Avery Howell, the top-rated 2024 prospect in Idaho, announced an offer from Colorado on Sunday.
As a junior at Boise High School, Howell averaged over 20 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists while earning the prestigious 2024 Idaho girls basketball Gatorade Player of the Year.
Now, the 5-foot-11 guard is building a lengthy offers list that includes Vanderbilt, Iowa State, Clemson, West Virginia, Wisconsin and others with Colorado being the latest.
Howell is the No. 45 ranked prospect in the 2024 class, per ESPN.
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Other notable prospects to receive an offer from the Buffs this offseason include 2025 California guard Carly Amborn and 2026 Missouri guard Addison Bjorn, who’s currently hooping for the USA Basketball U16 National Team.
HAGERMAN, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — It was a special night at Hagerman High School on Friday night as the Pirates boys basketball team (7-4) hosted the Murtaugh Red Devils (3-9).
Entering the game, senior Ky Kendall needed 20 points to reach the 1,000-point career mark.
Sitting at 17 with the fourth quarter starting, all eyes were on Kendall.
His teammates would find him quickly for a three-pointer to hit the mark.
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The Pirates called a timeout and held a quick celebration for the senior.
Kendall would finish with 23 points and 16 rebounds as Hagerman would complete the regular season sweep over Murtaugh winning 70-36.
Wyatt Mavencamp had himself a day with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. Will Mavencamp added 10 in the win.
As wildfires spread across homes in Southern California, Idaho Gov. Brad Little said the state of Idaho is working to prevent similar devastation from happening in Idaho.
At a press conference on Friday morning in Boise, Little and state agency leaders shared progress on how the state is implementing recommendations from the governor’s office’s inaugural Wildfire Report created in August, including financing and improving fire mitigation technology, helping utilities protect their infrastructure and supporting legislation to help protect Idaho homes and insurance rates.
“The devastating southern California fires are heartbreaking, and we continue to pray for the many families impacted,” Little said. “However, the extent of the damage is, unfortunately, not altogether surprising. The decisions of California’s elected leaders have made many places in the Golden State unsafe to live. The opposite is happening in Idaho. We are strategically and proactively reducing fire risk and ensuring Idahoans’ property is covered.”
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Idaho agencies take steps to improve fire suppression technology, energy infrastructure
For the 2026 fiscal year, Little is recommending $100 million for fire management in Idaho — $60 million of which would replenish the Fire Suppression Deficiency Fund depleted during the 2024 fire season and $40 million which would cover the five-year average of fire suppression expenditures. The governor’s budget also includes funds to support wildland firefighter bonuses to help recruit workers.
Idaho Department of Lands Director Dustin Miller said Idaho’s population — which hit 2 million people last year — is growing. That means the department is seeing more human caused fires than before, and there are more fires in the wild and urban interface, he said.
Miller said the department is working to establish enhanced fire detection camera tools, satellite protection services and enhancing the state’s aviation management program.
Richard Stover, the administrator of the Idaho’s Governor’s Office of Energy and Mineral Resources, said his office is also investing in protecting utility infrastructure through its Idaho Energy Resiliency Grant Program.
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This year, the grant has funded 23 projects across Idaho, costing $22 million, to help mostly small rural municipal cooperative utilities protect their power lines and transmission poles from wildfire, he said.
As for out of state partnerships, Idaho Office of Emergency Management Director Brad Richy said he is proud of Idaho’s ability to help other states during natural disasters.
“The greatest thing about Idaho is the neighbors helping neighbors,” Richy said, noting that the office has sent 104 Idaho firefighters to suppress the fires in California.
Idaho Department of Insurance director proposes bill to ease wildfire risk, insurance rates
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On Wednesday, Idaho Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron introduced a bill to help homeowners mitigate wildfire risk and stabilize the insurance market in Idaho.
This year, nearly one million acres burned from wildfires in Idaho. Additionally, 140 structures were burned by fire — 41 of which were residences — Cameron told the House Business Committee on Wednesday.
‘No agency can do this alone’: Idaho officials address goals to mitigate wildfires
At the press conference, Cameron said his office regularly receives calls from individuals whose homeowners insurance is going up or their insurance is dropping their coverage.
There are 91 insurance companies in Idaho that sell homeowners insurance. In 2023, 22 of those companies asked to discontinue or not renew their policies in Idaho, Cameron said.
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“Now we’re getting calls given the California fires about how to harden their homes, how to prevent the loss of property,” he said.
The purpose of House Bill 17, called the“Idaho Wildfire Risk Mitigation and Stabilization Pool Act,” is to assist homeowners against wildfire, keep insurance rates down and attract insurance companies to Idaho.
The bill would create a financial pool from existing resources to provide grants to homeowners to create fire mitigation upgrades on their property. These upgrades may include roof replacements, mesh screen installations and shrubbery reduction, Cameron told the committee on Wednesday. It would have no impact on the general fund. Additionally, the bill would create a 12-member board consisting of state officials, insurance, forest products, and fire industry experts who would develop strategies to stabilize the insurance market.
Cameron said some southern states have implemented a similar pool of funds for hurricanes, which effectively led to a drop in insurance rates in those states.
Hidden away in the Idaho resort area of Sun Valley, amid the affluent Hulen Meadows neighborhood just outside Ketchum, another eye-catching home from the luxury portfolio of Herich & Associates has just popped up for sale. The asking price is a speck under $15.5 million, with the listing held by Delaney Fox of Keller Williams Sun Valley Southern Idaho.
Completed in 2008 by the local design-build firm in collaboration with architect Michael Blash, widely known for his contemporary take on the Craftsman style, the striking wood, glass, and stone structure offers five bedrooms and seven baths in roughly 8,000 square feet on three levels. Rustic and modern interiors feature hardwood floors, Venetian plaster walls, walnut paneling and cabinetry, and soaring exposed-beam cedar ceilings throughout, plus vast walls of glass framing picturesque mountain vistas.
One of Idaho’s Most Expensive Homes Heads to the Auction Block
Introducing the house is a glassy front door that slides open to reveal a stone-clad entry foyer boasting a floating glass and steel spiral staircase. From there, an open-concept great room contains a fireside living room and an adjacent dining area with retractable glass doors spilling out to a covered terrace ideal for alfresco entertaining with a built-in barbecue. An eat-in kitchen around the corner is outfitted with top-tier Cove, Dacor, KitchenAid and Sub-Zero appliances, as well as a large center island and a walk-in pantry secluded behind sliding barn doors.
This $22.5 Million Horse Farm in Idaho Spans 450 Acres With a Mile of River Frontage
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Elsewhere is a family room warmed by a fireplace and a posh upstairs primary suite flaunting a deluxe bath spotlighted by a glass soaking tub with an integrated recliner, while other notable features include a lofted office space with wraparound windows, a media room, and a wine cellar. The amenities continue outdoors, where a sundeck-encased pool and a fire pit rest amid an acre of garden-laced grounds sporting more than 500 flowering peonies.
Rounding it all out: a heated cobblestone driveway that passes through a porte-cochère before emptying out at a spacious motor court flanked by an attached five-car garage equipped with surround sound and an elevator traveling to the house. No word on whether the vintage red and white pickup truck parked in the driveway is included in the sale!
Click here for more photos of the modern Sun Valley residence.
Authors
Wendy Bowman
Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…