(CNN) — A skier was found dead after an avalanche in a backcountry area of Shoshone County, officials said, in a week of snow-related accidents across the West and Northwest.

Corey J. Zalewski was found and extracted from the area Friday afternoon, according to the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Corey’s family as they are remembering the life of this great man,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook.

Three skiers were caught in the avalanche and two were found alive, Capt. Seth Green told CNN.

Rescue workers found the two – Landon E. Crecelius and David R. Sittser – near Steven’s Peak after getting in contact with the individuals via a GPS device that also enabled texting.

“We were able to coordinate with the two individuals, one of which reported having a broken arm,” Green said. “And the third at the time was still in the vicinity of the avalanche.”

Rescuers found the pair amid rough weather conditions, and got them medical care, Green said.

“Once we got them to medical care, we got the information, pretty definitively, leading us to believe that the third individual is deceased up on the hill where the avalanche occurred,” Green said on Thursday. “Due to this information, we are not continuing our effort tonight due to the safety of everyone involved. We plan on doing a recovery mission tomorrow.”

RELATED | Body of skier retrieved from Idaho backcountry after avalanche that forced rescue of 2 other men

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and the US Air Force assisted in the rescue mission.

Shoshone County is located about three hours from Spokane, Washington.

Also on Thursday, the occupants of two vehicles were rescued after being stuck in an avalanche on State Highway 21 in Boise, according to a news release from the Idaho Transportation Department.

“We are relieved to report that all occupants were safely rescued by first responders from Custer County and Boise County,” the Boise County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Earlier this week, a skier was killed and another person was injured in an avalanche at a Lake Tahoe-area ski resort in California, authorities said.

The avalanche occurred on Wednesday morning at Palisades Tahoe, a popular ski resort that draws in scores of visitors each year, and quickly prompted a search and rescue effort by multiple teams for potential victims, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said. More than 100 resort personnel assisted in the search, Palisades Tahoe said in a statement.

The avalanche occurred in an area that had just opened in the morning and that underwent rigorous “avalanche control assessments” for several days from teams who also evaluated weather conditions and safety measures, said Michael Gross, Palisades Tahoe’s vice president of mountain operations, during a news conference on Wednesday.

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BOISE (IdahoEdNews.org) — Librarians told the House State Affairs Committee on Monday that a bill requiring them to relocate “harmful” books would be impractical and expensive to implement.

The committee voted along party lines to advance the legislation during a crammed hearing that needed overflow rooms to hold attendees. Rep. Jaron Crane’s bill is the latest among a string of proposals to restrict material available to underage library patrons.

House Bill 384 requires that libraries implement a process through which patrons can ask for material to be moved to an adults-only section. If library officials don’t relocate the book, they could face a civil lawsuit that includes statutory penalties.

RELATED | Idaho Republican wants to allow damage claims for ‘harmful’ materials in libraries

“There’s no book banning, and there’s no book burning,” Crane, R-Nampa, told the committee. “We’re simply codifying a relocation policy that creates a fair process for both parties that are involved.”

State Affairs Chairman and Nampa Rep. Brent Crane, Jaron Crane’s brother, allowed for about an hour and a half of public testimony on the bill. Hundreds of people attended the meeting, which fell on the same day as a teachers union event at the capitol.

Most testimony strongly opposed the proposal. Libraries already have policies for challenging material in circulation, and the Legislature should allow those processes to be controlled locally, several librarians said. And the threat of a lawsuit would compel costly renovations and additional staff to create adults-only sections and guard them, said Idaho Falls Public Library Director Robert Wright.

“We’re one of the largest libraries in eastern Idaho,” he said. “We can’t afford to do this.”

RELATED | Local libraries increase protective measures for kids as parental concerns rise

Others criticized the standards that would determine whether content is “harmful” to minors. Idaho law defines “harmful” as content that’s “obscene,” appeals to the prurient interest of minors” and is “patently offensive to prevailing standards” of what’s suitable for children. Content is also “harmful” if it’s “obscene” and “has the dominant effect of substantially arousing sexual desires” in minors.

