology, history, biography, science and nature, language, travel,” Gygli said. “We get some great kids books and young adult too.”

All the books in the sale come from donations in the community or are discards from The Marshall Public Library. Gygli said people move often and leave the Friends with their book collections or have simply read them and want to donate to the book sale.

This year, the FOMPL are also offering a bag of 20 books for three dollars. They will be categorized by genre.

“It really is an affordable way to buy a book, and some of them are almost new,” Gygli explained. “You can give them as gifts, even though it’s early for Christmas gifts, this is an affordable way to do that.”

For those who can’t make it out to the book sale this weekend, the FOMPL has their storefront open daily at the library. Throughout July, the store is themed AMERICA250 and next month it will switch to a summer reading theme.

AMERICA250-THEMED FRIENDS OF THE MARSHALL PUBLIC LIBRARY STOREFRONT

“The sale is a really great way to pick up a book for yourself, but I think more important it’s a way to support your community,” Gygli said. “Support your library and the programs that they offer back to the community, to adults and children.”

The book sale will be open Friday, July 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Winners of the raffle will be chosen the following Monday and contacted to pick up their baskets at the library circulation desk.

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Par Kermani

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal crash after a pickup truck struck a tree.

Deputies and emergency crews responded just before noon to the 7000 block of North 15th East, where they found a small pickup that had left the roadway and struck a tree in the front yard of a home.

When first responders arrived, they found an adult man and a dog inside the vehicle. Both were dead at the scene.

Bonneville County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Daniel W. Meyer, 52, of Idaho Falls.

Investigators say the pickup was traveling north on 15th East when it lost control and left the roadway. No other vehicles were involved, and the driver was the only person in the truck.

The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation is continuing.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the victim’s name.

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Seth Ratliff

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — A 25-year-old Pocatello man lost his life Tuesday morning after police say he was struck by a semi-truck while running through traffic on Interstate 15.

According to the Idaho State Police, the fatal crash happened around 5:30 a.m. near milepost 116 on northbound I-15 in Idaho Falls.

Investigators say a 28-year-old Canadian man driving a northbound 2024 Volvo semi-truck spotted the man running in the roadway and attempted to avoid him. However, the truck struck the man, who died from his injuries at the scene.

Authorities have not released details on why the man was running through interstate traffic.

The Bonneville County Coroner’s Office identified the pedestrian as Tyson Dorey, 25.

The truck driver was wearing a seatbelt and was not injured. Northbound lanes of I-15 were blocked for roughly five hours while emergency crews cleared the area.

The crash remains under investigation by the Idaho State Police.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the victim’s name.

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Par Kermani

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), the Idaho National Lab’s managing and operating contractor, has agreed to a $5 million settlement following a federal investigation into claims that the company denied religious and disability accommodations tied to its COVID-19 vaccine policy, according to a press release from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC said its investigation found reasonable cause to believe Battelle Energy Alliance discriminated against more than 100 employees who requested accommodations because of sincerely held religious beliefs or disabilities.

The agency said the alleged discrimination included improper medical questions, denial of accommodation requests and, in some cases, termination.

 “Let me be clear: there was no pandemic exception to workers’ civil rights and liberties,” said EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas. “Absent undue hardship, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation for sincerely held religious beliefs and qualifying disabilities.”

The settlement resolves a 2021 lawsuit, filed by the EEOC and employees who worked at the BEA facilities in Idaho Falls, alleging 15 individual charges of discrimination against the BEA.

Battelle Energy Alliance agreed to resolve the matter without admitting guilt to “avoid an extended dispute,” according to the EEOC.

Part of the settlement, reached during a pre-litigation conciliation process, includes a three-year agreement requiring BEA to provide back pay and compensatory damages to the affected employees. The agreement also requires BEA to train human resources personnel on religious- and disability-related accommodation request policies.

Battelle Energy Alliance manages and operates Idaho National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Fox13

Originally Published: 21 JUL 26 13:16 ET

By Madi Baggett

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    PIUTE COUNTY, Utah (KSTU) — Businesses across Piute, Beaver and Sevier counties are struggling after wildfires and flash flooding hurt tourism during one of the busiest times of the year.

