Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Happening in Boise is your weekly breakdown of what’s actually going on around the city—local news, community events, public safety updates, new restaurants, real estate, weather, schools, and everything Boise residents are talking about.
Hosted with humor, honesty, and a very Boise-specific point of view, this isn’t stiff broadcast news—it’s real local info with personality. If you live in Boise or just want to keep a pulse on the Treasure Valley, this is your weekly shortcut.
JOLEEN: Welcome to Happening in Boise for Monday, November second, 2026. I'm Joleen.
MARK: And I'm Mark. Today, we're talking about the terrifying bomb threats at Boise High, the Broncos' absolute heart-attack of a win over Texas State, and a local daycare worker facing some pretty horrific charges.
JOLEEN: Let's start with the mess at Boise High on Friday, October thirtieth. Students were evacuated after a bomb threat came in. A learning center near Chinden Boulevard and Eagle Road received a similar threat minutes later.
MARK: yeah
JOLEEN: Police cleared both locations without finding a device. According to Friday's Idaho Statesman report, Boise High was cleared by one-forty p.m., and classes were canceled for the day. Students were taken to North Junior High for parent pickup. Those hours of uncertainty are the worst for families.
MARK: It's a hell of a disruption for families. Boise Police student resource officer Darren Mitchell said they were investigating the source of the threat and thanked teachers and school staff for responding quickly. Speculating about who made the calls doesn't help parents who are just trying to get through a goddamn work week without an evacuation notice.
JOLEEN: The teachers and school staff had a frightening situation to manage. One threatening call can disrupt a whole neighborhood, and I'm glad police reported no device was found. Standing outside wondering what's happening at your school isn't the high school experience anyone asked for.
MARK: The 'high school experience' shouldn't have to include bomb-threat evacuations. It's exhausting. And while we're talking about children's safety, we have to talk about the allegations at New Horizon Academy on Boise Avenue. An eighteen-year-old worker named Maria 'Mia' Ackerman was arrested Thursday on four felony counts of injury to a child. The details coming out of the court hearing are just... they're grim. We're talking about an infant who ended up with injuries that, according to the prosecutor, could have easily turned into a murder case if things had gone slightly differently.
JOLEEN: It's sickening to hear those allegations. Boise Police's October thirtieth release says the investigation followed a referral from Health and Welfare and that the suspect's actions toward an infant and three additional infants could have caused great bodily harm or death.
MARK: oh wow
JOLEEN: The police release says she had worked there since March or April, and that the daycare sent her home on October twenty-sixth and did not allow her back. That release described the center as cooperating with detectives and the investigation as ongoing. These are allegations, not findings of guilt.
MARK: In Friday's court hearing, prosecutor Joshua Haws said he did not believe the injured infant would die. That is an awful thing for any family to have to hear. Ackerman faces four felony child-injury counts; charges are not a conviction. Police say she was arrested and booked into the Ada County Jail on October twenty-ninth.
JOLEEN: yeah
MARK: The October thirtieth police release described the investigation as continuing.
JOLEEN: I can't even imagine the guilt those parents are feeling, even though it's not their fault. You're just trying to go to work and provide for your family, and you trust a licensed facility. The allegations are deeply disturbing, and they still have to be tested in court. Switching gears a bit, but staying with the schoolsΓÇöthe Boise School District is weighing options that could be controversial. They're looking at moving ninth graders into the high schools and sixth graders into the middle schools to deal with the fact that they've got about nine thousand empty seats across the district. Enrollment is dropping, and they have to do something about the budget.
MARK: The district has about nine thousand open seats, and it's considering grade configurations and school consolidation. An October thirtieth report describes support for moving ninth graders to high schools; comments also raised a sixth-through-eighth-grade model. The board still has decisions to make. I worry about what a school closure would mean for a neighborhood, even when the district has to think about using its buildings efficiently.
JOLEEN: Right. There's more public input and decision-making ahead. Moving grades around is a big change for families, and I want them to have a say. Separately, Wednesday's gas leak near Trail Wind Elementary sent students to Les Bois Junior High for pickup. That's a different issue, but it added another stressful day for those families.