“Obscene material,” as defined by Idaho law, is content that includes nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement and sado-masochistic abuse. Any act of homosexuality falls under the definition of “sexual conduct.”

“The homophobia in this bill is blatant,” said Isabella Burgess, a college student and associate librarian in Meridian. “It’s absolutely essential that we have books that represent every member of our community that are accessible to every age range.”

The hearing showed diverging opinions over whether libraries should be responsible for supervising content that children access. Mary Ruckh, a Boise grandmother of two elementary schoolers who opposes the bill, urged lawmakers to “trust and allow parents to care for their children.”

Jennifer Holmes of Post Falls had a different view. Holmes said she asked officials from her local library to relocate a DVD that showed two men kissing on the cover. The request was denied and Holmes was told “it’s my responsibility as the parent to monitor my children,” she recalled for the committee.

“Needless to say, I stopped going to that library,” Holmes said.

Others who support House Bill 384 said they’ve struggled to change library policies locally. Children are “frequently being harmed and corrupted” by library content, said Rachelle Ottosen, a public library trustee in Rathdrum. The board has tried since last year to tighten library policies, but has been stymied by threats of lawsuits, Ottosen said.

“It’s mind-boggling that adults demand children have access to sexually explicit materials,” she said.

There was little discussion among committee members before a vote to advance the bill to the full House with a “do-pass” recommendation. Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, moved to delay a vote and allow those who didn’t testify in the allotted time an opportunity to submit written comments to the committee. The motion failed on a party-line vote.

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Idaho, one of the least populous states in the country, is gaining traction in the national population rankings as out-of-state migration numbers push the state to nearly 2 million residents despite a slowdown from the highs of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RELATED | Idaho again among fast-growing states in population, but the growth is slowing down

Many are coming from the coastal states of Washington, Oregon and California, but others such as Utah and Nevada are also contributing heavily to parts of the state.

With many pandemic-era travel and immigration restrictions lifted, international immigration also played a part in the state’s growth over the last year.

Here are three key findings in the latest data.

1. Idaho’s population may top 2 million in 2024

Recent numbers provided by the Idaho Department of Labor show the state’s population grew by nearly 26,000 people between July 2022 and July 2023 to nearly 1,965,000 people. This puts it fourth nationally in percentage growth, according to a Friday press release.

Idaho is the 38th most populous state in the country, nearly 200,000 residents ahead of West Virginia and roughly 14,000 residents behind Nebraska, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers. But Idaho could soon pass Nebraska with a growth rate two-and-a-half times higher than its Midwestern counterpart. Nebraska had 1.96 million people in the 2020 census, Idaho 1.84 million.

The state should hit the 2 million mark within the next two years, according to Jan Roeser, southwestern regional economist for the Idaho Department of Labor.

“To me, it almost feels like we’ll nudge up against it (this year),” Roeser said by phone.

The state’s population stood at just over 717,000 total residents in 1970 and could pass the 2 million mark in 2024 or 2025. Ada County, in blue, has the largest population followed by Canyon County, in pink, Kootenai County, in peach, and Bonneville County, in light purple. | Idaho Statesman

Matthew Hurt, economist at the Idaho Division of Financial Management, said during a Jan. 4 meeting of the Legislature’s Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee that his office predicts the state will hit that mark this winter.

The state first crossed the 1 million mark in 1990, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, and swelled during the pandemic at a “breakneck pace,” Roeser said. That migration has cooled off, with domestic migration dropping from 51,000 in 2021 to just over 15,000 in 2023.

“This is happening to a lot of places that really were hit during the pandemic,” Roeser said. “People have gradually started going back to the big cities.”

But the state’s population growth rate in 2023 was still over double the national average of 0.5%, according to the department.

The Idaho Department of Labor attributed 78% of the state’s population growth to primarily domestic migration and 22% to natural change, meaning births minus deaths. Natural change accounted for 10% of the state’s population growth in 2022.

