Around 3:30 in the morning on Oct. 2, a young black bear shoved its way into the back doorway of a home in the Sunset Heights subdivision near Salmon. Brian Heidemann met it there. His wife, Kimberlie, said he tackled the bear into the backyard and wrestled with it on the ground as the family dog joined the fight.

Both of them were hurt. A helicopter carried one of them to the hospital in Idaho Falls, and Kimberlie Heidemann said her husband suffered life-threatening cuts and spent two days in the hospital before coming home to recover. She described the night as "something out of a horror movie."

The Salmon attack came in what one Fish and Game manager calls an abnormal year for Idaho's black bears. Frost damage and dry conditions left hillsides short of berries just as bears were bulking up for winter, and from the Treasure Valley to Teton Valley, hungry bears went looking for calories in backyards, garages, trash cans and chicken coops.

Now the bears are heading for their dens, and Fish and Game wants homeowners to clear out the garbage, pet food and other easy meals before the animals come out hungry next spring.

A bear at the back door

Lemhi County sheriff's deputies and Fish and Game officers were on the case by about 4:30 a.m., and the agency called in its Wildlife Human Attack Response Team. The bears were gone when officials reached the home around 6 a.m. A houndsman followed their trail. The sow was found dead; a neighbor had shot her soon after the attack. The next morning, officers trapped her two young bears and put them down. Idaho law lets people kill wildlife to protect themselves, others, pets or livestock from imminent harm, the agency noted.

The trouble had been building. Kimberlie Heidemann said a bear had been killing the family's chickens in the week before the attack, and that Fish and Game told them not to confront the animals because it hoped to relocate them.

Fish and Game says a neighbor first reported a sow with cubs eating chickens there on Oct. 1. The chicken owners had not called the agency, and without permission to enter their land, officers set three traps near the coop on the neighbor's side of the line. Investigators later found the bears had also spent days eating from a large heap of loose household trash outside the home, which the homeowners have since cleaned up.

Regional wildlife manager Dennis Newman warned that even a barbecue or smoker can draw bears "if left uncleaned and outside."

From Boise to Teton Valley

Salmon was not an isolated case. In Swan Valley on the night of July 12, a black bear clawed through a window screen while the homeowners slept, went through the kitchen and polished off a pumpkin pie sitting on the table. It came back the next night for the trash, and the agency trapped and killed it. In Fremont County, another bear spent roughly a week raiding occupied houses, garages and cabins around Robinson Creek, Potpourri and Shadow Ridge before it was euthanized.

On Aug. 31, Pocatello had its first bear incident inside city limits since 2018, when biologists caught a young bear climbing a backyard fence and eating berries. In Boise, Fish and Game handled three bear calls in one September week, starting with a cub in Harris Ranch on Sept. 2, then two more on Sept. 9 near Warm Springs Avenue and Parkcenter Boulevard. One of those bears was bound for a rehabilitation center; the other was euthanized.

The biggest numbers come from the Upper Snake Region. Eric Freeman, who manages human-wildlife conflict there for Fish and Game, told Teton County commissioners this month that the agency has put down seven black bears this year in Teton Valley alone, plus three elsewhere in eastern Idaho, and moved five others. By his count, the number of bears put down this year already matches the previous five years combined. The region has taken about 100 bear calls, roughly five times normal. When Brad Wolfe, the commission chair, asked if conflicts had doubled or even tripled, Freeman said, "Far in excess of double and triple."

Southeast Idaho is on pace for a record year, with several bear calls a day. The bears have reached the highway, too. On Oct. 7, Bart Churches, 55, a Jackson, Wyoming, detention officer, hit a black bear with his motorcycle on Pine Creek Pass and was airlifted to Idaho Falls. His family said Oct. 11 that he was making steady progress, and a hospital spokesperson said the next day that he remained in critical condition.

Why the bears came down

Fish and Game points first to food. In southeast Idaho, wildlife manager Zach Lockyer blamed an early spring frost that knocked out much of the berry crop. In Teton Valley, Freeman described 20 unusually warm March days that got plants growing early, then a hard freeze in mid-June that likely killed the fruit blossoms, all after a mild winter with little snow. The result, he said, was "very few berries" on the hills.

That shortage hit at the worst time. In the fall, a black bear can take in 20,000 calories or more daily as it fattens up for winter. Lockyer said hungry bears are "venturing further into odd places," and a bear that finds trash once will keep coming back.

Freeman named a second cause: growth. More houses and more people keep moving into bear range in Teton Valley, he said, and more conflict will likely follow. "All of Teton County is bear country," he said. Fish and Game says nearly all of Idaho can be bear habitat.

Local answers instead of new mandates

Freeman told commissioners most conflicts start with something people left outside, and early calls tend to end better. Some neighborhoods have held off on calling for fear the bear will be killed, he said, but waiting can push a bear "past the point of no return." Once a bear breaks into a home, it is "maybe like a one-strike deal."

Teton County commissioners have not reached for new rules. One resident, whose family goes back generations in the valley, said a bear had killed one of their turkeys, called this year an anomaly and asked the board not to impose lasting requirements. Wolfe said the meeting was not about making orders but about helping people "know what they can do" on their own.

Much of the answer sits with homeowners. Freeman pointed to Island Park, where bear-resistant cans sit at nearly every home, as a place with fewer conflicts, though he called the comparison anecdotal. In Teton Valley, he said, the cans run about $12 more a month through the local trash service. Fish and Game also weighed a feeding program for bears and decided "the risks outweigh the rewards."

What families can do before spring

Idaho's black bears usually den between mid-October and the end of November and come out between mid-April and May. Over the winter, males typically lose 15 to 30 percent of their body weight, and mothers with cubs can lose up to 40 percent. Once out, they try to eat 15,000 to 20,000 calories daily. That means two kinds of bears to watch for next spring: ones that went into their dens underweight, and ones that already know where the easy food is.

Fish and Game's checklist is short. Keep trash in a bear-resistant can, or lock it in a garage or shed until the morning it gets picked up. Bring pet food and livestock feed inside. Clean up fallen fruit. Scrub grills and smokers. Take bird feeders down from April until mid-November. On parts of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, a Forest Service order already requires food and trash to be secured from March 1 through Dec. 1.

The agency's rule of thumb is that a fed bear is a dead bear. Freeman called this year's trouble "a west-wide phenomenon" and said there is "certainly a possibility" it becomes a new normal. Whether Idaho sees a repeat next spring may come down to what homeowners leave in their own backyards.

For nearly 44 years, Boise knew him only by a name investigators believed was invented. He was found dead beside a pew at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in December 1982, carrying no identification but leaving behind a typed note and $1,900 in cash. On Wednesday, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office says it will finally tell the public who he was.

That answer may close one part of an extraordinary local mystery. It could also open another. Authorities say they plan to address a possible connection between the Boise case and the 1982 Tylenol poisonings in Chicago, but they have not yet explained what they believe ties the cases together.

The clues he left inside a Boise church

The man was discovered near a church pew on Dec. 4, 1982. Investigators determined that he died by suicide after ingesting cyanide. He had no identification, but he carried nineteen $100 bills and left a typewritten note.

The note directed that the cash be used for his funeral and cremation, with any money left over going to the church. It was signed “Wm. L. Toomey.” Investigators later concluded that the name was an alias.

The few physical details only deepened the mystery. A former Ada County coroner recalled that the man appeared well groomed, neatly dressed and professional. Yet detectives could not connect him to a verified identity. A Boise police detective who worked the case later acknowledged that it was one mystery he had been unable to solve.

The case reached a national audience when it appeared on “Unsolved Mysteries” in 1990. Still, no public answer followed. The man was cremated and buried in Eagle, where his headstone carries the name William Toomey.

That could now change. Ada County Cold Case Detective Tim Cooper and Sheriff Matt Clifford are scheduled to speak at a 10 a.m. news conference Wednesday. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz and “Unsolved Mysteries” co-creator Terry Dunn Meurer are also expected to participate.

Why investigators are looking toward Chicago

The timing and the poison have always made the case unusually unsettling. Seven people in the Chicago area died in 1982 after taking Tylenol capsules contaminated with cyanide. Those deaths occurred roughly two months before the unidentified man died from cyanide in Boise.

The Chicago killings remain unsolved. They also changed how ordinary medicine is sold, helping drive the adoption of tamper-evident packaging that consumers now take for granted.

