Category: kifi-local-news

News Team

CUSTER COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Army National Guard just wrapped up its 14th search and rescue mission of the year this week, rescuing a stranded hiker.

Two hikers in Custer County got severe food poisoning while in the mountains and were too weak to hike out. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office called in the National Guard for assistance. Lifeflight was able to reach one of the hikers, but couldn’t get back to the second because of power limitations and the steep terrain.

That’s when an IDARNG crew from the National Guard responded in a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter. Within two hours after receiving the call, they were in the air and hoisted the stranded hiker, his dog, two ground search and rescue team members, and all their packs and equipment.

The hiker was taken back to Gowen Field, where he was reunited with his family. Officials say without the Army National Guard’s team’s involvement, rescuers would’ve been forced to pull the hiker out by sled in the dark.

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Seth Ratliff

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KIFI) — Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson announced he is cosponsoring a bill to permanently establish the Presidential Fitness Test in national schools, as the program begins to roll out in states like Mississippi and Virginia for the 2025-2026 school year.

On Monday, Nov. 17, Congressman Simpson publicly joined the effort to codify President Trump’s June 2025 executive order, which reestablished the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition and the corresponding fitness assessment. The executive order aims to counter rising national rates of “obesity, chronic disease, inactivity, and poor nutrition” among American children by fostering “a new generation of healthy, active citizens.”

The bill, known as the Make America’s Youth Healthy Again Act (H.R.5404), was introduced on September 16, 2025, by Congressman Greg Murphy (R-NC). Its primary goal is to codify the terms of the executive order, ensuring that a future administration cannot easily revoke the council or the test.

The original Presidential Fitness Test was established in 1966 and was discontinued during the Obama administration following the 2012-2013 school year.

“Study after study has shown that obesity, chronic health conditions, and depression rates have skyrocketed in America’s youth over the last decade,” stated Congressman Simpson in a news release. “Revitalizing the Presidential Fitness Test in schools should not be a political issue, as it is a step in the right direction to combat these concerning statistics.”

While H.R.5404 works its way through Congress, the reintroduction of the test is already moving forward in some parts of the country. Following President Trump’s order, Mississippi and Virginia began implementing the fitness assessment during the current 2025-2026 school year, with other states preparing to roll out the program the following year.

Congressman Simpson concluded, “I applaud President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s efforts to Make America Healthy Again in the classroom and beyond, which is why I am proud to codify this critical executive order.”

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Seth Ratliff

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering Idahoans an early cup of holiday cheer! Through December 24, 2025, the BLM is issuing $10 Christmas tree permits, allowing the public to harvest one tree per family from designated BLM-managed public lands in southeastern Idaho.

These permits are valid for BLM-managed public lands within the boundaries of the Pocatello and Upper Snake field offices, including traditional Christmas tree harvest areas such as the Deep Creek, Pleasantview, and Samaria Ranges.

Permits can be purchased online at forestproducts.blm.gov or over the counter at the BLM Pocatello Field Office, located at 4350 S. Cliffs Drive. In-person purchases are available Monday through Friday, from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Restricted Harvest Areas

Trees may not be harvested in the following areas:

BLM-administered campgrounds

BLM Wilderness Study Areas:

Sand Mountain

Black Canyon

Appendicitis Hill

Snake River Islands

Henrys Lake

Petticoat Peak

Worm Creek

Wolverine Canyon

White Knob Mountains

Hell’s Half Acre

Hawley Mountain

China Cup

Cedar Butte

Burnt Creek

You must have a valid permit to cut or remove trees from public lands. Please note that tag prices and restrictions are different for trees cut on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service lands. Be aware there may be other areas where Christmas tree cutting on public lands is not permitted. For more information, contact the BLM Pocatello Field Office at 208-478-6340.

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News Team

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) Rigby High School’s Future Farmers of America is bringing home national honors! The chapter joined 73,000 students at the national FFA convention in Indianapolis earlier this month, where they scored gold in farm business management, environmental science, and agricultural communications.

High schooler Brayden Hammer took national runner-up in agricultural mechanics, while students Amaia Rice and Tinley Ricks won 4th place gold in the agriscience fair.

Seven members also earned the elite American FFA degree — one of the highest honors in FFA.

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Seth Ratliff

EAGLE, Idaho (KIFI) — A prominent Idaho corporate executive has pleaded guilty to insider trading related to a 2024 corporate acquisition. According to court documents, Michael Smith, 48, of Eagle, Idaho, served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the unnamed Idaho-based company publicly traded on the NASDAQ since approximately 2022.

Smith admitted to using material nonpublic information (MNPI) regarding the acquisition of the unnamed company by another company to profit from the sale of company stock.

Authorities state that after receiving this confidential information, Smith knew that company employees with such access were prohibited from trading. Despite this, he used a brokerage account belonging to an unnamed individual, with whom he had a close personal relationship, to invest in the company’s stock.

Following the corporate acquisition, the unnamed company’s stock increased by nearly 50%. The very next day, Smith sold the shares he had purchased for the unnamed individual, for a profit of approximately $145,754.69. Investigators say that Smith executed the trades specifically to financially benefit this individual.

Smith has pleaded guilty to one count of security fraud, an offense that carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in federal prison. According to the United States Department of Justice, a federal district court judge will determine the final sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Criminal Investigations Group announced the plea and is currently investigating the case.

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Chris Nestman

With water levels dropping as low as 3% capacity, fishing conditions at the American Falls reservoir have dropped significantly this past year.

