Category: kifi-local-news

Seth Ratliff

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — The race to fill the vacant Pocatello City Council seat may be heading into the final stretch. After considering seventeen applications for the position, on Tuesday, Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad announced his pick to fill vacant Seat #4, Dakota Bates.

Bates will be considered for the role in the upcoming regular City Council meeting on June 5, 2025. If confirmed by the City, Bates’s seat on the City Council would be effective June 5, 2025, and he would fulfill the unexpired term through December 2025.

According to a report by the Idaho State Journal, Bates says he plans to use his experience with nonprofit work and running Hannah’s Place, a local family and children’s therapy clinic, in the role.

The seat has been vacant since mid-April, following the resignation of former City Council representative Josh Mansfield, who left to pursue a law degree at BYU.

Since Mansfield announced his resignation, Mayor Brian Blad has reportedly received 17 applications for the vacant seat. The list of potential new City Council members has been narrowed to six candidates.

Thursday’s meeting is scheduled to start at PM. To watch the proceedings online, click HERE.

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Maggie Moore

Jackson, WYOMING (KIFI) – The National Museum of Wildlife Art has a new exhibit for the month of June. 32 life size elephant sculptures built by indigenous artists in India are here as part of The Great Elephant Migration.

The Great Elephant Migration started their journey across the United States in 2024 in Rhode Island, moving around the United States before ending their journey in Los Angeles next month.

Aubrey Baker, the exhibition manager, says the elephants’ migration across the United States is to “share their coexistence message with the world while amplifying indigenous knowledge.”

About half of the herd arrived in Jackson back in May, but it took a long time for the herd to get here. The Great Elephant Migration reached out to the National Museum of Wildlife Art back in 2024.

Madison Webb Stanko, the chief marketing officer for the museum, said “our curatorial team, our board and our staff were extremely excited about this opportunity. The elephant’s message of coexistence is one that really resonates with our mission and our vision.”

Each elephant is sculpted in India out of an invasive weed called Lantana Camara. Which means that with each elephant sculpted, more of the Asian Elephants’ habitat is restored. Each sculpture is modeled after a real elephant that lives in the Nilgiri Hills of India.

While elephants may not be native to Wyoming, the museum felt like the exhibit’s message of coexistence was just as important in Jackson.

“The message of coexistence is one that is extremely relevant to the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, because every day we are interacting with elk, bison, grizzlies, all the way down to grouse and marmots. It is a smorgasbord of wildlife, and so that message of coexistence really hits home,” Webb Stanko said.

After the herd has made all of its stops around the U.S., each elephant will be sold to raise money for conservation non-profits.

“It’s a better way to think about coexisting, to live among wildlife, and to share space,” Baker said.

The Great Elephant Migration will be in Jackson until June 20, and there will be a farewell event for the exhibit on June 22.

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Phillip Willis

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — According to real estate company Redfin, there are nearly 500,000 more sellers than buyers in the United States. With supply rising above demand, there are questions about the prices of houses being too high (due to volatile interest rates), recent spikes of demand over supply that are finally balancing out, and other causes of economic instability.

In Idaho, according to Redfin, 14.4% of home in Idaho sold above their listed price. That’s down 2.2 points year over year. There were 30.8% of homes that had price drops from their listed price, which is up from 29% in April last year. This indicates at least a small movement in the direction the rest of the nation is leaning.

As it stands, the average sales price for a house in Idaho is $470,000. In the area that spans from Blackfoot to Rexburg, that number looks a bit closer to $440,000.

“Right now, nationwide, prices are high, interest rates are high, so that’s a bad combination for buyers,” says Carissa Coats, spokesperson for the Greater Idaho Falls Association of Realtors. However, not everyone agrees with Coats’ sentiment.

“Time is not on your side right now. Sell earlier rather than later, and it’s really important to price your home correctly for the current market and not use comps that are outdated because you don’t want your home to sit,” says Chen Zhao, Redfin’s Head of Economics Research.

With more people moving in than moving out, Coats believes Idaho is a bit ahead of the curve with demand also increasing compared to other locations. But volatile interest rates that can rise at any moment are an increasing concern for many realtors. When interest rates rise, the loans taken out when purchasing a house can become unaffordable when it was previously within budget.