Ada County officials have described the Boise connection as possible, not proven. They have not publicly said whether they believe the man committed a crime, possessed information about the poisonings or was connected in some other way. Until investigators release their evidence, the overlap in timing and substance is a lead, not a conclusion.

That distinction matters. A dramatic theory can attract attention, but a cold case is resolved through records, identification and facts that can withstand scrutiny. Wednesday’s announcement will be measured by what investigators can document, not by how strange the theory sounds.

A real name would restore part of the record

Identifying the man would give Ada County something basic that the case has lacked since 1982: an accountable public record of who died inside a Boise church. It may also allow officials to determine whether surviving relatives have been waiting for answers, although authorities have not yet disclosed whether any family has been located.

The case also shows why old files still matter. Local investigators preserved a mystery through changing personnel, changing technology and four decades of dead ends. The promised identification is a reminder that patient police work can still recover a name long after the trail appears cold.

The next step is evidence. Investigators must explain how they reached the identification, what can be verified about the man’s life and what, if anything, connects him to the Chicago poisonings. One point, however, is already clear from Ada County’s announcement: the man buried as William Toomey may not be unknown much longer.

A 14-year-old Middleton High School student died early Saturday after a vehicle struck him while he was riding a bicycle near the school Friday night, leaving a family and school community grieving as two law enforcement agencies investigate what happened.

Middleton police identified the driver as Alyssa Louise Anderson. She was arrested and booked into the Canyon County Jail on allegations of vehicular manslaughter, aggravated DUI, and leaving the scene of an injury accident.

The collision happened Sept. 18 on Willis Road between Edzell Avenue and Emmett Road. The teenager was taken by Life Flight to St. Luke’s Boise, but police said he died from his injuries early Sept. 19.

A Friday-night crash became a community loss

Police have not released the student’s name, citing respect for his family. That restraint leaves the public account focused where it belongs for now: on the confirmed events, the active investigation, and a young life lost.

The road was closed along the affected stretch while investigators worked at the scene. Middleton Police and Idaho State Police are both involved in the investigation. Authorities had not released a full reconstruction of the collision as of their latest public update.

The teenager’s condition was initially described as critical after the helicopter flight to Boise. By Saturday morning, police announced that he had died. The department asked the community to keep his parents, relatives, friends, and everyone who knew him in their thoughts and prayers.

Neighbors responded quickly. A prayer gathering was organized Saturday morning at the Middleton High School auditorium, giving students, families, and residents a place to stand together after the loss.

The driver faces three serious allegations

Anderson’s arrest puts three separate allegations at the center of the case: vehicular manslaughter, aggravated driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of an injury accident. Each charge is an allegation, and guilt must be established in court.

The released accounts do not yet provide a complete timeline of the vehicle’s movements, the evidence behind the impaired-driving allegation, or the circumstances of Anderson’s arrest. Police have said the investigation remains active. Those unanswered questions matter because they will determine how investigators and prosecutors reconstruct the final minutes before and after the collision.

For the community, the basic facts are already devastating. A child was riding a bicycle near his high school on a Friday night. Emergency crews sent him to the region’s major medical center by helicopter. He did not survive.

Middleton waits for answers

Fatal investigations demand both speed and care. Families deserve clear answers, defendants are entitled to due process, and the public deserves an account grounded in evidence rather than rumor. The work now belongs to local police, state investigators, prosecutors, and the courts.

It also belongs, in a different way, to a community looking after its students. The prayer gathering and the decision to protect the teenager’s name show a small Idaho town trying to give one family room to grieve while the legal process moves forward.

Police have not announced a final investigative finding. Until they do, the clearest public record is narrow but grave: a 14-year-old student is dead, a driver is in jail facing three felony allegations, and Middleton is waiting for a full accounting of how a bicycle ride near its high school ended in tragedy.

A 77-year-old man with a broken leg was hoisted from the Sawtooth Mountains near Redfish Lake by an Idaho Army National Guard aviation crew Thursday afternoon, turning a remote injury into a coordinated flight to medical care.

The State Aviation Group crew lifted the man from the mountain area and flew him to Stanley Airport. Civilian medical personnel met him there and took over his care, according to accounts released Friday.

The Guard did not identify the man or say how he broke his leg. Officials also did not release his condition after the airport handoff. What they did provide was a clear sequence: a mountain rescue, an airborne extraction and a transfer to civilian responders in Stanley.

Four Idaho aviators carried out the hoist

The crew included Chief Warrant Officer 3 Theron Cameron, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Patrick Perry, Officer Candidate Jess Adamson and Staff Sgt. Adam Brundy. All four were identified in the Guard’s account of the mission.

The rescue took place Thursday afternoon in the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley. The injured man was near Redfish Lake, one of central Idaho’s best-known outdoor destinations, when the State Aviation Group was called to assist.

A hoist mission is different from simply landing near a patient. In this case, the published account says the crew lifted the man and then transported him to the airport. The reports do not say precisely where he was located, how far he was from a road or what conditions the crew faced at the rescue site.

Those unanswered details matter because mountain incidents can vary sharply. The confirmed facts are narrower but still substantial: the patient was 77, he had a broken leg, a Guard aviation crew reached him, and civilian responders were waiting when the helicopter arrived in Stanley.

The mission was the Guard’s 10th rescue this year

Thursday’s operation was not an isolated assignment for the State Aviation Group. It was the Idaho Army National Guard’s second successful search-and-rescue mission of the week, its third of September and its 10th of 2026.

That pace puts the Redfish Lake hoist in a broader public-safety picture. Idaho’s mountains draw residents and visitors into places where an injury can require more than a standard ambulance response. The published mission count shows the Guard’s aviation crews have repeatedly been called into that gap this year.

The official account did not say which agency first received the call or how long the operation lasted. It also did not name the civilian medical provider that accepted the patient at Stanley Airport. Keeping those limits clear is important. The successful result officials confirmed was the extraction and transfer, not a medical prognosis.

A short flight completed a larger rescue chain

The final handoff at Stanley Airport was the practical end of the Guard crew’s part of the mission. The helicopter got the injured man out of the Sawtooths, but civilian responders remained responsible for further treatment.

That division of work is easy to miss in a brief rescue notice. The flight crew, the airport handoff and the medical team were separate links in one response. If any link is missing, a person with a serious injury can remain far from care.

For the injured man near Redfish Lake, the chain held. Cameron, Perry, Adamson and Brundy completed the hoist, reached Stanley Airport and placed him in civilian hands. It was one rescue on one Thursday afternoon, but also the 10th time this year that Idaho Guard aviation personnel completed a search-and-rescue mission.

About two dozen volunteers gathered near Burley for a cleanup whose scale became clear when the haul was counted: 72,000 pounds of garbage and 56 used tires removed from the Milner Recreation Area.

The Idaho nonprofit 208Cleanup organized the effort. Southern Idaho Solid Waste supplied large dumpsters, and Commercial Tire covered the tire disposal fees. What could have been a small litter pickup became a major removal job on public land used by campers, anglers, boaters, hikers and families.

The numbers are blunt. A crew small enough to fit in a few pickup trucks confronted a pile measured in tens of thousands of pounds. The cleanup report did not identify who dumped the material or how long it had accumulated, but the result left a clear measure of what volunteers and local businesses removed in one coordinated push.

A small crew faced a massive haul

The group collected ordinary garbage alongside 56 discarded tires. Tires create their own disposal burden, which is why Commercial Tire's decision to cover those fees mattered to the effort. Southern Idaho Solid Waste provided the large containers needed to move the rest of the material out.

That division of work kept the project practical. Volunteers supplied the labor. A regional waste operator supplied capacity. A local tire business handled a specialized cost. None of those pieces alone would have produced the same result. Together, they turned a volunteer day into a cleanup large enough to change the condition of the site.

The 72,000-pound total also separates this project from a cosmetic sweep along a roadside. This was accumulated dumped material in southern Idaho's high desert, not a few bags gathered after a weekend crowd. Removing it required local people willing to give their time and businesses willing to absorb real disposal needs.

Milner carries more than recreation value

The Bureau of Land Management calls the site the Milner Historic Recreation Area. It protects visible Oregon Trail ruts left by emigrants who crossed the area more than a century ago. A 1.3-mile paved, accessible walking path follows the historic route and includes panels explaining the site's history.

Milner also contains four miles of Snake River shoreline, which the agency describes as the largest accessible stretch of public land along the river in the Magic Valley. The area has two boat ramps, fishing access and 26 campsites. Its basalt cliffs and sagebrush country also support birds, rabbits, reptiles and mule deer.

