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Biologists truck Snake River sockeye salmon to cooler Idaho waters

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Biologists truck Snake River sockeye salmon to cooler Idaho waters


Darren Ogden, a biologist with NOAA, watches as technician Riley Krieg nets sockeye salmon to put them into a tank on a truck.

Courtney Flatt / NWPB

On the banks of the Snake River in far eastern Washington, sockeye salmon have had a rough summer. The water behind the last major concrete dam they have to swim past is way too hot.

“It’s running 74 degrees. That’s getting up to lethal temperatures for sockeye,” said David Venditti, a biologist with Idaho Fish and Game.

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To keep the fish out of potentially deadly waters, this team is giving salmon some wheels. They’re hauling sockeye from Lower Granite Dam to the Eagle Creek Hatchery in central Idaho. The whole endeavor costs thousands of dollars.

At a holding pool, technicians scoop a fish at a time into a white tank on the back of a green pickup truck. Technician Tara Beckman stands in the truck bed. She dumps the salmon from the net into the tank.

“They are wily,” Beckman said, as the fish thrashed in the net.

Technicians Tara Beckman and Rebakah Windover help put salmon into a tank on the back of a pickup truck.

Technicians Tara Beckman and Rebakah Windover help put salmon into a tank on the back of a pickup truck.

Courtney Flatt / NWPB

These fish need that energy to make their journey inland. Snake River sockeye are born in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. The young salmon swim out to the ocean, where they live for up to three years.

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When they’re ready to spawn, they make what sounds like an impossible journey.

“These salmon, they travel like 900 miles. It’s insane,” said Elizabeth Holdren, a supervisory biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The salmon also climb roughly 6,500 feet in elevation until they reach the stream where they were born, Holdren said. Then, they spawn and die.

Unchecked pollution is contaminating the salmon that Pacific Northwest tribes eat

This is the third summer biologists have trucked these endangered fish to cooler waters. The biologists first transported them in 2015, and then in 2021.

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Scientists say it’s a peek into the future of a changing climate. Jay Hesse, with the Nez Perce Tribe, said less snowpack in the mountains means less water in Northwest rivers.

“Low stream flows result in elevated water temperatures because of reservoir habitats that tend to heat up faster and retain that heat,” Hesse said.

Climate change is one of the compounding problems for salmon, he said.

Technicians collect salmon and guide them into what’s known as a salmon sock.

Technicians collect salmon and guide them into what’s known as a salmon sock.

Courtney Flatt / NWPB

David Johnson manages the fisheries department for the Nez Perce Tribe. He said many tribal members rely on salmon for their primary food, nutrition and livelihoods.

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“Salmon and these tribes are hand-in-glove. Quite honestly, they’ve supported each other for countless years,” Johnson said.

Now, Snake River sockeye are on the brink of extinction, said Joseph Bogaard, the executive director of the fish advocacy group Save Our Wild Salmon. These salmon are some of the most endangered fish in the Northwest, he said.

“They’re giving us a message. Our ecosystems, our climate, our waters aren’t healthy. And they’re also telling us we’ve gotta do things differently and quickly or things are going to continue to unravel,” Bogaard said.

Trapping and hauling salmon for hundreds of miles is just a stopgap measure, he said.

“It’s really important right now. It is not a long-term strategy,” Bogaard said.

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The juvenile fish bypass system at the Lower Granite Dam.

The juvenile fish bypass system at the Lower Granite Dam.

Courtney Flatt / NWPB

A long-term strategy to save salmon, he said, would be to breach the four dams on the lower Snake River.

However, the dams provide energy, transportation and irrigation for many communities across the region.

Some who rely on the dams say they aren’t the main reason the salmon aren’t doing well. They point to changing temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, the need for new culverts or better habitats to help salmon make it upstream.

Michelle Hennings, the executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, said there isn’t a silver bullet to protect these endangered fish.

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“The dams aren’t one issue,” she said. “There are multiple issues that happen within why salmon could be at lower levels.”

Back at the Snake River, biologists add a few more fish to fill up the truck’s tank, and hop in the cab to start their drive.

“We’re taking fish from as early in the run as we can,” IDFG biologist Venditti said.

The Idaho Fish and Game truck drives off to transport sockeye around Lower Granite Dam and to cooler water in central Idaho.

The Idaho Fish and Game truck drives off to transport sockeye around Lower Granite Dam and to cooler water in central Idaho.

Courtney Flatt / NWPB

To gather the sockeye, technicians gently guide fish into what’s called a salmon sock. The sock is a slender, blue bag and it’s about four feet long. It keeps the fish’s gills wet while a technician carries it to a tank on the back of a truck.

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“You get an arm and a leg workout,” said Rebekah Windover, one of the technicians.

She plops the fish into the tank for its long ride to Idaho.

“They all look happy in there,” Beckman said, peering into the tank.

The US has spent more than $2B on a plan to save salmon. The fish are vanishing anyway

The truck is packed with 800 pounds of ice split between several coolers. Keeping the fish cool between the occasional traffic jam or road work project are the biggest challenges for the team.

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“It’s nerve-wracking. These aren’t just fish. It makes a long day even longer,” Venditti said.

This month, Venditti says they transported six truckloads of salmon. Although they’ve stopped trucking sockeye for the season, he said, temperatures in Washington are expected to creep back into the 100s Fahrenheit.



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Idaho

Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho

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Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho


Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.

The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.

During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.

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The new law is set to take effect in July.



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Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances

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Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances


For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.

“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.

The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.

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Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.

Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.

Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.

“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.

Doing so is a risk, he said.

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“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.

Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.

But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.

Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.

Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.

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“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.

The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.

House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.

Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio

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University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders

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University of Idaho professor awarded M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders


A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.

A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”

Ashley Guillard posted TikTok videos falsely linking a University of Idaho professor to the Idaho college murders, leading to a defamation lawsuit. TikTok/ashleyisinthebookoflife4

“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.

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“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”

Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.

Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.

The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.

Idaho murder victims Madison Mogen, 21, top left, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, bottom left, Ethan Chapin, 20, center, and Xana Kernodle, 20, right, and their two surviving roommates.

Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.

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Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”

The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.

Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the savage slayings in July 2025 in a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. AP

Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.

In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.

During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.

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The off-campus home where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death on Nov. 17, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. James Keivom

However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.

She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.

It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.

The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.

With Post wires

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