It was a rainy week with intense showers passing through the Treasure Valley. Sunday is expected to be clear but cooler weather and more precipitation is on the way.

I got to capture a phenomenal rainbow coming into the station today after some of the rain we saw on Saturday clear out.

The start of this wee will see some more rain on the way for Boise. Twin Fall will see their precipitation arrive between Monday and Tuesday with chances of rain snow/ mixes and possible accumulation.

A cold front will move in this week dropping temperatures. 40’s will turn into 30’s for the Magic and Treasure Valley’s. Mountains will expect a cool down as well. Thanksgiving is looking like a clear day though for most parts of Idaho.

Colder is coming this week, make sure to bundle up!

An Idaho teen is behind bars after a dead baby was found in a hospital drop-off box meant for the anonymous surrender of newborns. 

Angel Newberry, 18, was arrested in Twin Falls more than a month after medical officials found the dead baby girl wrapped in a blanket with her placenta still attached in the Safe Haven Baby Box at the Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot, authorities announced Friday. 

“The Safe Haven Baby Box is intended to safely and anonymously allow custodial parents to surrender a newborn under 30 days old without legal repercussions, provided the child is unharmed,” the Blackfoot Police Department said in a social media post. 

“Unfortunately, the placement of a harmed or deceased infant is not protected under the system of Idaho law.”

Hospital staff immediately responded to an alarm on Oct. 13 indicating a baby had been placed in the box — making the disturbing discovery that the newborn had been dead long before she was abandoned, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes.

Idaho law only allows for the surrender of an infant who is unharmed.

“We are heartbroken,” Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey said last month.

“Let this be clear: this is an illegal, deadly abandonment.”

The accused teen was charged with failing to report a death to law enforcement officials and the coroner, police said.

Additional charges could be filed as the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the baby’s death is ongoing.

She is being held at Bingham County Jail.

Officials with the Idaho State Controller’s Office told a legislative committee Friday that it may take two or three years for the new Luma business and IT system to be fully optimized.

On Friday, officials with the Idaho Office of Performance Evaluation presented their new evaluation report on the Luma business, finance, HR and IT system to the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee. 

“The key takeaway is clear; transitioning to Luma was the right decision,” Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf told the committee. “In visiting with other states, projects of this magnitude require two to three years to fully optimize, and we are firmly on the right path to success.”

Luma, which is based on software purchased from Infor, is designed to improve security and efficiency for state agencies by replacing legacy systems from the 1990s that had outlived their useful life and were vulnerable to security threats. But the $117 million Luma system, launched in July 2023, experienced a rocky rollout that included duplicated payments, payroll challenges, late payments, reporting and reconciliation challenges and the inability to independently verify cash balances, according to the evaluation and a series of previous audits of Luma.

In the latest Luma challenge, state budget officials said Tuesday that the state was not able to identify $14.5 million in state revenues by the deadline to use that money to reduce Idaho property taxes this year. 

After Friday’s presentation, Woolf issued a response and fielded questions from legislators. Luma is housed in the Idaho State Controller’s Office, which was also involved in purchasing Luma. 

Woolf told legislators his office takes accountability for the challenges with Luma, and believes sticking with Luma and optimizing it to see its full potential is the best option for the state moving forward.

Woolf said the Idaho State Controller’s Office is developing a “people-first” strategy working to repair relationships with state employees and rebuild trust. As part of that effort, the office is developing a sustainable training strategy and focusing on communication.

“As we move forward, we are guided by a clear vision – to restore trust, improve transparency and ensure that Luma delivers the value it was designed to provide,” Woolf said. “This is a collective effort, one that depends on ongoing collaboration and respect with all involved.”

Idaho Office of Performance Evaluation Director Ryan Langrill told legislators the best path forward for the state is improving Luma.

“We believe that moving forward with Luma, rather than migrating back to the legacy system or doing a whole new procurement for a new system, is the most realistic option,” Langrill said.

In the Idaho Office of Performance Evaluation report on Luma, evaluators suggest legislators consider changes to Idaho’s purchasing process and consider changes to the governance and accountability of Luma. In the report, Langrill’s team suggested the purchasing process the state used to get Luma may have limited choices available to the state.

Moving forward, Woolf said his top priority is improving the reporting processes in Luma. But Woolf stressed he believes in Luma and that it will bring security benefits to the state and standardize data entry across different agencies and divisions. 

“The narrative that Luma does not work is counterproductive and not accurate,” Woolf said. “Luma is functional but it’s not perfect – it processes transactions, handles payments and ensures everyone gets paid.”