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STANLEY (Idaho Statesman) — When fire officials received reports of smoke and flames near a popular Idaho lodge on a mid-July afternoon, they sprang into action. Within days, nearly 200 people were working on the blaze in the Sawtooth recreation area, dubbed the Bench Lake Fire.

As crews dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of lake water from aircraft, carved out fire lines and arranged hoses to protect the historic Redfish Lake Lodge from the flames, investigators worked to determine the cause of the fire south of Stanley. There were no lightning storms that afternoon, and no infrastructure or machinery at the remote mountain lake that could have thrown a spark.

Two weeks after the fire started, officials announced it was human-caused. The exact source is still under investigation. The National Interagency Coordination Center’s latest incident report totaled the cost of the blaze at $12 million.

Human-caused fires are becoming more common, state fire officials said, and the vast majority of U.S. wildfires are started by humans. But it can be difficult to find those responsible. Even when they’re found, the exorbitant cost of suppressing large fires means getting financial restitution can be a long shot.

Josh Harvey, fire management chief for the Department of Lands, called the issue troubling.

“Idaho faces a situation where I think we’re going to continue to see increased human-caused fires,” he told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. “I don’t think the general public quite understands the severity of the issue and being on the hook for a large fire that costs millions of dollars.”

Wildfire bills aren’t always paid

In Idaho and across the West, human-caused fires make up the majority of ignitions in a given fire season, according to the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center. They often burn more acreage than lightning-caused fires, and research has found that human-caused fires are more destructive and spread more rapidly.

So far this year, humans have started 328 fires on Bureau of Land Management property and 72 fires on state property. U.S. Forest Service officials didn’t respond to questions about human-caused fires on the agency’s land.

The Department of Lands and federal agencies have specially trained investigators and are often joined by investigators from the Idaho State Fire Marshal’s office to determine the cause of the fire. Sometimes it’s easy enough to find the person responsible. Harvey said the Idaho Department of Lands often responds to fires called in by homeowners whose burn piles got away from them or who didn’t take enough precautions when working on machinery near dry vegetation.

Other times law enforcement and fire investigators rely on eyewitness accounts, campsite reservations or footage from trail or traffic cameras to try to identify potential suspects. A witness led Boise police to 19-year-old Taylor Kemp in connection with the 2016 fire that burned Table Rock. Another identified the teenage boy who started the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.

But identifying the person responsible, and issuing an order to pay restitution isn’t necessarily a guarantee that an agency will be reimbursed for firefighting.

In the case of the 2016 Table Rock Fire, which destroyed a home, the price of restitution totaled $423,000. Kemp, who was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of fireworks, has paid about $500 of that and had another $1,200 suspended by the court, online records showed. His last payment was $20 in 2019.

JJ Winters, an attorney for the Department of Lands, said the department has three or four active restitution cases, for which the bills total $2.9 million. Those fires burned in 2020 and 2021. For fires from 2017 to 2019, the agency recovered $1.6 million, Winters said.

“When a fire starts on state-owned land, we can and we do make every attempt to recover the cost of suppression from responsible parties, whether they were set intentionally or not,” Winters said. “If people understand they can be held responsible for the cost of suppressing a fire, they might think twice about it.”

Winters said the agency frequently works with people liable for wildfire costs to work out payment plans. Sometimes homeowners’ or renters’ insurance policies cover negligent incidents, even if they happen on public land or someone else’s property. Winters said when agency officials present a person with a wildfire restitution bill, they encourage the person to talk to their insurance company.

When the responsible party can’t be identified, or can’t pay the bill, taxpayers are left holding the bag. On state-managed land, the costs come out of a dedicated “rainy day” fund.

“These things are impossible to predict and budget for,” Winters said. “We don’t know how many people are going to leave campfires unattended or shoot exploding targets or bring Roman candles into the forest.”

INVESTIGATORS DETERMINE WILDFIRE CAUSE

The amount of restitution for a wildfire typically accounts for the cost of suppression, including firefighter pay and equipment, and any property damage. And the price tag can grow as quickly as the fire itself.

There are numerous ways people can start wildfires: burning brush, sparks from off-road vehicles or dragging trailer chains, exploding firearms targets, fireworks, and campfires that weren’t properly extinguished. The circumstances typically don’t matter when it comes to liability.

“Anyone starting a fire is responsible for that fire until it is out,” Dennis Becker, dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources, told the Statesman by phone. “That can be a purposely started fire or an unintentionally started fire.”

Becker said wildfires needing out-of-state resources — which was the case for the Bench Lake Fire — are especially costly. Suppression costs include transport for crews and equipment, plus meals and lodging.

When investigators identify the person who started the fire, they work with prosecutors to determine whether to pursue charges. Intentionally set fires are criminally prosecuted as arson. Accidental wildfires are considered a nuisance under Idaho law and are subject to civil penalties.

Investigators look at burn patterns and other clues to determine a fire’s cause. Becker said lightning-caused fires show signs of a “high-voltage ignition,” like shattered rock or splintered trees. Other factors — such as signs of a fire pit or campsite, the presence of certain chemicals like fuel or lubricant from a vehicle, or friction marks — can help investigators narrow down a cause, according to the National Wildlife Coordinating Group’s investigation handbook.

But those investigations can be especially difficult in the backcountry, where ignitions can start at unmonitored dispersed campsites or in remote areas.

Officials are still looking for the person who started the Moose Fire, which ignited from an improperly extinguished campfire near North Fork in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in 2022 and became the state’s largest fire that year.

NEGLIGENCE, PREVENTION PLAY INTO PROSECUTION

Harvey said the Department of Lands doesn’t try to recoup its costs in all instances of unintentional wildfires. He said officials consider other factors before they would deem the responsible party negligent, such as whether they were prepared for wildfire conditions and made an effort to contain the blaze.

People should prepare to have fire extinguishers, hoses, shovels or other fire suppressants if they expect to create heat, sparks or flames in an activity, Harvey said. But even the most prepared person can’t always stop a wildfire, he added. The Department of Lands takes that into account.

In some cases, the agency chose not to bill the person responsible for the ignition, because investigators found that the person responsible for the ignition took appropriate steps and did what they could to stop it.

“We as an agency are not out to bankrupt a homeowner or landowner because of a fire,” Harvey said. “We don’t like having to bill somebody for starting a fire.”

Becker said he has been heartened to see people taking fire safety more seriously lately.

“Just the other night, I was going to bed and heard fireworks and thought, ‘That is not what we need right now,’” he said.

The next day, his neighborhood social media was “lighting up” with comments from people warning of the wildfire risk and encouraging others to use better judgment.

“That’s a really good trend,” Becker said. “People are becoming educated on the risks with fire during the summer seasons.”

He said living safely with fire is a necessity, since fire can be beneficial in forest regeneration. Rather than trying to eliminate it entirely, people should do what they can to reduce the risks.

“Fire risk is not going away,” Becker said. “I think more and more people are understanding that that’s the case.”

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MOSCOW (Idaho Statesman)– NBC’s “Dateline” and ABC’s “20/20” debuted special episodes on Friday evening investigating the quadruple homicide in Moscow, where four University of Idaho students were killed in an off-campus home on King Road.

The four victims were U of I seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.

