Social media video was trailing a far-right Twitter influencer who sought to disrupt an LGBTQ pride event in Arlington, Texas Sunday. With her, a Dallas Fort Worth chapter of The Proud Boys.

They're a well-documented violent fascist gang that's also in the spotlight of the Congressional committee investigating the January 6 assault on the Capitol to overturn the presidential election.

"This latest stuff, where you have these radicalized groups that, you know, seem to delight in the cruelty — That's new," said Rafael McDonnell, communications manager at The Resource Center. 

LGBTQ advocacy groups in north Texas are alarmed by the recent harassment and disinformation campaigns of far-right social media influencers during Pride Month that is also attracting white nationalist groups.

"And I think that is, in part, fueled by some of the governmental response to LGBTQ folks, whether it's Governor DeSantis in Florida and 'Don't Say Gay' and some of the stuff," McDonnell continued. "And then Gov. Abbott here in Texas, you know, coming after the health care of transgender children."

On June 11, Idaho authorities intercepted 31 members of Patriot Front, a fascist white nationalist group that seeks to create a "whites-only America."

According to documents, an eyewitness said members gathered like "a little army." Police say they wanted to violently disrupt a pride event in the city of Couer d'Alene. 

David Cunningham, a sociologist, and expert on white supremacist and white nationalist groups says whether it's Patriot Front or The Proud Boys, both groups are showing up with conservative influencers to recruit more people into extremism. 

"As we saw this past weekend, showing up at public events to kind of promote ideas, but to do so in a way that is quite menacing, intimidating by design, and terroristic when you see it in the context that we saw it in in Idaho," he said. "And what I think we're seeing is a whole range of issues that are have been traditionally part of that white supremacist ecosystem, which are really about — they're framed in terms of reducing the power, visibility, and presence of, quote-unquote, traditional and right for white Americans."

In court records obtained by Newsy and Scripps sister station KSTU in Salt Lake City, Patriot Front members appeared prepared to cause mayhem. They came armed with "unusually long flag poles," a smoke grenade, and "metal shields."

Almost all carried small devices to record video and fashioned their own body armor using shin guards or putting hardened plastic in their ball caps. 

In a propaganda video posted on alternative social platforms prior to their arrests in Idaho, members appear spurred on by their leader, training with shields in a mock riot. Sparverius, which monitors extremist groups, says this is evidence Patriot Front prepared for violence.  

"I think underlying that, we see a theme continuous current as well of the threat of mass violence, of the threat of domestic terrorism attached to this. And so, you know, this, this is a really tenuous and fragile time, because I think the movement is simultaneously both of these kinds of things," Cunningham said.

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An alligator was caught in New Plymouth, Idaho, and taken in by Idaho Fish and Game on Friday morning, according to a press release from Idaho Fish and Game.

Thursday night, a resident was walking their dog when they saw something moving in the brush. After identifying the animal as a 3.5-foot alligator, the resident caught the animal, loaded it into a nearby horse trailer and called Fish and Game. The alligator is currently being housed at a Fish and Game facility.

"Again it goes back to that kind of common sense. If there is a potentially dangerous animal that would be fun as a pet, make sure you can legally possess it. And please don't bring it into the state," said Idaho Fish and Game public information supervisor Rodger Philips.

Alligator caught in New Plymouth Thursday

In Idaho, it is illegal to possess alligators, or any crocodilian, without proper permits.

Alligators generally are native to the southeastern United States and are not native to areas north and west of Arkansas.

Idaho Fish and Game is currently investigating where the alligator may have come from. Anyone with information is asked to call the Southwest Regional Office at 208-465-8465 during normal business hours. You can also call the Citizens Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999.

This article was written by Cooper Waytenick for KIVI.

Four University of Idaho students found dead in an off-campus home were targeted, and the killer or killers used a knife or other “edged weapon” in the attack, police said Tuesday.

The Moscow Police Department made the announcement in a news release, adding that investigators were working to establish a timeline to recreate the victims' activities before they were found dead Sunday. Police said the killings likely occurred in the early morning hours, and the bodies were found around noon.

The students' deaths were considered to be “an isolated, targeted attack and there is no imminent threat to the community at large,” according to police, who earlier said evidence from the scene led them to believe there was no broader risk. Police provided no information about that evidence or why they believe the victims were targeted.

Autopsies expected to be completed later this week could provide more information about how the victims were killed.

Investigators were “following all leads and identifying persons of interest” in the case, the news release said. Monday night, police Captain Anthony Dahlinger told the Idaho Statesman that officers were searching for a suspect.

Police discovered the students’ bodies Sunday as they responded to a report of an unconscious person at a home steps away from the campus.

The victims were identified as Ethan Chapin, a 20-year-old from Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, a 21-year-old from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, from Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, from Rathdrum, Idaho.

The university canceled classes on Monday, and said additional security staffers were available to walk students across campus if needed during the remainder of the week.

Still, the initial lack of information about the cause of the deaths — and the fact that police have said there is no one in custody — prompted many students to leave campus early, days before the Thanksgiving break was scheduled to begin.

A vigil for the slain students originally scheduled for Wednesday evening has been postponed until after Thanksgiving break, University of Idaho spokesman Kyle Pfannenstiel said in an email Tuesday.

In an earlier memo, University of Idaho President Scott Green urged university employees to be empathetic and flexible, and work with students who decided to leave classes to spend time with their families.

“Words cannot adequately describe the light these students brought to this world or ease the depth of suffering we feel at their passing under these tragic circumstances,” Green wrote of the slain students.

Police said anyone with information should contact the department and asked that people respect the privacy of the victims' family and friends.

Brian Nickerson, the fire chief of the Moscow Volunteer Fire and EMS Department, said police were the first to arrive at the home. The first responders from the fire and EMS department didn't go inside or transport anyone from the scene, Nickerson said.

The city of Moscow is a close-knit college town nestled in the rolling hills of north-central Idaho, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Spokane, Washington.

