Category: kifi-local-news

News Team

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Area Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued a letter stating the faith’s opposition to Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act on this November’s ballot.

The letter was read from the pulpit during worship services on Sunday and is scheduled to be read again over the next two Sundays.

If passed, the initiative would repeal Idaho’s current abortion ban and allow abortion up to fetal viability. The proposed initiative would also establish a new legal definition of fetal viability in state law, replacing the definition currently used in Idaho statute.

The letter outlines the official opposition of the Church to the proposed measure. “Our long-held stance on abortion remains clear and unchanged,” the Area Presidency wrote, reiterating the Church’s official opposition to the measure.

“As noted in a 2024 statement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral regarding political parties and candidates and addresses issues it believes have significant moral consequences. We join with other like-minded individuals and organizations in working against this initiative and encourage our members to voice their opposition in a respectful manner consistent with our prophetic direction of always demonstrating Christlike love and civility in political discourse.”

Church leaders directed members seeking further details regarding the institution’s position on abortion to review official statements and resources published on churchofjesuschrist.org.

Letter from LDS United States Central Area Presidency

Editor’s Note: The above article has been updated.

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Danielle Mullenix

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Filling up is getting more expensive for Idaho drivers, with the average price of regular gasoline climbing nearly 36 cents per gallon in just the last month.

According to GasBuddy, Idaho’s average gas price is now $4.83 per gallon, up 6.7 cents from a week ago and 35.6 cents from a month ago.

Compared to this time last year, Idaho drivers are paying about $1.31 more per gallon.

The national average is also climbing, but remains below Idaho’s price. GasBuddy reports the U.S. average at $4.44 per gallon, up 18.5 cents over the past week and 34.4 cents over the past month.

That means Idaho’s average is currently about 39 cents higher than the national average.

Gas prices rise significantly across Idaho

Drivers may see a substantial difference depending on where they fill up.

GasBuddy reports that the cheapest station in Idaho on Sunday was selling regular gasoline for $4.38 per gallon, while the most expensive station was charging $6.51 per gallon.

That’s a difference of $2.13 per gallon. For a 15-gallon tank, that difference could amount to nearly $32 between the two prices.

Diesel drivers also feel the heat

Diesel drivers are facing higher costs as well.

The national average price of diesel has risen 30.7 cents per gallon compared with last week, reaching approximately $6.49 per gallon.

GasBuddy says diesel prices have increased in every state, with refinery disruptions and tighter global supplies contributing to the increase.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said refinery issues in the Great Lakes region have contributed to particularly sharp increases in several states.

He also pointed to disruptions involving Russian oil refineries and broader geopolitical developments as factors affecting global fuel supplies.

Idaho numbers vs its neighbors

GasBuddy’s latest figures show Idaho’s average at $4.83 per gallon, compared with:

Montana: $4.58 per gallon Boise: $4.82 per gallon Spokane: $5.28 per gallon

Gas prices can vary considerably between individual stations, even within the same community.

2026 vs Previous Years

On September 21 in previous years, GasBuddy reported Idaho’s average gas price at:

2025: $3.52 per gallon 2024: $3.52 per gallon 2023: $4.11 per gallon 2022: $4.36 per gallon 2021: $3.67 per gallon

The current $4.83 average is higher than each of those September 21 averages.

GasBuddy says the direction of fuel prices in the coming weeks will depend in part on refinery conditions and developments affecting global oil and diesel supplies.

One of the best ways to save a few dollars in your wallet is by shopping around your city’s gas stations. To check the cheapest spots near you, visit the Gas Prices tab on our homepage for daily gas price checks across Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming.

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Kaelyn Blessinger

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – After nearly a decade of work, the Art Museum is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for their Education Center.

“It’s really starting to make progress and momentum towards the physical building being here,” Alexa Stanger, the Executive Director for the Art Museum, said. “And it makes me excited just for the space.”

This expansion will nearly double the museum’s size and provide a permanent home for their many classes.

“It will have classroom spaces on the main floor,” Stanger explained. “Then on the second floor will have more classroom spaces. It will also have a giant multi-purpose room with windows and views, a deck of the views of the river.”

They partnered with Big D construction to bring their concepts to life. Stanger and Natalie Hunsaker, the Business Development Manager, believe they really see each other’s visions in the building of the Eduction Center.

“There’s not enough places like that around by the river that we can absolutely enjoy,” Hunsaker said. “So it’s an exciting project that we get to be a part of. Just helping to bring more to the community.”

The Education Center could give the community a chance to participate in an art class, have a beverage on the balcony, or let the creativity flow with the river.

