Idaho
Idaho Gives starts today. Here’s how to support more than 650 organizations. • Idaho Capital Sun
Today marks the start of Idaho Gives, Idaho’s largest online fundraising event for nonprofit organizations.
The event will raise funds for over 650 nonprofits across Idaho focusing on different areas, ranging from animal rescue, education, housing, arts and more. Idaho Gives will last from April 29 to May 2.
Last year, the event raised $3.8 million from nearly 13,000 donors, Kevin Bailey, CEO of the Idaho Nonprofit Center that organizes Idaho Gives, told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview. The event, in its 12th year, has raised nearly $24 million in previous years.
Bailey hopes Idaho Gives can reach $4 million donations this year.
“Nonprofits are at the heart of every major thing that our cities and towns and rural areas are involved with,” Bailey said.
Many nonprofits say they need more funds to meet a higher demand on a range of services, Bailey said, like addressing wait lists for child care and housing, or even filling up seats in arts facilities, as demand grows amid Idaho’s population growth.
When you walk down the main street of nearly any Idaho city, Bailey says you’ll walk by a theater hosting art performances, a housing nonprofit, a homeless shelter or see trails maintained by nonprofits.
“It’s really on the backs of nonprofits to solve our state’s toughest challenges,” Bailey said. “Not that it should be necessarily. But there’s a lot of pressure and burden and opportunity, frankly, on the backs of nonprofits to kind of create communities where everyone can thrive where people have access to food, to housing, to culture and arts opportunities,” Bailey said.
How to give to Idaho nonprofits during Idaho Gives
Information about all of the nonprofits participating in Idaho Gives this year are available on the Idaho Gives website, idahogives.org. Nonprofit organizations are searchable based on their location and based on the cause they are involved with.
A variety of nonprofit organizations from around Idaho participate in Idaho Gives to support causes such as poverty and homelessness, health and wellness, the environment, arts and culture, education, disaster relief, substance abuse prevention, immigrant services and more.
Some organizations can leverage Idaho Gives donations for other fund sources.
That includes a housing nonprofit NeighborWorks Pocatello, which Bailey said can leverage funds to match federal grants or foundation funds. A donor to the Boise Bicycle Project has also promised a $50,000 matching donation.
The average Idaho Gives donation last year was $168, said Kim Ellsworth, marketing and communications director for the Idaho Nonprofit Center.
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Donations to Basque Museum in Boise to fund Ellis Island immigration exhibit
One organization that is participating in Idaho Gives this year is the Boise’s Basque Museum & Cultural Center, located on Basque Block on Grove Street in downtown Boise. Boise’s history of Basque immigration history ties back to the late 1800s, when Basque immigrants came to the area to work as sheepherders.
Idaho Gives donations for the museum would go toward developing a Basque immigration exhibit in the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, said Annie Gavica, executive director of the Basque Museum & Cultural Center. That New York immigration station is how many Basque immigrants came to the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s, she said.
The exhibit would likely have a feature on the Basque Block in Boise, and Boise’s basque community and museum, Gavica said.
“But the hope is that it tells kind of the overarching Basque immigration story because there’s Basques beyond just Idaho,” she said. “There’s Basques in Washington and California and Nevada and Oregon. … It’ll tell kind of a larger story through oral histories of Basque immigrants and their families. But then tell very specific stories about things like the Basque museum or the Boise Baskin community.”
The Boise Basque Museum previously organized an exhibit on Ellis Island in 2010, Gavica said.
But for the Basque Museum in Boise, Idaho Gives is more about raising awareness of Basque culture than raising funds, Gavica said. The nonprofit just wrapped up a major fundraising event, she said.
Few Idaho Gives donors to the Basque Museum were already among the almost 1,000 museum members, Gavica said.
Sometimes, when the nonprofit thanks the new Idaho Gives donors, some have become members, she said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to reach an audience that we don’t typically reach, and receive donations that we don’t typically get from them,” she said.
Idaho
Local legislator who led trip to D.C. says Idaho’s water supply is priority for our congressional delegates – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS – State Sen. Kevin Cook recently led a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with Idaho’s congressional delegates about water storage projects.
Cook, who represents District 32 in the Idaho Falls area, was one of seven legislators on the trip last month, along with dozens of groundwater and surface water users across the state.
