The Idaho Statesman (Sunday)
‘The land that time forgot’: Boise island in ownership duel
Christopher Burdge, 72, has dubbed a stretch of Boise property adjacent to Warm Springs Golf Course “the land that time forgot.” And despite its location along the popular Greenbelt, he seems to be correct. A 2.78-acre piece of land near Warm Springs...
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At last, Boise shelter is about ready to open its doors
More than 20 years ago, a man froze to death on the Boise streets, and religious leaders vowed that it would never happen again. They started to organize, setting up beds in their houses of worship. Ultimately, they founded the Interfaith Sanctuary, a...
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‘Nuisance’ turkeys in Boise’s North End delay the mail
The growing number of wild turkeys living in Boise’s North End and nearby neighborhoods has created a problem: The birds are attacking mail carriers, causing the U.S Postal Service to skip delivery at some homes and on streets where the animals are...
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State leaders criticize Trump order on marijuana
State Rep. Marco Erickson says he has seen the danger of marijuana use firsthand. A 46-year-old Republican representing Idaho Falls, Erickson grew up in a family whose members struggled with drug addictions. He then spent decades working at an...
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Prisoners help restore Boise Foothills with sagebrush
At 77 years old, Loyd has been in prison for nearly a decade. He has learned there are three ways to spend that time behind bars: sleeping, working or ending up in solitary confinement — or “the hole.” He has tried to spend his time being productive,...
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Idaho’s Afghans face uncertainty as Trump targets immigrants
Eddie Hamdard moved to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 2014 to build a new life. After helping support the U.S. military for several years in the western part of his home nation, he accepted a guarantee out for he and his family as one of many Afghans...
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Nez Perce Tribe, company join to return CA condor to Idaho
Idaho residents may have a glimpse of the past when they look to the skies thanks to a partnership between a local tribe and a “de-extinction” company that plans to reintroduce a species that hasn’t been seen in the wild here in centuries. The Nez...
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Could the iconic moving sign on Vista be a local landmark?
a busy avenue stretching from the airport to downtown, Betty the Washerwoman is always doing chores. Her animatronic post-world War II body repetitively washes clothes day in and day out, high above the passing cars near the intersection of Vista...
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Without board vote, Ada library designates book adults-only
In a small basement room, under a low ceiling lined with white Christmas lights, four members of a library board huddled around a table. The board, like many others in the wake of a 2024 Idaho law governing library materials deemed “harmful to minors,”...
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15 immigrants released from custody after Idaho raid
and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a mother of three U.S. citizens during the FBI and ICE raid at a Wilder racetrack, according to court filings. The mother had lived in the U.S. for 21 years and had an active visa petition for permanent...
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3rd generation of 120-year-old Boise business looks to future
If you’ve driven on Boise’s State Street lately, you might have noticed that an iconic local business has gotten a facelift. Capital Lumber, which has been around for 120 years and at its location on State Street for about the past 70, recently got a...
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Idaho’s Mike Crapo defends approach to Epstein files release
Idaho’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Mike Crapo, is uniquely positioned to help decide what documents are unearthed and released concerning Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious wealthy financier federally indicted on charges of sex trafficking dozens of...
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Several unanswered questions remain on ICE raid in Wilder
information continues to trickle in about the law enforcement raid at a horse track in Wilder, Idaho, frequented by the Latino community, as more court records are released. But several questions about the arrests, the type of force used against...
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Disabled students still lack access despite funding push
At an elementary school in southwest Boise, in the fall of 2020, children in pre-k went to their recess on the playground, laughing and climbing ladders to reach the slide. One 3-year-old boy sat on the sidelines. The loose woodchips prevented the...
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State failing to protect women inmates from staff sexual abuse
Editor’s note: The article discusses sexual assault. “Guarded by Predators” is a new investigative series exposing rape and abuse by Idaho’s prison guards and the system that shields them. Find the entire series at...
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‘Battle zone’: Damages from Valley Fire cost tens of thousands
Greg Kaltenecker was just barely awake on Oct. 4, 2024, when the calls started coming in. It was 6:30 a.m. The Valley Fire had started. “It was like going into a battle zone or something,” Kaltenecker said by phone, describing the scene he later saw....
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Drivers struggling as traffic on Idaho 55 worse than ever
Tori Doell, 64, calls Garden Valley her “happy place.” Ever since she was a college student, she has driven there from Boise — pretty much any weekend she could. Doell said she could always count on the area’s natural beauty to melt away the week’s...