The university said Chapin was a freshman and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and Kernodle was a junior majoring in marketing and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Mogen was a senior also majoring in marketing and a member of Pi Beta Phi, and Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, the university said. The university also had different home town listed for Chapin and Kernodle than the towns listed in the Moscow Police Department release: The school said Chapin was from Mount Vernon, Washington, and Kernodle was from Post Falls, Idaho.

Shortly after Moscow police announced the homicide investigation, students at the University of Virginia were also told to shelter in place after police said a suspect gunned down fellow students on a bus as they returned from a school field trip. The shooting left three members of the school's football team dead and two other students injured. The shooting touched off an intense manhunt Sunday, and authorities announced Monday that a suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., had been apprehended.

Authorities investigating the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students as they slept in a house near campus are asking for outside surveillance video to help solve the week-old crime.

The Moscow Police Department late Saturday requested from businesses and residences in specific parts of the city any footage recorded between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Nov. 13, the day of the killings.

Police said they have received about 500 tips after the killings shook the Idaho Panhandle community of 25,000 residents. The leafy college town about 80 miles south of Spokane, Washington, last saw a homicide about five years ago.

Also on Saturday, police said a private driver who gave two of the women a ride home was not involved in the crime.

Police held a news conference on Sunday afternoon to provide an update on the investigation. During the news conference, police said there are no suspects in custody and they have not yet located a weapon.

Police said they will continue to put all of their resources into the investigation.

All four victims were members of fraternities and sororities: seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. The women were roommates, and Chapin was dating Kernodle.

Police said Chapin and Kernodle were at Sigma Chi house on the University of Idaho camps and returned home around 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 13. Police said Mogen and Goncalves were at a bar called The Corner Club in downtown Moscow, left the bar and stopped at a food truck, and then also returned home at about 1:45 a.m.

Police on Saturday said Mogen and Goncalves made multiple calls to a male they didn't identify, and that information is part of an ongoing investigation.

Additionally, police said a person wearing a hooded sweatshirt and seen in a video at the food truck near Mogen and Goncalves shortly before they returned home is not involved in the crime.

Video below: Investigators seen collecting evidence in Idaho parking lot

Police said two other roommates who were in the house on the night of the killings had returned home at about 1 a.m. and slept through the attack, waking later that day. Police said one of their phones was used to call 911 from inside the residence at 11:58 a.m.

Police have said those two roommates were not involved in the killings.

Police said the victims were found on the second and third floors of the six-bedroom home.

Police have said evidence leads them to believe the students were targeted, though they haven't given details. Investigators say nothing appears to have been stolen from the victims or the home. Police have said there was no sign of forced entry, and first responders found a door open when they arrived.

Police also said online reports of the victims being tied and gagged are not accurate.

Police have seized the contents of three dumpsters to locate possible evidence, and detectives have asked local businesses if they recently sold a fixed-blade knife.

The Moscow Police Department said four detectives, five support staff and 24 patrol officers are working on the case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has 22 investigators helping in Moscow, and 20 more agents assisting from outside the area.

The Idaho State Police has supplied 20 investigators, 15 troopers, and its mobile crime scene team.

CNN —

A coalition of media organizations and the father of a murder victim are set to come to an Idaho court on Friday with the same goal in mind: challenging a gag order.

Two separate hearings are scheduled in the criminal case against Bryan Kohberger, the criminology graduate student at Washington State University accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home. A not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf, and the trial is set for October.

The brutality of the killings and the lack of clarity on his connections to the group of friends have made it one of the highest-profile cases in U.S. news.

Yet due to a wide-ranging gag order, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and attorneys for victims' families and witnesses are prohibited from saying anything publicly, aside from what is already in the public record.

Gag orders are a common occurrence in high-profile cases, such as the man accused of carrying out January's mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California, or the involuntary manslaughter trial of the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley.

In Idaho on Friday, an attorney for the family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four victims, will argue to amend the order at a hearing at 10:30 a.m. local time, saying it has restricted their free speech rights. Afterward, a coalition of media organizations also will argue to vacate the order, calling it "vague, overbroad, unduly restrictive, and not narrowly drawn," according to court documents.

The dual hearings have put a renewed focus on the gag order, the colorful term for what's technically known as a "nondissemination order."

At its most basic level, the gag order sets restrictions on what information can be released to the public and what certain people involved in the case can say.

The idea is to balance the First Amendment right to free speech with the Sixth Amendment right for a defendant to receive a fair trial, said University of Idaho assistant professor of law Samuel Newton. The concern is that too much commentary and publicity about a case can create jurors who have already made up their minds.

"What you're worried about is tainting the whole (jury) pool," Newton said.

The gag order is just one of a number of strategies judges can take to eliminate jury bias. They can also move the trial to another venue, create a jury questionnaire or sequester the jury during the trial.

But when does restricting speech in a case with such high public interest go too far? What are the limits?

What the gag order says

The arrest warrant and criminal affidavit for Kohberger were issued on December 29, 2022, and within a week the prosecution and defense jointly agreed to a gag order.

The Jan. 3 order states that "investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and agents of the prosecuting attorney or defense attorney, are prohibited from making extrajudicial statements, written or oral, concerning this case, other than quotation from or reference to, without comment, the public records of the case," Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall wrote.

The order specifically forbade commentary on evidence of occurrences or transactions, the character or criminal record of a party, opinions about the merits of the case and "the existence or contents of any confession, admission, or statement given by the defendant."

An amended nondissemination order issued on January 18 then expanded the gag order. The amended order stated the restrictions applied not just to the prosecution and defense but to "any attorney representing a witness, victim, or victim's family." Further, the order prohibited any statements on the character or criminal record of "a party, victim, or witness, or the identity of a witness, or the expected testimony of a party, victim, or witness."