They are still in need of some donations to make this possible. If you are interested in supporting the Education Center, here is a link to their donation page.

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Maile Sipraseuth

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI)– A person is in custody after a stabbing took place at a residence on S 2nd E.

On Sept. 19, around 8 p.m., Rexburg Police Department received a report of a stabbing. The victim received medical treatment for the wounds.

Officers identified the suspect and obtained a search and arrest warrant.

The Upper Valley Special Response Team (SRT) executed the warrants at the suspect’s home and took the suspect into custody at the Madison County Jail on charges of Aggravated Battery.

The SRT includes authorities from the Rexburg Police Department, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, St. Anthony Police Department, Fremont County Sheriff and Teton County Sheriff.

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Max Gershon

SHELLEY, Idaho (KIFI) – Spud Days in Shelley is bringing all the fun to the City of the Russets.

All the potato-themed activities were in full swing at Shelley City Park, and thousands of people showed up for the festivities.

Saturday was the car show, potato picking contest, the Spud Run and the children’s parade.

But the culmination was the infamous 2026 Spud Tug.

Teams like the Smiling Spuds, Scott’s Tots, Tons of Cousins, Elders of Israel, the Potato Skins, Garden Variet, Lucy’s Angels and the Stud Tugs competed in a vigorous tug-of-war contest ending in a massive pit filled with 500 gallons of mashed potatoes.

Teams tugged back and forth, sometimes for minutes on end, until one person slid into the mashed potato mess.

The spec-taters roared each round – celebrating 99 years since Spud Days’ founding in 1927.

Ultimately, in the championship match, Team Hailey’s Comet emerged victorious after a furious 8-second tussle with Five Guys with Extra Fries.

“We had pulled pork sandwiches before this, so that was a big help, honestly,” said winning teammate Ethan Corbett. “We’ve been training for years for this moment. Everything we do, we do it for our Grandma. We’ve been training for her, so shout out to Grandma right over there. But, yeah, it’s honestly been fun. It was kind of unexpected, but we came out on top.” 

Fellow tug-of-war contestant, Hailey Sorensen, is a repeat Spud Tug champion.

“I had no idea we were going to win. I won on our team four years ago, so this just feels nostalgic in a way,” Sorensen said. “I’m excited to do this with my husband, my cousin and my brother.”

Her husband Bodie Sorensen shared a secret behind their success.

“We really got our rhythm down. We didn’t really even talk about the rhythm beforehand, but once we started, I feel like we got very unified as we were pulling,” he said. “Got a good rhythm together, and that really got us the win.”

Colter Carlson and Nathan Ball anchored the team for the victory.

“This was amazing, and I’m so happy to be here,” Carlson said.

Miss Russet crowned Hailey’s Comet as champions, and the team eagerly awaits next year’s competition in Spud Days’ 100th year.

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David Pace

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Amid the horrors of war, 142,233 U.S. service members served as Prisoners of War (POWs) and 81,000 are still Missing in Action (MIA) between World War I and Desert Storm.

Fifty local veterans, their families and community members commemorated National POW / MIA Recognition Day Friday with a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial along the River Walk in Idaho Falls.

Many of the original World War II Prisoners of War from eastern Idaho have since passed on, but were were recognized by their family members.

John Cope spoke of his father Ray Cope, from Mud Lake, who was captured as a 31-year-old contractor on Wake Island. The Battle was later called “the Alamo of the Pacific” and served as a rallying cry for U.S. servicemen overseas.

“My dad, Ray Cope, was in that battle and was one of the civilian workers and defenders of Wake that fought for 16 days defending the island through insurmountable odds,” his son said. “To have my dad be that type of defender – he was my hero.”

Ray Cope endured 44 months as a Japanese Prisoner of War, John described, facing “severe malnutrition, disease, beatings and torture.”

“They were expected to pack cement bags on their backs that weighed as much as they did, and that was difficult part. My dad said that if you gave up, you died,” Cope said. “He remembers many people just giving up hope. He always said he knew that he was going to make it home, and that was the impetus behind his survival.”

Ray found his way home six weeks after American forces bombed the city of Nagasaki – 35 miles from his internment camp.

For two and a half years, his family did not know whether he was dead or alive.

He later served as Mayor of Mud Lake for 17 years and counts 27 grandchildren in his family.

Ray Cope died on the Fourth of July in 1988 – a fitting tribute to an all-American hero and POWs everywhere.

At the downtown Veterans Memorial, a steel tribute John Cope made for his father honors Ray Cope, who survived 44 months on starvation rations of 600 calories of rice a day in World War II while a prisoner of war in Japan.