The episodes look into the lives of the four students, featuring some of the victims’ parents and friends. The episodes also include insight from forensic experts who examine 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger, who was arrested on Dec. 30 after detectives used DNA evidence, cell phone records and security footage to identify him as the suspect. Former classmates and students also revealed their shock upon hearing Kohberger was the suspect.

Below are three takeaways from the two specials.

A LOOK INTO HOW PARENTS, FRIENDS HEARD THE NEWS

The Idaho Statesman previously reported that the three women, Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves lived at the King Road residence with two surviving roommates. Chapin was staying the night with Kernodle, his girlfriend.

Kristi Goncalves, mother of Kaylee Goncalves, told NBC’s Keith Morrison that her daughter had recently moved out of the King Road residence, but returned the weekend of Nov. 12 to spend time with Mogen, her best friend since sixth grade. Goncalves was preparing to graduate in December and had a job lined up at a tech firm in Austin, Texas.

On Nov. 13, Goncalves’ mother said she received a call from a relative with connections in Moscow. The relative told her “something bad happened to Kaylee.” Goncalves then tried calling her daughter, who did not answer, so she called Mogen.

“I said, ‘Everyone needs to relax, because if something happened to Kaylee last night, Maddie would have called me,’” Goncalves said in the interview.

Shortly after, Goncalves said someone from the Sheriff’s Office had knocked on the door to tell the family the news of their daughter and Mogen’s death.

Meanwhile, it was a normal Sunday for many classmates and friends of the victims at the University of Idaho.

Martha, a sophomore at the University of Idaho and a friend of Kernodle and Chapin, said she met with classmates for a group project at noon on Nov. 13. The group was meeting at the Sigma Chi house where she, Kernodle and Chapin had been the night before at a party. The group of students was waiting on one person — Hunter Chapin, Ethan Chapin’s brother.

“We called him, and we said, ‘Hey, are you coming?’” she said in an interview. “And he said, ‘No, I think Ethan’s dead.”

Martha proceeded to text Kernodle, but was later told that she had also died.

“We didn’t know if it was a carbon monoxide thing, we didn’t know, and so we all just basically stood in a big, quiet circle and watched all the beginning stuff happen,” she said in the episode.

Students at the University of Idaho then received a Vandal Alert text, informing students that the Moscow Police Department was investigating a homicide on King Road.

RELATED | Key takeaways from court documents in case against Bryan Kohberger and some questions that remain

FANTASIES AND CONTROL: FORENSIC EXPERTS OFFER INSIGHT ABOUT SUSPECT

Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested two weeks ago in his home in Pennsylvania on suspicion of four counts of first-degree murder. His next court date is scheduled on June 26.

With a suspect in custody, there is still one question authorities have not yet solved: Why these four students?

Jon Matthias, a forensic psychologist and host of the “Hidden True Crime” podcast, offered his insight about the suspect’s intentions in the “Dateline” episode.

“I think this is someone who had a lot of fantasies of revenge, and a lot of violent and aggressive impulses over the years that have been weighing heavily on him and created a lot of anxiety and stress,” Matthias said in an interview. “I see this as being kind of a release for him.”

Moscow Police previously said that there were no signs of sexual assault among the victims, but that does not mean there weren’t any fantasies, Matthias said.

“The murderer needed to get in and out quickly, so if there were fantasies about sexual assault, he probably realized he wouldn’t be able to pull that off with so many people in the house,” he said.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, detectives believe the homicides occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:25 am.

Other forensic experts talked about the suspect’s choice of weapon. Greg Rodgers, a retired FBI agent and university professor, told NBC in an interview that the suspect intentionally chose a combat knife to instill fear upon the victims.

RELATED | WSU students: Kohberger spoke up in class — except when Moscow killings were the topic

“He could have easily acquired a handgun if he wanted one,” Rodgers said. “He could have acquired it legally or illegally. He chose a knife on purpose… to really scare the victims and get control.”

Rodgers said the suspect was well-prepared on what to say to the victims during the attack, referring to one of the surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen, and her testimony in the affidavit of probable cause. She told police she heard someone say “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.”

“If the one roommate’s statements are accurate about what she heard the male saying to one of her roommates, he was well-rehearsed,” Rodgers said. “He’d thinking about this for a long time… He’s well versed in the psychological aspect of how people think and behave during a crime. He’s trying to calm them down, and doesn’t want them to scream or alert their roommates.”

Kohberger, a Ph.D. candidate and teaching assistant at Washington State University, has an extensive background in criminology.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, detectives located a knife sheath in the bedroom where Goncalves and Mogen were found. Rodgers said leaving the sheath behind was a “huge mistake” for the suspect.

“I think he became obsessed with one of these victims,” Rodgers said. “It could be just as simple that she might have served him in one of the restaurants they worked at. He might’ve just seen her. He may have spoken to one of them and done something awkward and asked for a number and been rejected and got obsessed.”

RELATED | Bryan Kohberger, accused of killing four U of I students, hears murder charges read in court

‘BULLIED,’ ‘AWKWARD’: FORMER CLASSMATES, STUDENTS DESCRIBE KOHBERGER

As news spread across the country about Kohberger’s arrest, former high school classmate Casey Arntz took her shock to social media, revealing she met Kohberger on their school bus in eastern Pennsylvania.

Arntz told “Dateline” and “20/20” journalists that Kohberger was overweight in school, and she believed girls used to bully him.

Arntz stayed in touch with Kohberger after high school, and later learned he had gone to rehabilitation treatment for a heroin addition in 2013. The next time she saw Kohberger was in 2017 at a wedding where she said he had lost a significant amount of weight and did not seem comfortable in a social setting.

A former undergraduate classmate from DeSales University, Madison, also told NBC that she was shocked to see Kohberger had lost so much weight in his mugshot. She described Kohberger as someone who would overexplain topics in class.

“It was always like, ‘Oh Bryan’s answering this question,’ she said. “This is going to take the entire class.”

The Statesman previously reported that Kohberger received a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and a master’s degree in criminal justice in May 2022 from DeSales University. In November, Kohberger was pursuing a Ph.D. in the criminal justice and criminology department at Washington State University while also working as a teaching assistant.

In the “Dateline” and “20/20” episodes, one of Kohberger’s students described him as awkward and quiet.

Hayden Stinchfield, a junior at WSU, told “Dateline” and “20/20” journalists that Kohberger was unnapproachable as a teaching assistant.

“He got out before we did, probably because he had to be somewhere, but also because he had no reason to stick around because no one was going to go up and talk to him,” he said in an interview.

Stinchfield expressed frustration at how harshly Kohberger graded assignments. “You’re not telling us we did it wrong,” Stinchfield said about Kohberger’s feedback on assignments.

“You’re telling us how you would have done it at your Ph.D. level, and then you’re taking our points for it.”

That pattern of harshly grading assignments suddenly changed in the last few weeks of the fall semester, Stinchfield said, when Kohberger began giving everyone full points and stopped leaving notes.

“Looking back, it lines up pretty well with Nov. 13,” he said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy told cheering U.S. legislators during a defiant wartime visit to the nation’s capital on Wednesday that against all odds his country still stands, thanking Americans for helping to fund the war effort with money that is “not charity,” but an “investment” in global security and democracy.

The whirlwind stop in Washington — his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February — was aimed at reinvigorating support for his country in the U.S. and around the world at a time when there is concern that allies are growing weary of the costly war and its disruption to global food and energy supplies.