"There is a balance between protecting the right to a fair trial for all parties involved and the right to free expression as afforded under both the United States and Idaho Constitution," the amended order explained. "To preserve the right to a fair trial some curtailment of the dissemination of information in this case is necessary and authorized under the law."

For the Goncalves family, that amended order went too far. The family's attorney Shanon Gray filed a motion challenging it, saying there should not be any restrictions on what he can say on behalf of the Goncalves family.

"He's not voicing his own opinion, he's voicing the family's opinion," Steve Goncalves, Kaylee's father, told CNN on May 23. "What's the point of having a lawyer if a judge can just say your lawyer can't speak?"

Separately, a coalition of media organizations petitioned the district court to vacate the gag order for other reasons. In a May 1 filing, the coalition, referred to as "Associated Press, et al," said the gag order was too expansive and argued the court did not provide any evidence that media coverage presents a risk to Kohberger's right to a fair trial.

"The Gag Order, which is based on the Parties' stipulation, rests merely on an assumption that press coverage is bad. The U.S. Constitution and the Idaho Constitution demand more."

The filing specifically noted several instances of the gag order's impact on journalists. For example, officials have cited the gag order in declining to release tapes of 911 calls and public records requests, the filing states.

The media coalition had initially asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the gag order. While the court agreed the order restricted freedom of the press, it declined to vacate the order, saying the state supreme court was not the proper venue.

Kohberger's defense attorneys pushed back in motions arguing that courts have broader powers to limit the speech of lawyers and that the media attention, specifically noting a recent "Dateline NBC" special, threatens his right to a fair trial.

"The upshot of this and similar media stories is a constant feedback loop of people crying out for Mr. Kohberger's blood," defense attorneys wrote.

Similarly, state prosecutors have argued against amending the nondissemination order, stating that the restrictions on attorney statements is "not vague, overbroad or unduly restrictive."

Gag orders used in other cases

Gag orders have similarly been used in other high-profile mass killings that garnered significant public attention.

One such case is the trial of Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley. His parents have pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter for what prosecutors say was their "gross negligence" in purchasing the gun and ignoring their son's warning signs.

Prosecutors have publicly criticized the couple repeatedly, and the couple's arrest after a manhunt was captured on CNN video.

Last year, the defense filed a motion to restrict pretrial publicity, but Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald pushed back, saying their request was "consistent with the conduct that brings them before this Court – they are concerned only about themselves."

After a series of back-and-forth filings, the court issued an order and an amended order restricting publicity about the case.

"It is hereby ordered that, to protect the rights of the accused as well as the People to a fair trial, none of the parties, directly or through their agents, will engage in pretrial publicity by making public statements about the case to the media," Judge Cheryl Matthews wrote on July 14, 2022, in the amended order.

Similarly, the suspect in the January mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, which left seven people dead, asked for and was granted a gag order in his case, according to CNN affiliate KGO. That ruling prohibits any of the parties from talking about the case outside of court.

Chunli Zhao, the shooting suspect, has pleaded not guilty.

BOISE, Idaho — Investigators have made an arrest in connection to the quadruple homicide investigation out of Moscow, Idaho, where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 13.

Moscow Police will host a press conference to share the latest developments in the case Friday at 2 p.m. local time. It will be live-streamed on Youtube.

More than six weeks after the crime, 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on an active arrest warrant for murder in the first degree, issued through the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor's Office.

Kohberger was booked at the Monroe County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania early Friday morning and awaits extradition to Idaho. Extradition paperwork was filed Friday.

Records for Washington State University show Kohberger was pursuing a doctorate in criminology. WSU is just over the Idaho border in Pullman, Washington, about a 10-minute drive from the University of Idaho.

A Reddit user who identified himself as Bryan Kohberger shared a request seven months ago asking people to participate in a research project "that seeks to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime."

A link to an online survey asks participants to detail their thoughts and feelings throughout the commission of a recent crime.

Idaho court records show Kohberger was in Latah County in August. He received a seatbelt infraction on Aug. 21, and later paid a $10 fine in September. The online records do not indicate what kind of car Kohberger was driving at the time. We have requested those documents and will update this article when we learn more.

As previously reported, police have been seeking information regarding a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra they believe was in the immediate area of the crime scene at the time of the murders.

This article was written by Karen Lehr for KIVI.

Three days after the arrest of a suspect in the fatal stabbing of four University of Idaho students, authorities have yet to release key details in the case, from whether the suspect knew the victims to what his alleged motive might have been and what finally prompted his arrest.

The arrest of Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, came almost seven weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead Nov. 13 in an off-campus home.

The killings shook the college town of Moscow, Idaho, which hadn't seen a murder in seven years, as some in the community grew frustrated with the limited information authorities shared as their investigation developed.

That was partly due to state law, which limits what information authorities can release before the suspect makes an initial appearance in court, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday, the day authorities announced Kohberger's arrest in his home state of Pennsylvania.

And the probable cause affidavit — the legal document used to justify Kohberger's arrest and obtain a warrant — remains sealed until he is returned to Idaho, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder as well as a felony burglary charge, per Latah County, Idaho, prosecutors.

That document, "will tell us an awful lot," said CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. "It will speak to the issue of probable cause -- why is he under arrest, what is the justification for holding him and for going after him from a prosecution perspective."

Kohberger is due in court Tuesday, when his attorney has indicated the suspect would waive extradition. The chief public defender for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, expected Kohberger to be returned to Idaho within 72 hours of Tuesday's hearing, the attorney has said.

Kohberger's parents and two sisters plan to attend Tuesday's hearing, public defender Jason LaBar told CNN Monday. They will not be permitted to visit him while they're there.

Until then, here are a few of the key details that remain unknown.

The suspect's relationship to the victims

Authorities have not said publicly whether Kohberger knew any of the victims, who all were found dead hours after a Saturday night out: Chapin and Kernodle had attended a party on campus earlier that night, police have said, while Mogen and Goncalves went to a downtown bar before ordering food at a late-night food truck.