That makes the cleanup more than an exercise in making empty desert look better. The material came out of a place where Idaho history, wildlife and daily recreation overlap. Families camp there. Anglers work the shoreline. Boaters use the ramps. Visitors walk beside wagon ruts that survived generations before modern dumping reached the area.

Local partners covered the hard parts

The project shows what local stewardship looks like when it is organized around a concrete job. 208Cleanup brought people together. Southern Idaho Solid Waste supplied the dumpsters. Commercial Tire removed one financial obstacle by covering tire disposal. The volunteers supplied the hours and effort needed on the ground.

There is no indication that one cleanup will end dumping across southern Idaho's desert. Organizers are already directing potential volunteers toward future projects. But this effort established a useful standard: define the site, assemble the right partners, remove the material and count the result.

The result is hard to ignore

Milner's history is measured in wagon ruts, river access and a landscape that Idahoans continue to use. The latest chapter can be measured just as plainly: 72,000 pounds of garbage and 56 tires no longer sitting at the recreation area.

That is not a slogan about caring for public land. It is local accountability measured in dumpsters, disposal fees and a Saturday of work.

A traffic stop near the Salmon River that began with an alleged traffic violation ended with two arrests, an impounded pickup and a reported seizure of $295,467 in cash. The Lemhi County Sheriff's Office says the same search produced methamphetamine, powdered fentanyl, marijuana, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms and drug paraphernalia.

Coty M. Wilson of Missoula and Brandy M. Wilson of Great Falls were booked into the Lemhi County Jail after the Sunday night stop. Both women face methamphetamine trafficking and several drug-possession charges. Those charges are accusations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty in court.

The striking part of the case is not one item by itself. It is the combination of a routine rural stop, a trafficking-level quantity of methamphetamine, a supply of fentanyl and nearly $300,000 in cash inside one truck.

The stop began beside the Salmon River

The Sheriff's Office account places the stop at about 9 p.m. Sunday near WagonHammer RV Park, along the Salmon River. A deputy reportedly stopped a 2026 Dodge Ram 1500 for a traffic violation.

Authorities say the deputy noticed the odor of marijuana coming from the pickup and searched it. The reported inventory included about 115 grams of marijuana, 40 grams of methamphetamine and 3 grams of powdered fentanyl. Deputies also reported finding LSD tabs, psilocybin mushrooms and several pieces of drug paraphernalia.

Then came the cash count: $295,467 in United States currency, according to the Sheriff's Office account. The pickup was impounded as evidence.

The location adds a distinctly Idaho setting to the case. This was not a raid in a large city or a bust at a major airport. It began during a deputy's patrol beside a river corridor used by residents, anglers, campers and travelers. One traffic stop quickly became a narcotics case involving two out-of-state defendants and a six-figure cash seizure.

The drug quantities shaped the charges

Both Wilsons were booked on charges of trafficking methamphetamine, possessing fentanyl, possessing marijuana and possessing drug paraphernalia. Coty Wilson also faces an LSD-possession charge.

The trafficking allegation is tied to quantity. The reported 40 grams of methamphetamine exceeds the 28-gram level identified in Idaho's trafficking law, according to the account of the arrest. That distinction makes the meth charge more serious than a simple possession allegation. It does not, however, decide guilt. Prosecutors still must establish that the seized material was methamphetamine, connect the evidence to each defendant and prove every required element in court.

Coty Wilson's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 28 in Lemhi County. A preliminary hearing is an early stage of a felony case, not a trial. The court will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence for the case to continue. No hearing date for Brandy Wilson was included in the initial reports.

The largest questions remain unanswered

The initial Sheriff's Office account describes what deputies say they found, but it does not establish where the drugs or cash came from, where the truck was headed or whether authorities believe the stop connects to a larger operation. It also does not say that the cash has been forfeited. Seizure during an investigation and permanent forfeiture are different legal steps.

Those gaps matter. A large pile of cash and a long inventory can make an arrest look conclusive before a court has tested the evidence. The next phase requires chain-of-custody records, laboratory results, testimony about the stop and search, and proof linking the alleged contraband to the people charged.

The defendants, meanwhile, will have the opportunity to challenge the state's account and the admissibility of the evidence. That is the accountability built into the process: deputies document the stop, prosecutors carry the burden and a judge evaluates the case under the law.

A routine patrol produced an unusual case

For Lemhi County, the immediate public-safety result is concrete. Deputies say they removed powdered fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs from a vehicle and preserved the truck and cash as evidence. The size of the reported cash seizure also gives investigators a financial trail to examine.

What the stop ultimately proves will be decided in court. For now, the verified public record is narrower: a deputy stopped a pickup near the Salmon River, two women were arrested, and authorities reported finding a drug inventory and $295,467 that turned an ordinary patrol encounter into a major local case.

Authorities say gunfire struck an occupied motorhome near Trail Creek in Bannock County before an armed search escalated into a nearly two-hour standoff. A thermal drone helped officers locate two men in a ravine, negotiators brought both into custody, and no one was hurt.

That outcome matters because the call gave responding officers little room for error. The first shots entered a home with a person inside. Later rounds were allegedly fired while law enforcement searched the rural area, and court records say one officer heard a bullet pass overhead. The case now moves into court, where the allegations and evidence will be tested.

Gunfire brought regional teams to Trail Creek

The latest court account says the incident began in the early morning of Sept. 2. The person inside the motorhome reportedly heard someone outside and then saw two or three rounds come through a window. The occupant was not injured.

Authorities identified the suspects as William Wayne Cronon, 58, and Gavin Ray Scollard, 44, both of Power County. Investigators say the two left the immediate area in a truck before officers arrived.

Law enforcement secured the scene and issued a temporary shelter-in-place order for nearby residents. Agencies involved in the response included the Bannock County Sheriff's Office, Pocatello Police Department, Chubbuck Police Department and Idaho State Police, along with emergency medical personnel and the Southeast Idaho Special Tactics and Response Team.

The broad response reflects a basic challenge in rural public safety. One dangerous call can quickly require personnel, technology and specialized skills from several neighboring jurisdictions. In this case, coordination gave officers options other than rushing blindly into difficult terrain.

A thermal drone changed the search

A drone equipped to detect heat signatures located two armed people in a ravine north of Trail Creek within about 20 minutes, according to the sheriff's account. The drone gave officers a view of the suspects' position while keeping deputies farther from direct exposure.

The situation remained dangerous. Court records allege that several rounds were fired as officers waited for more information from the drone. One filing says an officer heard a bullet whistle directly overhead before it struck somewhere behind him.

Authorities say one suspect later approached officers carrying what appeared to be a rifle. He initially refused repeated commands to drop it, then placed the weapon on the ground and surrendered. The sheriff's timeline says he was taken into custody at 3:12 a.m.

The second suspect remained near the vehicle with what drone operators believed was another rifle. The regional tactical team took over communications. After continued negotiation, canine support and illumination from the drone, the second man surrendered at 3:55 a.m. Officers reported finding two firearms and ammunition near the vehicle.

No injuries were reported among the motorhome occupant, the two suspects or responding personnel. Bannock County Sheriff Tony Manu called that a best-case outcome for a high-risk response and credited the patience and coordination of the participating agencies.

The charges still have to be proved

Court records cited in the latest report list Cronon on one count of discharging a weapon at an occupied home. Scollard is listed on one count of the same offense and one count of aggravated assault on certain personnel. Both men have been appointed public defenders.

Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for Sept. 15. Charges are allegations, and both men are presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the case in court. The available reports do not identify which man first approached officers or assign every alleged shot to a specific defendant.

Those limits matter. Public safety requires a forceful response when rounds enter an occupied home, but accountability also requires precision about what investigators know and what remains unproved.

The clearest fact from Trail Creek is the ending. Residents were warned, multiple agencies worked from the same plan, a drone reduced the need for a blind search, and officers waited for surrender. In a confrontation involving an occupied home and multiple firearms, patience was not passivity. It was how everyone came out alive.

Twenty-five years after 20-year-old Amber Hoopes disappeared from her grandparents' property near Idaho Falls, her case remains active and her family still does not know where she is. On Saturday, a survivor from another eastern Idaho kidnapping stood at the Bonneville County Courthouse and told her story publicly for the first time.