Zelenskyy called the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. military and economic assistance provided over the past year vital to Ukraine’s efforts to beat back Russia and appealed for even more in the future.

“Your money is not charity,” he sought to reassure both those in the room and those watching at home. “It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”

Just before his arrival, the U.S. announced a new $1.8 billion military aid package, including for the first time Patriot surface-to-air missiles. And Congress planned to vote this week on a fresh spending package that includes about $45 billion in additional emergency assistance to Ukraine.

The speech to Congress came after President Joe Biden hosted Zelenskyy in the Oval Office for strategy consultations, saying the U.S. and Ukraine would maintain their “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine’s right to exist as a nation.” Biden pledged to help bring about a “just peace.”

Zelenskyy told Biden that he had wanted to visit sooner and his visit now demonstrates that the “situation is under control, because of your support.”

The highly sensitive trip came after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians.

Zelenskyy traveled to Washington aboard a U.S. Air Force jet. The visit had been long sought by both sides, but the right conditions only came together in the last 10 days, U.S. officials said, after high-level discussions about the security both of Zelenskyy and of his people while he was outside of Ukraine. Zelenskyy spent less than 10 hours in Washington before beginning the journey back to Ukraine.

“Your money is not charity.”

In his remarks to lawmakers, Zelenskky harked back to U.S. victories in the Battle of the Bulge, a turning point against Nazi Germany in World War II, and the Revolutionary War Battle of Saratoga, an American victory that helped draw France’s aid for U.S. independence. The Ukrainian leader predicted that next year would be a “turning point” in the conflict, “when Ukrainian courage and American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom — the freedom of people who stand for their values.”

Zelenskyy received thunderous applause from members of Congress and presented lawmakers with a Ukrainian flag autographed by front-line troops in Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province. The flag was displayed behind him on the rostrum by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. Pelosi, in turn, presented Zelenskyy with an American flag that had flown over the Capitol that day, and Zelenskyy pumped it up and down as he exited the chamber.

Declaring in his speech that Ukraine “will never surrender,” Zelenskyy warned that the stakes of the conflict were greater than just the fate of his nation — that democracy worldwide is being tested.

“This battle cannot be ignored, hoping that the ocean or something else will provide protection,” he said, speaking in English for what he had billed as a “speech to Americans.”

Earlier, in a joint news conference with Biden, Zelenskyy was pressed on how Ukraine would try to bring an end to the conflict. He rejected Biden’s framing of finding a “just peace,” saying, “For me as a president, ‘just peace’ is no compromises.” He said the war would end once Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity were restored, and Russia had paid back Ukraine for all the damage inflicted by its forces.

“There can’t be any ‘just peace’ in the war that was imposed on us,” he added.

Biden, for his part, said Russia was “trying to use winter as a weapon, but Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world.” During the news conference, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “no intention of stopping this cruel war.”

The two leaders appeared to share a warm rapport, laughing at each other’s comments and patting each other on the back throughout the visit, though Zelenskyy made clear he will continue to press Biden and other Western leaders for ever more support.

He said that after the Patriot system was up and running, “we will send another signal to President Biden that we would like to get more Patriots.”

“We are in the war,” Zelenskyy added with a smile, as Biden chuckled at the direct request. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

Biden told Zelenskyy that it was “important for the American people, and for the world, to hear directly from you, Mr. President, about Ukraine’s fight, and the need to continue to stand together through 2023.”

Zelenskyy had headed to Washington after making a daring and dangerous trip Tuesday to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line of the war, the city of Bakhmut.

Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, said Zelenskyy crossed into Poland early Wednesday on his way to Washington. The station showed footage of what appeared to be Zelenskyy arriving at a train station and being escorted to a motorcade of American SUVs. TVN24 said the video, partially blurred for security reasons, was shot in Przemysl, a Polish border town that has been the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war.

Officials, citing security concerns, were cagey about Zelenskyy’s travel plans, but a U.S. official confirmed that Zelenskyy arrived on a U.S. Air Force jet that landed at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the capital, from the Polish city of Rzeszow.

Biden told Zelenskyy, who wore a combat-green sweatshirt and boots, that ”it’s an honor to be by your side.”

U.S. and Ukrainian officials have made clear they do not envision an imminent resolution to the war and are preparing for fighting to continue for some time. The latest infusion of U.S. money would be the biggest yet — and exceed Biden’s $37 billion request.

Biden repeated that while the U.S. will arm and train Ukraine, American forces will not be directly engaged in the war.

The latest U.S. military aid package includes not only a Patriot missile battery but precision guided bombs for fighter jets, U.S. officials said. It represents an expansion in the kinds of advanced weaponry intended to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missiles.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the system and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military.

“It’s a defensive system,” Biden said of sending the missile system. “It’s not escalatory — it’s defensive.”

The visit comes at an important moment, with the White House bracing for greater resistance when Republicans take control of the House in January and give more scrutiny to aid for Ukraine. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California has said his party will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine.

Zelenskky appeared well aware of political divisions in the U.S. over prolonged overseas spending, and called on the House and Senate lawmakers to ensure American leadership remains “bicameral and bipartisan.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber’s session on Wednesday by saying that passage of the aid package and confirmation of the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne M. Tracy, would send a strong signal that Americans stand “unequivocally” with Ukraine. Tracy was confirmed later on a 93-2 vote.

The Senate’s top Republican, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, said “the most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests.” He said “defeating Russia’s aggression will help prevent further security crises in Europe.”

Russia’s invasion, which began Feb. 24, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested.

With the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine’s power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.

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(CNN) — Target stores are recalling more than 200,000 weighted blankets for children that have been sold by the retailer from December 2018 through September 2022.

The Pillowfort brand blankets can trap children inside if they unzip them and enter the blanket, posing a risk of suffocation.

Two girls, ages 4 and 6, reportedly died after becoming entrapped in the cover of the blanket in April 2022 at Camp Lejune, NC. Target has received four reports of children becoming entrapped in these weighted blankets, including the two deaths.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and Target are urging consumers to stop using the recalled blankets immediately and return them to stores for a refund.

The Pillowfort Weighted Blankets weigh 6 pounds and measure 60 inches long and 40 inches wide. They have a removable, washable cover. The blankets come in 8 different prints or colors including unicorn white, space navy, pink, blue, gray, buffalo plaid red, blue constellation, and unicorn pink.

Consumers who have these blankets at home should contact Target at 800-440-0680 to receive a prepaid return label to return them by mail, or they can be returned to any Target Store.

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POCATELLO — The owners of one of Pocatello’s most popular food trucks now have permanent digs inside Station Square.

Brian and Kimberly Zenger, owners of the food truck Grandma’s Pantry, are now selling their signature jacked-up grilled cheeses and burgers inside Station Square in Pocatello. However, in this new atmosphere, the Zengers have introduced some new items, unique to the brick-and-mortar location.

“It’s a great new menu,” Brian said, “we’re doing deli sandwiches and homemade soups.”

Despite currently offering breakfast sandwiches daily, Brian hopes to eventually open early enough to offer a more expanded breakfast menu and another option for Pocatello residents heading to work or school.

RELATED | East Idaho Eats: The best jams, jellies and foods cooked with jelly is found in Grandma’s Pantry

Items that could soon be added to the daily breakfast menu include biscuits and gravy and waffles stuffed with Grandma’s Pantry’s signature award-winning jelly cream cheese.