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Nez Perce Tribe files suit to stop Central Idaho gold mine
A Native American tribe with historical treaty rights to federal lands in Central Idaho sued the U.S. Forest Service to stop an expansive gold and antimony mine that would restrict access and pose environmental contamination risks to the region’s...
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Idaho’s last Planned Parenthood explains the services it provides
Sean, a 56-year-old Boise man, sat in one of Planned Parenthood’s exam rooms in Meridian as he waited for his prescription. When he came out as bisexual last year, he and his wife decided to pursue a type of open relationship. As Sean began having...
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Meridian developer plans ‘urban luxury’ project
Imagine, in Meridian: Nestled between a sleek six-story hotel and pool-topped apartment buildings, young professionals and families mill about an outdoor plaza. Some stop in bodegas, restaurants and shops, or hit the gym. Others grab tacos from food...
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Could Boise rail carry passengers, too? Study offers ideas
If you’ve sat in afternoon gridlock on the I-184 Connector or waded through a sea of brake lights on the freeway in Meridian, you may have wondered: What if I could take the train? It’s long been a dream of transit advocates and some Boise-area...
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INSIDE THE SEARCH
NOV. 13, 2022: MULTIPLE HOMICIDE REPORTED Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne arrived at a white, threestory house in a neighborhood off the University of Idaho’s campus in Moscow on Nov. 13, 2022. It was two hours after a 22-year-old rookie patrol officer...
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How Idaho businesses are paying for Trump’s tariffs
Small businesses in Idaho say they’re bearing the brunt of a slew of new taxes imposed by President Donald Trump on goods imported from other countries. And though the state hasn’t seen as much of an impact as other parts of the U.S., a national...
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How Idaho schools repeatedly break federal disability laws
KThis article was produced for Propublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Idaho Statesman. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. ali Larsen sat at her desk at Fruitland Elementary School in...
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JUDGE SET THE TONE
Last fall, Steven Hippler entered his Boise courtroom for the first time after taking over the University of Idaho student homicide case, folded his black-robed arms and introduced himself to the national audience he knew was following along. He...
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‘THERE IS A CAREGIVER CRISIS’
From 8 a.m. until late at night, Nathan Hill performs countless tasks for his 16-yearold son, Brady. Some of the tasks are small — things most people “take for granted that our kids can do,” Hill said, like popping Brady’s pimples when he gets acne...
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‘SINCERE ATTEMPT TO SEEK JUSTICE’
At noon on a Sunday in November 2022, police dispatched to a Moscow home near the University of Idaho campus after a report of an unresponsive person, but the officer soon suspected it was a homicide — and not just one, but three more. At the top of...
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Kohberger’s former friends, peers react to plea deal
Childhood friends of Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in November 2022, have tracked his murder case from afar and said they felt shocked the former Pennsylvania resident suddenly...
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Idaho is headed for a bad fire season. Are we prepared to pay for it?
It’s only June, but the outlook is grim for this year’s fire season. Much of the Northwest is in drought. Idaho’s snowback has melted faster, brush has been drier, and temperatures have been higher than usual, said Jim Wallmann, a meteorologist at...
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New medical association leader discusses Idaho maternal care
A little over year ago, a new report revealed that more than one in five obstetricians had stopped practicing in Idaho since the state’s near-total abortion ban took effect in August 2022. Health care leaders said the law had a chilling effect and...
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Idaho prison housed drunken driver with violent offender
Milo Warnock could have been released from prison by July. His fourth DUI had put him in the Department of Correccellmates, tion’s custody in its prison complex south of Boise, with a twoyear minimum sentence. But his decision to hold prescribed pills...
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Boise Democrat Monica Church aims to defy party labels
Rep. Monica Church grew up fishing, backpacking and birdhunting with her grandfather, four-term Democratic Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus. He was the one who taught her, his oldest grandchild, how to drive a car and operate a boat. “We were beyond close,”...
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New book chronicles deadly 1979 Idaho Forest Service crash
Charlie Dietzfor former U.S. Forest Service smokejumper Wayne Williams, the best part of reading an Idaho author’s recent book was finding out what happened to the dog at the end. Williams was one of the first responders who helped rescue survivors,...
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‘IT’S LIFE OR DEATH’
Gregory Bastos remembers being kidnapped along with a friend and beaten by Venezuelan forces for his political activism, not knowing whether he would die. The experience was traumatizing, he said, sitting at a cafe in downtown Boise with his wife,...
