Idaho
New Idaho Falls studio aims to help you move — and age — better – East Idaho News
Do you want to know what’s happening in the eastern Idaho business scene? We’ve got you covered. Here is a rundown of this week’s business news across the valley.
BIZ BUZZ
IDAHO FALLS
Tired of sitting all day, he made a change. Now he’s helping Idaho Falls do the same
IDAHO FALLS – Like many working professionals, Scott Gudmundson has spent more than 20 years behind a desk, only to stand up at the end of the day with stiff joints.
The lack of mobility motivated him to seek a life change and, ultimately, a new business venture. He and his wife, Carolyn, opened The Vital Stretch at 3482 South 25th East next to Burly Burger in September 2025. It’s the franchise’s first location in the western United States and offers customers one-on-one assisted stretching sessions.
Much like a massage clinic, customers pay for a monthly membership and come in for an hour-long session. Through the end of April, the first visit is complimentary and includes a mobility assessment to determine what areas to focus on. Customers lie on a table while a Vital Stretch practitioner stretches limbs and joints in a way catered to clients’ specific needs.
“The part of wellness and fitness that we’re missing is the recovery and the longevity,” Katie Smith, the business’s general manager, tells EastIdahoNews.com. “Mobility is our main focus.”
Smith says all the practitioners have educational training in the field of sports and exercise science, or something related. The company also provides an additional 60 hours of training for all new employees.
Since opening, practitioner Kelsi Schlenker says they’ve helped a variety of people with mobility issues. Some, like Scott, are people who spend a lot of time sitting down. Others have sports or trauma-related injuries, arthritis or other neurological or auto-immune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis.
Regardless of the circumstances, Smith says the services are a benefit to anyone who comes in the door, whether they’re “weekend warriors” or “graceful agers.”
“We ask our members to be involved. We’re talking the whole time about tension, comfort level,” says Smith. “We like everybody to start with a commitment of 90 days. That gives us time to help the body believe what we’re doing and establish goals. The body doesn’t believe anything is real unless you’ve done it for a significant amount of time.”
Gudmondson says mobility is the key to aging well, and he says he’s noticed significant improvements in his mobility since incorporating a stretch routine into his day.
“I’m hitting that window of aging gracefully, and I’m looking for anything that can help me extend the amount of time I have to do the activities that I like to do,” Gudmondson says. “This particular franchise became available in Idaho Falls. It’s a new concept, but it’s something that other cities have adopted, and it’s pretty popular.”
The Vital Stretch was founded in 2019 by Rob and Melissa Goldring, according to the company’s website. Rob, a chiropractic physician, and Melissa, a physical therapist, had 50 years of combined experience and noticed that tightness in one part of the body created a chain reaction and affected how the entire body moved and felt.
They opened their first location in Norwalk, Connecticut. Since franchising in 2022, it’s grown to include 25 locations nationwide. The Idaho Falls store is the first location in the western U.S., the website says. Locations in San Antonio and Minneapolis are the closest locations to Idaho.
Gudmondson says he’s grateful for the positive response from the community and hopes to see the business continue to grow.
“A lot of people have said they’ve been waiting for something like this to open,” Schlenker says. “We’ve had great feedback and have been able to see the changes (in people’s mobility).”
The Vital Stretch is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday with a 5 p.m. closing time on Friday. It’s open until 1 p.m. on Saturday.
To schedule an appointment or learn more, visit the website or call (208) 419-3207.
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Idaho
Idaho is home to the nation's first DarkSky Reserve. Now it's home to the nations first DarkSky Certified Resort
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – A controversy is brewing as the City of Idaho Falls reviews its alcohol ordinance.
The goal is to consolidate four existing ordinances for beer, wine and liquor into a single law and ensure compliance with state code.
However, at its meeting last Thursday, the Idaho Falls City Council unanimously voted to remove the proposed ordinance from its agenda, in order to receive and consider additional public comment.
The proposed ordinance would:
1. Require commercial establishments selling, dispensing or permitting consumption of alcohol – including beer, wine or liquor – to have an alcohol license, alcohol catering permit or a charitable event permit.
2. Business events with 20 or less employees consuming alcohol at the business would be allowed.
3. Require alcohol servers to complete training every three years.
4. Individuals who violate the law could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Idaho Falls City Council President Jim Francis said the changes were the culmination of months of collaboration between law enforcement, business owners and city attorneys.
“We wanted to provide a safe environment – the primary point here – for public gatherings,” Francis said. “We recognize that certain antiquated elements of the current code are overly restrictive and needed to be addressed. We wanted to make the code more accessible to the public. We needed to address over-pouring issues. We wanted to reduce penalties where possible for violations, particularly the first offenses, and yet make the code clear enough to be enforceable consistently by law enforcement.”
But City Council Member John Radford said the changes represent an overreach by city government.
“I believe it’s a bad policy. What problem are we solving in the name of trying to solve a non-problem?” Radford said. “We’re becoming big brother around alcohol in your private property. I’m concerned that landlords will be at risk of being charged with a misdemeanor if they knowingly, which I made sure that was in there, because that is what we’ve been talking about, allowed people to drink in our business. We will be outside the norm of Idaho cities. This is a big step, and I don’t think the public has weighed in on this.”
At a City Council Work Session on June 1, Idaho Falls Chief of Police Bryce Johnson cited an increase in alcohol-related crime – particularly downtown – as a reason for the changes.
“DUI is there, but this would include sexual assaults, assaults, batteries, disturbances, urination, public vandalism, shooting – all sorts of crimes,” Johnson said.
But business owners are concerned about the potential impact on commercial enterprises.
“The ordinance doesn’t address the real problem – which is people drinking … at one event and then showing up in a bar or restaurant already hammered and causing problems anyway,” ” said Terri Ireland, representing the Idaho Falls Downtown Merchants Association. “The industry is really well-regulated by state and local laws already.”
The City of Idaho Falls began the process of updating its alcohol ordinance in January 2026, seeking input from community stakeholders.
Multiple community members spoke out about the ordinance.
For more in-depth information, you can read the full 39-page proposed alcohol ordinance here.
BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — A simmering dispute between Idaho’s top elections official and the U.S. Department of Justice escalated this month after federal officials warned Secretary of State Phil McGrane about possible prosecution tied to non-citizens voting in Idaho.
The Justice Department sent a letter earlier this month threatening McGrane with prosecution. The warning came amid a broader conflict between the Trump administration and McGrane, whom the administration has sued over his refusal to provide unredacted voter rolls to the federal government.
Idaho’s chief of civil litigation, James Craig, responded on July 10. In a letter first reported by the Idaho Statesman, Craig pushed back on the federal warning, writing, “Insinuations of criminal violations of the federal election laws are not well taken,” and asking the department to “stop threatening your friends in Idaho.”
Craig also requested that the lawsuit against McGrane be dismissed and criticized the Justice Department for sending its letter directly to McGrane rather than to the Idaho attorney general’s office.
The attorney general’s office said the state has already referred 15 cases of possible non-citizen election violations to the Justice Department but is not aware of any of them being prosecuted. Craig’s letter ends by asking the department to do so.
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