RELATED | What kind of political beliefs are newcomers bringing to Idaho? Survey says…

1. Moves within Idaho fall, but migration between states rises

Ninety percent of the state’s population growth has come from migration since the 2020 census, Hurt said. But overall migration is changing as county to county migration continues to fall and cross-state migration amps up.

“That’s important for the country to understand, but I think it’s particularly important for Idaho to understand, as we project the state will continue to grow through migration,” Hurt said.

He noted that there was a substantial increase in migration toward the end of the 2010s, which could be similar to how the state grows in the next decade.

“It’s easy to be blindsided by the pandemic,” Hurt said. “The state grew very substantially during that period, and oftentimes the migration that began really picking up speed post-2015 gets lost in that discussion.”

RELATED | People are moving to Idaho in droves. But who’s moving out?

Idaho Division of Financial Management models showed that two-thirds of Idaho’s predicted revenue growth through the 2028 fiscal year would be added through migration, according to Hurt.

Southwest Idaho sees the biggest migration from California, with 33% of those migrating to the region coming from California. Of those leaving Southwest Idaho, 19% are heading to Oregon, Hurt said.

Indeed, California is the No. 1 source of migrants to Idaho. For every Idaho family that moves to California, Idaho gets three back, he said.

“California totally dominates the net migration story, and it really is because Californians come to Idaho,” he said. “Idahoans don’t really go to California.”

But other states contribute. In northern Idaho, the biggest source of migrants is Washington. Migration from Utah dominates the east and southeast of the state.

”It’s so easy to get caught up in the story of the pipeline of Los Angeles to Ada and Canyon County … but migration is, and it always has been, a regional phenomenon,” he said. “Idaho has distinct regions and distinct migration experiences worth keeping in mind whenever we’re talking about migration.”

2. Immigration from Ukraine rises

International migration also swelled from 5% of Idaho’s growth in 2022 to 18% in 2023, with an additional 4,664 residents.

Holly Beech, communications manager for the Idaho Office for Refugees, said part of the reason for the jump was that COVID-19 policies restricted international migration and resettlement programs.

International migration to Idaho climbed again after the fall of Kabul as the Taliban captured control of Afghanistan when the U.S. military pulled out in 2021, and with the war in Ukraine, she said.

“A bunch of states stepped up to help,” Beech said by phone.

The state welcomed over 1,200 refugees between October 2022 and October 2023, according to the Idaho Office for Refugees. The office expects to welcome just over 1,000 in fiscal year 2024.

The largest group of refugees came from the Congo at 558, followed by Ukraine with 292 and Afghanistan with 132.

Roeser said military personnel at Mountain Home Air Force Base who may be returning from international assignments could also have contributed to the increase, as they are counted as international migrants.

Hurts said domestic migration still dwarfs international migration.

3. Which county grew faster: Ada or Canyon?

The Boise metropolitan statistical area, which includes Ada, Canyon, Owyhee, Boise and Gem counties, continues to have a commanding lead in the state population.

The higher a county’s population, the darker its shading on this map. Ada and Canyon counties, lower left, have the largest populations, followed by Kootenai County near the top and Bonneville County on the right. | Idaho Department of Labor; US Census Bureau

Nearly 45% of all Idahoans reside within the Boise metropolitan area, according to the department.

But Hurt said Ada County was not the fastest-growing county between April 2020 and July 2022.

“Canyon County grew much faster,” Hurt said. “You have Boundary and Bonner County up north, as well, growing (with) some of the fastest rates.”

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The following is a news release from The Idaho Foodbank.

MERIDIAN — Stinker Stores and The Idaho Foodbank celebrated the results of the Stomp Out Hunger Campaign with a check presentation at the Idaho Steelheads Game last week.