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Hadley Bodell

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – The storm systems blowing through Eastern Idaho have left behind significant damage, including cracked windshields from hail the size of golf balls. The day after the massive lightning and thunderstorm hit communities, one local business is picking up the pieces, while the National Weather Service urges caution for the coming days.

Tim Axford, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service said the activity from the last 36 hours is called monsoonal moisture, which comes from the southern United States.

“It brings in lots of showers, thunderstorms, hail, high winds, and in this case heavy rain,” Axford said. “That lightning provided a lot of entertainment for a lot of folks.”

While the lightning displays are fun to watch, Axford says they see injuries and fatalities every year from unsafe individuals going out in the storms. Hail can also be dangerous for property and people. At about 3 p.m. on September 17, hail at the INL accumulated to the point where crews had to plow the roads.

Lighting from the Sept. 17 storm, photo by Lisa Walton

“We saw hail the size of quarters all the way up to tennis balls were the largest,” Axford said. “We saw 2.5 inches, which can do a lot of damage and be unfortunate when it hits people and hurts them.”

The storms also brought in localized flooding in the Idaho Falls and Rexburg areas, with hundreds of BYU-I students sending in and posting videos of flooded roadsides and draining out of their apartment complexes. The Idaho State soccer game was delayed by a half hour yesterday for lightning warnings, and Axford said administrators need to use extreme caution and keep all athletes off the field when thunderstorms are nearby.

The wet weather isn’t coming to an end just yet, with forecasts showing additional showers and thunderstorms through September 19. The weather service has a flood watch out across eastern Idaho and a flood warning for the Ohio Fire area near Hailey.

Golf ball-sized hail from the Sept. 17 storm, photo sent in by a viewer

The Pocatello Parks and Recreation Department was ready for a large impact and many crews to have cleanup duty today, but director Anne Butler said thankfully, Gate City damage was minimal.

“We were expecting a little bit more wind with this storm and rain and normally that wreak some havoc in our park system on old trees and things like that,” she said. “We were pretty fortunate. Last night, we didn’t see the damage, that we typically do.”

In severe storm cases, Parks and Rec dispatches crews for cleaning up trees, hauling away debris, and using machinery on the trail systems. On the Parks and Rec website for the City of Pocatello, residents can use the service database to input their problem and officials will address it as immediately as possible.

One local business is suffering the worst case scenario after the thunderstorm. The owner of Extreme Rush, a fun zone and arcade in Pocatello that opened six months ago, was closing for the night when he heard a crashing noise and went to investigate.

Caught on the building’s security cameras, the owner watched as a pipe burst and gallons of water began flooding the business.

“We called a bunch of our people, everybody mobilized, came in and started pulling things out of the water and getting the rain and the Go-Karts,” said Brittany Nixon, Assistant Manager at Extreme Rush. “We’ve had some excellent help already. Everybody came in and rallied and we got the water out as fast as we could.”

Nixon said they turned off power to the building immediately and are hoping everything will function without water damage when they turn it back on. Crews worked through the night and were still on scene throughout the day on September 18.

“We’re hoping to reopen Wednesday, don’t forget about us or count us out,” she said. “We’re going to keep going.”

For the dedicated team at Extreme Rush, this was a devestating blow to their new business. A “crazy wild dream” to open the fun zone finally came to life six months ago, and Nixon said this isn’t the first time they’ve faced adversity and wondered if it was all worth it.

“Every single time it’s given us a chance to say, ‘are we going to keep going?’ and every time the community comes out and says they’ll help us keep going,” she said. “Everyone has rallied around us and helped us pull back when we were about to lose faith, and we’re going to keep going.”

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Dylan Carder

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)- Incoming CEO Carrie Athay outlined her strategic vision for the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, emphasizing business advocacy, economic growth and restoring public trust while the organization undergoes a full forensic audit.

Athay, who brings a background in arts and nonprofit management to the post, plans to focus on connecting major regional industries with local business owners. Her plan includes expanding workforce education, strengthening chamber membership services and fostering collaboration among municipal leaders across eastern Idaho.

Incoming Athay highlighted key regional economic drivers that she plans to focus on in her new role, including agriculture, health care, small businesses, nuclear energy and technology. Athay stressed that agriculture remains the region’s primary economic driver alongside health care’s large contribution to local gross domestic product.

“We need to be thinking about Ag, which is our, you know, number one economic driver here. We need to be thinking about health care, which is also a huge part of our GDP,” Athay said. “I really see the chamber as an opportunity to bring businesses big and small together. Mentorship, advocacy, education these are all really strong and important components of a chamber.”