While many popular Grandma’s Pantry items are currently available at the new location, some — like the popular belly bites and fresh-cut fries — are not. Brian explained to EastIdahoNews.com that the location could not accommodate a fryer.

During our visit, Brian gave EastIdahoNews.com a sample of his beef vegetable soup and one of the grilled deli sandwiches — “The Kim,” created by Kimberly.

The soup was delicious and perfect for a chilly winter day. The beef was tender, and the vegetables were not overcooked.

The sandwich, with a quarter-pound each of ham and turkey with avocados, arugula, tomato and olives — was as tasty as it sounds, with the perfect juxtaposition of warm ham and grilled bread on an otherwise cold deli sandwich.

Like many of the eateries in the area, Grandma’s Pantry offers bagged lunches for Pocatello High School students. Those lunches, which include a sandwich and a bag of chips, can be ordered ahead of arrival and quickly picked up.

Grandma’s Pantry has also found a new way to spread its delicious flavors.

Through a new partnership, Kimberly’s award-winning jellies are available at Del Monte Meats at 808 West Center Street. Del Monte, Brian explained, will be including some of the delicious jellies in their meat and cheese platters, but the jelly can also be purchased by the jar in the butcher shop.

As for the new Grandma’s Pantry location, Brian said it is an addition to the food truck. Both the truck and the Station Square location will be open come spring.

Grandma’s Pantry is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. — for open-mic night — inside Station Square at 200 South Main Street.

Follow them on Facebook — here — to monitor specials. You can order their jelly at their website — here.

If you want to make a recommendation for the next destination to be included on East Idaho Eats, email Kalama@EastIdahoNews.com and include “EATS” in the subject line.

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Apple today changed the subscription management interface on the iPhone and iPad, introducing a refreshed look that adds spacing between each subscription and it makes it clearer which subscriptions are active and inactive.


Tapping into a subscription provides details on the price of the subscription and when it is set to renew, plus the interface provides options to resubscribe to an expired subscription. Renewal buttons are more prominent than before, as are cancel buttons and options to change subscription plans for services like Apple One, Apple TV, and Apple Music.

The new subscription interface can be seen on devices running iOS 15.5 and later, including those with the iOS 16 beta. It does not appear to be available on iOS 15.4, so it may be limited to those with newer updates. No software update is required to see the refreshed interface because it loads a webview that Apple revamped.

The updated subscription interface is more in line with the rest of the Settings app changes that Apple made with iOS 15 and earlier updates, providing a simpler, more streamlined management system.

You can access the Subscriptions interface by opening up the Settings app, tapping on your profile picture, and then selecting "Subscriptions."
This article, "Apple Updates Subscriptions Interface on iPhone" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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(CNN) — A SpaceX capsule carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut has arrived at the International Space Station, finishing the first leg of this first-of-its-kind mission that will last about 10 days.

The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday morning. And the spacecraft, which separated from the rocket after reaching orbit, spent about 20 hours free flying through orbit as it maneuvered closer to the ISS.

The trip was brokered by the Houston, Texas-based startup Axiom Space, which seeks to book rocket rides, provide all the necessary training, and coordinate flights to the ISS for anyone who can afford it. It’s all in line with the US government’s and the private sector’s goal to boost commercial activity on the ISS and beyond.

On board this mission, called AX-1, are Michael Lopez-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut turned Axiom employee who is commanding the mission; Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe; Canadian investor Mark Pathy; and Ohio-based real estate magnate Larry Connor.

After reaching the ISS aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, they joined seven professional astronauts already on board the space station — including three NASA astronauts, a German astronaut, and three Russian cosmonauts.

It’s not the first time paying customers or otherwise non-astronauts have visited the ISS, as Russia has sold seats on its Soyuz spacecraft for various wealthy thrill seekers in years past. But this is the first mission that includes a crew entirely comprised of private citizens with no active members of a government astronaut corps. It’s also the first time private citizens have traveled to the ISS on a US-made spacecraft.

Here’s everything you need to know.

How much did this all cost?

Axiom previously disclosed a price of $55 million per seat for a 10-day trip to the ISS, but the company declined to comment on the financial terms for this specific mission — beyond saying in a press conference last year that the price is in the “tens of millions.”

The mission is made possible by very close coordination among Axiom, SpaceX and NASA, since the ISS is government-funded and operated.

And the space agency has revealed some details on how much it’ll charge for use of its 20-year-old orbiting laboratory.

Food alone costs $2,000 per day, per person, in space. Getting provisions to and from the space station for a commercial crew is another $88,000 to $164,000 per person, per day. For each mission, bringing on the necessary support from NASA astronauts will cost commercial customers another $5.2 million, and all the mission support and planning that NASA lends is another $4.8 million.

Who is flying?

Lopez-Alegría, a veteran of four trips to space between 1995 and 2007 during his time with NASA, is commanding this mission as an Axiom employee.

For more about the three paying customers, check out our coverage here.

Is it safe to go to the ISS, given the Russia conflict?

Russia is the United States’ primary partner on the ISS, and the space station has long been hailed as a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation.

US-Russian relations on the ground, however, have hit a fever pitch amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The United States and its allies have slapped hefty sanctions on Russia, and the country has retaliated in numerous ways, including by refusing to sell Russian rocket engines to US companies. The head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, has even taken to social media to threaten to pull out of the ISS agreement.

Despite all the bluster, NASA has repeatedly sought to reassure that, behind the scenes, NASA and its Russian counterparts are working together seamlessly.

“NASA is aware of recent comments regarding the International Space Station. US sanctions and export control measures continue to allow US-Russia civil space cooperation on the space station,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a recent statement. “The professional relationship between our international partners, astronauts and cosmonauts continues for the safety and mission of all on board the ISS.”

Are they astronauts or tourists?

This is a question stewing in the spaceflight community right now.

The US government has traditionally awarded astronaut wings to anyone who travels more than 50 miles above the Earth’s surface. But commercial astronaut wings — a relatively new designation handed out by the Federal Aviation Administration — might not be handed out quite so liberally.

Last year, the FAA decided to end the entire Commercial Space Astronaut Wings program on January 1, 2022. Now, the FAA plans to simply list the names of everyone who flies above the 50-mile threshold on a website.

Whether it’s fair to still refer to people who pay their way to space as “astronauts” is an open question, and countless observers — including NASA astronauts — have weighed in.

Not everyone is too concerned about mincing words.

“If you’re strapping your butt to a rocket, I think that’s worth something,” former NASA astronaut Terry Virts told National Geographic when asked about the issue. “When I was an F-16 pilot, I didn’t feel jealous about Cessna pilots being called pilots. I think everybody’s going to know if you paid to be a passenger on a five-minute suborbital flight or if you’re the commander of an interplanetary space vehicle. Those are two different things.”

If you ask the AX-1 crew, they don’t love being referred to as “tourists.”

“This mission is very different from what you may have heard of in some of the recent — especially suborbital — missions. We are not space tourists,” Lopez-Alegría told reporters earlier this month, referring to the brief supersonic flights put on by Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin. “I think there’s an important role for space tourism, but it is not what Axiom is about.”

The crew did undergo extensive training for this mission, taking on much of the same tasks as professional astronauts-in-training. But the fact is that the three paying customers on this flight — Stibbe, Pathy, and Connor — weren’t selected from a pool of thousands of applicants and aren’t dedicating much of their lives to the endeavor.