Since 2010, Stinker Stores in Idaho have had their Stomp Out Hunger Campaign to benefit The Idaho Foodbank. This year, Stomp Out Hunger raised $71,000 which is enough to provide food for up to 213,000 meals.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with The Idaho Foodbank to support their work to help Idahoans who are in need,” said Charley Jones, Owner of Stinker Stores. “I am grateful to our amazing customers and employees across Idaho for participating in our friendly fundraising competition for a great cause.”

During Stomp Out Hunger, Stinker Store employees asked customers to make a donation to The Idaho Foodbank when they paid for their purchases. The Stinker Store that raised the most money during the campaign was in Victor (Store #115). They raised $2,070 for Stomp Out Hunger.

“We appreciate the enthusiastic support from Stinker Store employees and customers,” said Randy Ford, President and CEO of The Idaho Foodbank. “These types of partnerships are crucial to our work to help Idahoans who are food insecure.”

If you or someone you know needs food assistance, please go to The Idaho Foodbank’s Food Assistance Locator.

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BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — More than two dozen Idaho religious leaders and state lawmakers have signed on to an open letter decrying a prominent conservative organization’s affiliation with a man accused of white supremacist and antisemitic sentiments.

Idaho Leaders United, a group created by local business leaders and residents to speak out against extremism, last month denounced the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s hiring of Dave Reilly, a former talk radio host who has faced accusations of being an antisemite or white supremacist, which he’s repeatedly denied.

Idaho Leaders United on Thursday said 33 prominent Idahoans joined the organization to renew calls to oust Reilly. The group said Reilly, who has been active in conservative politics since moving to North Idaho several years ago, has “promoted violence and hate” in the state.

RELATED | Influential Idaho Freedom Foundation quietly hired alt-right propagandist to help shape messaging

According to a story published in 2021 by the Daily Beast, Reilly has made — and since deleted — antisemitic posts on Twitter, including comments like “Judaism is the religion of anti-Christ” and “all Jews are dangerous.” He participated in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was identified in court filings as the person who suggested attendees carry torches there. He has called LGBTQ+ people “perverts” and urged them out of Idaho communities. Reilly was also Kootenai County Republicans’ pick to take the county Democrats’ party chair position as part of a plan to “take over” the opposing party.

“We cannot stand idly by while an organization of influence unites itself with an individual who has a track record of promoting hate speech and violence,” said Amos Rothstein, former executive director of the Idaho GOP and member of Idaho Leaders United. “It is crucial that Idahoans demand a higher standard and actively work towards fostering an environment of respect and understanding.”

RELATED | Former Rexburg lawmaker to head Idaho Freedom Foundation

Religious leaders who signed onto the news release include Rabbi Dan Fink, of Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel; Pete Schroeder and Duane Anders, of Cathedral of the Rockies; Father John Worster, of St. Mary’s Catholic Church; and Reshma Kamal, of the Islamic Center of Boise. The statement also drew bipartisan support from state lawmakers and political candidates. Democrats from around the state signed on, and Republicans included Sen. Geoff Schroeder, of Mountain Home; Rep. Julie Yamamoto, of Caldwell; Sen. Treg Bernt, of Meridian; Sen. Mark Harris, of Soda Springs; and candidates Jeff Agenbroad, Laurie Lickley and Alex Caval.

Members of Idaho Leaders United in the release said they hope the criticism will prompt the Idaho Freedom Foundation to sever its ties with Reilly, particularly as the organization transitions to new leadership under former state legislator Ron Nate, who took over the helm from longtime leader Wayne Hoffman earlier this week. Nate told the Idaho Statesman in a text message Thursday afternoon that the Freedom Foundation “doesn’t provide responses to media requests.”

Reilly did not respond to a request for comment sent to his Freedom Foundation email address.

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MOSCOW — Three University of Idaho College of Law students have left the state in response to alleged discrimination they received over the course of their enrollment, a federal lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, originally filed in September and refiled in December, says the students all identify as LGBTQ+, one is Black and one is Pacific Islander, and some have disabilities that the school did not accommodate. Each student claims they experienced hostility, racial aggressions and a lack of response by the school when discrimination claims were brought to their attention.

The lawsuit was served to the university, the state board of education, university President Scott Green, the dean of the law school, a professor and a former law student, accusing them of Title IX violations.

One plaintiff, known as “John” in the lawsuit, hosted a mixer at his home in Moscow, Idaho, in 2021 to get to know fellow law students. Some of them were members of the Christian Legal Society, a chapter at the university that advocates for anti-abortion practices, religious freedom, free speech and practices that “remain in line with the historic Christian view about marriage and sexual conduct.”

At some point during the party, the plaintiff was cornered in his kitchen by a student who called him an offensive slur often used against LGBTQ+ people, the suit said. John was not open about his sexuality at that point. Other people attending the mixer had to physically restrain the student who used the slur, who has not been charged with a crime. John reported the incident to the school, and the Office of Civil Rights and Investigations began looking into the complaint.

At the same time, John claimed he was being intimidated by other Christian Legal Society members to “just drop” the complaint against the student, the lawsuit said, causing John to become more fearful of his safety at school.

The investigations office concluded its report by writing there was insufficient evidence to act because there was no sign of intimidation, the lawsuit said. A separate investigation ordered the student to stay away from John.

Another plaintiff known as “Kelly” is Black and identifies as LGBTQ+. During orientation in 2021, there were multiple racist comments made that led Kelly to feel uncomfortable, according to the lawsuit. Kelly said a student was justifying why they should be able to use slurs.

Associate Dean of Students Kristi Running said at a new student orientation that those who felt uncomfortable by this comment needed to be “more lenient,” according to the lawsuit. An attempt to reach Running on Wednesday was unsuccessful.

Kelly also was enrolled in a class where a professor said he might accidentally “use the N-word” and told a Black student he would “know all about” car theft, according to the suit. As the semester progressed, she felt more alienated by her peers, as she was one of the few Black students in the law college. She reported what she knew to the school, the lawsuit said, but the school never provided any follow-up.

The next year, the school held a “Moment of Community” in response to a slur that had been written on a whiteboard at UI’s Boise campus. Christian Legal Society members attended the event to hold a prayer circle. Kelly and another plaintiff, known as “Jane,” attended the Moment of Community to support their LGBTQ+ friends but felt it had been hijacked.

Afterward, the lawsuit said, Jane approached a Christian Legal Society member to ask “why they were attending the Moment of Community in support of the LGBTQIA+ community when CLS publicly condemned and rebuked the LGBTQIA+ community.”

The lawsuit says the students were met with hostility by three Christian Legal Society members when they claimed they “have no rights” and were “going to hell.”

Jane also received a note she perceived as threatening from the Christian Legal Society president that caused her to have a panic attack, according to the lawsuit.

She reported this interaction to the investigations office and the university issued a no-contact order based on its Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy and its Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Policies against the three students. Those three later sued the school in April 2022, claiming the university violated their free speech, according to reporting from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Eventually, a judge ruled the university had to rescind the no-contact order and the school was ordered to pay $90,000 to the three Christian Legal Society students and their professor, according to the Associated Press.

Jane left the law school and moved from Idaho because she felt unsafe and unwelcome, the lawsuit said. She moved to Washington to attend law school in the Seattle area. Kelly was diagnosed by a doctor as having depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder after the alleged incidents. She started attending classes remotely from her home in Washington.

John was required to attend classes in person with those he felt unsafe around, according to the lawsuit. He continued to request permission to attend online due to a bone disease and mental health issues. He moved to Arizona in May 2022 where he was approved to attend classes remotely through the “Student in Practice” program.

The University of Idaho said Wednesday that it cannot comment on pending litigation, and the attorneys who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the three plaintiffs declined to comment.

Steven McFarland, the director for the Center of Law and Religious Freedom at Christian Legal Society, said if the accusations are true about any of the society’s members, “that would be highly unfortunate and we would not condone it.”

“The investigations office should confirm they are respecting the rights of all students, including the CLS chapter. Given the recent litigation, I’d think the folks that should be questioned are the investigations office,” McFarland said.

This is not the first time the University of Idaho College of Law has been accused of discrimination. Shaakirrah Sanders is a former law professor at the school and the university’s first Black woman to become a full professor with the College of Law. She sued the University of Idaho in 2019 because she was “subjected to insulting, humiliating and/or discriminatory conduct related to her gender or race.”

She alleged that university officials retaliated against her for bringing forward concerns about students’ racist comments and ignored the comments made by those students, and that she was told she wasn’t qualified enough for her position and made significantly less than her white male counterparts.

Idaho Education News reported that Sanders and the school reached a $750,000 settlement in September. She has since moved to Penn State’s law program.

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POCATELLO — A winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow to the Magic Valley, southern Idaho and much of eastern Idaho from Saturday evening until early Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service in Pocatello has issued a winter storm warning for the following eastern Idaho counties: Franklin, Oneida, Caribou, Bannock, Bingham, southern Bonneville, eastern Madison and western Teton. Pocatello, Soda Springs, Blackfoot, Preston and Malad City will all be affected.

NWS officials say the region may see between 6 to 13 inches. Ridge tops and higher elevations could get between 8 to 20 inches.

Wind gusts could reach 40 mph, and areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility, according to the warning. Expect widespread winter driving conditions and plan on slippery roads.

NWS suggests keeping an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. Click here for an updated list of road closures.

Click here to check out the road conditions. Click here to view the weather in your area, webcams of roads and recent weather stories.

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BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Members of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee took a symbolic hostage on Friday as part of the budget committee’s showdown with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare over uncorrected issues that were flagged in an audit of the department.

When JFAC sets the fiscal year 2025 maintenance of current operations budgets on Monday, the committee will not include any funding for Idaho Health and Welfare’s indirect support services, Keith Bybee, budget and policy manager for the Idaho Legislative Services office, said. That would effectively zero out funding for the Idaho Department of Health administrative central hub, including the director’s office, IT support, human resources, legal services, fiscal services and more, Bybee said. 

“One of the approaches that are included in this package is to not fund a key and critical division in the Health and Welfare Department and that is indirect support services, with the idea here being that it is a negotiation piece for the agency to at least formalize some sort of response to outstanding audit and uncorrected findings back to this committee,” Bybee said during Friday’s meeting. “They have the entirety of the session, effectively, to come back and come back with an effective corrective plan.”

The total indirect support services budget, at the maintenance of operations level, is $46.8 million, Bybee told the Sun.

“It’s sort of the central hub of the Department of Health and Welfare, so it would be hard for the department to function without that budget going forward, but that is the message in there,” Bybee said during Friday’s JFAC meeting. 

Although the funding would not be included in the budgets JFAC sets Monday, the committee will consider approving the funding later in the legislative session if the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare corrects the findings from the audit, which JFAC ordered during the 2023 legislative session, before the legislative session adjourns for the year, JFAC co-chairs Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, told the Idaho Capital Sun.

Grow said JFAC co-chairs specifically picked the indirect support services budget as the budget to zero out because it does not include funding for any services Idahoans receive from the department.

The Department of Health and Welfare’s fiscal year 2025 budgets for public health services and Medicaid will be the last two budgets JFAC members will set this year, with the budget hearings scheduled for March 6 and March 7, respectively. 

“Shutting down administrative functions most definitely will impact the department’s ability to provide services to DHW patients and beneficiaries, who are among Idaho’s most vulnerable populations, including the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged families,” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare spokesperson AJ McWhorter said in a written statement Friday afternoon. “However, JFAC sets the rules for budgeting, and as an executive branch agency, DHW will work within the rules.”

JFAC pushes Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to correct audit findings

At issue is an audit into the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s distribution of grant funds that the Idaho Legislative Services Office conducted and released in August. The audit found a lack of controls in the program that led to grant recipients using “the funds for ineligible purposes and for ineligible groups,” the Sun previously reported. 

At the time the audit was released, former Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen released a statement disagreeing with all findings in the audit. Jeppesen retired in December.