Athay spent years in arts and nonprofit administration, serving as executive director of the Idaho Falls Symphony. She noted that her past work with volunteer boards and community donors prepared her for managing chamber governance and advocacy. “I have spent the last several of years. Well, all the time that we’ve lived in Idaho, really involved with advocating for the arts,” Athay said.

“The Chamber of Commerce is this really wonderful, unique place where we come together. We advocate for business, we build our economy, we educate so that we can strengthen our workforce and keep people here and continue to grow in a really focused and dynamic way.”

Beyond economic expansion, Athay noted that restoring community trust is a central challenge for the organization. The chamber is currently undergoing a full forensic audit to review its financial standing and establish fiscal transparency.

The chamber began the search for a new CEO following the resignation of Paul Baker in July. He stepped down following mounting public and online speculation regarding Baker’s ties to the Portneuf Valley Soccer Club. The soccer organization recently announced that the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating potential financial irregularities discovered during an internal forensic audit.

“I do think that there is some lost trust in the chamber, which is unfortunate because the chamber has such a historic and impactful position in our community,” Athay said. “I’ll be very anxious for the outcome of the forensic audit, but it also will give us some really great markers of where we stand and where we need to move forward so that the chamber is on a very transparent and fiscally stable, that we’re in a very fiscally stable position.”

Athay expressed confidence that open dialogue and clear procedures can help repair relations across the region. “There are challenges, I think, that we can restore trust through a lot of transparency. And I think that there’s goodwill out there. People want our community to succeed,” Athay said.

To support regional collaboration, the chamber board includes ex-officio non-voting leadership positions for the mayor of Idaho Falls, the mayor of Ammon and the county administrator. Athay indicated she intends to expand communication with surrounding municipalities as economic growth extends beyond city lines.

The chamber also plans to maintain member services such as traditional ribbon-cutting events, networking lunches, leadership development and strategic partner initiatives to enhance local membership value.

Athay plans to launch a listening tour during her first month to gather information and meet with community stakeholders and chamber members. “My first 30 days, I plan on a listening tour. So I plan to sit down with, you know, with all the stakeholders that are involved in the community as well as the, you know, the chamber and anyone who wants to talk about it and a listen so that we can hear, I have a lot of information gathering that needs to be done,” Athay said.

Athay officially takes office as chief executive officer on Oct. 1, 2026.

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Curtis Jackson

UPDATE:

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — A 29-year-old Idaho Falls man died Friday afternoon following a three-vehicle chain-reaction crash on U.S. Highway 20 west of Idaho Falls.

According to Idaho State Police, the collision occurred around 2:17 p.m. near milepost 298.

ISP reports that the Idaho Falls man was traveling eastbound in a 2025 Kia K5 when his vehicle collided with a Kalyn Siebert trailer towed by a 2019 Kenworth semi-truck. Moments later, a westbound 2023 Ford F-150, driven by a 22-year-old man from Severance, Colorado, collided with the Kia.

The driver of the Kia was wearing a seatbelt but succumbed to his injuries at the scene. Emergency crews transported the driver of the Ford, who was not wearing a seatbelt, to a local hospital via ground ambulance. His current condition has not been released. The driver of the semi-truck was uninjured.

Both eastbound and westbound lanes near the crash site were closed for several hours while emergency personnel cleared the scene.

The crash remains under investigation by the Idaho State Police. ISP asks anyone who witnessed the incident or has additional information to contact dispatch at 208-528-3408.

ORIGINAL:

A crash involving three vehicles has blocked US 20 west of Idaho Falls.

The accident happened around 2:15 p.m. Friday afternoon near milepost 298.

The highway is currently closed to traffic at 65th W and is being diverted onto side roads as the troopers investigate the accident.

No details have been released. We’ll update this story when we receive more information.

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Curtis Jackson

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — Idaho State Police have identified the Pocatello man killed after striking an elk on Interstate 15 on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, as Dr. Mark Baker, 66.

Baker was a longtime oral surgeon with Oral Surgery Specialists of Idaho and was well known throughout the community for his years of patient care.

Investigators say Baker was driving a 2022 BMW Z4 northbound on I-15 Monday night when he collided with an elk just north of the Utah-Idaho border, south of Malad in Oneida County. The crash happened shortly before 9:30 p.m.

Emergency crews pronounced Baker dead at the scene.

The clinic says Dr. Shawn Jepsen will continue caring for Baker’s current patients.

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