Kohberger lived in the area, Fry indicated Friday: He was a Ph.D. student in the criminal justice program at Washington State University's campus in Pullman, about a 15-minute drive west of Moscow.

Kohberger was a graduate student at the school, Washington State University confirmed in a statement last week, adding the school's police department helped Idaho law enforcement execute search warrants at Kohberger's campus apartment and his office.

There also was law enforcement activity Friday at a Pullman apartment complex where graduate students live, a CNN team observed.

Meanwhile, DNA played a role in the investigation, sources have indicated to CNN.

Investigators focused on Kohberger as a suspect, in part, after his DNA was matched to genetic material recovered at the home where the students were slain, two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation have said.

Genetic genealogy techniques were used to connect Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, a source with knowledge of the case told CNN. The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family member matches, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to his identification as the suspect, the source said.

Information about Kohberger's DNA and any prior relationship with the victims are both key pieces of evidence, Jackson told CNN on Monday.

"No. 1: I'm looking for DNA," he said. "Was his DNA (in the residence)? ... Is there any reason to explain the DNA, is there a basis to know or understand why he would be there?"

"Which leads me to No. 2," Jackson said: "Is there any pre-existing relationship? Did he know them? If so, how?"

The suspect's alleged motive

Investigators also have yet to give any indication of why Kohberger allegedly carried out the stabbings.

In the days since his arrest, there has been a heavy focus Kohberger's study of criminal justice and criminology as a Washington State University student — a detail a former senior FBI profiler called "very interesting."

"We have had other cases where offenders have been in areas of study that more or less prepare them to commit a crime," Mary Ellen O'Toole told CNN on Sunday. If he is guilty, Kohberger's "area of study is not a result of cause and effect," she stressed, noting studying the criminal mind did not "cause him to do this."

"He's interested in this, but the ideation of committing a violent crime had to already be there in order to motivate him to commit the crime," O'Toole said. "So, this was kind of a conduit to explore what he was already interested in doing."

Kohberger was previously an undergraduate and graduate student at DeSales University, a Catholic university in Pennsylvania, according to a statement from the school. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2020 and this year completed his "graduate studies for the Master of Arts in criminal justice program," according to a university spokesperson.

In a post removed from Reddit after his arrest was announced, a student investigator associated with a DeSales University study named Bryan Kohberger sought participation in a research project "to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime."

"In particular," it read, "this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience."

Last month, Kohberger finished his first semester as a Ph.D. student at Washington State University, the school confirmed.

How the suspect stayed free for 7 weeks

It's also unclear why Kohberger wasn't arrested until more than six weeks after the victims were found dead. Fry would not reveal Saturday when Kohberger came onto law enforcement's radar, saying details in the case would be released in time.

Kohberger went home to Pennsylvania for the holidays, LaBar told CNN on Saturday, adding the suspect and his father — who accompanied his son on the cross-country drive — arrived around Dec. 17.

A white Hyundai Elantra authorities had been looking for in connection with the killings was found at Kohberger's parents' house, LaBar confirmed.

The suspect drove the car to his parents' house, according to another law enforcement source, who told CNN, "Sometime right before Christmas we were zeroing in on him being in or going to Pennsylvania."

An FBI surveillance team from the Philadelphia field office had been tracking him for four days in the area where he was arrested, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

While Kohberger was being watched, investigators from the Moscow Police Department, the Idaho State Police homicide bureau and the FBI worked with prosecutors to develop sufficient probable cause to get the warrant. Once the arrest warrant was issued, the Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI made the arrest.

Authorities continue to ask the public for information. Within an hour of announcing the arrest, Fry told CNN, authorities got roughly 400 calls.

"We want information on that individual," Fry said Saturday. "We want that updated information so that we can start building that picture now. Every tip matters."

A boy died and his mother was seriously injured in a dog attack in Idaho, authorities said.

According to The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, two rottweilers and two mixed-breed dogs attacked the pair at a residence in Fort Hall on Saturday.

The victims were taken to the hospital where the boy was pronounced dead.

A GoFundMe page for the family says the mother is being treated in the intensive care unit after sustaining nerve damage and a ruptured artery in her right arm.

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said the dogs were euthanized. The owners were also cited for 15 violations.

An investigation is ongoing, authorities said. The case will be submitted to the U.S. Attorney for potential federal charges.

Fatal dog attacks in the U.S. are relatively rare. According to dogsbite.org, an organization that tracks attacks, 521 people were killed in incidents involving dogs between 2005 and 2019.

An Idaho judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students last fall, during an arraignment in a Latah County Court on Monday.

Judge John Judge read aloud Kohberger’s rights and each of the murder and burglary charges outlined in the indictment. When asked if he understood the charges, Kohberger replied to each, “Yes.”

When asked for his plea to the counts, Kohberger remained silent. His attorney rose and said, “Your honor, we are standing silent,” and the judge then entered not guilty pleas for him.

Kohberger, 28, was indicted last week on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary for the November 13 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, at a home just outside the university’s main campus in Moscow, Idaho.

The trial was set for Oct. 2 and is expected to last about six weeks. Prosecutors have 60 days from Monday to announce, in writing, whether they plan to seek the death penalty in this case.

Wearing an orange prison outfit, Kohberger smiled and nodded at his attorney upon entering court but otherwise stared straight ahead during the arraignment. Family members of Goncalves also attended the hearing and remained focused on Kohberger as he was arraigned, according to Jordan Smith, a reporter for CNN affiliate KXLY who had a vantage point of the family in court.

The hearing offered few details on a grisly case that remains shrouded in mystery. Authorities say Kohberger, a graduate student in the Department of Criminology at nearby Washington State University, broke into the students’ home and repeatedly stabbed the victims before fleeing the scene. Police have not released a potential motive in the case, and due to a wide-ranging gag order, few details have trickled out so far.