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Religion is part of Boise State football. Is there coercion?
Deep in the bowels of State Farm Stadium, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson and a group of his players shuffled into a concrete-walled space that had been converted into a makeshift press conference room. The Broncos were fresh off a 31-14 loss...
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Bullets, ‘panic’ at water park: Families break silence
Danielle Higley was in line at the concessions stand at Roaring Springs Waterpark in Meridian one Thursday afternoon last August when she heard a loud noise coming from the interstate. A man behind her suggested that a car had backfired, but then the...
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He led trauma care at one of Idaho’s biggest hospitals. NOW, HE’S SUING
When Dr. Parker Fillmore was dismissed from Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in late 2023, he was barred from getting another job in the Boise area because of a noncompete agreement he’d signed years earlier. Fillmore, a trauma surgeon, is now...
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Radon gas in homes adds to lung cancer risks in Boise
Mold. Dust. Houses sinking into the ground. Hazardous Homes is a 2025 occasional series by the Idaho Statesman on problems in new Treasure Valley homes that may affect human health and safety. There’s an invisible killer in Idaho, and it comes from...
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Jordan Redman: GOP’S ‘rising star’ behind controversial bills
Jordan Redman was late for an Idaho House committee meeting. The chairman, Rep. John Vander Woude, R-nampa, called the morning Health and Welfare Committee meeting to order that day in March, with one member short. He paused, noticing the Coeur...
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Boise disregards Idaho law banning LGBTQ+ Pride flag display
Idaho Gov. Brad Little on April 3 signed a law banning government entities, including cities, from flying non-“official” flags on their property. In lawmakers’ debates over the bill, supporters shared pictures of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag outside Boise’s...
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Former Idaho US attorney will work on Kohberger prosecution
A former U.S. attorney for Idaho has joined the team prosecuting Idaho college student homicide defendant Bryan Kohberger. Josh Hurwit, 44, chosen by former President Joe Biden for his prior role, left the appointed position in February in the...
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Critics say camping-ban bill fails to address homelessness
Celia Harrison’s morning routine might sound familiar to other 69-year-olds: She makes coffee, takes her nutritional supplements and empties the trash before getting organized for her day. Some days, she does leg lifts and aerobic exercises. But her...
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Cumo mine project OK to move ahead in Boise National Forest
The U.S. Forest Service last week issued its final approval of a mining project near Boise that opponents say could threaten water and wildlife. On Thursday, a cadre of Idaho environmental groups spoke out against the approval of the Cumo Exploration...
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Idaho’s grocery sales tax remains, but tax credit expands
Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Thursday signed a $50 million expansion of the state’s grocery tax credit, marking another session without a successful removal of the sales tax on groceries. Idaho lawmakers since at least 2007 have proposed no longer taxing...
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Historic downtown Boise building is getting a restoration
Jade Stacey has done a painstakingly masterful job of restoring the facade and the second floor of the Smith Block Building, considered the last remaining undeveloped property in downtown Boise. Stacey was able to preserve wood trim, lath and plaster...
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‘ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY’
Amber Paskett had worked at Axiom Fitness in Meridian for roughly three months when she witnessed what she said was a 3-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by another young child in the gym’s child care center. Paskett told the Idaho Statesman that...
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DOGE cuts threaten parks, forests in Idaho, fired workers say
Hayley Pines thought it was a bad sign when, at the start of the month, she received an email notifying her that her name had been included on a list of federal employees still in their probationary period. Rumors had swirled that President Donald...
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‘CHOOSE EACH OTHER EVERY DAY’
While visiting Flying M Coffee, one of their favorite downtown Boise haunts, Chelsea Gaona-lincoln pretended to go to the gift shop before returning to her table with Van Beechler-lincoln carrying a personalized flipbook that told the story of their...
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$13B IN IDAHO GOLD
Kneeling beside a stream 30 miles north of Mccall in late August, Emmit Taylor Jr. watched two Chinook salmon scull upstream. The fish were at the terminus of a remarkable journey from the Pacific Ocean to the inland Northwest, and had returned to...
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The Boise hangar that collapsed, killed 3 is going back up
One year after the deadly Jackson Jet Center hangar collapse at the Boise Airport killed three and injured nine, the building is going back up. The Jan. 31 collapse spawned national headlines and a federal investigation, which found that Big D...