It’s a waiting game. If sellers get desperate to sell, they’ll lower prices to get buyers. If buyers get desperate to purchase a home, they’ll pay for one at a higher price. If a seller lowers their prices, all other sellers lower theirs, but when bought from, the pressure to lower the prices is lessened. With interest rates causing problems, forcing people to break contracts on homes they can no longer afford, realtors have a tricky road to navigate.

“Those open houses, you’re going to see a lot more of those. Not just on weekends, we’re going to see them on weeknights. You’re going to see a lot more on social media postings. You’re going to see a lot more fliers in your mailbox. You may even see more realtors knocking door to door, just to get the word out for their sellers, because word of mouth is better than any advertising. But its been a while since realtors have had to do those kinds of things,” says Coats.

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Michael Coats

CENTRAL IDAHO — Early Tuesday, June 3, seismic activity continued northwest of Stanley as several quakes struck northwest of the town, the latest in an ongoing series observed in the area since Saturday.

Shortly after 1:30 AM, a 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck, representing the largest quake in the area since the seismic activity began.

The early morning activity was followed by two more quakes, measuring 3.5 and 3.9, just before 6 AM. The activity persisted, with a 3.9 magnitude tremor around 7:06 AM, and a smaller 2.5 magnitude quake at approximately 7:58 AM.

UPDATE:

CENTRAL IDAHO (KIFI) – Two separate magnitude 3.6 quakes struck within three minutes of each other Monday evening, the latest and largest so far in a series of quakes near Stanley.

The latest sizeable quakes struck around 8:23 PM and 8:26 PM. The epicenters were roughly 9 to 10 miles northwest of the town of Stanley.

There have been at least 20 quakes over a magnitude of 2.0 since Saturday. Most earthquakes under a magnitude 3.0 are rarely felt by people.

This area is no stranger to earthquake swarms or larger quakes.

The last major earthquake to hit was a magnitude 6.5, on March 31, 2020.

If you felt the latest sizeable quake, you can report your experience to the USGS at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000qhjl/dyfi/intensity

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Seth Ratliff

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) — A Madison County man is now in custody, facing charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. Rexburg Police Detectives arrested Jackson Johansson on Monday, following an investigation that began with a tip from the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

The tip alleged that a Kik messaging account was being used to share and trade explicit materials of children. According to the Rexburg Police Department, detectives obtained search warrants and successfully identified Johansson despite his attempts to conceal his identity online.

Johansson has been booked into the Madison County Jail.

Disclaimer: All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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News Team

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Several key offices located within the Bonneville County Annex in Idaho Falls will temporarily close later this month due to scheduled parking lot maintenance. The closures will take place from Wednesday, June 18th, through Friday, June 20th.

The impacted offices include:

Bonneville County Motor Vehicle Office

Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Divisions:

Driver’s License Office

Concealed Weapon Permit Office

Sex Offender Registry Office

While other offices within the annex building, such as the D7 Treatment Center and Bonneville County Adult Probation, are not slated for full closure, they may experience partial closures or limited operations during the maintenance period. People are being advised to call ahead if they plan to visit these departments.

Normal operations for all affected offices are scheduled to resume on Monday, June 23rd.

The information above comes from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office.

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Noah Farley

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — With summer in the air, many people are excited to get outside and have fun in the water. But area law enforcement is reminding people about the dangers and laws behind diving off bridges.

The warning comes after an 18-year-old man from Pocatello drowned after jumping into the Bear River from the Last Chance Flume north of Grace, on May 31, 2025.

In several eastern Idaho counties, for example, Bonneville County, the activity of bridge jumping is illegal. However, the laws surrounding bridge jumping differ from county to county, but all law enforcement agencies emphasize the importance of staying safe.

“The reason those (laws) are in place is because it’s just not always safe right there to do that,” Sgt. Bryan Lovell of the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office told Local News 8. “You don’t know what is down below, how deep that water really is. You don’t know what kind of outcroppings are sticking out.”

Meanwhile, it’s not necessarily illegal to jump off bridges into rivers in Fremont and Jefferson County; however, it is against the law to trespass on privately owned and closed-off bridges.

