Idaho
Ready for school: District 91 and Idaho Falls Education Association finalize next year’s contract – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS — After months of hard-fought negotiations, teachers in Idaho Falls School District 91 officially have a new 2024-2025 contract. In a work session Tuesday, the district’s Board of Trustees approved the Idaho Falls Education Association’s Monday vote to ratify the master contract.
“It was overwhelmingly a ‘yes’ to approve it,” Idaho Falls Education Association (IFEA) lead negotiator Jake Snarr said of the teacher’s vote. “… I think the big thing that they feel better about is that there is more transparency here and that teachers have more of a voice in some of the decision-making.”
RELATED | Teachers protest outside D91 after salary negotiations resume
The contract will boost teachers’ base salary by 1.8%.
The agreement was reached with the assistance of a federal mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services at no cost to either party, said Idaho Falls School District 91 Superintendent Karla LaOrange. The federal government provides this service to assist public entities that need help with negotiations.
Both the district’s and the teachers’ negotiating teams are bound by confidentiality agreements not to discuss the proposals put forward during the process, but the procedure followed was straightforward.
The two teams met in separate rooms and the mediator went between the two groups via Zoom, acting as an intermediary and relaying different proposals. Negotiations started at 10 a.m. on June 18 and lasted 12 hours before both sides reached a tentative agreement.
“I’ve learned that when we have a common goal, that we can come together, and we can we can find a way to come to an agreement, keep moving forward and work together,” LaOrange said. “I think that’s probably the tribute here, that that in the end, we were able to do that, and we’ll continue to be able to do that.”
RELATED | Teacher rallies continue at District 91 office as salary negotiations move forward
The teachers’ association originally voted not to ratify the contract in a May 22 meeting that followed weeks of negotiations. The district originally offered a 0% raise while teachers requested a 5% boost, along with increased transparency and respect from the district.
RELATED | D91 Teachers vote not to ratify contract; issue vote of no confidence in superintendent and finance director
In the final contract, both parties agreed to several measures that had not been included in the previous May 22 version.
“There’s a one-time payment of $500 for teachers with 20 years of experience with the district,” LaOrange said. “So that’s our recognition for their working in the district that long.”
They also agreed to establish a committee of six individuals — three chosen by the superintendent and three chosen by the teacher’s association — to “discuss the impact of the reduction of four half-time resource (room) positions,” LaOrange said.
In another memorandum, the district agreed that if it receives additional state funding due to sufficient increases in student enrollment and attendance, it will provide automatic raises to teachers using the revenue coming in.
Currently, school districts receive discretionary funding from the state according to the number of “support units” that they serve. A “support unit” is roughly the size of a classroom and is used by the state to provide funding for teachers, principals, custodians, and paraprofessionals. The number of students that make up a support unit varies by grade.
According to memorandum two, if the district exceeds 475 support units, wages will go up 0.1%. If it exceeds 477 support units, wages will increase 0.2%, or 2% higher base pay than today’s salary scale.
“We didn’t have an increase in salary based on what was attempted to ratify before,” Snarr said. “But because there is willingness from the district to put more in if the district gets more money from the state, I think people feel a lot better about that, because now they don’t feel like the district is trying to hold money and keep money from them that’s earmarked for their salary.”
Snarr said the association’s teachers are not opposed to the district building up its savings fund, as the board of trustees has prioritized, but memorandum two ensures that the district’s teachers are valued as well.
“I think it just really helps people to they can almost swallow the pill of the salary. It’s not the best in the state. It’s pretty comparable to what’s going on around us,” he said. “But now that the district has said, if we get more money, we will distribute it onto the salary, people feel so much better about that.”
The district also will provide all full-time employees a $300 one-time payment or $150 for part-time employees, leadership stipends and increases to coaching stipends for athletics, theater, debate and eSports.
The total cost of the contract package (without benefits) is $4,708,656, according to the district’s Finance Director Lanell Farmer.
“I thought that everyone was very professional as we worked through the negotiations into mediation process,” LaOrange said. “… Moving forward, I am working with the IFEA leadership throughout the summer and anticipate that we’ll move forward in a positive way to help our students learn. That’s the focus too — it’s great adults helping kids reach their potential and have doors open to them.”
Both parties said relations between the teacher’s association and administration have improved since May, but more work remains.
“I just have a lot of confidence in our teachers, and I value them. I am grateful that we continued and worked through difficult things,” LaOrange said. “I think there aren’t a lot of models and examples of people doing that, but we did. We worked through a big challenge and came to a good conclusion.”
Snarr agreed that significant progress has been made.
“I think all parties involved are moving towards mending that relationship, and I think the transparency that the district is willing to provide over the course of this next year is going a long way to build back that trust between the association, the school district and also the taxpayers too,” Snarr said. “I know the taxpayers aren’t typically super involved in a negotiation process, but I think when they know that dollars are being spent wisely, and we have a good accounting of those dollars as the year goes on, then people have more confidence in the school district, and that helps the district’s initiatives going forward, such as levies and bonds.”
At the end of the day, it’s the students that draw both teachers and administrators back to the classrooms, eager to learn more together.
“That’s really what I believe education does is give you opportunity. We want kids to have every opportunity available to them,” LaOrange said. “Change lives. Be the lighthouse.”
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Idaho
Interstate 84 near Mountain Home back open after utility work
MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Interstate 84 near Mountain Home is back open after crews closed the freeway due to utility work.
Crews closed westbound and eastbound lanes on Saturday morning from milepost 90 to milepost 95 due to Idaho Power working on power lines in the area, according to the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. All lanes are now back open in both directions.
The sheriff’s office and the Mountain Home Police Department apologized for the inconvenience, saying they were just informed of the closure on Saturday morning.
More information regarding road closures and traffic conditions can be found at the Idaho Transportation Department’s 511 map.
Copyright 2026 KMVT. All rights reserved.
Idaho
Idaho murder victims’ families file wrongful death lawsuit against Washington State University
The families of the four University of Idaho students killed in a brutal 2022 stabbing attack have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Washington State University (WSU), alleging the school ignored repeated warning signs about Bryan Kohberger.
The civil complaint, filed Jan. 7 in Skagit County Superior Court, was brought by Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee Goncalves; Karen Laramie, mother of Madison Mogen; Jeffrey Kernodle, father of Xana Kernodle; and Stacy Chapin, mother of Ethan Chapin.
The lawsuit accuses WSU of gross negligence, wrongful death and violations of federal education laws, including Title IX. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Attorney Robert Clifford, senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, said that the decision to leave damages “unspecified” is a strategic norm in high-stakes litigation because it prevents the focus from shifting towards sensationalism and keeps the decision firmly in the hands of the jury.
“Ultimately, that’s to be determined and answered by the jury,” said Clifford, who is not involved in the lawsuit. “But you have some compelling facts and the liability is going to depend on the strength of what the school knew.”
Despite Kohberger’s guilty plea in the murders, Clifford explained the civil case remains strong because the families face a lower burden of proof – requiring only a preponderance of evidence to establish the university’s liability.
“The mere fact that he pled guilty might not even be admissible in the civil proceeding because he’s not the defendant, right? If he is a defendant in the civil proceeding, then his plea of guilty will be important. And indeed, this school might try to use that to say, ‘See, it wasn’t our fault. He admits that it was his fault.’ But the bar is different for someone in a criminal proceeding than it is in a civil proceeding.”
According to the lawsuit, WSU hired Kohberger as a teaching assistant in its criminal justice and criminology department and provided him with a salary, tuition benefits, health insurance and on-campus housing.
The victims’ families allege the university had extensive authority over Kohberger’s conduct but failed to act despite mounting concerns.
Here’s the latest coverage on Bryan Kohberger:
The complaint says WSU received at least 13 formal reports accusing Kohberger of threatening, stalking, harassing or predatory behavior toward female students and staff during the fall 2022 semester. The families argue university officials did not meaningfully investigate those complaints or remove Kohberger from campus before the murders – even though they had the authority to do so.
The lawsuit also alleges that the university failed to use its own threat-assessment systems designed to identify individuals who pose a risk of violence, even as concerns about Kohberger escalated. Instead, the families claim, the university continued to employ him, house him and give him access to students.
“The murders were foreseeable and preventable,” the complaint states, alleging WSU prioritized avoiding legal and reputational risk over student safety.
The lawsuit also alleges broad failures within the public university, including alleged dysfunction within campus police and compliance officers who are responsible for handling accusations of misconduct, including sexual harassment and stalking.
Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. He was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors said Kohberger stabbed the four students in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, inside an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, just miles from the WSU campus in Pullman, Washington.
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania in December 2022 following a multi-state investigation.
Authorities linked him to the crime through DNA evidence, surveillance video and cellphone data showing repeated late-night trips near the victims’ home.
WSU has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit. Fox News Digital has reached out to WSU for comment.
Idaho
Turkey Town Hall to be held at the end of January to discuss North End nuisance
BOISE, Idaho — At the end of January, Boise City Councilmember Jimmy Hallyburton will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the growing population of wild turkeys in the North End. The meeting, which is set to take place at Lowell Elementary School on January 29 at 7 p.m., will center around education and how to treat wildlife in an urban setting.
The public meeting will feature speakers from the Boise Parks and Recreation Department, Idaho Fish & Game, and Councilmember Hallyburton.
Hallyburton told Idaho News 6 over the phone that the meeting was prompted by damaging and, in some cases, violent behavior by wild turkeys in the North End. Residents in the area have reported turkeys scratching cars with their talons, ruining vegetable gardens, sparring with domesticated dogs & cats, and even becoming aggressive towards human beings.
A viewer in the North End recently shared a video with Idaho News 6 that shows a flock of turkeys accosting a postal service worker. Thankfully, a dog intervened and saved the USPS worker from further harm.
See the video of the attack below
Hallyburton said that the North End community needs to take a focused approach to how it deals with the turkeys. “We’re making it too easy for them to live in the North End,” Hallyburton said. “We need to make our urban areas less habitable for the turkeys.”
The North End councilmember goes on to explain that residents who are feeding or treating the turkeys as pets are creating an environment in which human vs. wildlife conflict is more likely. “You might think that you’re helping the turkeys, but you’re actually causing them harm over the long term,” said Hallyburton.
Hallyburton added that the population of turkeys in the area has ballooned from a single flock of around a dozen turkeys to multiple flocks and roughly 40 turkeys. They are mostly located in the residential area of the North End between 18th and 28th streets.
Idaho Fish & Game recommends “gentle hazing” to keep turkeys from roosting in urban areas. This can include squirting turkeys with water when they approach one’s property.
Since transplanting wildlife has become more difficult in recent years due to new laws, the only other option for the turkeys would be extermination, which Hallyburton said he would like to avoid at all costs.
WATCH: Wild turkeys take over Boise’s North End
Wild turkeys turn Boise’s North End into their new roost
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