MARK: The gas leak was another stressful day for families. Wednesday's reporting says students at Trail Wind walked to Les Bois Junior High for parent pickup and weren't allowed to walk home because the roads to their school were blocked. Switching gears, Micron announced more than sixty-seven million dollars in new Idaho community investments on October twenty-seventh, covering transportation, housing and savings for children.
JOLEEN: Here's the breakdown in Micron's announcement: eleven-point-six million for public transit, ten-point-five million for housing initiatives, and more than forty-five million for eligible Idaho children's Trump Accounts. So the children component is savings-account deposits. That's a different kind of support from funding daycare places. The housing commitment includes help for affordable homes and homeownership, and I'll take more options for families.
MARK: I'll still reserve the right to be cynical about a corporate announcement. But the details matter: this is funding for specific transportation, housing and savings initiatives, rather than a promise to solve every affordability problem in the valley. If the transit and housing investments make a practical difference, great. I'd like to see the results match the press release.
JOLEEN: On roads, ACHD's October thirtieth State Street and Pierce Park update says the main paving is complete, traffic has shifted into its permanent configuration, and minor work with daytime lane closures will continue into November.
MARK: right
JOLEEN: That's more progress than just an endless set of orange cones. Check ACHD's current notices for the actual lane restrictions before you head out.
MARK: The orange cone is the official state bird of Idaho at this point. I'm convinced ACHD just moves them around at night to keep us on our toes. They say these 'safety improvements' are for our own good, but I'm pretty sure my blood pressure rising every time I hit a detour isn't helping my long-term health. If they could just finish one project before starting three more, that would be a start. But no, we have to have every major artery under construction at the same time so we're all equally miserable. It's about equity, Joleen.
JOLEEN: Let's talk about a place for books and beer: Oldspeak, at thirty-six-forty West Chinden Boulevard in Garden City. It brings The Lit Room and Alliteration Ales together. A March profile described book clubs, chess and writing gatherings, and noted that its first anniversary was coming in April. It had already been around for a year this spring.
MARK: A book bar. So, a place where I can go to ignore people and actually have a valid excuse for it? 'Sorry, I can't hear your boring story about your labradoodle, I'm halfway through a chapter.' I can get behind that. It's better than those loud-as-fuck sports bars where you have to scream over a middle-school volleyball game on the TV. Oldspeak sounds like a place for people who have officially given up on the 'club' scene and just want a decent stout and some quiet. Though, I'm sure it'll be overrun by people 'writing their novels' on laptops within a week.
JOLEEN: And separately, BOLT Handmakers Society is a Boise Bench makers space with sewing and textile-art classes. Books and beer in Garden City, sewing on the Bench: different places with different kinds of community. You should find a book, Mark. Maybe it'll explain why you're so grumpy all the time.
MARK: I don't need a book for that; I have a mirror. Anyway, let's talk sports, because the Broncos actually gave us something to cheer about this weekend, even if they tried to give me a stroke in the process. Boise State beat Texas State forty-six to forty-five on Halloween night. A one-point win. They're now seven and one overall, and four and zero in the Pac-12. This was their three hundredth win at the FBS level, which is a massive milestone. They've got the best winning percentage in the country since moving up to FBS. That's actually insane when you think about where this program started.
JOLEEN: That game was wild! Forty-six to forty-five? It was like neither team decided to play defense until the last thirty seconds.
MARK: yeah
JOLEEN: But a win is a win, and staying ranked at number twenty in the AP Poll is huge. They even rose a spot in the Coaches Poll. And did you see the Kellen Moore statue unveiling? Having him back in town for that was such a nostalgia trip. It reminds you of the golden era, but this current team is really making their own history. They're clinching spots and staying in the conversation for the playoffs, which is all we can ask for.
MARK: Kellen Moore back in Boise makes me feel old. Seeing a statue of a guy I remember watching as a freshman is a reminder that time is a cruel mistress. But the team is performing. And it wasn't just football; the Boise State women's soccer team absolutely crushed Texas State four to zero on Friday to clinch a spot in the Pac-12 Championship. They're on a roll. Between soccer, volleyball beating Texas State three to one, and the women's cross country team taking second at the Pac-12 championships, it was a dominant weekend for the Blue and Orange across the board.
JOLEEN: It really was. The soccer team is just dominant right now. They look like they're playing on a completely different level than everyone else in the conference. And don't forget, the women's basketball season starts today! They're playing Bushnell at eleven a.m. at home. It's an early one, so hopefully people can sneak away from work to catch the opener. They've got Libby Hutton and CJ Latta on the Preseason Impact List, so expectations are pretty high. It's a good time to be a Bronco fan, even if the football team insists on making every game a nail-biter.
MARK: I'll stick to the basketball games; at least there's a shot clock so they can't drag the agony out for four hours. And the men's team finished their exhibition play undefeated after beating Bismarck State one-hundred-and-four to thirty-seven. I know it's just exhibition, but scoring over a hundred points back-to-back is a good sign for the offense. Dovydas Butka and Damari Wheeler-Thomas are looking like they're going to be a problem for the rest of the Pac-12. If the football team is the heart-attack squad, maybe the basketball team will be the blowout squad.
JOLEEN: We can only hope. Let's look at the weather, because if you're planning on being outdoors for any of these games or events this week, the news is actually pretty good. Today, we're looking at a high of fifty-six degrees. It started with some patchy fog this morning, but it's going to be sunny for the rest of the afternoon. Tonight it drops to thirty-eight, so definitely keep the heater on. Tomorrow is actually going to be warmer, with a high of sixty, though it'll be mostly cloudy.
MARK: Sixty degrees in early November? I'll take it. Wednesday and Thursday are forecast around fifty-eight with mostly sunny skies. It's a mostly dry pattern, although Friday's forecast has about a ten-percent precipitation chance. Those are forecasts, so keep an eye on updates if you're making outdoor plans.
JOLEEN: And the weekend looks even better! Saturday is sixty-one and sunny, and Sunday is sixty-four. Sixty-four on November eighth! That's incredible. It's the perfect weekend to get out and do some yard work or hit the trails before the 'real' winter hits and everything turns into a gray, slushy mess for three months. I'm going to soak up every bit of that sun while I can.
MARK: Don't get too excited; the forecast still has nights in the thirties. It's that classic fall swing where a pleasant afternoon doesn't mean you can leave your jacket at home all night. But for early November, I'll take a few comfortable afternoons.
JOLEEN: You're just determined to find the cloud in every silver lining, aren't you? Speaking of being outdoors, the Boise Bicycle Project is doing their big bike drive right now. They're looking for donations for their annual Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway. If you've got an old bike gathering dust in your garage, take it down there. They fix them up and give them to kids who wouldn't have a ride otherwise. It's one of the best things about this community, honestly.
MARK: It's a great program. The organizer's listing has a kids-bike drive on Saturday, November seventh, supporting the December giveaway. And here's some positive school news from the district's October twentieth bulletin: Boise High students took first place at Idaho's first French Immersion Day at Boise State. That was a nice achievement from earlier in October.
JOLEEN: Exactly! The kids are doing great things despite the disruptions. If you're heading out for a fall activity or a trail walk, check the organizer's current hours and trail conditions first. Central District Health's October fifteenth warning also reported death-cap mushrooms in Boise and Garden City, including along the Greenbelts. Keep children and pets away from wild mushrooms.
MARK: right It never slows down. Between the bomb threats, the daycare arrests, and the Broncos trying to kill us with suspense, I'm ready for a nap. But at least the weather is holding up. We've covered a lot today, so if you missed anything, you can check the show notes for the details on those school district changes and the Micron investment. It's going to be an interesting few months as the city tries to figure out how to grow without breaking.
JOLEEN: We'll be here to talk about it either way. That's it for us today at Happening in Boise. If you liked the show, make sure to follow or subscribe on whatever platform you're using. We love hearing from you, so feel free to reach out at boise at the happening network dot com with your local news tips or just to tell Mark to cheer up. We'll be back next week with more updates on everything going on in our city.
MARK: Yeah, send the emails. I'll read them while I'm at the book bar. Have a good week, Boise. Don't do anything that'll get you arrested or evacuated.