Restaurant, motel and outdoor recreation owners say the back-to-back disasters have kept visitors away and caused major financial problems for small businesses that depend on summer travelers.

Burn scars left by the Cottonwood Fire increased the risk of flash flooding after heavy rain moved through central Utah. Floodwaters carried mud and debris across roads, campgrounds and recreation areas that are popular with tourists.

Dan Groves, owner of Hoovers River Resort in Marysvale, said wildfire smoke caused many visitors to cancel their trips to southern Utah.

“People still were just changing their plans entirely to just not come to Utah,” Groves said. “It sounded like the whole state was on fire.”

Groves said the losses have been especially difficult because tourism businesses in the area have already faced several hard years.

“It was the third summer in a row that we had pretty much the entire summer cancelled and less through traffic for the restaurant,” Groves said. “We were seeing some writing on the wall that was pretty grim.”

Businesses faced another challenge after officials issued a boil-water advisory in parts of Piute County when flood runoff affected local water systems.

At Big Rock Candy Mountain Restaurant, employee Carley Veltri said the fires, flooding and water problems have made it difficult for businesses to recover.

“People convoyed out of here,” Veltri said. “When the fires were happening, now we have flooding. That’s something else.”

Veltri said summer tourism is extremely important for rural Utah communities.

“It’s killing us all,” she said. “Utah is a seasonal state. All the revenue basically comes from the summertime and now since there is no business there is no revenue.”

Groves said many business owners feel overwhelmed by the repeated disasters.

“It’s not because we are bad business owners,” he said. “It’s because we’ve had these natural disasters over and over again.”

Even with the challenges, business owners say they are continuing to stay open and hope visitors return before the summer season is lost completely.

A GoFundMe has been created to help local business owners: Fundraiser by Ahtianna DeJesus : Cottonwood Fire: Support Hoovers and Local Recovery!

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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Kaelyn Blessinger

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) — Advocacy groups gathered today to strongly condemn Idaho’s decision to adopt the firing squad as a primary method of execution, unveiling a new campaign aimed at state leaders.

Anti-death penalty organizations, including the Execution Intervention Project and Clergy United Against the Death Penalty, hosted a virtual press conference to address the state’s policy shift. As part of their campaign, the groups unveiled a prominent billboard on Grove Street (near the 1500 block) in downtown Boise bearing a direct message to public officials: “Don’t Shoot Tom Creech.”

The press conference will be available in the livestream above at 10 a.m. MT.

Joining the advocacy campaign is spiritual advisor Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, who has witnessed 12 state executions across the country. Hood joined national organizers to examine Idaho’s new execution method and demand that state officials refrain from carrying out firing squad deaths in the Gem State.

Those in favor of this execution method argue the condemned inmate deserves the penalty, but the Execution Prevention Project believes the focus should also be on who carries out the execution and the responsibility shared by those involved in the process.

“So when we look at somebody like Tom Creech and people say, well, he deserves to be shot, of course he deserves to be shot,” Reverend Dr. Jeffery Hood, Founder of the Execution Intervention Project, said. “I mean, of course, but the question is not whether Tom Creech deserves to be shot. The question is, who deserves to do the shooting?”

He argues it is not fair to give those on the firing squad the responsibility of killing the condemned inmates, stating that Governor Little should “put his money where his mouth is.”

“If Governor Little had any ability to lead the state, he’d go down there and shoot Tom Creech himself. But he’s too chicken to do that,” Reverend Hood declared. “This message is for Governor Little. Quit trying to talk a big game about how you want people to be shot. If you want to talk a big game, then put your money where your mouth is and go down there and shoot him yourself. Quit making everybody else do it.”

Botched Execution Leads Idaho to Adopt Firing Squad

The state’s pivot toward the firing squad stems directly from a failed attempt to execute serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech by lethal injection

In February 2024, state officials halted Creech’s execution after a three-member medical team tried eight separate times to establish an intravenous line for lethal injection. Following the incident, the Idaho Legislature backed House Bill 37 to establish the firing squad as a primary alternative.