Axiom itself has been more flippant about word usage in the past.

“Commercial human spaceflight. Space Tourism. Whatever you call it — it’s happening. And soon,” the company wrote on its website.

What will they do while they’re in space?

Each of the crew members has a list of research projects they plan to work on.

Connor will be doing some research on how spaceflight affects senescent cells, which are cells that have ceased the normal replication process and are “linked to multiple age-related diseases,” according to Axiom. That research will be done in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.

Among the items on Pathy’s to-do list is some additional medical research, focused more on children’s health, that he’ll conduct in partnership with several Canadian hospitals, and some conservation-awareness initiatives.

Stibbe will also do some research and focus on “educational and artistic activities to connect the younger generation in Israel and around the globe,” according to Axiom. Stibbe is flying on behalf of the Ramon Foundation — a space education non-profit named for Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. ​Stibbe’s Axiom bio says he and Ramon shared a “close” friendship.

During downtime, the crew will also get a chance to enjoy sweeping views of Earth. And, at some point, they’ll share a meal with the other astronauts on board. Their food was prepared in partnership with celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andrés. Their meals “lean on flavors and traditional dishes of Commander López-Alegría’s native Spain,” according to Axiom.

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The post A SpaceX tourism mission just arrived at the ISS. Here’s everything you need to know appeared first on East Idaho News.

(CNN) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a new law that will overhaul the US Postal Service’s finances and allow the agency to modernize its service.

The Postal Service Reform Act, which enjoyed a rare wave of bipartisan support in the House and Senate, bolsters an agency that is “as essential as it ever was,” the President said before signing the legislation.

“Today, we enshrine in law our recognition that the Postal Service is fundamental,” Biden said.

But what exactly is in the law, and how will it affect most Americans? Here’s what you need to know:

What’s in the law?

The Postal Service Reform Act will require retired postal employees to enroll in Medicare when eligible, while dropping a previous mandate that forced the agency to cover its health care costs years in advance.

Those two measures would save the USPS nearly $50 billion over the next decade, according to the House Oversight Committee.

The legislation will also require the USPS to create an online dashboard with local and national delivery time data.

Why are the USPS’ finances so dire?

Established in 1775 to promote the free exchange of ideas across the colonies, the Postal Service is among the country’s oldest government institutions — yet it operates with few of the financial benefits of being a federal agency while still bearing many of the costs.

Unlike other government agencies, the USPS generally does not receive taxpayer funding, and instead must rely on revenue from stamps and package deliveries to support itself.

And unlike private courier services such as UPS and FedEx, the USPS cannot excise unprofitable routes because Congress stipulates that the Postal Service delivers to all homes in America — including a remote community in the Grand Canyon, where the mail is delivered by mule. And Postal Service pricing must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent government agency.

How has low funding hampered the USPS?

Most recently, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said that USPS’ “dire financial condition” has inhibited the service from modernizing, including from replacing the vast majority of its aging vehicle fleet with electric trucks.

DeJoy said last year that longer first-class mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours across the country are among the changes in his 10-year plan for the agency.

Does the law go far enough to address the USPS’ challenges?

While lawmakers from both parties have hailed the legislation as an important step for the USPS, Paul Steidler, a postal service expert at the Lexington Institute, told CNN it doesn’t go nearly far enough.

“The bill is woefully insufficient because it does nothing to improve mail service. It takes the pressure off of the Postal Service to better understand and to reduce its costs. And it doesn’t sufficiently empower the Postal Regulatory Commission, which right now is very small and has very tiny resources compared to the Postal Service.”

What does this law mean for mail-in ballots in future elections?

“This legislation is not going to affect that in any way, positively or negatively,” Steidler told CNN.

Millions of Americans voted by mail in 2020, despite then-President Donald Trump’s constant attacks on the process. Comprehensive studies of billions of ballots cast over many years indicate that the rate of voter fraud is less than 0.0001%, and Americans are likely to continue voting by mail in future elections.

“They did a great job in the 2020 election in terms of getting things delivered on time. And so there’s every reason to expect that that’s going to continue this year in 2022,” Steidler said, noting that election mail “is a very small fraction of the total amount of mail that the postal service handles.”

Why do we even need an efficient USPS?

“Because almost all Americans still rely on it at different times for important business correspondence, legal correspondence, notices from government, including the IRS, Department of Motor Vehicles,” Steidler said. “The US Postal Service is the only organization that can deliver the mail.”

“Mail remains very important. It is especially important for those in rural communities, for the poor, for those who are disabled, and the numbers speak for themselves.”

The post What the new USPS overhaul law means for you appeared first on East Idaho News.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming — Carving a path in the snow, breathing in the fresh mountain air, and spending the day with people you love. For Rachel Kunkle, an 18-year veteran of the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol, life doesn’t get much better than that.

“I love the people I work with and I love problem-solving with those people, whatever it might be,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of wonderful and crazy days here.”

Kunkle told EastIdahoNews.com she works full time with a group of 80 to 90 ski patrollers who she describes as her “favorite people in the world to spend time with” on a mountain that offers roughly 5,500 acres of combined inbounds and backcountry ski areas. Around 39 people are scheduled each day. Additional patrollers are scheduled during storm events to help with avalanche hazard mitigation.

“One of our main jobs … is trying to address hazards before we open and we try to prevent injuries by marking hazards with bamboo and rope lines,” Kunkle said. “Then our second most important job is responding to those injuries or accidents when they do happen.”

Kunkle has seen a wide variety of accidents throughout the years, everything from responding to broken bones to even people in avalanches.

“You always remember responding to your friends or anyone you end up knowing. Sometimes, some of the most memorable experiences … are when people really are happy to see you arrive and you just get an instant connection because they know that you are going to get them out of a bad situation. I think it’s a really immediate intimate connection of trust,” she explained.

A new generation is rising

The ski patrol is a tight-knit group of people where a new generation is rising.

“We have an amazing crew of people and the children—when all the patrollers have kids, it kind of happens in waves and so the kids who are close in age do grow up hanging out with each other and getting to know each other and doing ski school together and skiing on days off together,” Kunkle said.

Kunkle has raised her 10-year-old son Henry Hartz around ski patrol and has taught him the importance of safety on the mountain.

“I haven’t really been able to help anyone who has a broken leg or something but if someone falls in front of me, I will help them get up and help them get all their gear,” said Henry. “I have thought about it and I might become a ski patroller when I grow up!”

Henry told EastIdahoNews.com that he has been skiing ever since he was two years old.

“He is a fantastic skier. He is also a great snowboarder and I think one of the best things you learn while spending time on the mountain is situational awareness. Every day is different and every slope is different and I think it helps kids learn in general, pay attention to what’s happening around them,” Kunkle said. “Henry has definitely grown up around ski patrol. He knows all my friends really well. They’ve seen him grow up the last 10 years. He’ll come to work with me often on the days that he has ski school and he’ll help sometimes.”

Henry has spent a lot of time at Jackson Hole, skiing and snowboarding with his mom and his friends. It’s a unique job that not very many kids can say their parents have.

“It’s very different from an office job. It’s way more active!” Henry explained.

Kunkle said it would be fun to start a tradition in the family to become ski patrollers.

