Latest news with #Pocatello
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Psychic correctly predicted a missing student's body lay in hills just six miles from his dorm for 50 YEARS before a chance discovery
The mystery of a student who disappeared from his university dorm without a trace has been solved more than 51 years later. Douglas Brick, 23, walked out of his dorm at the University of Utah on October 12, 1973, and was mysteriously never seen again. Police searched the vast expanse near the university, but with little information about where he went, he was never found and the case went cold. In the absence of evidence, speculation spawned wild theories over the next five decades, the most basic being he disappeared in the foothills behind the campus. Others claimed Brick dropped out of school and hitched a ride to Ogden to start a new life, or that he had fled the country. He was depressed, and possibly suicidal at the time. The whole time, his body was lying in the hills just six miles from the dorm building, overlooking the campus. Brick graduated from Pocatello High School as a top student in 1968 and was studying physics when he went missing. He was a National Merit Letter commendation winner and a member of the Boys Council, Key Club and German Club. With the case cold, life moved on for Brick's family and friends. His father, a pharmacist and naval World War II veteran, died in 1964 from congenital kidney disease, and his mother, Donna, never remarried. The last time his Donna saw her son was in September 1971, when he packed up his car and headed off to start his fourth year at Utah University. She described him as sweet and kind in her journal, but her writings also revealed one of the several bizarre coincidences in the case. In 1990, when his family held a memorial for him, she wrote of a chance encounter with a store clear at a department store in Salt Lake City. The clerk claimed to be a psychic, and Donna asked her, 'Maybe you can tell me what happened to my son.' They described details eerily similar to where Brick's body was eventually found, near the summit of Black Mountain above the university. Brick, the clerk claimed, went into the foothills to take his own life, but instead slipped in the dark and fell to his death. 'He really wants you to find him, they said. University of Utah Police detective Jon Dial said the details 'stuck out' to him. 'The terrain I was traversing as part of the search, it is extremely steep and loose on both sides, and I was having a hard time in the daylight keeping my footing under me and figuring out where I was going,' he said. Donna died in May 2010, and her son wasn't mention in her obituary - they didn't know whether to say he was alive or dead. Another coincidence occurred when the case was reopened in 2022, after the university's crime data analyst, Nikol Mitchell, uncovered the forgotten case. Major Heather Sturzenegger agreed to reopen it, but discovered the files had been lost over the years and they had very little to go on. All they knew was he lived in Austin Hall, which by then had been demolished, but not who he knew, who his roommate was, who reported him missing, or where police searched at the time. Sturzenegger and Dial located Brick's sister and took DNA, which produced no database matches, and an old girlfriend, but were still nowhere. Then in December 2022, Sturzenegger was making small talk with her daughter's new doctor, Steven Warren, about what she was working on. 'That's strange, when I was a student at Utah University in 1973, my roommate went missing,' Warren said. Warren, it turned out, was the one who reported Brick missing, called his family, found his abandoned car - and knew where police searched for him. 'I can still picture him in his glasses, going to class with his hard-cased briefcase,' Warren said after his long-lost roommate's body was found. 'I can still see all of his belongings in the back seat of his car - I never forgot one thing about it.' Then, last October, hunters stumbled upon two weathered and worn fragments of a human skull in the hills, which made the local news. Sturzenegger wondered, could this be Brick? Five months after the bones were sent for testing, their DNA matched Brick' sister. 'When I got the report, I lost my breath. My heart was pounding. I was shaking. I was thinking, am I reading this right? Is this him?' she said. She and Dial flew to California, where Brick's remaining family lived, to break the news. 'We never stopped hoping for answers about Doug's disappearance,' the family said in a statement. 'Many years ago, we pushed for the cold case to be reopened with the addition of DNA evidence. We are relieved to finally have some answers. After 52 years, this result, while sad, is nothing short of a miracle. 'We thank the hunter who found him six months ago and reported it immediately, Detective Jon Dial and Major Heather Sturzenegger, search and rescue volunteers, and all the individuals and agencies that were involved in this case.' Though his body has finally been found, many of the details of his last moments may never be known, but the university plans to keep searching the hills for clues. 'I felt a very personal connection to Douglas throughout this investigation,' Dial said. 'In a way, it's hard to explain. There was a push and a connection that I felt was from Douglas to this case specifically, in moving it along and being persistent. 'I have felt very strongly that I will always have Douglas in the back of my mind, and his family.'