Creech, 73, has spent half a century in prison. He was originally convicted of five murders across three states and is suspected of several more. He was sentenced to death for the 1981 beating death of fellow inmate David Dale Jensen, 22, while already serving a life term.

According to the Idaho Department of Correction, there are currently 8 people on death row in the Gem State.

Despite vocal pushback from anti-death penalty organizations, they face an uphill battle in the Gem State. According to a 2024 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, around 70% of Idahoans support the death penalty. Meanwhile, national public opinion in support of capital punishment has waned. According to a 2025 Gallup poll, only 52% of Americans support the death penalty, down 9% from 2015.

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Seth Ratliff

CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIFI) — A district judge has rejected a plea deal that would have allowed a former Chubbuck church leader accused of sexually abusing six young members of his congregation to avoid serving prison time and registering as a sex offender.

On Monday, Sixth Judicial District Judge Robert Naftz rejected the proposed agreement for 45-year-old Virgil Larson, according to court records. Under the terms of the agreement, Larson’s charges would have been reduced to felony injury to a child, and he would have been exempted from mandatory sex offender registration. In exchange, prosecutors planned to recommend a suspended prison sentence in favor of probation, capped at 30 years.

RELATED: Chubbuck man faces reduced charges in child sexual abuse case after plea agreement

At the time of his arrest, Larson served as a local leader or counselor in a local ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to reporting by ABC4 in Utah.

Investigation and Arrest

Court documents indicate the investigation began on July 3, 2024, after the Chubbuck Police Department received a tip from Kirton McConkie, a Lehi, Utah-based law firm representing the church. The report claimed several underage children in the community may have been abused by an adult male.

RELATED: A Chubbuck man turns himself in for sexually abusing children

“The Chubbuck Police Department Criminal Investigations Division opened an investigation into the circumstances and learned that several underage teenage boys had potentially been victims of sexual abuse, while at Mr. Larson’s residence,” states the initial press release.

On September 17, 2024, officers from the Chubbuck and Pocatello Police Departments executed a search warrant at Larson’s home. Larson turned himself in to the authorities later that day and was booked into the Bannock County Jail.

Charges and Upcoming Trial

The affidavit of probable cause detailing the investigation was sealed in September 2024 to protect the identities of the underage victims. Larson was initially charged with five felony counts of sexual abuse of a child under 16, with an added sixth count as the investigation moved forward.

With the plea agreement thrown out, Larson is now scheduled to stand trial before a jury on January 12, 2027, where he will face all six original felony counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16. If convicted on all charges, Larson faces up to life in prison.

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Danielle Mullenix

Storms on this Tuesday will remain scattered and sporadic as we continue to experience monsoonal moisture driving through the area from the South. Local heavy rainfall could be expected this afternoon, with wind gusts climbing up to 25 mph in the late afternoon and slightly cooler temperatures.

The storm pattern from this weekend continues to cover our region with high-sitting clouds over Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming this early Tuesday morning. Daily chances for showers and storms increase toward Wednesday as monsoonal moisture pushes through from the Southwest. Expect these isolated storms to pop up mainly over the east and southeast highlands, with a few that creep into the Snake River Plain later this afternoon.

Temperatures today will be slightly cooler, with numbers dropping below the average and what we observed yesterday. Mid 90s across the lower elevations into the afternoon hours, with lows dropping into the lower 60s and 50s. Winds will stay generally 20- 25 mph after 4 pm.

Storm chances pick up across the region on Wednesday, with temperatures cooling into the 80s and wind gusts jumping up to 50 mph. Lightning chances will also increase, meaning a wildfire watch will most likely follow in its wake. As the monsoonal moisture wraps its ridge around our region tomorrow, most of these isolated rain showers and storms will begin to leave, meaning the rest of the week will start to dry up. Expect this day to be the heaviest with storms.

Expect temperatures to start climbing back up by Thursday, with more sunshine heading towards the weekend. By Thursday, a majority of the major storm system will be sitting East of the Montana mountain divide.

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