IDAHO FALLS – Authorities found a dead body near the Broadway Bridge in Idaho Falls Monday afternoon.

It happened around 1 p.m. and the body was retrieved near the Idaho Falls Power plant, according to a news release from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded after getting calls about a dead body floating in the Snake River.

The victim’s name and gender have not been released and details about what happened haven’t yet been determined.

“Deputies are working with the Bonneville County Coroner to determine what happened and identify the victim,” the news release says.

The Idaho Falls Police and Fire Department assisted with the response.

EastIdahoNews.com will provide additional information when it is available.

Debra Gilmore lost an extended fight with cancer on July 1, but even in her final months, she didn’t let the disease keep her from accomplishing a goal she’d had with her “Friends of Riverdale” group since co-founding it in July 2004. During the April meeting of the Idaho Transportation Board, she was on-hand as the group was named District 5 (Southeast Idaho) Adopt-A-Highway Group of the Year.

During those 20 years, the group has picked up approximately 42,000 pounds of litter from their two-mile stretch of State Highway 34 near the landfill. Routes near landfills are challenging because parts of uncovered loads headed to the landfill blow out of trailers and pickup beds, leaving much more than the average amount of roadside trash. Gilmore also paid particular attention to broken glass that could be harmful to wildlife, and items that could start a roadside fire. She even turned in several driver’s licenses to local law enforcement.

The Friends of Riverdale AAH group was created when Debra Gilmore’s father mentioned to his local coffee group that his daughter was taking long daily walks along the highway and collecting bottles and cans as she walked. A friend who worked at ITD suggested she officially adopt the highway so she could access trash bags and protections such as safety vests and roadside traffic signs.

Debra, along with a friend, came up with the name “Friends of Riverdale” in reference to the two founding members’ friendship. Others from the town of Riverdale occasionally assisted in keeping the local highway clean.

Debra is survived by her loving husband (Stephen), two daughters (Rosalind and Corinne) and four grandchildren (Austin, Cameron, Jack, and Isabella).

Stephen said he plans to keep the Friends of Riverdale group active, as that would have made her very happy. He said the Adopt-A-Highway group was very important to her, and that cleaning up litter was a long-term passion of hers. “Even before she ‘adopted’ the highway, she’d always take a garbage bag with her to pick up trash on her walks. It’s just who she was.”

I remember growing up under the tutelage of an affirmed arachnophobiac. My father hated spiders. We all knew of his fear because it was so ingrained that it was impossible to hide. Mom was the one called upon when any eight-legged invaders were spotted. In contrast to Dad, Mother had no fears. I once watched her smash a black widow spider with her bare hand. Upon seeing this, my insides tried to escape my outside. Unfortunately, I know whose genetics I inherited.

Many people share, to varying degrees, a dislike of spiders. Like my father, I will never be able to convincingly deny my own phobia. However, it is comforting to know that we are fortunate to live in an area where my fear is nearly entirely unfounded. We only have a single species of spider whose bite is medically significant to humans, the black widow.

Early evidence suggested hobo spider bites caused slow-healing, ulcerating lesions. That early evidence has since been refuted, and spider experts no longer consider hobo spiders to be a threat to human health. Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed the hobo spider from its official list of venomous (harmful) spiders in 2015. We have hobo spiders, and they can bite, but they are not poisonous to people.

The brown recluse spider is another that I feared growing up. It is poisonous, but they cannot live in our climate. You would have to travel south as far as St. George, UT or Las Vegas, NV to get into recluse range.

All other spiders that we do have are not considered dangerous to humans. A wolf or garden spider may bite you, but their venom is not medically significant. Of course, certain people may experience allergic reactions to any bite. This can be thought of like a nut or bee allergy. The likelihood of you being bit AND having an allergic reaction are very rare.

I won’t be the one to let a spider crawl on my hand like my oldest brother, who apparently took after Mom in that department. But I can now safely (I hope) say that I don’t emit high-pitched squeals at the first sign of an arachnid. In all, I’d say I’ve become a good mix between my mother and father. I have healthy respect for the ability of spiders to bite, while maintaining my dignity as spider dispatcher in my family.

So, remember the black widow spider with its shiny black body and red hour-glass underbelly is the ONLY spider in our area you need to fear a bite from. Other spiders are simply beneficial predators looking to eat insects. They are one of the gardeners’ best friends. I like to see them in my garden … just not my basement.