The Independent
21-05-2025
- The Independent
‘Ape,' ‘monkey' and worse: Former Chick-fil-A employee accuses coworkers of monstrous racist abuse
A Black employee at a Chick-fil-A franchise in Idaho says he endured more than a half-year of racist abuse from coworkers who, among other things, called him the 'n-word,' referred to him as an 'ape,' a 'monkey' and threatened to cage him like an animal, according to a harrowing discrimination lawsuit obtained by The Independent. 'Of course he works at Chick-fil-A; he's Black, so he loves chicken,' one of Thomas Wade's colleagues allegedly said as he stood by in shock. After Wade went to higher-ups about the vile abuse, which his complaint contends also included at least one simulated 'slave whipping,' he was promptly fired. Meanwhile, management let multiple instances of sexual harassment slide because the accused happened to be the boss's son, according to Wade's complaint, which was filed March 13 in a federal court in Pocatello, Idaho. On Tuesday, a Chick-fil-A spokesperson told The Independent, 'This matter involves a franchisee, not Chick-fil-A, Inc. Franchisees are independent operators responsible for all employment decisions in their restaurants. Chick-fil-A, Inc. is not involved in or aware of their employment matters.' The franchisee, Lauren Mosteller, Inc. of Woodstock, Georgia, responded in court to the allegations on May 7, denying 'each and every' one of Wade's claims. Apart from calling for dismissal on a slew of technicalities, the response deemed the offending conduct 'groundless,' and 'isolated and sporadic,' and thus, 'insufficient to establish a hostile work environment.' The lawyers representing Mosteller, Inc., listed in court papers as 'doing business as Chick-fil-A,' did not respond to requests for comment. In an email, attorney Ryan Dustin, who is representing Wade, told The Independent, '[D]ue to the ongoing litigation, we have no comment at this time.' A conservative fast-food chain founded in 1967 by a devout Southern Baptist who decreed all stores would be closed in Sundays, Chick-fil-A's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion webpage proudly states that its 'corporate purpose' is 'To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.' In 2020, the founder's son, Chick-fil-A chairman Dan Cathy – who has been extremely vocal about his opposition to marriage equality – spoke out in support of the Black community following the death of George Floyd while in police custody. 'Let's be moved to action,' Cathy wrote on his personal LinkedIn profile. 'Let's join together to build a world that reflects God's love for all of us. At the same time, Chick-fil-A franchises in various parts of the U.S. have faced accusations of anti-Black bigotry. Last year, a Maryland man went public after a Chick-fil-A drive-thru order was labeled with the word 'monkeys,' rather than his name, Marquise. In Pennsylvania, a Chick-fil-A manager reportedly forced a Black employee to stand outside in a violent thunderstorm while calling others back into the store. Still, the mere existence of its DEI program has drawn the ire of the American right for being too 'woke.' Wade began working as a cook on the 'back of house crew' at an Idaho Falls Chick-fil-A in December 2022, according to his complaint. Shortly after getting hired, Wade applied to take part in Chick-fil-A's ' Leadership Development Program,' but was passed over in favor of a white male employee, the complaint states. The next couple of months went by largely uneventfully, according to the complaint. Then, in March 2023, Wade stepped in after seeing two coworkers, one of them his supervisor's son, 'antagonizing a third employee,' the complaint goes on. 'In response to his attempts to intervene and diffuse the situation, [the son] told [Wade], 'Shut up ape, before I put you in a cage,'' the complaint continues. When Wade replied that he would report their behavior to management, the supervisor's son called him 'monkey-looking-ass,' and warned him that 'my parents own this store,' according to the complaint. But, it maintains, when Wade told his supervisor about what had happened, the manager 'did nothing.' The supervisor, Eric Ibarra, and his family are not named as defendants in Wade's lawsuit. Ibarra was unable to be reached for comment. Distressed, the complaint says Wade took two days off 'to give himself some space.' When he went back to work, several other of Ibarra's relatives, who all worked at the same Chick-fil-A, 'resumed making racist comments, which occurred over the next seven months.' In addition to them calling Wade the n-word and likening him to an ape, and a monkey, they at one point told him he was a piece of 'antique farming equipment,' in reference to slavery, according to the complaint. On one occasion, the complaint says Wade walked in on another of Ibarra's sons whipping a colleague