“I think it would be amazing. Most importantly, I want Henry to be passionate about what he does. I think he would be good at it. He is kind and compassionate and a good skier,” she said.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort released a video called, “Children of Patrol” which features Henry and Kunkle along with other ski patrollers that have raised their children around ski patrol. Watch the video below.

How to become a ski patroller

In order to become a ski patroller, Kunkle said you would need to go through training in the Outdoor Emergency Care Program (OEC). It’s a nationally recognized program offered by the National Ski Patrol. According to the National Ski Patrol website, “OEC is considered the standard of training for emergency care in the outdoor environment and is recognized by resorts and recreational facilities in all 50 states.”

According to the Eastern Division of the National Ski Patrol, you would also have to go through a CPR course. Click here for more information.

Kunkle said it’s important to have great skiing skills. It’s a job she’s passionate about and looks forward to every winter.

“It’s a wonderful way to make skiing a life,” said Kunkle.

The post A day in the life: what it’s like to be on ski patrol appeared first on East Idaho News.

When iOS 15 was first introduced in June, Apple outlined a new Digital Legacy feature that's designed to let you set a person as your Legacy Contact, giving the person access to your Apple ID account and personal information in the event of your death.


Apple did not include Legacy Contact in the ‌iOS 15‌ launch as the feature was not ready, but it is available in the iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 betas that were released today.


The Legacy Contact option can be accessed by opening up the Settings app, tap on your profile picture and then select "Password & Security." From there, choose "Legacy Contact" from the list and you can select a trusted person to access your account after you pass away.

The person will have access to your data, and the contact will need to provide an access key and a copy of a death certificate to use your ‌Apple ID‌ account. The feature is designed to give your loved ones access to your photos, videos, notes, documents, and other personal information.
This article, "iOS 15.2 Beta 2 Lets Your Family Access Your Data If You Pass Away" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Following Apple's announcement during the WWDC keynote that Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio for Apple Music would be rolling out today, the feature now appears to be going live for some users.


For many users, restarting their device appears to trigger activation of the feature, but others have reported that a restart hasn't helped, so users may just need to be patient until it becomes available to them.

Once it's available, you'll see a new option in the Music section of the Settings app where you can choose whether Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos is Off, Always On, or Automatic, with the Automatic option using Dolby Atmos content when your device is connected to output accessories like AirPods and compatible Beats that your device recognizes as supporting the feature. For other types of headphones, you may need to manually select the Always On option.


A separate section offers options for Lossless Audio, where you can turn the higher-quality audio files on and then choose from more granular options to specify what quality of music files your device should use when streaming over cellular, streaming over Wi-Fi, or downloading music.


In the Music app, you'll also be able to see which albums support Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio, thanks to new labels in the album details sections.

(Thanks, @JGobel!)
This article, "Apple Music Now Rolling Out Support for Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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IDAHO FALLS – People throughout eastern Idaho are gathered with friends and family Saturday to celebrate America’s independence. Many celebrations throughout the state are happening on July 3 this year because July 4 falls on a Sunday.

But July 3 is another significant date for residents of the Gem State. It is the 131st anniversary of Idaho becoming a state. On July 3, 1890, Idaho officially became the 43rd state in the U.S.

Since it officially became a territory on March 4, 1863, it has grown from a fledgling state of roughly 88,000 people to the state with the second-highest growth in the nation with a total population of 1,839,106, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data released in April.

RELATED | Here’s how many people live in Idaho now — and whether it gets another congressional seat

Information on display at the Museum of Idaho indicates Idaho’s road to statehood was a long-fought battle and was apparently a divisive issue.

“For years, tensions mounted between the northern and southern parts of the territory. Many times, the northern panhandle tried to break away and at one point, Nevada even tried to claim part of Idaho,” the Museum of Idaho reports.

Twenty-seven years priors when the U.S. was in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln officially created the Idaho territory. The prospect of making more space for the transcontinental railroad was an attractive idea to Lincoln, along with the area’s abundance of mineral deposits and natural resources. The State Symbols USA website says Idaho has 72 types of precious and semi-precious stones, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. This is how Idaho got nicknamed the Gem State.

Museum displays do not specifically state why statehood was such a divisive issue, but its natural resources and geographic features likely had something to do with it.

In an interview with KTVB last year, retired Idaho State Historian Keith Petersen elaborated on the conflict in the northern and southern part of the state and all that was happening in the Idaho territory at that time.

“Nevada was making a play to annex much of southern Idaho,” Petersen said. “The most serious action came in 1887 when both houses of the United States Congress passed a bill which would have allowed the Idaho panhandle to secede from Idaho and join Washington, but President Grover Cleveland refused to sign it so it was pocket-vetoed.”

RELATED | Latter-day Saint author discusses church’s turbulent 191-year history with U.S. leaders

The movement for statehood gained a lot of momentum the following year.

Petersen explains there were a growing number of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settling in the territory. Latter-day Saints voted primarily Democrat in those days because Democratic presidents were the most sympathetic to the church’s views on polygamy. (Church leaders later abolished the practice of polygamy in 1890). Cleveland was a Democrat and so there would’ve been a lot of support for him among church members during the election in 1888 had it not been for a piece of legislation passed four years earlier. Republican state lawmakers established the Idaho Test Oath prevented Latter-day Saints from voting, holding public office or serving on a jury, according to Jstor.org.

“Idaho became a really dominant Republican state politically because Mormons were no longer able to vote,” said Petersen. “Republicans won the presidency and both houses of the United States Congress. So the Idaho Republican Party had strong allies in Washington, D.C. suddenly. All of a sudden, the idea of Idaho perhaps becoming a state gained great momentum.”

RELATED | Happy Idaho Day! Here’s 5 things you may not know about our state

The Republican-elected President Benjamin Harrison was sworn into office on March 4, 1889 and signed Idaho into statehood more than a year later. In 2014, the Idaho Legislature established March 4 as Idaho Day to commemorate the creation of the territory in 1863.

Happy Birthday, Idaho! pic.twitter.com/YSP5OMCPtt

— Brad Little (@GovernorLittle) July 3, 2021

How did Idaho get its name?

There seems to be some confusion on how Idaho got its name. Some believe that “Idaho” was the name of an Indian chief living in the area at that time, but that’s not true.

According to the Museum of Idaho, a local leader living in the area said “Idaho” was an Indian word that meant “gem of the mountains,” and suggested that’s what they call it.

“Shortly after Congress voted on the name, they found out that this wasn’t, in fact, a native word, but was just made up. In the meantime, the name ‘Idaho’ was cropping up in a few places in this territory, namely in the mountainous mining regions. People still believed the name meant ‘gem of the mountains,’ and with the abundant natural resources available in the mountains, the name stuck … even if it really is just a made-up name.”

The fight for Idaho’s borders continues

In recent years, a grassroots movement to move Oregon’s mostly rural eastern and southern counties into Idaho — and a few northern California counties — has gotten a lot of attention.

The inspiration for the bill, as stated by its sponsor, Mike McCarter, is because they believe they’d be better served in Idaho’s more conservative political environment.

RELATED | Could Idaho state lines change? Idaho officials weigh in on moving Oregon’s border

“We don’t want to change anything about Idaho at all, we like what they’re doing, we like the way that they are. But we’re a group of pretty conservative people in rural Oregon and we just want to maintain those conservative values if we can,” McCarter told KIVI earlier this year.