The killings and lengthy investigation rattled the community of Moscow, a city of 25,000 people that hadn’t recorded a murder since 2015. After weeks with little information and heightened anxieties, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania in late December and identified as the alleged killer.

He has been in police custody since then and is being held without bail.

Also on Monday, the court scheduled two hearings for June 9 to address motions, filed by an attorney representing the family of Goncalves and a media coalition, regarding concerns over the wide-ranging gag order in the case.

As it stands, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and attorneys for victims’ families and witnesses are prohibited from saying anything publicly, aside from what is already in the public record.

How police narrowed in on Kohberger

In the days after the discovery of the grisly crime scene, investigators narrowed in on Kohberger after focusing on a white Hyundai Elantra seen in surveillance footage near the crime scene, according to a probable cause affidavit released in January.

By Nov. 25, area law enforcement officers were notified to look out for the vehicle, the affidavit read. Within days, police at Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington, identified a vehicle and found it registered to Kohberger.

His driver’s license information was consistent with the description of a man given to police by the victims’ surviving roommate, the affidavit says, specifically noting his height, weight and bushy eyebrows.

The roommate told investigators she saw a man with a similar description clad in black the morning of the attack. Hours before the killings, Chapin and Kernodle had attended a party on campus, police have said, while Mogen and Goncalves went to a downtown bar before ordering food at a food truck.

Video below: Police body camera video shows officers executing search warrant at Bryan Kohberger's home

Investigators connected Kohberger to the crime scene after DNA on a tan leather knife sheath found lying next to one of the victims was linked to DNA on trash recovered from Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania, according to the affidavit.

There, investigators seized a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra an attorney for the suspect previously said he’d used to drive, accompanied by his father, to his parents’ home for the holidays. Court documents show investigators dismantled the vehicle, collecting parts, fiber and swabs for further examination.

Investigators also seized knives, a cell phone, black gloves, black masks, laptops, dark-colored clothes and dark shoes, an evidence log shows.

Following his arrest, Kohberger waived extradition and was sent back to Idaho. He was booked into the Latah County Jail on the same counts for which he was indicted.

Many details about the case remain unknown, in part due to a wide-ranging nondissemination order that prevents attorneys for any interested party in the case from commenting beyond the public record, leaving in place a veil of secrecy.

A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for the end of June, with the parties expected to detail evidence collected by the state. But the hearing was canceled after Kohberger’s indictment, Latah County Deputy Court Clerk Tamzen Reeves said, and court records indicate the names of the witnesses who testified before the grand jury are under seal.

For millions of parents in the U.S., getting a COVID-19 vaccine for their kids is as simple as a few clicks, filling out some forms, and driving to a nearby clinic. But, for those in more rural parts of the country, access to vaccines can be a bit more of a struggle     

"We were so hopeful even back this summer when we first started hearing about, like, how soon it might be approved for children," said Annie Edwards, a mother in rural Montana.

She's hopeful because she knows what it's like to have a sick kid. Her daughter Hannah was born at 27 weeks, weighing one pound. But, for the 57 million people like Edwards who live in rural America, vaccine approval means nothing if they can't find a shot.  She drove to Billings, Montana, in December, which is a 500-mile round trip car ride to get her daughter the first dose.    

"Why are we having to drive this far? Why is it this hard?" asked Edwards.

An hour before the second appointment, the store canceled because it ran out of vaccine doses.   

"In rural areas, where people are spread out, there's much less opportunity for kids," said Dr. Jennifer Kates, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

Edwards echoed her frustration saying, "You know, we live in the United States of America, where we have the most access," she said. "This shouldn't be difficult."    

Right now, Pfizer's vaccine is the only one approved for children. It's a smaller dose. Current minimum shipments come in a 10-vial pack, with 10 doses per vial. The company said that's to "better suit the needs of pediatric clinics." They can be stored for up to 10 weeks in refrigerators.

   

"Once you open the package, you have to use those within 12 hours. And if a provider wants to vaccinate one kid, they have to vaccinate 10 kids to not waste any, so that's a big challenge that we've seen with smaller providers and doctors' offices. They have to figure out, should I even do this," Kates said. 

Edwards' pediatrician told her she's not vaccinating kids against COVID-19. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found more than one-third of rural parents said their health care providers are not even recommending the vaccine for kids.

 

"If a pediatrician isn't encouraging it, that could really be a deterrent for a parent," Kates said. "And it could be the situation where the pediatrician themselves doesn't have the vaccine."

Punching many rural zip codes into vaccines.gov will lead you to a page showing no pediatric shots within 25 miles, with some availability 50 to 100 miles away.      

"If you're a parent who's on the fence, you know, what's going to tip you if you then have to say, well, I'm going to drive 250 miles to do this thing that I'm a little bit wary of. Or even if you're an eager parent, if you don't have a car, if you can't take time off from work, what are you to do," said Kates.  

"There are some places that have put in operation mobile clinics to try to reach kids in those outposts. But, that's sort of the exception, not the rule. It's incredibly difficult. And, of course, when they're the only person who's asking for it in their community, they don't have support. And that makes it even more difficult," Kates said. 

It's a story pediatrician Kathy Rogers is familiar with. She came out of retirement to help administer vaccines.

"I can't sit this one out. This is too important," Rogers said. 

Some of the children at her clinic have traveled up to four hours round trip, twice.

    

"It breaks my heart and I would like to go door-to-door and just offer it to people, and if they don't want it, fine," said Rogers. 

"We have work that lies ahead for rural America, and in general for the country, but really in rural areas," Kates said.  

Montana data shows no kids between 5 and 11 in McCone County are fully vaccinated, with many other counties at 5% or less. Stats show similar rates in parts of rural Idaho, with numbers as low as 1% in places. And it's the same story in parts of Wyoming.    

"I don't understand how we're failing to get it dispersed in rural America," Edwards said. "Because that might be part of it. If I had access, if I could tell my neighbor, yeah, go down. You can get an appointment today, or you can get an appointment when you take your child to their well check or when you're getting their ears checked." 