The pairing gave this year's Missing Persons Day a blunt contrast. Megan Lentz escaped and made it home in 2002. Hoopes, who vanished on Sept. 14, 2001, is still missing. Their families have lived with different endings to crimes that shook the same community less than a year apart.

Twenty-five years without an answer

Hoopes was staying with her grandparents when she disappeared in the middle of the night. The Bonneville County Sheriff's Office says the investigation remains active. Saturday's gathering came two days before the 25th anniversary of her disappearance.

Her aunt, Audra Burgener, told those gathered that the timing worked against the family from the beginning. Hoopes disappeared three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when national attention was fixed elsewhere. Burgener later helped establish an annual local day devoted to people who remain missing.

This year's observance brought Hoopes' parents, other families and law enforcement together outside the courthouse. Thunder Ridge High School's advanced choir performed, relatives described the young woman they knew before she vanished, and photographs of missing Idahoans put faces beside cases that can otherwise become numbers.

The formal recognition also carried a current purpose. Bonneville County commissioners and Idaho Falls Mayor Burtenshaw had signed a joint proclamation for the Sept. 12 event, describing Hoopes' disappearance as the case around which the local tradition developed. The sheriff's office said the day is meant to show victims' families that they have not been forgotten.

A survivor explains how she got home

Lentz was 14 when she and her two younger sisters slept outside on a trampoline on June 5, 2002. She said she awoke to a man standing over her, threatening her with a gun and forcing her to leave. She was taken to a house, restrained and assaulted.

What followed was a series of details she managed to notice under pressure. Lentz said she saw mail bearing the name Keith Hescock and memorized both the name and address. After hours of struggling, she broke her restraints, used a fire extinguisher to break a chain, forced open a hollow door and reached a telephone. She called her father's secretary, who worked nearby, and escaped from the house.

Lentz told the courthouse crowd that she had asked Hescock whether he knew what happened to Hoopes. He denied knowing. Authorities later treated Hescock as a primary suspect in the Hoopes investigation. He died by suicide during a police standoff after Lentz escaped, and Hoopes was never found.

For more than two decades, Lentz kept the details largely private. She said she chose to speak now because her survival could draw fresh attention to families who never received the homecoming hers did. Her account did not solve the older case, but it made the cost of an unresolved disappearance impossible to treat as an abstraction.

Idaho still has 183 active cases

Bonneville County Sheriff Sam Hulse told the gathering that 183 people are currently listed as missing across Idaho. He named other eastern Idaho cases, including David Butler, whose vehicle was found in the Snake River with his wife inside, and Darwin Vest, who disappeared from downtown Idaho Falls in 1999.

Hulse also connected missing-person work to practical law-enforcement capacity. He asked the public to remember unresolved cases when agencies seek updated crime-lab technology, because old evidence can become useful when better tools become available. For families, a laboratory upgrade is not an abstract budget item. It can be another chance to identify evidence, connect records or eliminate a dead end.

The national count is larger still. The National Crime Information Center has reported more than 83,000 active missing-person records. Each case differs, but the local message on Saturday was consistent: time does not erase the need for reliable records, public attention and investigators willing to revisit what is known.

The next useful fact still matters

A remembrance ceremony cannot produce the answer Hoopes' family has waited 25 years to receive. It can keep a case visible long enough for a witness to reconsider an old detail, for a record to be compared again or for improved technology to find what an earlier examination missed.

That is why Lentz's decision to speak carried weight beyond her own survival. She gave the community a firsthand account of what one remembered name, one address and one successful phone call could do. For Idaho's missing families, the hope is that someone else still holds a fact just as useful.

Broccoli sprouts grown in northern Idaho have been linked to a multistate Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 22 people and hospitalized two, according to federal health officials. The recall covers 215 shipping cases of sprouts from Evergreen Fresh Sprouts in Moyie Springs, including packages with use-by dates as late as Sept. 16.

The immediate job for Idaho households, restaurants and grocery stores is straightforward: check refrigerators and inventory, then discard or return any affected sprouts. The investigation is still open, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the true number of illnesses is likely higher than the confirmed count.

The dates Idaho shoppers need to check

The recalled product was sold without a brand name in clear plastic four-ounce zip bags. The printed UPC is 8 38796 00105 1. Affected packages carry use-by dates of Sept. 7, Sept. 9, Sept. 11, Sept. 14 or Sept. 16.

Evergreen said the broccoli sprouts were delivered to three distributors in Washington between Aug. 24 and Sept. 2. Federal officials said the product reached grocery stores, restaurants and food-service customers in Idaho, Montana and Washington, and may have traveled farther through additional distribution.

That means an expired date is not a reason to ignore the notice. A forgotten package can remain in a home refrigerator, and a restaurant or retailer may still have product or containers that touched it. Federal guidance says recalled sprouts should not be eaten, served or sold.

The Moyie Springs company stopped producing and distributing broccoli sprouts on Sept. 4 and said it is conducting a root-cause investigation. The recall announcement, posted Sept. 10, covers 215 cases, each containing six four-ounce bags.

An unopened package helped solve the link

The outbreak involves a strain called Salmonella Bovismorbificans. Illnesses began between July 7 and Aug. 26. Patients ranged in age from 2 to 87, with a median age of 48. Two people were hospitalized, and no deaths had been reported in the latest federal update.

Interviews supplied one of the clearest clues. All 19 patients interviewed by state and local health officials said they had eaten sprouts during the week before becoming ill. Seventeen specifically remembered eating broccoli sprouts.

Laboratory work then tightened the connection. Montana officials collected an unopened package from a sick person's home. Whole genome sequencing found that Salmonella in the package was the same strain found in people included in the outbreak. The company also said a third-party laboratory detected Salmonella in broccoli sprouts carrying the Sept. 16 use-by date.

Traceback work identified Evergreen Fresh Sprouts as the common grower. Federal investigators are still working to determine how the contamination occurred and whether any additional products are affected. This outbreak is being handled separately from another federal investigation involving recalled alfalfa sprouts.

The confirmed total may lag behind the outbreak itself. Many people recover without being tested, and the CDC says it can take three to four weeks to determine whether a reported illness belongs to an outbreak. The current count is therefore a floor, not necessarily the final number.

Families and food sellers have a short checklist

People who find an affected package should throw it away or return it to the place of purchase. They should also clean and sanitize refrigerator shelves, containers and other surfaces that may have touched the sprouts. Restaurants and retailers should remove the product from service and clean affected storage and preparation areas.

Salmonella illness commonly causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps within 12 to 72 hours after contaminated food is eaten. Symptoms usually last four to seven days. Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems face a greater risk of severe infection. Anyone who develops symptoms after eating the recalled sprouts should contact a health care provider.

The practical lesson is not complicated. Idaho families should be able to trust food on the shelf, and producers and sellers have a duty to move quickly when testing shows a danger. In this case, the strongest protection starts at home and behind the counter: identify the dates, remove the sprouts and clean anything they touched while investigators finish the work of finding the source.

A delivery person and several neighbors spotted an Idaho Falls home on fire before dawn Thursday, woke the sleeping family and helped everyone escape before firefighters searched the building, according to the Idaho Falls Fire Department.

The emergency call came at about 5:25 a.m. from East 25th Street. Dispatchers received a report that the garage was engulfed and people might still be inside. One neighbor helped a child out of the basement. Fire crews later confirmed that every family member had made it out, and no injuries were reported.

A warning came before the engines

Engine 4 arrived to find smoke and flames coming from the garage. By then, the delivery person and neighbors had already alerted the family and helped them leave the house.

The city did not identify the people who intervened or say how they first noticed the fire. It also did not report how many family members were in the home. What the official account does establish is the order of events: people nearby saw the danger, woke the occupants and helped clear the house before the first crew completed its search.

That early action mattered because firefighters were initially told that a family member might still be inside. Engine 4 entered with a hose line, worked to extinguish the fire and conducted a search. Crews found no one remaining in the residence.

Flames moved from the garage into the attic

The response grew as the fire spread. Engine 6 established a water supply for Engine 4, deployed another hose line and joined the attack as flames advanced into the attic. Engine 7 added a third line and fought the fire from outside along the attic and garage wall.

The department's account shows two jobs unfolding at once. Firefighters had to verify that the family was safe while also stopping a garage fire that was moving into the structure above it. The search ended with every occupant accounted for, while the hose teams continued working until the fire was out.

No injuries were reported among the residents or responders. Officials have not released a damage estimate.

Utility crews and chaplains handled the aftermath

After extinguishing the flames, crews performed overhaul and salvage work. That meant checking for remaining fire and taking steps to protect the family's belongings from further damage.