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Kohberger defense argues to exclude DNA evidence from trial
Police investigating the Moscow college student homicides did not obtain search warrants in their handling of DNA from the crime scene — the critical, and perhaps only, piece of evidence that ties suspect Bryan Kohberger to the victims — and efforts to...
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Idaho woman who fought for gay marriage decries new challenge
Ten years ago, Sue Latta fought to have her marriage recognized legally in Idaho. It’s her name on the lawsuit, Latta v. Otter, that officially legalized same-sex marriage in Idaho in October 2014, months before the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex...
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Democrats reconsider tactics in Republican-controlled Idaho
Their votes were standard procedure, for the sake of decorum and longer-term strategy. But they jarred some reliable constituents, and prompted reflections about Democratic tactics in deep-red Idaho. At the first House committee meeting of the year,...
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Six issues to watch as Idaho Legislature returns
Idaho lawmakers are preparing to head back to the Capitol for the upcoming legislative session next week, and this year, you can expect to see proposals reflecting a Legislature that has shifted even further to the right. The Republican supermajority...
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Sons of executed Idaho prisoner Rick Leavitt found guilty of rapes
An Idaho man whose father was executed in 2012 — the most recent prisoner put to death by the state — will spend up to 50 years in prison for grooming and sexually assaulting a high school girl, his third time behind bars for a sex crime. Travis...
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Life without cellphones in school?
Jack Stone, a senior and member of the student council at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, says he’s not much of a “phone guy.” Like the rest of his classmates in the semester since the West Ada School District rolled out its new cellphone ban,...
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‘Nobody thinks it’s happening’
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of racial incidents and quotations of racial slurs. Anna Marie Young has kept a record of every time her children, who are biracial, faced racist comments or bullying in their West Ada district schools...
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‘HOW MUCH TEETH DO WE REALLY HAVE?’
Makena Mcginley, manager of Hyde Park restaurant Apericena, had heard the rumors that her fellow employees weren’t being paid. She tried not to worry, she said. Owner Danielle Christine was quick to explain away these stories, and Mcginley’s own pay...
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Holocaust survivor coming to Boise to tell his story
Pete Metzelaar was 7 years old living in the Netherlands when most of his family members were arrested by the Nazis in 1942. Metzelaar and his mother went into hiding in a small farmhouse in the countryside and built an improvised cave in the forest...
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Idaho abortion trial ends after tearful testimony from moms
The Boise trial in a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s near-total abortion ban concluded Thursday after six days of tense proceedings and emotional testimony from women who said they were forced to leave the state for medical procedures. The trial seeking...
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‘It’s horrific.’
Just after 6:30 p.m. on a sunny Sunday in late June, Meridian Police Officer Bradley Chambers responded to a dirtbike accident. Parks Allen, 16, had lost control of his dirt bike on a residential street, struck a mailbox post and injured his hand and...
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Idaho to see immigration impact under Trump
Idaho immigration lawyers and advocates said they started getting messages from clients within hours of Donald Trump’s election victory Wednesday morning. During his campaign, Trump offered a series of immigration ideas that included mass deportation...
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Boise area has seen eight police shootings in 2024
In the past ten months, law enforcement agencies have been involved in eight shootings in the Treasure Valley, including one shooting by officers from the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs in Owyhee County. The majority of the...
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Construction on Boise-area road could help car, bike traffic
A new section of Ustick Road is coming. Elected officials, including Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-star, Nampa Mayor Debbie Kling and members of transportation agencies gathered Tuesday north of Nampa to celebrate a groundbreaking of the second...
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Appeals court sides with Thomas Creech in Idaho recusal case
A federal judge in Idaho was removed from a case brought by death row prisoner Thomas Creech over her unwillingness to recuse herself based on a longstanding friendship with Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts, who is named in Creech’s lawsuit. A...
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Boise renters want to recycle, but say city doesn’t offer services
Every two weeks, Richard Rachman donned a 40-liter backpack full of jars and cans, hopped on his bike and headed from his Southeast Boise apartment to a nearby recycling bin. Rachman, a PH.D. student at Boise State University, was committed to...
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Idaho jails withheld details about detainee deaths
As soon as her husband hung up the phone, Paula Riley called the Canyon County Jail and begged a deputy to put him on suicide watch. Riley’s husband, Tim, was arrested last year on a warrant for failing to show up to court on year-old charges. He...
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