RELATED | Handful of Oregon counties vote to consider move into Idaho

Last month, five eastern Oregon counties voted Tuesday in support of considering becoming part of Idaho. Despite that, the bill still faces an uphill battle. In order for it to be approved, California’s consent is only required for an optional phase 2 of the bill.

From there, all States involved would have to reach an agreement. The collected agreement bill would have to pass the Idaho Legislature. If approved, it will then head to the United States Congress where it will need to be approved in both the House of Representatives and Senate before any changes would be made.

The post Idaho marks 131 years since becoming the nation’s 43rd state appeared first on East Idaho News.

(CNN) — Amazon announced Tuesday it supports the federal legalization of marijuana, and that the company is revising a controversial workplace policy critics say has been used to keep employees working at a breakneck pace.

The twin announcements, Amazon said, are aimed at reiterating the company’s commitment to being an attractive employer.

In a blog post, Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer division, said changing state laws on marijuana mean Amazon will no longer include the substance in the company’s pre-employment drug tests and that the drug will now be treated the same as alcohol.

Positions subject to regulation by the US Department of Transportation will still include the marijuana test, Clark said, adding that the company will “continue to do impairment checks on the job and will test for all drugs and alcohol after any incident.”

Clark went on to say that Amazon is endorsing a federal marijuana legalization bill, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act. “We hope other employers will join us, and that policymakers will act swiftly to pass this law.”

Time off policy change

Amazon is also taking a closer look at its so-called Time off Task policy, which automatically tracks workers’ productivity by analyzing the time they spend on breaks. Critics have said that Time off Task contributes to a stressful work environment that treats workers as cogs in a machine rather than as people.

On Tuesday, Clark appeared to acknowledge that criticism even as he claimed the policy is easily “misunderstood.”

“The primary goal of the Time off Task metric is to understand whether there are issues with the tools that people use to be productive, and only secondarily to identify under-performing employees,” he wrote. “Starting today, we’re now averaging Time off Task over a longer period to ensure that there’s more signal and less noise—reinforcing the original intent of the program, and focusing Time off Task conversations on how we can help. The goal is to re-focus the conversations on instances where there are likely true operational issues to resolve. We believe this change will help ensure the Time off Task policy is used in the way it was intended.”

The post Amazon changes employee policies for time off, marijuana appeared first on East Idaho News.

Apple is unlikely to allow devices like Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone to wirelessly charge each other "in the near future," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.



In a report outlining the development of MagSafe battery accessories for the iPhone 12 lineup, Bloomberg says that Apple has "internally discussed a goal of letting many of its mobile devices like Apple Watches, ‌AirPods‌, and iPhones charge each other," however, the report notes that it's unlikely to be launched in "the near future." With the launch of the iPhone 11 series in 2019, Apple was planning, but then later scrapped plans to allow the ‌iPhone‌ to reverse charge ‌AirPods‌, according to the report.

Earlier this week, evidence discovered by MacRumors in iOS 14.5 hinted at a possible MagSafe battery accessory. Code within the beta software reads, "To improve charging efficiency and maximize available battery life, the battery pack will keep your phone charged at around 90%."

Apple has been researching the ability for devices to charge each other for some time. Patents discovered in January reveal a concept of a future MacBook wirelessly charging an ‌iPhone‌ or Apple Watch on either side of the trackpad. The patent envisions an ecosystem in which devices are reliant on each other for charging, and presumably syncing.

Despite the feature not being officially released, the technology itself is already available within the ‌iPhone 12‌. According to FCC filings, all models in the ‌iPhone 12‌ lineup have the ability to reverse charge an Apple accessory on the back. The ‌iPhone‌ would serve as a wireless charging pad for devices with wireless charging compatibility such as the ‌AirPods‌ (second generation), AirPods Pro, and the Apple Watch Series 3 and later.

In theory, Apple could enable the feature with an iOS update, although there's no indication the company will. It could be holding off on enabling the feature until it releases the newly reported MagSafe battery accessories.
This article, "Bloomberg: iPhone Reverse Charging for Apple Watch and AirPods 'Unlikely in the Near Future'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Publication date: 15 April 2021

Source: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Volume 547

Author(s): Zhao He, Pengfei Lian, Xiaohui Guo, Jinliang Song, Xi Yan, Zhanjun Liu, Huaihe Song

BOISE (AP) — Idaho state lawmakers in a power struggle with Republican Gov. Brad Little say they should have been called back into session last year to distribute the $1.25 billion in coronavirus rescue money that Little doled out.

But now that the part-time, Republican-dominated Legislature has been in session for three weeks, lawmakers have yet to approve spending any of $900 million in new federal funding that the state has received despite urgent calls from groups saying it is needed immediately.

Little was authorized to allocate the first round of spending because the Legislature was not in session when the money came from the federal government. But the second infusion came in with the Legislature about to go into session, so it is up to them to do the job.

The money must be spent by the end of the year.

The new funding includes $851,000 for the Commission on Aging for meals on wheels for seniors, $164 million for rent assistance for workers who lost jobs, and $58 million so daycare centers can remain open for children and operate safely.

“It’s on its way. It just takes a little time,” said Republican House Speaker Scott Bedke. “It sometimes takes a little time to work its way through the pipeline. I assure you they’re not delaying it.”

The process involves supplemental budget requests that have to go through the Legislature’s powerful budget committee, the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee, or JFAC. Then the spending must be approved by both the House and Senate.

“Governor Little is working closely with JFAC on all of his budget recommendations and will continue to do so,” Marissa Morrison, Little’s spokeswoman, said in an email.

But Little has no control over the Legislature’s schedule for introducing legislation.

On Monday, 39 Idaho affordable home advocates sent a letter to the Legislature’s budget committee asking them to approve the $164 million in rent assistance, saying 34,000 households are at risk of eviction or homelessness.

“A continued delay or failure to approve these funds will result in devastating consequences for Idaho’s renters, landlords, and the economy,” the letter states.

Lawmakers since convening on Jan. 11 have spent significant time and effort to put forward about a dozen pieces of legislation ranging from proposed laws to resolutions aimed at ending Little’s coronavirus emergency declaration plus health orders that many lawmakers view as unneeded restrictions.

They are also advancing a constitutional amendment that would allow them to call themselves back into session, spurred by their dissatisfaction with Little’s handling of the pandemic that included a stay-at-home order in March as the virus threatened to overwhelm hospitals. Currently, only the governor can call special sessions.

Lawmakers have also advanced budget legislation to increase their own operational funding by 26% to $8.5 million and another $4 million to pay for lawsuits filed against them.

In addition, lawmakers spent money on a private legal firm after the Idaho attorney general’s office, at the request of a Democratic lawmaker, issued an opinion saying the Legislature’s plan to use resolutions to end Little’s coronavirus emergency declaration was likely unconstitutional. The law firm hired by Republican lawmakers said the opposite was true.

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson and Bruce Newcomb, former Republican speakers of the Idaho House, last week criticized the Legislature and the concurrent resolutions, saying lawmakers had confused COVID-19 emergency declarations with public health orders, which are separate and found in different areas of Idaho law.

Also last month, Little criticized lawmakers in an angry speech on live television — accusing them of jeopardizing efforts to fight the coronavirus. He called on residents to contact their senators and representatives as they push forward legislation aiming to strip away some of his authority during a crisis like the pandemic.