Local law enforcement officers tell us that water can be very unpredictable. The flows and currents of the rivers can change every year due to snow melt after winter, and the currents are much stronger under the water’s surface.

They say there might be hidden dangers, like sticks, garbage, or rocks, just below the surface you can’t see until you’ve already jumped.

Every police department we spoke with recommends people use life jackets and swim in areas designated for recreation. 

“If you’re just planning for safety and, you know, thinking ahead and being real careful, then you’re probably going to have a good time and you won’t have to be rescued,” said Lovell.

Lovell says the main thing is to put your safety and the safety of others first.

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Seth Ratliff

YELLOWSTONE, Montana (KIFI) — A newly installed camera at Biscut Basin’s Black Diamond Pool captured a rare event: a small hydrothermal eruption from the pool over the weekend.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the eruption is the first that has been captured on video since the hydrothermal explosion on July 23, 2024, which dramatically changed the Biscuit Basin area, although monitoring data and eyewitnesses have indicated that sporadic eruptions have happened several times since the initial explosion last year.

View the complete video of the eruption on the USGS Facebook page, HERE.

The new webcam was established at Biscut Basin only a few weeks before track activity at the Black Diamond Pool. The camera is designed to capture static images every 15 minutes, which are then posted to the USGS website. This consistent imagery allowed scientists to identify and confirm the recent eruption.

Biscuit Basin remains closed this season, according to park officials, due to the damage caused on July 23, 2024, as well as hazards posed by potential future hazardous hydrothermal events.  To view the area through the USGS’s webcam, click HERE.

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News Release

The following is a press release from the Idaho Transportation Department:

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Transportation Department will move Interstate 15 traffic Tuesday and Wednesday nights to accommodate girder placement at 2.5 Mile Road Bridge.

Traffic will be reduced to a single lane in each direction and shifted onto the same side of the interstate. Work will be conducted between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. each night with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour through the work zone.

Motorists should carefully follow signs and posted speed limits while traveling through the construction area. With crews working day and night on the project to make I-15 three lanes from Northgate to Fort Hall it is especially important that drivers be alert and travel safely.

I-15 serves as a major transportation corridor through eastern Idaho. These improvements will increase capacity and improve safety to serve the region’s growing transportation needs for years to come. 

Motorists are encouraged to use 511.idaho.gov or the 511 app to keep track of project detours. Project details are available on ITD’s projects website at itdprojects.idaho.gov/pages/i15northgatetoblackfoot.

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News Team

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The search is on for the next artistic leader of the Idaho Falls Symphony. Monday, the symphony announced the formation of its Music Director Search Committee, which will spend the next two seasons fielding candidates across the nation to become the new music director.

“This search is not just about finding a conductor—it’s about identifying a visionary partner who will inspire our musicians, engage our audience, and strengthen our role in the cultural life of eastern Idaho, said Executive Director Carrie Athay. “We are thrilled to begin this journey with such a dedicated and well-rounded committee.”

Led by Jake Durtschi and following the best practices set by the League of American Orchestras, the symphony says the committee reflects a careful balance of musical, organizational, and community viewpoints. Members were chosen for their leadership skills, insights, and commitment to the Symphony’s long-term artistic vitality.

“This is an exciting chapter in the Symphony’s future,” said Jake Durtschi, Committee Chair. “We are committed to a transparent process that honors the rich legacy of the Idaho Falls Symphony while embracing new artistic leadership.”

During the search, the committee will finalize candidate criteria, conduct a national search, and invite guest conductors to lead performances for the 2026–2027 season.

Feedback from audiences, musicians, and board members will play a critical role in the final selection process, according to symphony directors.

The final appointment is expected to be made in May 2027.

2025–2027 Music Director Search Committee:

Committee Chair

Jake Durtschi

Board Representatives

Rick Aman

Todd Combs

Kevin Young

Musician Representatives

Adam Ballif

Kristin Bull

Annalee Kelly

Lisa McNiven

Kevin Meyer

Emma Rubinstein

Community Representatives

Betsy Hunsicker

Michelle Mallard

Administrative, Non-Voting Advisor

Carrie Athay, Executive Director

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