Idaho Falls Power and Intermountain Gas secured utilities at the property. Chaplains were also called to help the family relocate. Those details make clear that the emergency did not end when the visible flames disappeared. A household still had to find a safe place to stay while the property was secured and examined.

The cause and circumstances remain under investigation. The department has not said where in the garage the fire began, what ignited it or whether the home can be occupied again.

Ordinary people changed the first minutes

Fire protection is built around trained crews, equipment and fast dispatch. On East 25th Street, the first link in that chain was more ordinary: a delivery person and neighbors who noticed something was wrong and acted while a family slept.

The official outcome is unusually clean for a fire that reached an attic. Everyone escaped. A child made it out of the basement. Firefighters confirmed the home was empty. No one was hurt.

Investigators still have to determine what caused the fire, and the family still faces the loss and disruption left behind. But the central fact is already settled. Before sunrise, alert neighbors, a worker on the street and local responders turned a report of people possibly trapped inside a burning home into a safe evacuation.

People were running from a large Northwest Boise house party when police arrived early Labor Day. On the front porch, first responders found an adult man with a stab wound. They tried to save him, but he died.

The Boise Police Department said officers, firefighters and Ada County Paramedics were dispatched at about 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 7 to the 6000 block of North Duncan Lane. Detectives had not located a suspect when the department released its initial account later Monday, and they were asking people who left before talking with officers to call.

Police found a crowded scene on Duncan Lane

Police said their first investigation indicated that an altercation took place on the front porch and ended with the victim being stabbed. The department has not publicly said how many people were involved in that confrontation or what led to it.

Officers arrived to find people leaving the large party. A 17-year-old who identified herself to Idaho News 6 as a friend of the victim said she reached the home around 1:20 a.m. to pick him up along with some friends. She said more people continued arriving before the scene became chaotic.

That witness account offers a glimpse of the crowd in the minutes before police were called, but it does not answer the central questions. Police have not released a description of the person they are seeking, identified a possible motive or said whether a weapon was recovered.

The department said the scene was secure after the initial response. That means the immediate work at the house was under control, not that the broader investigation was finished.

Detectives are looking for people who left

Boise Police Violent Crimes Unit detectives are canvassing the surrounding area for witnesses and information. Their request is aimed specifically at anyone who was at the home before or during the stabbing but left without speaking to an officer.

Those people are being asked to contact Ada County Dispatch at 208-377-6790. The appeal includes partygoers who may not have seen the stabbing itself. Police asked for anyone who was present, which could help detectives establish the sequence of events and identify who was near the porch.

The timing makes those accounts especially important. Police described a large gathering, an altercation and people leaving as emergency crews arrived. Detectives now have to sort witness statements and other evidence into a reliable timeline. The department has not said how many witnesses have already been interviewed.

The public record remains limited

The Ada County Coroner had not identified the victim in the initial reports. Police said the name would be released after notification of next of kin. No arrest had been announced, and authorities had not released a suspect description as of the department's first statement.

Those gaps should remain gaps until investigators provide verified information. The official record supports a narrow set of facts: a confrontation occurred on a porch, an adult man was stabbed, first responders could not save him and investigators were still seeking a suspect and witnesses. It does not support assigning blame to anyone police have not identified.

That restraint matters in a case involving a crowded party. Rumors, names and images can move quickly through local social networks, while detectives still need firsthand accounts that can be checked against evidence. Sharing an unsupported accusation does not solve that problem. Giving police a direct account might.

Boise's next answers may come from the crowd

The first phase of the response moved quickly. Police, fire crews and paramedics reached the home, attempted life-saving measures, secured the scene and began canvassing. The next phase depends on reconstructing what happened before the stabbing and where the person responsible went afterward.

Detectives have not limited their appeal to a single eyewitness. They want to hear from people who were at the house before or at the time of the incident and left before officers could speak with them. That is the clearest practical step available to anyone connected to the gathering.

For Boise families, the stakes are direct. A holiday-night party ended with one man dead, a victim's identity withheld while relatives were notified and a violent-crime investigation still open. The public does not need speculation. Police need the people who were there to talk.

Boise police say a 22-year-old Caldwell woman killed in an Aug. 30 drive-by shooting was not the intended target. Two teenagers are now in custody, but detectives say the investigation into the attack at a crowded Clement Road house party remains open.

Police announced the arrests on Sept. 3, four days after officers and firefighters were called to the 3900 block of West Clement Road just before 6 a.m. The shooting left one woman dead, no other reported injuries and a neighborhood facing the aftermath of gunfire directed at an occupied home.

Police say the victim was not the target

Officers arriving at the residence found an adult woman with a gunshot wound on the front porch. Boise Fire crews and Ada County Paramedics attempted lifesaving measures, but she died at the scene. A local news report identified her as Destiny Gonzalez, 22, of Caldwell.

The home was being used as a short-term vacation rental, according to Boise Police. A large number of people were inside for a party when someone in a sedan-style vehicle fired multiple rounds at the residence. Officers secured the property, evacuated the occupants, cleared every room and began interviewing witnesses.

Detectives later said they did not believe Gonzalez was the intended target. Police said the available evidence suggests the shooter was aiming at the party or at one or more people attending it. Authorities have not publicly identified the suspected target or announced a motive.

That distinction is central to the case. A person standing outside a crowded home died even though, according to investigators, the gunfire was meant for someone else. It also means detectives still have to establish why the house was targeted and what led to the shooting.

Arrests stretched across the Treasure Valley

Boise Police identified the adult suspect as Ulisses Macareno, 18, of Meridian. Detectives obtained arrest warrants and took him into custody at a Meridian home with help from Meridian Police. He was booked into the Ada County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder by aiding and abetting.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested at a home in Caldwell with assistance from Caldwell Police and Nampa Police. He was booked into the Canyon County Juvenile Detention Center on a first-degree murder charge. His name has not been released because he is a juvenile.

Police allege that the 17-year-old fired the weapon and that Macareno drove the vehicle. Those statements describe the investigators' current evidence and the basis for the arrests. They are not findings of guilt. Both cases must proceed through the courts, where the allegations can be tested and the defendants retain the presumption of innocence.

The arrests also required coordination across Boise, Meridian, Caldwell and Nampa. Boise Police Chief Chris Dennison credited violent-crimes detectives for identifying the suspects and gathering evidence for the warrants. He also thanked the neighboring departments and community members who supplied information.

The case is not finished

An arrest answers who police believe was in the vehicle. It does not yet answer every question about the shooting. Authorities have not publicly explained the relationship, if any, between the suspects and the party, who they believe was targeted or what evidence connected each teenager to the attack.

The department's earlier appeal sought information, photos and video from people who attended the party, as well as rideshare drivers who made pickups or drop-offs nearby between 2:30 and 6 a.m. Police said investigators were canvassing the area for witnesses and recordings while following incoming tips.

The criminal charges now move the case into a more public accountability process. Prosecutors will have to present evidence supporting the allegations, defense attorneys can challenge that evidence and judges will determine how each case proceeds. Because one suspect is a juvenile, some information may remain limited under the rules governing juvenile matters.

For Gonzalez's family, the speed of the arrests cannot undo the loss. It does show that witness cooperation and fast work across four local police departments can move a violent case from an unanswered attack toward a courtroom. The remaining test is whether the evidence explains why a crowded Boise home was fired upon and delivers a lawful accounting for the young woman who was killed.

South of Kuna, a fast-moving grass fire grew into a 2,164.6-acre test of local firefighting speed, then produced the kind of rotating flame column that looks unreal on video. Crews contained the Cave Fire by 2 a.m. Thursday, less than a day after it was reported around 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26.

Video shared by the Kuna Rural Fire District showed a fire whirl rising from the burn. The spectacle drew attention, but the more important fact was on the ground: local departments, federal crews, aircraft and heavy equipment kept a wind-driven rangeland fire from continuing its run toward roads, property and the community.

The response was built for speed

The first incident reports placed the fire about four miles south of Kuna Butte on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In its early hours, the blaze moved through dry grass and sage while changing winds pushed the flame front in new directions. Officials reported that it was making active runs, the kind of behavior that can erase a comfortable distance quickly.

The initial attack reflected that risk. The response included four engines, two bulldozers, a helicopter, an air-attack aircraft, several retardant planes, an investigator and overhead command. Kuna Rural Fire, Melba Fire and Upper Deer Flat Fire joined the federal response. Ground crews cut dozer lines while engines and aircraft worked the active edges.