Since June, Cook has been gathering signatures for a petition showing support for water storage projects. During the 2025 Legislative Session, he and Rep. Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, sponsored a non-binding resolution that was adopted in both chambers. Senate Joint Memorial 101 calls on federal and state agencies to study and develop new water storage projects.
The resolution lists six different potential water storage sites that “could be built safely and economically and … provide significant long-term benefits to the State of Idaho.”
RELATED | Local legislator asking you to sign petition in support of water storage projects in Idaho
Cook accompanied legislators on a trip to the nation’s capital earlier this year to bring it to their attention and get some momentum going. Although they expressed support for his resolution, Cook says they doubted voters would approve of it and told him to “make some more noise” before they did anything about it.
The November trip to Washington was a follow-up to the previous visit. Through his petition, he acquired tens of thousands of signatures and brought a slough of people with him to show Idaho’s Congressmen the results.
Cook tells EastIdahoNews.com the trip “went great” and was a positive experience.
“I don’t know if I could’ve asked for or expected better results,” Cook says. “We thought we’d be lucky to get 10 or 15 minutes with them. They gave us between 30 and 45 minutes. They were very engaged and asked questions.”
Water storage projects have become a key focus of Cook’s platform over the last year. He says water is one of three issues that are critical to Idaho’s future. (He says the other two are artificial intelligence and nuclear power.)
RELATED | Local legislator proposing bill that creates framework for education about future of AI
Despite the productive conversation with federal delegates, Cook says he isn’t expecting quick results and there’s still a lot of work to do before Congress gets involved in funding a water storage project.
“On some of this stuff, they said, ‘Don’t be afraid to break this up into little pieces,’” Cook says. “People east of the Mississippi don’t understand our need for water. They’ve got all the water they can stand and then some. They suggested we try to form a Western States Coalition to (educate people) about it. We thought that was a great idea.”
He’s hoping to see a major water storage project get underway in the next decade. Beyond that, he’s looking into the distant future for many of these proposals to come to fruition.
Cook’s goal is to have 750,000 acre-feet of water storage by 2100.
Josh Foster, the business manager for Vista Valley Ag, which farms more than 5,000 acres in Bonneville County, was among those who accompanied Cook to D.C. He’s also a director for the Burgess Canal and Irrigation Company in Rigby and a member of the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation’s water committee.
Foster says Cook’s longterm goal is a lofty one, but he agrees that more water is needed and it needs to be managed better.
“Where we haven’t been building dams for 50 years, there’s got to be a lot of federal changes in order for that to happen,” Foster says. “I’m hopeful that it can happen with state and federal partnership.”
Storing water in eastern Idaho
One of the proposals for a potential water storage project in Cook’s resolution is to rebuild the Teton Dam.
“It’s kind of a lightning rod. You bring up the Teton Dam, and people want to talk,” Cook says.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation originally built the dam in 1976. It collapsed as the reservoir was being filled for the first time, leading to the historic Teton Dam Flood disaster.
After the disaster, the topic of rebuilding the dam was discussed. It’s unclear why it never happened.
Today, Cook says many people are supportive of its reconstruction. Cook brought letters of support to D.C. from county commissioners and mayors throughout the Snake River Plain who support rebuilding the Teton Dam. Cook says Rexburg Mayor Jerry Merrill and Sugar City Mayor Steve Adams, whose hometowns were in the direct path of the dam, are pushing for it.
“I’ve talked to several engineers that have their fingerprints all over dams in Idaho, and every one of them say we can rebuild it safely,” says Cook. “But we need to do a study. We have 50 years of new technology that can tell us whether or not we should build it.”
Foster says rebuilding the Teton Dam is the most exciting of all the proposals and would have the most impact.
“It passed so much federal regulation to get certified,” says Foster. “We’re closer (to getting a water storage project) with the Teton Dam than anywhere else because we don’t have to start at the ground level with the federal government.”
Foster also notes it would store about 350,000 acre-feet of water — the most capacity of any other project.
“That gets us halfway to our goal right there,” he says.
Cook made a similar point during a presentation with water stakeholders in August. He cited data that shows rebuilding the Teton Dam is also the most cost-effective option, compared to other projects.