Multiple doctors say removing barriers likely means an unwanted side effect, like waste.

   

"You can try as hard as you can not to waste vaccine. But if I can give one vaccine to one person, even if I have to waste the whole other dose, I'm going to do that. Because like with Omicron, the infectivity of it is just like measles. It's so high that I protected more people by doing one vaccine than doing none just because I want to save the vial," Rogers said. 

In addition to access, there's statistically more vaccine hesitancy in rural America, driving down demand. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found almost half of rural parents say they definitely will not get their 5- to 11-year-old vaccinated, compared to 22% of urban parents. But, if interest is low, Rogers said counties can and should work together to share doses, to reach as many as possible as Omicron keeps its grip on the country.     

"If you don't get out there and do this for people, what does that say? We've got to take care of each other. And I take care of my family, but my community is my family. It's too important to know those health care workers all feel that way. And that's why some of them are quitting because they feel this so intimately," Rogers said.   

Kates said some states, like Maine and Vermont, have gotten the vaccination effort right from the start, and there's more that can be done elsewhere.    

"From a broader perspective, states and certainly the federal government, can look at how they can pre-position vaccines for remote areas. So, finding the right pharmacy sites, doing mobile clinics to go to people, setting up actual vaccine clinics periodically, where you're really advertising and pushing out that information to communities, it still means that not everyone's going to be easily reached, but you have to make those opportunities more frequent, and visible and easy for parents," Kates said. 

Edwards hopes to get her daughter's second vaccine dose at a neighboring county's clinic soon.  

"It's a drive, it's not close," she said. It will mean about 200 miles round trip for her, and she along with others don't think it should be this hard.

This story was originally published by Maritsa Georgiou on Newsy.

A fraudulent card donning the Department of Justice seal is making its way into the hands of folks against wearing face masks.

The Department and Americans with Disabilities Act have come forward publicly stating they do not endorse or support the card. Last week in Downtown Boise, an individual claiming to possess one of the exemption cards walked into Dharma Sushi and Thai and was upset when refused service for refusing to wear a face mask.

The restaurant, a privately owned business, requires all customers and staff to wear masks in their restaurant unless eating or drinking. They have signs clearly stating this before entering. They have even spread messages on their social media accounts, asking that anyone who cannot or will not wear a face mask refrain from visiting their location.

One of Dharma’s owners said they will continue to enforce their policy because “if an outbreak happened at our store we’d have to close...that could be business ending for us.”

The individual refused service claims to have post-traumatic stress disorder. They state that wearing a mask could trigger an episode and several times throughout the video, the same individual references having a “medical exemption.” Upon exiting the restaurant, a male partner shows local authorities his “face mask exempt card” telling them that refusal to comply with the card can result in a fine.

This incident was filmed on a cellphone by the individual involved. After the encounter, this person uploaded the content online, where it received just over 32,000 views (the video has since been removed for privacy reasons). Dharma’s owner says that the video led to a series of threats and one-star reviews from strangers out of state.

This article was written by Frankie Katafiasor KIVI.

Mini Joys, a nonprofit in Boise, Idaho, is known for its miniature horses.

Laurie Bell started the nonprofit nine years ago, visiting classrooms, foster homes, children's hospitals, and senior homes.

"We don't usually have horses in the lobby," said Barbara Davidson, a resident at The Terraces of Boise. "You know, they're charming little beasts."

It brought back memories for Davidson who grew up around horses. She says her mother loved animals, particularly horses.

"I didn't ride many horses," Davidson said. "I was always too short to get the saddle on! I needed a mini horse then!"

"People who used to have horses just take that sniff of a horse, even if it's just 28 inches tall, and all the memories flood back," Bell said.

Even around strangers, the animals, which wear stylish shoes, are patient and gentle.

"Our smallest one weighs 100 pounds soaking wet!" Bell said. "His Build-a-Bear shoes are too big for him."

The shoes definitely score some style points, but Bell said it's the animals' personalities that really make an impact.

"Horses are really intuitive," Bell said. "We have a sassy donkey at home who's just kind of ornery really! But I'll always ask, 'Is there someone who really wants a challenge?' and boy, the toughest kid steps forward. We give them Hope, the donkey, and pretty soon they're like this [fingers crossed]; best buds. Like, she gets it. You're strong-willed, I'm strong-willed, you know what, we can do this together!"

Bell said she started the nonprofit so she could combine her passion for helping people with her love of horses.

"I think I came out of the womb and said, 'mommy, daddy, horsey!'" Bell joked.

This story was originally reported by Karen Lehr on KIVITV.com.

Video above: California wildfires force thousands to flee

At nearly every community meeting on firefighting efforts in the U.S. West, residents want to know why crews don't simply put out the flames to save their homes and the valuable forests surrounding them.

It's not that simple, wildfire managers say, and the reasons are many, some of them decades in the making and tied to climate change. The cumulative result has been an increase in gigantic wildfires with extreme and unpredictable behavior threatening communities that in some instances didn't exist a few decades ago.

"How do we balance that risk to allow firefighters to be successful without transferring too much of that risk to the public?" said Evans Kuo, a "Type 1" incident commander assigned to the nation's biggest and most dangerous wildfires. "I wish it wasn't the case, but it's a zero-sum game."

More than 20,000 wildland firefighters are battling some 100 large wildfires in the U.S West. Their goal is "containment," meaning a fuel break has been built around the entire fire using natural barriers or manmade lines, often created with bulldozers or ground crews with hand tools.

Estimated containment dates for some wildfires now burning aren't until October or November.

WHY SO LONG?

A big concern is safety. Kuo said residents sometimes plead with him to send firefighters into areas where he knows they could get killed.

"That's a deal-breaker," he said on a day off after 18 straight days of 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. shifts on a wildfire in Washington state. "I'm not putting people at risk."