Authorities temporarily shut the Swan Falls Road corridor beginning at West Nicholson Road and extending toward the dam while equipment moved and aircraft worked overhead. Drivers were also told to stay away from West Warren Spur Road and Black Cat Road. Early updates reported no evacuation orders. By Wednesday evening, firefighters had stopped the blaze's forward movement. The road later reopened, and crews stayed to cool hot spots and strengthen the line around the burn.

The final mapped area was 2,164.6 acres. Containment came at 2 a.m. Thursday. Investigators had not announced an ignition cause in the latest incident updates.

The spinning column was not a normal tornado

A fire whirl forms when intense heat sends air and gases sharply upward and the rising column begins to rotate. That rotation can pull flames, ash and debris into a tight vertical spiral. Fire crews often call the phenomenon a fire devil or fire whirl. The popular name "firenado" is vivid, but most of these columns are not produced by a thunderstorm the way an ordinary tornado is.

Many fire whirls stay small. Larger ones can become a serious operational hazard because they concentrate heat, carry burning material and make the fire's next movement harder to read. The Kuna video mattered for more than its drama. It captured the kind of fast-changing behavior firefighters must recognize while they are already working around smoke, uneven ground, heavy machinery and shifting wind.

The Cave Fire did not need to become a true tornado-strength event to be dangerous. Its rapid growth, road closure and rotating flame column all happened during a response that lasted hours, not days. That is the practical lesson: open rangeland can move from ordinary summer scenery to a public-safety problem before most nearby residents have time to process the first smoke column.

Southwest Idaho was already on alert

The fire broke out while Stage 1 restrictions were in effect across much of southwestern Idaho, including Ada County. State and federal land managers imposed those rules Aug. 7 after rating wildfire danger as extreme in parts of the region. The restrictions limit wood and charcoal fires to approved permanent pits at developed sites and restrict smoking in flammable areas.

Those rules do not establish what started the Cave Fire. Its cause remained under investigation. They do show the conditions crews and residents were already facing before the first call came in: dry fuels, heavy public-land use and little room for carelessness.

The overnight containment was a concrete public-safety win. It came from a layered response, local departments that knew the ground, federal resources that arrived with air support, and residents who stayed off closed roads. The flames stopped. The responsibility does not. Until restrictions are lifted and conditions improve, one preventable spark can still put firefighters, ranch country and nearby homes back on the same clock.

Two men were arrested at Boise Airport on Aug. 24 in a federal case that prosecutors say took about $1.3 million from 26 women. Investigators allege one man presented himself as either a San Francisco 49ers player or a wealthy real estate investor, while the other posed as his financial adviser. The charges remain allegations, and both men are presumed innocent unless proved guilty in court.

Boise became the end point of a multistate case

Daejon Labrayae Love, 35, and Taylor Jamie Chan, 18, were charged by criminal complaint in federal court in Oregon. The complaint lists conspiracy and wire offenses tied to an alleged investment operation that authorities say began in February 2022.

Arrest warrants were issued Aug. 17. According to investigators, Chan flew from California to Idaho one week later to meet Love. Federal agents and other law enforcement officers then arrested both men at Boise Airport. Prosecutors said Love had come to Idaho seeking additional victims.

The investigation also traced Love's travel through New Mexico, California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Idaho between July 15 and Aug. 24. That broad path matters for Idaho public safety because investigators have already connected alleged losses in this state to claims made elsewhere.

Prosecutors describe a manufactured show of wealth

Court records cited by federal prosecutors say Love met most of the women through dating apps. He allegedly built romantic relationships while presenting an expensive lifestyle and claiming access to investments with unusually large returns. Chan allegedly supported those claims by acting as an adviser who could confirm that the opportunities were legitimate.

Investigators say the presentation went beyond conversation. Love allegedly used phone applications to display invented bank and investment balances. Prosecutors also describe screenshots of messages between the two men and three-person video calls in which supposed gains were shown to prospective investors.

Some women were allegedly encouraged to obtain personal loans when they did not have cash available. Authorities say communication ended after a woman ran out of money or pressed for answers. Among the victims interviewed, investigators found no one who reported receiving a return, repayment of principal or direct information for an account holding her money.

The known victim map includes Idaho

Financial records reviewed by investigators show about $1.3 million sent by 26 identified women in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and California, according to the federal release. The FBI believes the actual number of victims could be higher.

The government also says Love used several names, including Jon Love, Daejon Love, Avril Lyto Love and Jordan Love. Anyone who dealt with either defendant and has relevant information can contact the FBI through its online tip portal or by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI.

For Idaho families, the local arrest is the visible end of a case that prosecutors say was built through private messages, financial transfers and personal trust. It also shows why reporting matters. One loss may look isolated until law enforcement can connect names, accounts and travel across state lines.

Familiar warning signs wore an unusual costume

The claimed NFL career gives this case its headline, but the conduct described by investigators follows a more familiar pattern. A new romantic contact offers private investments, presents screenshots as evidence, promises rapid gains and asks for more money when the first transfer is gone.

The FBI separately advises people to be cautious when an online romantic contact claims access to exclusive investments or presses for a quick decision. The bureau tells potential victims to contact their financial institution promptly and report suspicious activity to federal investigators.

The Boise arrests do not decide guilt. They do show why investigators ask potential victims to preserve messages, payment records and account information. In a case that crosses several states, those records can help law enforcement connect one private loss to a broader pattern and pursue accountability.

When a rifleman opened fire outside a crowded Twin Falls restaurant Saturday, one of the first people to answer was not an on-duty officer. It was Jordan Salinas, a 35-year-old Kimberly resident carrying a handgun, alongside an off-duty Idaho State Police trooper who also returned fire.

Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks now credits the pair with pushing the attacker away from the restaurant and keeping the casualty count from climbing. Three victims were killed, seven people were wounded, and the gunman later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to updated accounts from local authorities.

Return fire redirected the gunman

Officers were dispatched at about 2:29 p.m. on Aug. 1 after reports of an active shooter near the In-N-Out Burger in Canyon Park West. The restaurant sits in a busy commercial area, and witnesses described customers, employees and drivers scrambling for cover as a man carrying a rifle moved through the property.

Police identified the gunman as 24-year-old Chad Williams. Investigators believe he acted alone, but they had not announced a motive or determined whether any victim was deliberately targeted as of Sunday.

Salinas was at the restaurant with his girlfriend when the shooting began. Reporting based on an interview with him says he drew the pistol he was carrying and fired toward Williams. An off-duty state trooper also engaged the gunman. Authorities have not publicly named the trooper.

The distinction matters: officials have not said either man wounded Williams. Police said Williams died by suicide near the restaurant. What the return fire did, according to Hicks, was divert the attacker from the crowded business while customers and workers escaped.

Three victims died and seven were wounded

The updated toll includes three people killed by the attacker and seven others injured. One of those killed worked at the restaurant. Officials were still handling family notifications before releasing full victim information.

By Sunday afternoon, two injured people remained in critical condition, three were stable, and two had been treated and released. Police, firefighters, paramedics and officers from surrounding agencies converged on a scene Hicks described as chaotic, with hundreds of witnesses in or near the shopping area.

Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson praised the armed resident and the off-duty trooper, saying their actions saved lives. Hicks offered the same basic assessment: the two people already on scene interrupted the attack before the full law enforcement response could take control.

Salinas had trained for an emergency

Salinas was identified through an interview published after the shooting. He is a health care worker and the full-time caregiver for his wheelchair-using brother. He said he began firearms training after a 2021 shooting made him think seriously about how he would respond to violence.

That preparation became practical in seconds. He identified the threat, returned fire, and stopped once on-duty officers took over. The sequence is important for public safety because an armed response can create additional confusion unless the person acting also knows when to hand the scene back to police.

The local officials praising Salinas were not making a broad political argument. They were describing a specific result in a specific parking lot. A resident and an off-duty trooper drew the attacker's attention away from families and workers who were trying to get out.

Investigators still need a motive

Williams' family has cooperated with investigators, according to police. Detectives are tracing his movements before the shooting, reviewing witness video and trying to determine why he chose the restaurant. The FBI is assisting and has opened a digital portal for photos, videos and other evidence.

Counseling resources were made available Sunday for people directly affected by the attack, with officials working to extend support through the week. That work will continue alongside the criminal investigation and the recovery of those still hospitalized.