RELATED | Local legislator focused on longterm water storage projects to complement recharge efforts and secure Idaho’s future
Another possible project is expanding the Ririe Dam. The dam, which is managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, sits along Willow Creek about 15 miles northeast of Idaho Falls and about four miles southeast of Ririe. It was built to mitigate flood waters into Idaho Falls.
Throughout its history, Cook says it’s never been used for irrigation and he wants that to change.
“Every fall, we basically empty it instead of holding back water for irrigation,” says Cook. “We’ve asked (our congressional delegates) to support (using it for that purpose).”
This idea was the focus of a board meeting for the Ririe Reservoir on Thursday morning. Foster attended and said they were in phase two of a study to mitigate additional winter water storage for irrigation purposes.
Foster lives in Ririe near the dam, and he’s intrigued with the idea.
“We’re groundwater pumpers on the Ririe bench. We’ve never even touched that water, other than to go boating,” Foster says. “New water rights would have to be created (because it’s never been used for irrigation).”
While Cook is excited about these local projects, he says he’s focused on the entire state and any water storage project is a win for Idaho.
“We’re looking at the whole state of Idaho,” Cook says. “We’re excited about where we’re going.”
Supporting Idaho’s water future
Since the D.C. trip, Cook says the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has approved a recommendation from the Idaho Water Resource Board to do a study on surface water storage throughout the Snake River Plain.
Over the next two years, Cook says the bureau will study the entire Snake River Plain from the Milner Dam near Burley all the way to Ashton. It will be the largest study the bureau has ever conducted in Idaho and will help identify viable locations for potential water storage projects.
Once the study is complete, it will report its findings to the IWRB to prioritize future projects.
Cook is planning to introduce legislation in the upcoming session to help advance water conservation on the state and federal level. He appreciates the time, support and feedback from Idaho’s congressional delegates.
“Every person on the trip and every politician that we met with has Idaho water as their top priority,” Foster says. “What they uniformly said was, ‘We are in. Direct us on how to help you in D.C. while you guys are back in Idaho.’ That was exciting for all of us to hear.”
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BOISE — United States Attorney Bart M. Davis announced that Tochukwu Nwaneri, 51, of Nigeria, made his initial appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Raymond E. Patricco.
Co-defendant Vickie Smith, 66, of Peoria, Arizona, previously made her initial appearance on Oct. 22, 2025.
Nwaneri and Smith face prosecution in an indictment for their role in an advance-fee loan scheme in which they fraudulently obtained more than $20 million from an Idaho business owner (Victim-1).
Vickie Smith and Tochukwu Nwaneri are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and multiple counts of wire fraud and money laundering.
As alleged in the indictment, Smith, using the alias Nina Cheliyan, and Nwaneri, using the alias Dr. Simon Godwin, enriched themselves by falsely promising to provide Victim-1 with a financing opportunity of a $140 million business loan through a purported Singapore-based lender in exchange for significant advance fees.
The indictment alleges that Smith and Nwaneri used the fees paid by Victim-1 for various personal expenses and wired the funds to family members and offshore bank accounts.
If convicted, Smith and Nwaneri each face a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy and wire fraud counts and up to 10 years for each count of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The United States Secret Service is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittney Campbell and Darci Crane for the District of Idaho are prosecuting the case.
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The Western Idaho Fair will extend its duration starting in 2027 to better accommodate families and visitors. The decision comes after community feedback highlighted a desire for the fair to begin earlier in August, avoiding the back-to-school rush.
“We consistently hear from families who want the Fair to begin earlier in August, before the back-to-school rush begins,” said Western Idaho Fair Director Bob Bautista. “Starting earlier and spreading the Fair across three weekends allows us to offer more opportunities for families to attend while still keeping the Fair experience they know and love.”
The 2026 fair will proceed as scheduled from Aug. 21 to Aug. 30. In 2027, the fair will start a week earlier, running from Aug. 13 to Aug. 29, and will adopt a new three-weekend format, closing on Mondays and Tuesdays. By 2028, the fair will open on the first Friday of August, establishing a new tradition for future years.
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The Western Idaho Fair remains committed to its traditions while adapting to community needs. Organizers express gratitude for the ongoing support from fairgoers, partners, and participants. Updates will be shared as the transition approaches, with the fair looking forward to welcoming guests in 2026 and beyond.
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