with a towel, after which they told Wade that 'he would know about getting whipped since he is Black.' In another instance, Wade heard one of Ibarra's three daughters say he 'look[ed] like a monkey, [and] act[ed] like a monkey,' the complaint alleges. Over the summer of 2023, Wade was subjected to a barrage of racist taunts and remarks, called a 'back of house monkey,' and was shocked to find a variation of the n-word written on the kitchen freezer, according to the complaint. It says Wade's formal grievances continued to go nowhere. However, Ibarra's family members went on acting out with apparent impunity, the complaint asserts. In July 2023, when another one of Ibarra's sons was suspended for sexually harassing a coworker, and continued to do so upon his return, he was fired, according to the complaint. Yet, a month later, he was hired back, the complaint states. In all, Wade made between 25 and 30 reports to Chick-fil-A management about the nonstop racism he was experiencing, according to the complaint. On October 16, 2023, Wade was terminated 'because [he] refused to tolerate and continued to report racist behavior and comments by his coworkers,' the complaint concludes. It alleges the company 'believed it would be easier to terminate [Wade's] employment than take any action to stop the other employees' discriminatory behavior.' This February, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued Wade a 'right to sue' letter, allowing him to initiate the legal process. The following month, he did. Wade's lawsuit seeks to hold Lauren Mosteller, Inc., 'doing business as Chick-fil-A,' for discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, in addition to two sections of Idaho's Human Rights Act. He is seeking compensatory, general, statutory, and punitive damages, plus court costs and attorneys' fees. An in-court status conference is scheduled for July 7.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State official: Claims of a new $400 million education investment are ‘misleading at best'
The Idaho State Capitol Building in Boise shines in the sunlight on Jan. 7, 2025. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) This story originally posted on on May 9, 2025 A state education official tempered what he implied were exaggerated claims about investments in public education during a post-legislative tour stop in Pocatello Thursday. The Legislature did increase funding this year for public education — but debate over the amount continues between politicians, education stakeholders and the Idaho Department of Education (IDE). IDE staff directly countered Rep. Wendy Horman's touting of $400 million in new public education investments, and watered down Gov. Brad Little's showcasing of $50 million for rural school facilities. Some Idaho education groups concerned with state's new public schools budgets, operations funding Gideon Tolman, the IDE'S chief financial officer, did not mention Horman by name, but said claims of a new $400 million investment were 'misleading at best.' Public education's financial gains were few but appreciated, IDE leaders said, during a 2025 legislative session that had moments ranging from surprising to heartbreaking. From a failed $3 million request for high-needs students to the state's first private school choice tax credit, the repercussions led to a sense of gloom among the district leaders and superintendents who gathered at Idaho State University for a recap of the session. As politicians and educators scramble to craft the narrative over what the session meant for public education, Little held his own press event Thursday, where he said 'it's both our constitutional and our moral obligation to the next generation that we increase funding, and more importantly, have better outcomes for public schools.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In a column for EdNews, Horman wrote that 'public education received $400 million in new funding.' That sparked frustration among education stakeholders who said the public schools budget provides no new additional state funding for anything other than pay increases and benefits for school staff, as Clark Corbin of the Idaho Capital Sun reported. In response, Horman told Corbin that just $100 million in new general fund dollars will go to pay and benefits. The other $300 million is located outside public school budgets in the form of tax cuts and facilities payments sent to districts to pay down levies and bonds. IDE staff publicly chimed in Thursday. Tolman said there was a $100 million increase for pay and benefits — a fact stakeholders and politicians seem to be able to agree on. The other $300 million is not accessible to charter schools, Tolman said. For traditional school districts, this funding is either 'very restricted or has been repurposed' — meaning it was already in education coffers, but got moved from