Twin Falls still faces a devastating loss. It also has a confirmed account of what happened in the gap before on-duty officers arrived: one prepared resident and one off-duty trooper confronted a rifleman, redirected him from a crowded restaurant, and then yielded the scene to police. Investigators still have to explain why the attack began. Local officials have already said why it did not become worse.

Twin Falls woke Sunday to a public-safety investigation centered on one of the city's busiest commercial corridors. At least three people were reported dead and at least five injured after gunfire erupted Saturday afternoon near the In-N-Out Burger on Blue Lakes Boulevard North. Police separately confirmed that the suspected shooter had died and said residents were no longer facing an active threat.

Before a police briefing scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, officials had not released the victims' names, the suspected shooter's identity or a possible motive. They also cautioned that the casualty count remained subject to change as hospitals, witnesses and investigators reconciled a chaotic scene.

Police are still fixing the basic timeline

Twin Falls police received the initial active-shooter call at about 2:29 p.m. Saturday. Officers from the city and surrounding agencies converged on the shopping district near the restaurant and Twin Falls Visitor Center, while fire crews, paramedics and medical staff began treating and transporting patients.

Police Chief Matthew Hicks said Saturday evening that the suspected shooter was dead and that investigators believed the danger to the wider community had ended. The official city alert confirmed fatalities and multiple transports to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center but did not post a final count. Local and national reporting later put the toll at at least three dead and at least five injured. Officials had not clarified whether the shooter was included among the three fatalities.

In-N-Out President Lynsi Snyder said one of the company's employees was among those killed. Police had not publicly explained how the suspected shooter died, and they had not released the names of any victims by early Sunday.

A busy corridor drew a regional response

The shooting unfolded in a north Twin Falls district packed with restaurants, hotels, national retailers and travelers headed toward the Perrine Bridge. Police said potentially hundreds of people were nearby, leaving investigators with a large witness pool and a sprawling scene to process.

Saturday's response included Twin Falls officers and personnel from neighboring communities, Idaho State Police, local fire departments and Magic Valley Paramedics. Federal resources also joined the work. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was assisting, and the FBI said it had offered support to local law enforcement.

Authorities temporarily closed nearby roads and the Perrine Bridge while officers secured the area. The bridge later reopened, but the city said late Saturday that the immediate area around the restaurant and visitor center remained closed for evidence work.

Police asked anyone with firsthand information who has not already spoken with investigators to call dispatch at 208-735-4357. That request matters in a case where hundreds of short observations, phone videos and business-camera records may help establish the sequence of events.

Officials are warning Idahoans away from rumor

Twin Falls officials directly warned residents about false claims circulating online, especially claims about the suspected shooter's identity. Police said the identity and motive remained under investigation and asked people not to turn unverified posts into accepted fact.

Gov. Brad Little asked Idahoans to keep the Twin Falls community in their prayers, follow law enforcement directions and avoid the area while first responders worked. He also expressed gratitude for the speed of Idaho's emergency response. Sen. Mike Crapo likewise thanked first responders as the investigation unfolded.

Neither police nor state leaders announced a policy response Saturday. Their public messages focused on scene safety, support for families, respect for investigators and accurate information. For a community confronting sudden violence, those are the first requirements of public order.

Sunday's briefing carries the next accountability test

The scheduled Sunday news conference is expected to address the questions left open overnight: the confirmed number of victims, their conditions, whether the reported death toll includes the shooter, the gunman's identity, a possible motive and the events that ended the attack. Police may also provide a clearer account of the first calls and multi-agency response.

Those facts matter to grieving families, injured residents, nearby businesses and the officers who entered an uncertain scene. They also matter to every Idaho community that relies on local law enforcement and emergency medicine when ordinary places turn dangerous without warning.

The immediate picture is already firm enough to report. First responders converged quickly, patients reached the hospital, the suspected shooter died and police lifted the wider public threat. The harder work now is giving families confirmed answers without letting rumor become the record.

The Claremont Fire has turned a fast-moving blaze in the Boise Foothills into a public-safety test for neighborhoods, trail users and fire crews. By Wednesday morning, officials put the fire at about 4,800 acres, with Boise County evacuation orders still active and containment projected for Sunday evening.

Evacuation orders moved into Boise County

The strongest warning was in the Rocky Canyon area, where the Boise County Sheriff's Office moved zone RC-06 to Level 3, or Go. Residents leaving the area were told to head toward the highway rather than Ridge Road.

Tollgate-area zones RC-01, RC-02 and RC-04 remained at Level 2, or Set, which means residents should be packed and ready to leave quickly if conditions change. The Red Cross opened an evacuation shelter at Eagle Christian Church's Surprise Valley campus in Boise, and the Idaho City Rodeo Grounds was made available for livestock.

That is the practical edge of this fire. It is families loading vehicles, ranchers thinking about animals, trail users being cleared out and firefighters trying to keep flames away from homes while roads and ridgelines change by the hour.

Crews strengthened the line overnight

Fire crews worked through Tuesday night and reported significant progress by Wednesday morning. Wildland fire officials said a burnout operation from Boise Ridge Road to Rocky Canyon Road strengthened part of the containment line. The day's work was expected to focus on holding those lines, mopping up hot spots and securing the areas where burnout work had been done.

The first city update on Monday put the fire near 2,000 acres northeast of North Claremont Drive. Boise Fire said the initial call came in around 1:30 p.m., crews responded with a large multi-unit response and several structures that were threatened early in the incident were no longer considered threatened at that point.

The city also used Wireless Emergency Alerts and CodeRED notifications to tell people to stay away from the area, including the Hulls Gulch Trail System, the Military Reserve trail network and Mountain Cove Road. Boise Fire said multiple aircraft were assisting crews and that the department was working in unified command with the Bureau of Land Management as the fire moved farther onto BLM land.

Old hazards made the fight harder

One complication is not obvious from a distance. Boise Fire said parts of the Military Reserve still contain unexploded military ordnance from the area's historic training use, which limits where firefighters can safely go. That forced crews to work with partner agencies and adjust suppression tactics around ground they could not simply walk into.

Officials also warned that wildfire conditions remain elevated, with extremely dry foothills and vegetation that can move fire quickly. The Boise National Forest alerts page listed very high fire danger for the Snake River and Foothills area and high fire danger in the Boise Mountains.

That is why this story carries a public-order lesson beyond one incident map. In the foothills, one careless spark can become a taxpayer response, a property threat and a county evacuation problem within hours. Local control only works when the public does its part: stay out of closed areas, obey alerts, avoid spark-producing activity and give crews room to work.

The next test is holding ground

If the containment projection holds, the Claremont Fire could be contained by Sunday evening. Until then, the important number is not just acres burned. It is whether crews can keep the line intact, whether evacuated residents can return safely and whether the next dry afternoon brings another ignition.

The foothills are one of Boise's defining features. Keeping them safe is not just a fire-agency job. It is a local discipline job.

State fire officials say someone deliberately set the Payette County wildfire that broke out beside westbound Interstate 84 near milepost 15, turning what first looked like a windy farm-field fire into a public safety case with unanswered questions. The fire stayed under 100 acres and no homes were damaged, but the lesson for rural Idaho is hard to miss: in dry wind, one roadside ignition can put firefighters, deputies, motorists and families into a fast-moving risk no local community should have to absorb.

Firefighters stopped a bad day from getting worse

The wildfire was reported in a farm field along the westbound side of I-84 in rural Payette County. The Idaho State Fire Marshal's Office said Sand Hollow Fire District crews were dispatched at about 4:30 p.m. as a sudden windstorm moved through the area. Early callers reported flames coming from discarded drip tape, an irrigation material used in farming.

Once the wind hit, the fire moved into dry vegetation. A Sand Hollow bulldozer arrived quickly and helped separate the burning material while crews from Sand Hollow and neighboring departments worked the fire line. The response kept the burn area below 100 acres, according to state fire officials.

That matters beyond one field. Payette County sits in the kind of working rural landscape where roads, farms, homes and open ground can all share the same wind. A fire that starts beside the interstate can become a property problem, a traffic problem and a family safety problem in minutes. The fact that no homes were damaged is a credit to the local response, not proof that the risk was small.

The investigation now runs through passing traffic

State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl determined the fire was intentionally set, and investigators are asking for help from people who were on westbound I-84 near milepost 15 shortly before the fire began. They are looking for details about vehicles, people or unusual activity in the area.

