Jackie Hitz Daniel, 80, peacefully passed away on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Moscow, Idaho. She was born Nov. 23, 1944, in Shelley, Idaho to Jack Hitz and Coy Peck Hitz and was the oldest of four children.

She graduated from Idaho Falls High School in 1963 and married Don Moore that year. Their marriage produced four children. She was married to Garry Daniel from 1983 until his passing in 2010.

Jackie worked for decades in bookkeeping and administrative support roles, with many years spent in medical offices in Idaho Falls and Rexburg. She was an avid bowler in her earlier years. She also enjoyed crocheting, with dozens of babies being recipients of the softest blankets ever.

Jackie is survived by her brother Phil (Kathy) Hitz of South Jordan, Utah, son Dennis (Tina) Moore of Boise, daughter Trish (Steve) Poulos of Idaho Falls, daughter, Kristy (Jason) Mayer of Genesee, daughter-in-law Sydney Moore of Los Osos, California, 16 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, brothers Noel Hitz and Paul Hitz, and son, Darin Moore.

Graveside services will be held in Idaho Falls in 2025, on a date to be determined. The family would like to extend special thanks to the teams at Gritman Medical Center and Aspen Park of Cascadia in Moscow, who provided such loving care in Jackie’s final weeks.

An Idaho man has been arrested after planting an IED on a parked railroad car, according to officials. The device was safely detonated by a bomb squad.

Officers were dispatched on Wednesday to the 600 block of North 8th Street in Payette, Idaho, following reports of a suspicious person seen near a parked railroad car attempting to light something on fire, according to a statement by the Payette Police Department.

Police located a suspected undetonated Improvised Explosive Device (IED) next to the train car. Officers followed fresh footprints in the snow to a camp trailer parked near a residence in the 600 block of North 8th Street.

The suspect attempted to flee but surrendered to authorities after a brief foot pursuit, police said. He has been identified as 40-year-old Payette resident Brent Sharrai.

Sharrai was arrested on outstanding warrants, with additional charges including possession of a destructive device, possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, and resisting and obstructing officers. Federal charges for possession and manufacturing of a destructive device are pending.

Payette Police reported that a bomb squad from nearby Nampa was called to assist in safely handling the device. Union Pacific Railroad was notified, and all trains scheduled to pass through the area were placed on standby for approximately five hours until the scene was declared safe.

The Nampa Bomb Squad used a specialized robot to remove the IED from the train car before safely detonating it. A search warrant executed at Sharrai’s camp trailer uncovered items similar to the device found on the train car.

The incident is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with no motive disclosed at this time.

The Idaho Transportation Department recently secured $20.8 million in grant funding to build three wildlife underpasses near Montpelier. These improvements will increase drivers’ safety on U.S. Highway 30 at Rocky Point between Montpelier and the Wyoming border, with construction anticipated in 2026.

The project aims to mitigate wildlife-vehicle conflict points with wildlife underpasses built where the highway crosses a regional mule deer migration route. This 20-mile section of US-30 can incur more than 100 mule deer collisions with vehicles each year, with about 70% of those carcasses being reported in the four-mile section (milepost 443-447) known as Rocky Point. Besides making the highway safer for drivers, the new structures will protect the migration corridor and ensure connectivity between crucial seasonal mule deer habitat.

The three wildlife underpasses will be coupled with about 6 road miles of 8-foot-tall wildlife fencing to “funnel” migrating wildlife toward the underpasses. The funding is part of $125 million in federal grants also announced in December for wildlife crossing projects in 16 states.

“We are excited to get this project fully-funded and built,” Environmental Planner Alissa Salmore said. “Local citizens and our Montpelier crew have been asking for a solution here for decades. It will be good to finally deliver this project, both for people and for wildlife.”

Salmore, with key contributions from the ITD team and Idaho Fish and Game as a partner agency, developed the application package for submittal to the FHWA Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program over the past year. The grant covers about 98% of the construction costs for the trio of underpasses. An additional $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund a portion of the fencing to connect two of the structures in the heart of the mule deer travel route.

There are significant benefits to the project beyond ITD’s interest. Idaho Fish and Game also has a strong interest in resolving the conflict between the highway traffic and the regional Bear Lake Plateau mule deer herd’s migration path. The Bear Lake Plateau mule deer herd is a key piece of southeastern Idaho’s economy, bringing thousands of hunters and wildlife enthusiasts to stay and recreate in the area every year. The mule deer migration encompasses parts of Wyoming and Utah as well as Idaho, so those states will also see a benefit from reducing the wildlife-vehicle collision rate at Rocky Point.

Each year, more than one million wildlife-vehicle collisions are estimated to impact motorists and wildlife in the U.S. Wildlife-vehicle collisions involving large animals result in approximately 200 human fatalities and 26,000 injuries to drivers and their passengers each year. These collisions also cost the public more than $10 billion annually. This includes economic costs, such as loss of income, medical costs, property damage, and more. Highways can threaten wildlife populations by fragmenting habitats, creating barriers to safe movement, and causing mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions.