MARK: Welcome to Happening in Pocatello. It's Monday, November 9, 2026. I'm Mark. Today: the Hiline intersection reopens, a fatal stabbing investigation, and camels on the ISU quad.

JOLEEN: And I'm Joleen. First, a useful change for drivers: the city said November 6 that the intersection of Hiline Road, Pearl Street and El Rancho Boulevard had reopened to traffic.

MARK: Final paving is complete, according to the city. The majority of construction is finished, but crews may still be in the area doing minor finishing work. Open intersection, not a declaration that every last tool has vanished.

JOLEEN: Right. The roadway and signal improvements began in July, and the city says they were designed to improve traffic flow and safety. It's good to have the intersection back while the last details get attention.

MARK: A road project with an actual reopening to report. I'll try not to frame the press release.

JOLEEN: Save the wall space, Mark. We have a much more serious update from North Main Street.

MARK: Local News 8 reported November 6 that Pocatello police arrested 66-year-old Ronald Cantrell on a second-degree murder charge after a fatal stabbing. Police say a man was stabbed to death at an apartment complex on Thursday, November 5.

JOLEEN: Officers were called to a disturbance at 1119 North Main Street just after 2 that afternoon and found a man dead inside. According to police Lieutenant Akilah Lacey, detectives arrested Cantrell after an initial investigation and evidence gathered at the scene.

MARK: Lacey said Cantrell had initially been detained as a person of interest before being booked into the Bannock County Jail. In its November 6 report, Local News 8 said the victim's identity was being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Bannock County Coroner's Office.

JOLEEN: A man lost his life, and a family is facing devastating news. We're thinking of everyone affected.

MARK: At Pocatello High School, the November 9 through 14 bulletin has a Veterans Day schedule for Wednesday. An assembly in the Pit is listed from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m.

JOLEEN: And the school's Turkey Takedown runs November 2 through 19. Students and staff are competing by grade level and staff group to collect frozen turkeys or money to purchase them for the Idaho Food Bank before Thanksgiving.

MARK: What counts toward the competition?

JOLEEN: A frozen turkey counts as one point, and a 20-dollar donation counts as one turkey credit. The bulletin says turkeys can be dropped off at the counselor's office. There are prizes and bragging rights, but the food bank is the point.

MARK: A competition where the trash talk can at least end with somebody doing something useful.

JOLEEN: Exactly. And for students looking beyond high school, the bulletin lists Apprenticeship Plus Night at PV-TEC on November 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. It's an open house with more than 20 opportunities to explore.

MARK: Pocatello High boys basketball tryouts are also listed for Friday, November 13, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the Palace. There's a practical reason to know which gym you're going to.

JOLEEN: Especially if your first move is confidently walking into the wrong one.

MARK: Now, a look at housing numbers, with a boundary attached. AVO Real Estate's snapshot uses Greater Pocatello Association of REALTORS MLS information for single-family home sales across Bannock County. That includes Pocatello, but it is not a Pocatello-only report.

JOLEEN: The three-month sample runs July 27 through October 27, 2026: 203 homes sold, with a median sold price of 374 thousand dollars. The median time on the market was 73 days, and the median sold-to-list price was 98.89 percent.

MARK: For the six months from April 27 through October 27, the snapshot reports 480 sales, a median sold price of 375 thousand dollars, 66 median days on market, and a median sold-to-list price of 100 percent.

JOLEEN: Those periods overlap, so don't take the two median prices and announce that the market went up or down. A median is the middle value, not a price tag on every house in the county.

MARK: On October 27, there were 285 active listings and 60 pending. Those are listings, not additional completed sales. The snapshot puts supply at about 4.2 months using the three-month sales pace, or 3.6 months using the six-month pace.

JOLEEN: And AVO says the active count includes Coming Soon-type listings, which may make the months-of-supply figure read slightly high. It's a county-wide snapshot, not an appraisal of your particular place.

MARK: Good. My hypothetical shed will have to wait for its own valuation.

JOLEEN: Now, the camels. Three of them were on the Idaho State quad Saturday for the Idaho Museum of Natural History's sixth annual Fall Fossil Fest.

MARK: The theme was "Camels and other Mammals," which is admirably direct. Nobody had to open an envelope and guess what the camels were doing there.

JOLEEN: They had lectures, booths and fossils people could touch. The living camels accompanied a new giant camel skeleton mount at the museum, and visitors could pet the animals and take photos. The museum worked with Thunderstorm Ranch to bring them in.

MARK: A living camel outside and a skeleton inside. A fairly dramatic before-and-after display.

JOLEEN: Museum education manager Robert Gay said the camel represented by the mount was found in the Mountain Home area in the 1960s. He described it as an enormous, humpless camel and said the museum has the only mounted skeleton of that animal.

MARK: I appreciate the clarification. Otherwise someone would spend the whole afternoon looking for the hump and accusing the museum of losing a piece.

JOLEEN: Gay said the exhibit is part of a major revamp of the museum's permanent gallery called "This is Idaho," and said the exhibition would be on display for the next two years. Saturday's festival also brought together fossil researchers from ISU and the museum, as well as researchers from Oregon, Washington and across Utah.

MARK: That's a good combination: something you can actually touch, someone who can explain it, and a camel available for the family photo.

JOLEEN: And another gathering on campus had a different kind of lasting purpose. The ISU Women's Club held its Holiday Fair November 6 and 7 in the Pond Student Union Building Ballroom. All proceeds go toward scholarships for ISU students.

MARK: Local artists showed work ranging from handmade pots and vases to watercolor paintings. There were holiday treats and flavored kettle corn too, which Joleen will insist is also art.

JOLEEN: Perishable art, Mark. You have to appreciate it before the medium disappears. The club also served its traditional chicken enchiladas with homemade desserts Friday, and several ISU departments donated baskets for a silent auction.

MARK: A scholarship fundraiser with a basket auction and enchiladas. That is a more persuasive pitch than most meetings manage in an hour.

JOLEEN: Now to the Bengals, and Saturday's football game at the ICCU Dome needed three overtimes. Montana State beat Idaho State 28-26 after converting a two-point try in the third overtime.

MARK: Twenty-eight to twenty-six after three overtimes. That is a hell of a long way to travel for a two-point margin, even when you're already in the building.

JOLEEN: And that was Montana State, ranked third in the game report. A tough finish for the Bengals, but that score tells you how close the contest was.

MARK: The volleyball team, meanwhile, had a Thursday result worth a very large circle on the calendar. Idaho State beat Utah Tech three sets to one at Reed Gym.

JOLEEN: Utah Tech came in on a 16-match winning streak, described in ISU's report as the longest in the nation, and was 12-and-0 in Big Sky play. The Bengals handed the Trailblazers their first conference loss of the season.

MARK: The fourth set was 29-27. Nobody was getting a quick, tidy ending out of that one.

JOLEEN: Then on Saturday, Idaho State beat Southern Utah three sets to one in Pocatello. The Bengals outblocked the Thunderbirds 15 to 3 and had the higher hitting percentage, .245 to .150.

MARK: Fifteen blocks to three. That's less a welcome mat and more a firmly worded door.

JOLEEN: Women's basketball had its home opener Friday at Reed Gym, and Idaho State beat Westminster 79-30. The Bengals forced 20 turnovers and scored 35 fast-break points.

MARK: Westminster shot eleven for 57. That is a rough evening against the Bengals' defense.

JOLEEN: On the men's side, Idaho State lost 89-82 at Air Force on Sunday, after falling 93-62 at Wyoming on Friday. Against Wyoming, Joven Dulay and MaCarhy Morris combined for 33 points, and Kenyon DeMuynck had five blocks.

MARK: A much closer final at Air Force, although the Falcons pulled away in that one. And there was a postseason development for women's soccer on Thursday.