Bedke defended the Legislature’s actions.

“The Legislature absolutely does not want to inhibit the distribution of coronavirus vaccine or all of the ancillary efforts around that with the National Guard to distribute and to fill in the health care gaps,” he said.

Little issued a temporary stay-at-home order for the state in March as the virus spread rapidly, overwhelming some hospitals and leaving health care workers scrambling for scarce protective equipment.

The lockdown gave the state and hospitals time to gather supplies, but unemployment spiked. Little lifted most restrictions over the summer, and unemployment dropped. But a virus surge in the fall led him to reinstate some restrictions, including restricting the number of people allowed to gather.

Little also set up a committee, including the two co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee, to help decide how to spend the $1.25 billion in rescue money. Another committee was formed to advise the governor about vaccinations.

State officials report that nearly 163,000 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 1,700 have died.

The post Idaho lawmakers have not yet approved spending $900M in aid appeared first on East Idaho News.

Apple is set to release macOS Big Sur in a few hours based on past macOS release timelines, and it's a major update with a whole slew of new features. Ahead of the launch, we've highlighted the biggest changes so you can get a quick overview of what to expect when downloading it later today.

Redesign

‌macOS Big Sur‌ brings a significant redesign to the Mac operating system, debuting the first design refinements that we've seen to macOS in years. It overhauls the entire look of the software, from the curvature of window corners to the dock icons to the iconic system sounds. Everything in the update feels fresh but familiar, with Apple aiming for a lighter and more modern appearance.

Control Center and Notification Center

A new Control Center that mirrors the Control Center on iOS puts key system controls right at your fingertips, and there's a revamped Notification Center.


The Notification Center features iOS-style widgets that are available in multiple sizes, along with interactive notifications that are grouped up by app to make it easier to see all of your incoming notifications at a glance.

Safari Changes

Safari is faster and more battery efficient, and Apple has added a new start page that can be customized with wallpapers and various sections such as Reading List and iCloud Tabs for a Safari that's more tailored to your individual usage needs.


Tabs have been redesigned with a new preview option so you can see what you've got open at a glance, and there's a new built-in translation feature for automatic language translation. Chrome and Firefox extensions can be ported to Safari for the first time, and there's an option to choose which sites an extension can access for improved privacy.

YouTube now supports 4K video playback through Safari, and Apple added a new Privacy Report feature to let users know which trackers Safari is blocking when visiting websites. Mac users may already be familiar with these features as they were introduced in the Safari 14 update provided to macOS Catalina and macOS Mojave users.

Messages Updates

Messages is more similar to the Messages app on iOS with support for pinned conversations, mentions, inline replies, and Memoji creation, and the built-in search feature has been overhauled to make it a lot easier to find links, photos, and conversations within the app.

Overhauled Maps App

The Maps app for macOS has been redesigned with support for Look Around, indoor maps, and guides, which are lists of notable attractions and restaurants created by trusted sources, plus Maps can be used to generate directions for cycling routes and electric vehicle trips that can be sent to iPhone. Shared ETA updates are also now viewable on the Mac.

Photos Update

Photos includes a better Retouch tool, the Apple Music For You section has been replaced with a Listen Now section, HomeKit Secure Video cameras support Face Recognition and Activity zones, and Siri can answer a wider range of questions than before.

Battery Monitoring

There's a new Battery section in System Preferences for keeping an eye on battery, and the macOS App Store in the future will help users better understand privacy practices with clear info on the information that an app collects. After installing ‌macOS Big Sur‌, future macOS updates will begin in the background and then finish much more quickly, which will make it easier to keep your Mac up to date.

Read More

There are tons of other new features that are coming in ‌macOS Big Sur‌, so make sure to check out our macOS Big Sur roundup for a more complete list of everything that's new.
This article, "macOS Big Sur Features: Everything New in Today's Release" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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DRIGGS — Driggs Elementary School will close for three days starting Wednesday through Friday due to staffing concerns brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Teton School District 401 school board backed Superintendent Monte Woolstenhulme’s decision Monday during a special meeting.

The elementary school educates some 400 students from kindergarten to third grade. At the moment, at least two elementary teachers have tested positive for the virus, and positive cases have been found in one kindergarten and two first grade classes.

The total number of staff and students isolating due to possible exposure at the school was unavailable Monday night. But districtwide there are 15 positive COVID-19 cases and 88 possible exposures from those cases.

The goal of the closure is to reduce the speed at which the virus is spreading.

It still hasn’t been determined if the students will do online learning during the three days or if classes will just be cancelled. School Curriculum Director Megan Bybee said there is a shortage of Chrome books for students to use. They have around 150 on back order, but currently do not have the resources to get laptops to every student for use at home.

The Chrome books are expected in early October.

It’s also not 100 percent clear if the closure will only be for three days. Superintendent Monte Woolstenhulme said they will reevaluate the situation Saturday and make the decision to resume school or continue the closure.

During Monday’s meeting there was some disagreement about the wisdom of the closure. School board member Alexie Hulme discussed concerns with the school’s food supply going to waste. She was also concerned about the children’s mental health.

On the other hand, Angela Hoopes, a Teton Middle School teacher and the president of the local teacher’s union, said COVID-19 is causing teachers mental stress.

“What’s being asked of teachers right now is crazy, it’s crazy,” she said. “The things that I’m hearing from people in the trenches is it’s not easy. The emotional stress level is eating people away.”

The debate echoed some of the concerns brought up last week at an emergency meeting in Teton County. During that meeting Woolstenhulme and the school board expressed concerns about staffing shortages and the other impacts of COVID-19. For more on the meeting click here.

Driggs Elementary isn’t the first school closure in eastern Idaho due to COVID-19 this year. Bonneville High School in Idaho Falls closed for two days earlier this month to get a handle on the infection rate.

The post Driggs Elementary to close for three days due to COVID-19 appeared first on East Idaho News.

POCATELLO – Firefighters are on the scene of a fire in Pocatello.

Pocatello Fire Dept. Chief David Gates tells EastIdahoNews.com the fire started at 6:49 p.m. on the corner of American and Barton Road.

Between 20 and 40 acres are on fire. There are homes in the area, but Gates say they are out of harms way.

One shed was destroyed, but no injuries have been reported.

A cause has not been determined. Full containment is expected by 10 p.m., Gates says.

Multiple agencies are fighting the fire, including Pocatello Fire Dept., Pocatello Valley Fire Protection, North Bannock Fire Dept., Chubbuck Fire Dept., the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

The following is a news release from Power County Sheriff’s Office.

AMERICAN FALLS – On the 9th of April, the Power County Sheriff’s Office with the help of the American Falls Police Department, the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, and the Blackfoot Police Department executed a search warrant at 451 Tyhee Ave in American Falls.

The residents were identified as 58-year-old Mark Reaves and 59-year-old Tamy Reaves.

Numerous types of drugs were found in the residence along with a large quantity of drug paraphernalia. Neither of the Reaves have been taken into custody at this time.

Reports are being forwarded to the Power County Prosecutor’s Office for charging decisions.

Airbus has drawn up contingency plans to slow or stop production if France is placed under a drastic lockdown due to coronavirus, two people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on Tuesday it was "more fair to say" the attack that Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was planning was to be executed in days rather than weeks.

Salt Lake City | Friday, 13 September 2019 |