Actually putting out these large fires, or labeling them "controlled," will require cold weather combined with rain or snow, weeks away for many states.

"I'd say pray for rain because that's the only thing that's going to get us out of this fire season," Idaho's state forester, Craig Foss, told Republican Gov. Brad Little and other state officials this week during a discussion of the wildfire season.

HAVE WILDFIRES CHANGED?

Kuo has been fighting wildfires for 30 years with the U.S. Forest Service, spending the first part of his career as a frontline firefighter with groundcrews, the backbone of any effort to stop a wildfire. At the time, wildfires of 150 square miles (390 square kilometers) were uncommon. Now blazes reach fives times that size and more, getting large enough to create their own weather.

"That's kind of redefining what the new normal is," said Kuo. "We get these megafires."

IS WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION IN THE PAST PLAYING A ROLE NOW?

For much of the last century, firefighters had been mostly successful at suppressing wildfires in ecosystems that evolved to rely on wildfire. Early on, firefighters benefitted from forests that had already been periodically cleared of brush and debris by wildfires that could move through every couple of decades. But with fire suppression, experts say, that brush and debris accumulated to where now, wildfires can ladder up into the branches and into the crowns of large trees, creating the giant wildfires that kill entire swatches of a forest.

HOW HAS DROUGHT IMPACTED WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION?

On top of fire suppression have been several decades of drought that studies link to human-caused climate change. That's exacerbated by this year's hot and dry weather, leading to historically low moisture contents in forests that have become tinder-dry.

"Our protection districts are seeing far warmer and dryer than normal conditions creating historically dry fuels," said Dustin Miller, director of the Idaho Department of Lands.

Those dry fuels allow wildfires to spread more quickly. On big fires, embers can shoot out to start spot fires on the other sides of natural barriers such as rivers. Sometimes spot fires can put firefighters at risk of being trapped by flames in front and behind them.

Miller said the state is likely facing $100 million in costs to fight fires this year on land the state is responsible for protecting, which is mostly state forests but also includes some federal and private forests.

WHAT ABOUT DISEASE AND INSECT INFESTATION?

Disease and bug infestations in trees whose defenses have been weakened by drought have led to forest-wide epidemics that have killed millions of trees in the U.S. West. Those dead trees, called snags, become fuel for wildfires while at the same time posing an increased danger to firefighters who can be hit by falling branches or the unstable trees themselves.

ARE MORE HOMES IN WILD AREAS AN ISSUE?

Homes built in what firefighters call the wildland-urban interface pose special problems for firefighters, typically tying up many firefighters on structure protection rather than have them actively engaging a wildfire.

"We base our strategy and tactics on protecting values at risk," Kuo said. "Homes, subdivisions, communications towers, gas pipelines, railways and roadways, transmission lines."

He said homes built with defensible space helps. More people in forested areas, as well as people recreating, has led to more human-caused wildfires. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise says humans cause about 87% of all wildfires each year.

Related video above: California camp spared from wildfire's destruction

ARE THERE ENOUGH FIREFIGHTERS?

The nation has just more than 20 Type 1 response teams to handle the nation's biggest wildfires fires, and Kuo and his colleagues on those teams, like just about every other firefighting position this year, are in short supply.

He and his crew agreed to work longer than their 14-day shift on the Washington fire to make sure another Type 1 crew would be available.

Another problem is lengthening wildfire seasons mean many seasonal firefighters leave for school well before wildfire season ends.

Josh Harvey, fire management bureau chief for the Lands Department, said about 30% of the state's firefighters head back to school. Overall, Harvey said there have been widespread shortages of firefighters, fire engines and logistical support, and the state can no longer rely on help from neighboring states or federal partners.

There have even been occasional shortages of jet fuel for retardant bombers in some states.

"We've never seen anything like it before," Harvey said. "We are living and making fire history right now."

As drought- and wind-driven wildfires have become more dangerous across the American West in recent years, firefighters have tried to become smarter in how they prepare.

They’re using new technology and better positioning of resources in a bid to keep small blazes from erupting into mega-fires like the ones that torched a record 4% of California last year, or the nation’s biggest wildfire this year that has charred a section of Oregon half the size of Rhode Island.

There have been 730 more wildfires in California so far this year than last, an increase of about 16%. But nearly triple the area has burned — 470 square miles (1,200 square kilometers).

Catching fires more quickly gives firefighters a better chance of keeping them small.

That includes using new fire behavior computer modeling that can help assess risks before fires start, then project their path and growth.

When “critical weather” is predicted — hot, dry winds or lightning storms — the technology, on top of hard-earned experience, allows California planners to pre-position fire engines, bulldozers, aircraft and hand crews armed with shovels and chain saws in areas where they can respond more quickly.

With the computer modeling, “they can do a daily risk forecast across the state, so they use that for planning,” said Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for Cal Fire, California’s firefighting agency.

That’s helped Cal Fire hold an average 95% of blazes to 10 acres (4 hectares) or less even in poor conditions driven by drought or climate change, she said. So far this year it's held 96.5% of fires below 10 acres (4 hectares).

Federal firefighters similarly track how dry vegetation has become in certain areas, then station crews and equipment ahead of lightning storms or in areas where people gather during holidays, said Stanton Florea, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

In another effort to catch fires quickly, what once were fire lookout towers staffed by humans have largely been replaced with cameras in remote areas, many of them in high-definition and armed with artificial intelligence to discern a smoke plume from morning fog. There are 800 such cameras scattered across California, Nevada and Oregon, and even casual viewers can remotely watch wildfires in real time.

Fire managers can then "start making tactical decisions based on what they can see,” even before firefighters reach the scene, Tolmachoff said.

Fire managers also routinely summon military drones from the National Guard or Air Force to fly over fires at night, using heat imaging to map their boundaries and hot spots. They can use satellite imagery to plot the course of smoke and ash.