On Thursday, Idaho Legislative Services audit division manager April Renfro told JFAC that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has not submitted a corrective action plan for eight findings from the audit.

Also on Thursday, Dean Cameron, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s interim director who stepped in when Jeppesen retired, wrote a letter to JFAC members promising to revamp how the department handles grants and to provide mandatory grant administration training, the Sun previously reported. 

Removing funding for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s administrative central hub is a tactic JFAC is using to make sure Cameron follows through on his promise. 

Without a corrective plan to address the findings, “it calls into question our ability to appropriate funds for the agency,” Horman told reporters after Friday’s meeting.

Horman and Grow told the Sun the idea to remove the funding came together Thursday, after they received Cameron’s letter. 

Cameron himself is a former state senator who previously co-chaired JFAC.

A year of changes for Idaho’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee

Friday’s budget showdown was the latest development in what has already been a year of changes for JFAC. Grow and Horman have announced a series of significant changes they are enacting to budget setting procedures this year, including shortening the public portions of meetings to about half of their traditional three-hour length. 

Grow and Horman said the changes are designed to begin the budget setting process earlier in the legislative session and empower JFAC members to apply more scrutiny to budgets and new spending requests. 

Horman said removing the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare indirect support services funding will not affect current operations in the fiscal year 2024 budget or jeopardize services Idahoans are receiving from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

The fiscal year 2025 budget takes effect July 1, on the first day of the state’s new fiscal year. 

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MOSCOW (Idaho Statesman) — Defense attorneys for the man charged with murdering four University of Idaho students are set to receive some of the DNA records they sought after the judge in the case ordered the state turn over a portion of the information that prosecutors have acknowledged was used to initially identify Bryan Kohberger as the suspect.

Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District filed the order Thursday evening concerning the release of details about the use in the case of the advanced DNA technique known as investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG. The order published to a website that houses the Kohberger case’s court record Friday afternoon.

IGG involves taking DNA from a crime scene and submitting it to online genealogy services similar to 23andMe and Ancestry.com to build a family tree and locate criminal suspects.

RELATED | Prosecutors reach death penalty decision for man accused of slaying of 4 University of Idaho students

A leather sheath for a Ka-Bar brand combat-style knife was found at the off-campus home where the U of I students were killed. Investigators located a single source of male touch DNA on the sheath’s button snap, which was later linked to Kohberger, police have said.

But which IGG records the defense will receive through the criminal legal process known as discovery is unclear. Judge’s order stated that only some of the information would be delivered — all of which is under seal.

“The specific material to be provided is set forth in a sealed order to protect the privacy of the IGG information, including individuals on the family tree,” Judge wrote.

For eight months — dating back to May — Kohberger’s public defense team has requested that prosecutors turn over the records. They include any documents held by the FBI, as well as those produced by Texas-based private laboratory Othram, which the defense has said performed DNA work during the homicide investigation for the Idaho State Police.

Led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, prosecutors objected to providing the records to the defense on a number of grounds, including that they were in the FBI’s possession, and that prosecutors had never seen them. They requested a protective order to prevent the defense from accessing them.

RELATED | Bryan Kohberger defense spars with state over DNA evidence in ongoing Idaho court hearing

The two sides made arguments before Judge in August and he ordered the prosecution to obtain all available IGG records from the FBI by the beginning of December. With those in hand by the deadline, Judge went about reviewing them behind closed doors to decide which ones he would allow to be turned over to Kohberger’s defense, and which ones would be withheld.

Kohberger, 29, is accused of stabbing the four college students to death at the home on King Road in Moscow in November 2022. The victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, each 20.

Against some of the victims’ families wishes ahead of a trial, the U of I, which took ownership of the Moscow home, demolished it two weeks ago. The King Road property was previously owned by U of I President Scott Green’s family until the early 1970s.

Kohberger was arrested in December 2022 and is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted by a jury.

No trial date has been set after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial last year. Prosecutors recently requested a trial date be scheduled for the upcoming summer.