one account to another. For example, Little has touted a $50 million investment for rural school facilities, a promise he outlined in his state of the state address. But that $50 million isn't as new or accessible as it seems, Tolman said. Half of it had been sitting in a facilities cooperative fund, 'which has been on the books for about 20 years,' Tolman said. To access it, a district had to run a failed bond or levy, and document a health and safety concern in the building. Over the 20 years, only two districts have been able to use the fund — Plummer-Worley to build a new school, and Salmon to replace a roof. School districts that meet those conditions can apply for and receive the funds, but would have to pay back the funds with state dollars they received for paying down bonds and levies, if possible, Tolman said. But, if the money isn't repaid within 20 years, it will be forgiven. The second half of the $50 million comes from a preexisting bond levy equalization fund, which was discontinued in the 2024 session — but the cash remained. So this year, legislators moved those dollars into this new fund. That, Tolman said, helps illustrate why the $400 million claim is misleading — 'because it's repurposing funding that either was given to you and taken away and now given back to you, or was already in the account, or that doesn't apply to charters.' At a separate event held the same day, hours later, Little touted 'an additional $50 million for rural school facilities.' He also cited $85 million for increased teacher pay, and 'additional literacy investments. While Little's claims about public education investments were more modest than Horman's, he seemed to defend her thinking when asked about the $400 million. 'If a district receives money to pay for facilities, pay for maintenance, that's money they can use elsewhere,' Little said. Facing an $82 million special education funding gap, state superintendent Debbie Critchfield pushed to shore up funding in two ways — a new, student-weighted funding formula and a $3 million funding request for high-needs students. Both failed. The fate of the funding formula rewrite — a long sought-after change that legislators have previously pursued, without success — was likely not a shock. But IDE staff were 'surprised' that the relatively small, $3 million ask 'ended up being a fiscal hangup for some,' said Greg Wilson, Critchfield's chief of staff. 'It goes back to how these requests, however minuscule, require a high bar in order to get them across the finish line.' Wilson said he knew the $3 million 'isn't a lot,' but said it seemed a 'reasonable amount to get it through the (legislative) process and get something in place.' Scott Muir, superintendent of Soda Springs School District, asked IDE leaders why legislators oppose additional special education funding. 'As we see the rise in special education, and we cannot meet the needs, now we're going to see advocates and lawyers stepping into the process and school districts are going to suffer for that,' he said. Tolman said some legislators are not aware of the $82 million gap between what the federal government provides and what schools need. 'Other comments we have heard are, 'Why are you educating special education students at all? Why are they part of the public school system?'' Tolman said. 'There is a real lack of understanding or an unwillingness to learn more about the problem.' 'It kind of breaks your heart when you listen to the comments some of the legislators made regarding the students that we not only want to serve but are required federally to serve,' said Spencer Barzee, the IDE's deputy superintendent for eastern Idaho. Some legislators were also surprised by the high costs associated with students who might need a one-on-one aide, or who have feeding tubes or are nonverbal, Tolman said, adding that the $400 million in tax cuts may also have made it difficult to approve even small asks. Wilson said increased special education funding will be a priority in the next legislative session. Little said special education funding is also a priority for him. But there's a caveat — the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education could lead to increased uncertainty, and require a wait-and-see approach, he said. Little took a similar tack when addressing private school choice. When asked whether he planned to push for more oversight and accountability for the program, and whether he would advocate to keep its $50 million cap in place, Little was noncommittal. 'We'll see how the implementation goes,' he said. 'We'll obviously work with our legislative partners for next year. Anything is relative to what the budget looks like next year.' 'All of those issues will be on the table,' he continued. 'But public education will continue to be the top priority.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