This is where public safety gets local and practical. A driver who saw something odd may not know it mattered at the time. A farmer, a commuter or a trucker may have one detail that helps investigators narrow the timeline. State officials are asking those people to contact the arson hotline rather than assume someone else already called.

The case also shows why roadside fires deserve more attention than a short burst of smoke on the evening commute. Firefighters can contain a blaze, but accountability depends on witnesses, timely tips and residents who treat rural arson as a real threat to property and public order.

Rural Idaho pays when fire is treated casually

This fire did not become a disaster. That is the good news. The warning is that it could have, because dry vegetation, farm material and strong wind do not leave much margin for error. Idaho communities rely on local fire districts to move fast, often across long stretches of road and open land, when conditions turn.

For taxpayers, that response is not abstract. Every avoidable fire pulls people, equipment and public money toward a preventable emergency. For families along rural roads, it means one reckless act can turn an ordinary afternoon into evacuation worries, highway disruption and a call for help from volunteers and neighboring departments.

The state is now asking the public to help finish what firefighters started. They kept the flames from reaching homes. Investigators still need to know who lit the fire, why it started where it did and whether anyone on the interstate saw the missing piece.

Southern Idaho ranchers are facing a felony investigation that begins with dead cattle and ends with a harder question for rural Idaho: who is willing to shoot livestock in open grazing country and leave families to absorb the loss?

The Idaho State Brand Inspector's Office and local sheriff's offices say cattle have been shot in remote areas across Gooding, Jerome, Jefferson and Payette counties. Officials have confirmed at least three unlawful killings, while eight deaths total remain under investigation as authorities look for patterns and possible suspects.

What investigators say happened

State brand officials said recent reports include multiple incidents near Wendell in Gooding County, additional incidents in Jerome, Jefferson and Payette counties, and a new report of another cow shot overnight. The confirmed unlawful killings are part of a broader review of suspicious cattle deaths across southern Idaho.

The cases are not all identical. In several, portions of the animals were butchered. In others, cattle were left where they died. Officials said several of the animals were cows with calves, which turns a property crime into a direct hit on a ranch family, its herd and the work needed to keep an operation running.

Cody Burlile, Idaho's state brand inspector, said the losses are already in the thousands of dollars. He also said some animals appear to have suffered before they died. That detail matters because the case is not only about missing beef or damaged balance sheets. It is about public safety, private property and whether rural families can trust that remote grazing ground will be protected by the same basic rule of law as a storefront or a driveway.

Why ranch families are watching closely

Idaho treats the malicious killing or destruction of livestock as a felony, and officials said additional charges could apply depending on the facts. The Brand Inspector's Office is working with the Gooding County Sheriff's Office, the Jerome County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies to identify whoever is responsible.

For ranchers, the damage is practical and immediate. Cattle represent months or years of feed, breeding, care and weather risk. When a cow with a calf is shot, the loss can reach beyond one animal. It can mean a calf that needs attention, a herd disrupted, and a family business forced to spend time and money on a crime scene instead of the work that pays the bills.

That is the Idaho texture of this story. It is not an abstract debate about crime. It is a test of whether law enforcement, brand inspectors and rural neighbors can close the gap between wide-open land and accountability. The people who know those roads, gates and draws may be the ones who saw what investigators need.

What could break the case

Officials said many of the shootings happened in remote grazing areas where hunters, recreational shooters, off-highway vehicle users and other outdoor recreationists may have been nearby. Investigators are asking for reports of suspicious vehicles, gunfire, unusual activity around livestock or people handling cattle carcasses.

Tips can go to the State Brand Inspector's Office at 208-884-7070 or ContactBrands@isp.idaho.gov. Information also can be provided to local law enforcement. The Idaho Cattle Association is offering a reward for tips that lead to an arrest and prosecution.

For now, the case sits in the uncomfortable space between rural trust and rural vulnerability. Idaho's grazing country depends on fences, brands, neighbors and consequences. If someone is shooting cattle and walking away, the answer cannot be a shrug. It has to be a name, a charge and a message that ranch families are not on their own.

An almost 500 acre ranch just outside Rathdrum has quietly come to market for $14.9 million, and it is the kind of North Idaho property that does not come around often. The land rolls between open meadow and standing timber, with mountain views in nearly every direction and year-round Rathdrum Creek cutting straight through the middle of it. Power is already run to the site, and the whole ranch is held together as one connected block of close to 500 acres.

It is beautiful ground, but the reason this ranch matters has more to do with what runs under it than what sits on top.

Self-Sufficiency Starts And Ends With Water

Strip self-sufficiency down to its foundation and you arrive at water. You cannot grow your own food, raise your own animals, or live independent of the grid without a secure water supply that nobody can switch off. This ranch has that locked in. Five registered water rights, multiple wells, and a year-round creek running through the property mean the single hardest part of living off your own land is already solved.

If that sounds like a fringe concern, look at who has quietly been making the same bet. Michael Burry, the investor who saw the 2008 housing collapse coming before almost anyone on Wall Street and made a fortune betting against it, has spent the years since putting his money into water, and specifically into the water-rich farmland that controls it. At the end of The Big Short, the film about the 2008 financial crisis, a famous placard states: “Michael Burry is focusing all of his trading on one commodity: Water.” The man who was right when the entire financial world was wrong looked at what comes next and decided water was the prize.

Here is why he is right. You can buy land almost anywhere in this country, but you cannot buy water. Water rights in the West are the one asset nobody is making more of. They are senior, they are finite, and they get fought over in courtrooms for decades. A family can own thousands of acres and still sit completely at the mercy of whoever controls the water upstream. This ranch owns its own, and that is what separates a place you can truly live on from a place you simply hold. That same secured water is what makes the ground genuinely build-ready, because in a county growing this fast nobody raises new homes without water that is already in hand.

Americans Are Voting With Their Feet

None of this is happening in a vacuum. People are moving to North Idaho on purpose, and they are moving fast. Kootenai County is now the third-largest county in the state and one of the fastest-growing corners of the entire country. According to U.S. Census Bureau data and Idaho Department of Labor figures, Kootenai and the state’s two other large counties have added more than 109,000 residents since 2020, with that growth driven overwhelmingly by Americans leaving other states and choosing Idaho instead.

Here is the part that should light a fire under anyone still thinking about it. Idaho now has the second-fastest population growth of any state in the nation, trailing first-place South Carolina by a single tenth of a percentage point. At the current pace, Idaho is on track to take the top spot outright, and the best ground is being claimed right now while the window is still open. The people who wait will be buying from the people who did not.

The Tax Bill Says It All

Here is the number that makes the case by itself. The annual property tax on this $14.9 million listing comes to roughly $1,960. Read that again! Try owning anything close to it in California or Washington and watch what the tax bill does to your family. Idaho rewards ownership instead of punishing it, and that is not luck, it is policy. It is also exactly why the moving trucks keep coming.

Room For A Family, Or A Whole Community

The zoning tells its own story. Rural Residential with a five-acre minimum, spread across seven legal parcels, means this ranch is far more than one rich man’s view lot. It can be carved into a development, with a clear path to new lots in one of the hottest housing markets in the country. It can become a family compound. It can put three generations on the same secure ground. It can be split among like-minded families who want to build something lasting and self-reliant. Or a buyer can simply hold it and wait, because hard ground with senior water rights in the fastest-growing stretch of the Inland Northwest is not a gamble. In a region filling up this quickly, it is one of the safest hard assets a buyer can hold.

A Mindset The Country Forgot

There is a way of living out here that much of the country has forgotten. Take care of your own, grow your own, and store your own. Lean on your land and your family long before you lean on a fragile supply chain or a city that cannot keep its own lights on. A ranch like this is built for exactly that, with water that does not shut off, power already on site, and room to raise animals, grow food, and put down roots that will outlast whatever comes next.

The smart money figured this out years ago, and everyone else is just now catching up. Property like this does not sit forever, and the people buying it are not tourists. They are Americans who decided that freedom was worth relocating for, and they are planting flags on ground they fully intend to keep.

The ranch sits at 7350 W Willadsen Rd in Rathdrum. It came to market in February and is listed through Congress Realty on the Coeur d’Alene MLS. At right around $30,000 an acre, it is priced for the kind of buyer who understands exactly what they are getting: land, water, and a foothold in the part of the country that still works the way America was meant to.

For the full listing and additional details, see the property here,
Serious inquiries can reach the owner, Dr. Lorna Finman, directly at lornalcf@gmail.com.