Judge set the next pretrial hearing for Jan. 26 in his Latah County courtroom to discuss an updated schedule. In addition, he will hear arguments — most of which will be behind closed doors — from the defense that he reconsider his prior decision denying their efforts to throw out Kohberger’s grand jury indictment on several procedural grounds.

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The following is a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Idaho.

BOISE – James Dougherty, 43, of Boise, pleaded guilty to wire fraud involving a scheme to defraud an elderly victim of money and real property. His wife, Jessica Dougherty, 42, also of Boise, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced Friday.

According to court records, in early 2015, James Dougherty and his wife, Jessica Dougherty, moved into a building on the victim’s 46-acre ranch in Boise to ostensibly provide the victim with assistance with her ranch and horses in exchange for free rent. Prior to 2015, the victim, a retired elementary schoolteacher, lived independently on her ranch and enjoyed a comfortable retirement.

In late 2015, the victim’s health deteriorated. During that time, James Dougherty gained control of the victim’s finances, including being named as the victim’s power-of-attorney for finances. A trust was executed, ostensibly signed by the victim, naming James and Jessica Dougherty as primary beneficiaries of the victim’s estate, including the ranch, and naming James Dougherty as successor trustee.

Shortly thereafter, in December 2015, the victim’s ranch was transferred from the victim to the newly formed trust benefitting the Doughertys. In March 2016, the victim was then declared incapacitated by two doctors, and James Dougherty was appointed sole trustee of the trust.

In 2015 and 2016, James Dougherty began to access, use, and transfer funds from the victim’s banking and financial accounts for his own personal use, benefit, and ownership. In fact, James Dougherty used the victim’s funds without her knowledge or consent to pay his and Jessica Dougherty’s creditors to rehabilitate their credit and qualify for a mortgage to ultimately transfer the victim’s ranch into the Doughertys’ personal names.

In July 2017, James and Jessica Dougherty entered into an agreement to purchase the ranch from the trust, executed by James Dougherty, as trustee. The victim was not involved in the transactions. James Dougherty as trustee sold the ranch to himself and Jessica Dougherty, signed as both the “Buyer” and as the “Seller” on the purchase and sale agreement, for less than the market value.

James Dougherty did not place the ranch for sale on the public market and the purchase price he paid simply represented the amount to clear the existing debt on the ranch. According to the Ada County Assessor, however, the value of the ranch at the time was approximately twice the amount of the purchase price.

The sale of the ranch to James and Jessica Dougherty was a breach of fiduciary duty under the trust and James Dougherty admitted he acted with the intent to defraud.

After James and Jessica were arrested in August 2022, and while in pretrial custody, Jessica Dougherty made a call from the Ada County jail and requested that an individual “flash” or “reset” a Dell laptop computer located at the ranch. Within hours, an individual followed Jessica Dougherty’s request and records relevant to the investigation involving the victim were permanently destroyed from the Dell laptop computer.

Jessica Dougherty admitted to knowingly causing the destruction of the records with the intent to obstruct the Department of Justice’s investigation.

James and Jessica Dougherty are scheduled to be sentenced on April 2, 2024, and they both face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

“Defrauding an elderly victim out of her home is a reprehensible crime,” said U.S. Attorney Hurwit. “We must treat elders with the decency and respect that they deserve, and our Office will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute those who defraud elderly victims.”

“As a community, it is our responsibility to care for our elders. As a law enforcement community, it is our duty to hold individuals accountable who abuse their position of trust and steal from the elderly,” said IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) Special Agent in Charge, Todd Martin.

U.S. Attorney Hurwit commended the work of the Ada County Sherriff’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations Division, and the Office of Inspector General of Health and Human Services, which led to the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Mazorol and Brittney Campbell are prosecuting the case.

Combatting elder abuse and financial fraud targeted at seniors is a key priority of the Department of Justice. The mission of the Department’s Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target our nation’s seniors. To learn more, visit https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice.

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