“The American Falls Reservoir was built for flood control and to serve irrigation needs,” said Patrick Kennedy, the regional fisheries manager at the Idaho Fish and Game. “Demand was high this year, and and so they they drew the reservoir down to meet that demand.”

When water levels drop that low, water temperatures tend to warm, oxygen levels deplete, and “Fish survival rates decrease,” said Kennedy.

When this happens fish tend to leave the region for survival. Some go upstream, but many go downstream where they run into a similar problem. Plus, once winter does hit, flows out of the American Falls reservoir are reduced to help slowly fill up the lake. That further decreases water quality for the fish that did make the trip downstream.

Fish and Game did pull off a major restocking this fall as the reservoir slowly fills up to combat this loss of fish.

“We have already stocked back 42,000 catchable sized trout. Those are 8 to 12 inches in size,” said Kennedy. “and we stocked 250,000 fingerlings; rainbow trout and fingerling sizes are 3 to 4 inches in size”

The restock is welcome, but it does mean that a reservoir known for some large “trophy catches” won’t have fish of that size for next year’s season. Something that’s a bummer for local anglers.

“Normally, with the habitat and water source and quality that they have, it tends to grow very large fish very rapidly,” said AJ an experienced fisherman with Fish Fly Food Jimmy’s in Idaho Falls.

AJ and his coworkers regularly help visiting anglers know where to go to find the best fishing. He says while the American Falls Reservoir recovers, there are other good spots for fishermen to go if they’re looking for that mountable “trophy catch.”

“I would say Chesterfield, Henry’s Lake, South Fork of the Snake River are good spots,” said AJ. “Kind of variable with species, but there are lots of trophies to be caught in waters nearby.”

Back at the American Falls Reservoir, Patrick Kennedy with the Idaho Fish and Game says the system will recover, and people will be catching large fish in the lake in no time.

“The dam was built for irrigation purposes and flood control. and and we made a fishery out of it by stocking fish years ago,” said Kennedy. “And we can do it again. It will recover.”

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Maile Sipraseuth

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)– Early voting for the Idaho Falls runoff election has been strong, with more than 1,080 in-person ballots cast and about 250 absentee ballots returned so far, but data shows that younger voters continue to have the lowest turnout.

“So for this run-off election, it has started very robust. We started last week on Thursday, and in the first through the first two days, we had over 800 people come and early vote. Right now we are at just over 1,087 voters at this point. Plus we have had about 250 mail absentee ballots returned to us out of over 1200 that we have mailed out so far,” Helena Welling, the election supervisor for Bonneville County, said.

Welling believes that this great turnout has been due to multiple positive factors, but especially because voters are eager to vote.

“They know who they’re voting for, they’ve already done it kind of once, and they may be just wanting to get it out of the way,” Welling said, “I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we don’t have an incumbent for the mayor. We had a lot of candidates for the council member seats. So there has been a lot of interest in there. And it seems like there’s a lot of strong opinions out there. And I do believe that people are wanting to get the voting done before the holidays hit.”

Despite the strong turnout for early voting, younger crowds stand as the lowest demographic for voters.

Welling reports that 1,858 voters are between the ages 18-34. While 3,548 fall within the 35-49 age group. The highest turnout comes from voters ages 65 and older, totaling 4,298.

The run-off election for Idaho Falls is on December 2nd.

For more information on where to vote and how to register, click HERE.

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Curtis Jackson

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — A Bonneville County Grand Jury has returned indictments in connection with a deadly shooting that occurred earlier this year north of Idaho Falls last June.

On Monday, an indictment was unsealed charging Eric Christopher Alvarado, 35, with one count of first-degree murder. Alvarado was served with an arrest warrant in Nebraska, where he is currently incarcerated.

Four other individuals were also indicted by a Grand Jury for accessory, withholding knowledge and conspiracy.

They include:

Brittnie Lynn Schennum, 33, of Idaho Falls

Megan Lynne Paz Warrick, 35, of Idaho Falls

Jonathan Terry Warrick, 31, of Idaho Falls

Jarrod Thomas Sisneros, 30, of North Fork, Idaho

Jarrod Sisneros

Johnathan Warrick

Court records show they were indicted by a Grand Jury last week.

The Bonneville County Sheriff deputies were called to West Snake River Boat Ramp at 9924 North River Road on the morning of June 23, 2025. They found 34-year-old Daniel Leary was shot near the boat ramp. He was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Arraignment hearings have been scheduled for November 24th. The evidence presented to the Grand Jury is still sealed.

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Curtis Jackson

SALMON, Idaho (KIFI) – Lemhi County election clerks will conduct a recount in a race where only one vote separated the winner.

According to the Lemhi County Clerk’s office, the Attorney General’s office ordered a recount of the Salmon City Council race after candidate Margaret Glodowski filed a petition.

Glodowski was one of five candidates running for one of the three open positions.  She lost by one vote to Debbie Bielby.  The vote was 342 to 341 in Bielby’s favor.

Bob Overacker and Marti Bryant won the other two seats.  Steve Fisher came in last with 336 votes, 5 votes behind Glodowski.

The recount is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at the Brooklyn Annex.

How the recount will work

The County Clerk’s office said the recount will be conducted in plain view of the candidates and their representatives.  The recount is also open to the public to watch.

They will start with a testing phase where a random sample of ballots is manually tallied and compared with the results from the electronic tabulating system. The sample size will be either 100 ballots or 5% of the ballots for the office, whichever is larger. 

If the comparison shows that the electronic system is accurate, the remaining ballots will be recounted using the automated system. If the system is found to be inaccurate, the remaining ballots will be recounted by hand.

The Attorney General’s office is the final authority on any questions that may arise during the recount.

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