JOLEEN: The Bengals lost 9-1 at Weber State to close the regular season, but clinched the sixth and final seed in the Big Sky Conference Tournament. ISU's Thursday report called it the program's first postseason appearance since 2023.

MARK: A difficult final regular-season score, alongside an important milestone for that team.

JOLEEN: Let's talk food. This time it's The Nook, listed at 200 South Main Street, Suite E, in Pocatello. We have an individual customer's take, not a verdict from every person who's ever held a fork.

MARK: That would be a long meeting, and someone would still complain about the seating chart.

JOLEEN: Google Maps reviewer Jason Crow called the double cheeseburger very good and said the fresh-cut fries were "silly good." He also described the owner and chef as helpful and friendly. His review was displayed as five months old in the review sample.

MARK: He also warned people to be really hungry before ordering that double cheeseburger. A useful warning, though "really hungry" is a flexible unit of measurement.

JOLEEN: It depends on whether the fries are sharing the table or whether you've already decided they're yours. I like a review that gives me both food details and a sense of the welcome. But that's Jason's experience; your mileage, and your appetite, may vary.

MARK: And "silly good" is a stronger endorsement than anything I've ever heard about a spreadsheet.

JOLEEN: For the weekend, Electric Avenue -- The 80's MTV Experience is scheduled Saturday, November 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Stephens Performing Arts Center.

MARK: An eighties MTV experience. Finally, an excuse to argue about whether the hair or the shoulder pads had the stronger artistic vision.

JOLEEN: Visit Pocatello also lists the Pocatello Ski Swap on Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th, and the Crafters Market at Station Square on Saturday the 14th. Its calendar lists the Idaho State-Civic Symphony concert "Resilience" and The Play that Goes Wrong for Friday as well.

MARK: So there's a choice between music, theater, crafts and ski gear. A perfectly reasonable weekend, until somebody decides they need all four and a nap.

JOLEEN: The Visit Pocatello calendar advises checking with the individual location before leaving, since events can be canceled, moved or rescheduled. A quick check beats showing up dressed for the wrong kind of performance.

MARK: Especially if you brought skis to the symphony.

JOLEEN: They'd make the aisle situation interesting. Before you make those plans, here's the National Weather Service forecast. Tonight, Monday, November 9, is mostly cloudy, with a low around 39 and temperatures rising to around 41 overnight.

MARK: South-southeast wind around 9 miles an hour tonight, with gusts as high as 18. Tuesday is sunny, high near 57, falling to around 53 in the afternoon.

JOLEEN: Tuesday night is partly cloudy, low around 37. For Veterans Day, Wednesday, it's sunny with a high near 60.

MARK: Wednesday night is mostly clear, low around 36. Thursday is sunny, high near 62; Thursday night is partly cloudy, low around 39.

JOLEEN: Friday is mostly sunny, high near 60. Then Friday night, there's a chance of rain after 11 p.m. It's mostly cloudy, low around 42, with a 40 percent chance of precipitation.

MARK: Saturday, November 14, is partly sunny, high near 54, with a 40 percent chance of rain before 5 p.m. Saturday night is mostly cloudy, low around 39.

JOLEEN: Sunday, November 15, is partly sunny, high near 55, with a slight chance of rain after 11 a.m. The chance of precipitation is 20 percent.

MARK: Sunday night is mostly cloudy, low around 38, with a chance of rain. The chance of precipitation is 40 percent.

JOLEEN: So both weekend days have a rain chance, though the timing and odds are different. Keep an eye on the forecast before heading out.

MARK: Saturday and Sunday can share custody of the umbrella. Neither has a guarantee.

JOLEEN: That's our show. Follow or subscribe to Happening in Pocatello, and send us a note at pocatello@thehappeningnetwork.com. We'll be back next week. Take care, Pocatello.

MARK: Thanks for listening. And please keep the skis out of the symphony aisle.