“Your job is to manage the fire, and these are tools that will help you do so” with a degree of accuracy unheard of even five years ago, said Char Miller, a professor at Pomona College in California and a widely recognized wildfire policy expert.

In California, fire managers can overlay all that information on high-quality Light Detection and Ranging topography maps that can aid decisions on forest management, infrastructure planning and preparation for wildfires, floods, tsunamis and landslides. Then they add the fire behavior computer simulation based on weather and other variables.

Other mapping software can show active fires, fuel breaks designed to slow their spread, prescribed burns, defensible space cleared around homes, destroyed homes and other wildfire damage.

“It’s all still new, but we can see where it’s going to take us in the future when it comes to planning for people building homes on the wildland area, but also wildland firefighting,” Tolmachoff said.

Cal Fire and other fire agencies have been early adopters of remote imaging and other technologies that can be key in early wildfire detection, said John Bailey, a former firefighter and now professor at Oregon State University.

Some experts argue it’s a losing battle against wildfires worsened by global warming, a century of reflexive wildfire suppression and overgrown forests, and communities creeping into what once were sparsely populated areas. Climate change has made the West hotter and drier in the past 30 years, and scientists have long warned the weather will get more extreme as the world warms.

Yet, firefighters' goal is to replicate the outcome of a fire that started Monday in the canyon community of Topanga, between Los Angeles and Malibu.

It had the potential to swiftly spread through dry brush but was held to about 7 acres (3 hectares) after water-dropping aircraft were scrambled within minutes from LA and neighboring Ventura County.

What firefighters don’t want is another wildfire like the one that ravaged the Malibu area in 2018. It destroyed more than 1,600 structures, killed three people and forced thousands to flee.

In another bid to gain an early advantage, California is buying a dozen new Sikorsky Firehawk helicopters — at $24 million each — that can operate at night, fly faster, drop more water and carry more firefighters than the Vietnam War-era Bell UH-1H “Hueys” they will eventually replace.

It will also soon receive seven military surplus C-130 transport aircraft retrofitted to carry 4,000 gallons (15,140 liters) of fire retardant, more than three times as much as Cal Fire’s workhorse S-2 air tankers.

For all that, firefighters’ efforts to outsmart and suppress wildfires is counterproductive if all it does is postpone fires in areas that will eventually burn, argued Richard Minnich, a professor in Riverside who studies fire ecology.

“No matter how sophisticated the technology may be, the areas they can manage or physically impact things is small,” he said. “We’re in over our heads. You can have all the technology in the world — fire control is impossible.”

Working with wildfires is more realistic, he said, by taking advantage of patches that previously burned to channel the spread of new blazes.

Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter who now heads Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, also said firefighters need to adopt a new approach when confronting the most dangerous wind-driven wildfires that leapfrog containment lines by showering flaming embers a mile or more ahead of the main inferno.

It's better to build more fire-resistant homes and devote scarce resources to protecting threatened communities while letting the fires burn around them, he said.

“We have these amazing tools that allow us to map fire spread in real time and model it better than weather predictions," Ingalsbee said. “Using that technology, we can start being more strategic and working with fire to keep people safe, keep homes safe, but let fire do the work it needs to do — which is recycle all the dead stuff into soil.”

Associated Press writers Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

WACO, TX — Rusty thought he was the luckiest dog in Waco.

At just 2-years-old, Rusty spent half his life at the shelter. His owners surrendered him as a puppy in February 2020 because he was hyper. Rusty was placed in a foster home for two months and then was sent to a rescue in Idaho.

Two months later, the rescue sent him back to Waco because he was not dog-friendly and they weren't able to place him in a home.

Over the next couple of months, Rusty became depressed and frustrated, which caused him to act out in his kennel and towards other dogs.

In November 2020, Rusty was adopted, but a month later he was surrendered back to the shelter for being destructive.

Through the work of staff at the Waco Animal Shelter, Rusty worked through his problems and was finally placed with adopters.

After 419 days in the shelter, Rusty was going to his forever home, or so he thought.

After one day with his new family, Rusty was returned to the Waco Animal Shelter. According to the Humane Society of Central Texas, Rusty's adopters said he was "too much work."

The adopters reached said they returned Rusty because he bit them. They said they made the decision in order to protect their family.

Now it is back to square one for the 2-year-old dog. March 31 marks Rusty's 420th day in the shelter.

This article was written by Anissa Connell and Sydney Isenberg for KXXV.

MERIDIAN, Idaho — Ammon Bundy, the rancher who led an armed occupation of federal land in Oregon in 2016, announced he's running for the governor of Idaho.

Bundy launched his campaign website, which includes a video with his official announcement to join Idaho's 2022 gubernatorial race.

He made his announcement official Saturday at Kleiner Park in Meridian.

Bundy said he's running because he's "sick and tired of all of this political garbage" and "tired of our freedoms being taken from us and I’m tired of the corruption that is rampant in our state government."

In May, he filed documents with the Idaho Secretary of State's office to run as a Republican in the 2022 gubernatorial primary.

Current Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, and four other Republicans — Jeff Cotton, Edward Humphreys, Lisa Marie, and Cody Usabel — have also filed campaign documentation to run for governor.

Bundy, a well-known anti-government activist, is best known for leading an armed standoff in 2016 at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon to protest the federal control of public lands.

The siege lasted 41 days and ended with one person dead after an intense standoff with the police.

He was eventually arrested and later acquitted of all federal charges in that case.

Most recently, Bundy was arrested twice in one day back in April for trespassing on Idaho Capitol grounds.

He was served a no-trespass notice in August 2020 during a special legislative session.

That notice is in effect for one year.

Bundy also currently has two misdemeanor criminal trespassing cases pending against him, and he is representing himself for both.

The cases stem from events during a protest of coronavirus restrictions at the Idaho Statehouse last August.

He has pleaded not guilty in one case and has not yet entered a plea in the second.

Cooper Waytenick at KIVI first reported this story.