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POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — For Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall and Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, the Simplot Games changed their life when the two first met as high school athletes, sparking a marriage that would lead them to international fame.

This past weekend, the couple returned to their roots to mentor a new generation. While they came to inspire hundreds of high schoolers, the weekend’s most enduring moment involved a 5-year-old boy named Joel.

Joel, a spirited youngster who shares Woodhall’s journey as a double amputee, arrived at the track with a singular mission: to meet his hero. Born without shin bones or bones in his feet, Joel underwent a double amputation to gain mobility. On Saturday, he stood in the stands sporting a new pair of prosthetic running legs.

“When we saw him immediately, it was just so overwhelming,” Woodhall said.

Recognizing a kindred spirit, Woodhall brought Joel down from the stands to the track. The introduction quickly escalated when officials announced a 30-minute break in the scheduled races. Seizing the opportunity, Woodhall challenged the 5-year-old to a spontaneous dash.

In a move that brought the arena to a standstill, the Paralympic champion and the preschooler lined up. As the crowd cheered, Joel sprinted ahead, crossing the finish line first to officially “beat” the fastest man in the Paralympic world.

For Woodhall, the loss was his most meaningful second-place finish. He praised the boy’s “courage, grit, and excitement for life,” noting that the encounter was just as inspiring for the mentors as it was for the youth.

As the Woodhalls left the arena where their own story began, they left behind more than just advice for high school athletes. They left a young boy with the unwavering belief that he belongs in the fast lane.

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – Women athletes and students gathered tonight at Reed Gym on the Idaho State University Campus to play games and enjoy freebies and smoothies. The event was a collaboration between students and ISU Recreation and Wellness.

Laney Forsmann is a graduate student at ISU in the Human Performances and Sports Studies program and a graduate teaching assistant who organized this event for the ISU womens’ community. She says events like these are essential to helping female students feel a sense of belonging in the gym.

“I want to create a community for us here where we feel heard,” she said. “And we can just embrace each other in leadership positions.”

This event comes just days after the women of Team USA brought home an outstanding six gold medals in the Winter Olympics. Forsmann says role models like the women Olympians are also essential for women in sports.

“We can do anything that men can, and I just think that every once in a while we need a voice or we need one person to step up and take that role,” Forsmann said. “It’s so inspiring to see other girls do these big things because you feel inspired to do the same when you see that.”

One of the most exciting parts of the event was the opportunity for students to blend their own smoothie, while biking! Campus dining provided recipes for attendees to follow which were then blended using pedaling power.

Forsmann is part of a special group of female students working towards an inspiring community for women athletes. Tonight’s event capped off the February events put on by groups at ISU for women at the university. However, ISU Recreation and Wellness has fitness classes every week ranging from yoga to rock climbing.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – In an era of fiscal reckoning, District 91’s Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) may be moving to a new home.

CTEC and Compass Academy

“The board asked us to research different ways to utilize our facilities more fully,” said District 91 Superintendent Karla LaOrange. “They’ve asked us to take a deeper dive into researching the costs of combining CTEC, which is located downtown, and Compass [Academy] into the existing Compass building.”

The district’s five-year lease at the former Deseret Industries building in downtown Idaho Falls expires in December, and while the district intends to extend month-by-month temporarily, it is exploring options that would allow for additional expansion of its Career Technical Education programs.

CTEC currently provides career and technical training in 14 programs – including cybersecurity, digital communications, graphic design, pharmacy tech, welding, construction, mechanics, culinary, law enforcement, fire fighting, ag science, Emergency Medical Technician, Certified Nursing Assistant and auto tech.

“Career technical is a high priority,” LaOrange said. “We have really an incredibly strong program, and a surprising number of students that have gotten jobs straight out of high school that are well-paying and allow them to move straight into the workforce.”

The existing CTEC building has a 35,000 square-foot footprint, while Compass Academy covers 112,000 square feet, according to District 91 Facilities and Maintenance Director DeAnna Harger.

A move to Compass Academy would potentially create space for greater program expansion and reduce the costs of renting the former Deseret Industries building.

While the Compass location would be shared, administration and staff for Compass and CTEC would remain separate, LaOrange clarified.

Elementary schools

Changes could also be in the works for elementary students down the road.

“The board also asked us to research how we might better utilize our elementary schools by balancing our student enrollment across the various schools in our district,” LaOrange explained.

Idaho Falls High School

The Board of Trustees is identifying its top facility priorities as it moves forward toward developing a five-year plan. 

“Some of the things that they discussed in depth tonight were a better facility for CTEC so that we can grow the program a little bit more, and also how to address Idaho Falls High School,” LaOrange said. “We know it’s a building that is 70-plus years old, and that there are some constraints in that building when it comes to electricity and the size of the classrooms. So they’re asking us to take a deeper and closer look at that, and then come back to them with more information.”

No final decisions were made Tuesday night, and the Board of Trustees will continue to weigh how to best utilize its $42 million modernization funds allocated by the state, potential construction costs and the district’s enrollment trends in making final decisions.

Originally Published: 25 FEB 26 17:22 ET

By Pat Reavy,

Click here for updates on this story

    SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — A Saratoga Springs man with a history of DUI arrests, who was convicted of hitting and killing a 13-year-old boy on a bicycle in 2022 and then driving off, went before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole for the first time on Tuesday.

“I don’t have an excuse. I know the choices I made that day were horrific. They were life changing. Just when I thought I had everything in my grasp and (under) control … I had a relapse,” Mason Andrew Ohms told the parole board.

However, the parents of 13-year-old Eli Mitchell, who was riding his bike when he was hit and killed in West Jordan on April 26, 2022, believe that the state must send a strong message to all repeat DUI offenders in addition to protecting the public against Ohms, and told the board Tuesday that serving four years of a possible 20-year sentence isn’t enough.

“Five times he was given another chance. Five times the system believed in him,” an emotional Jeremy Mitchell, Eli’s father, told the board while adding that Ohms didn’t just “simply make a mistake” that day. His actions were the result of a “series of dangerous, reckless choices” made over many years, he said.

“The grief in our home is constant,” Mitchell said. “This is our life sentence. There is no parole from it.”

In 2022, Eli had just gotten his first debit card and couldn’t wait to ride his bicycle to the store to purchase his favorite treats, Kit Kats and Hostess donuts.

He was riding home with his treats hanging in a bag on his handlebars and in a crosswalk at 1510 W. 9000 South in West Jordan when Ohms made a right turn on a red light and hit the young teen.

Ohms, who was driving a 2007 Chevy Silverado, was waiting at a red light to make a right turn when he “accelerated hard into his right turn, hitting (Eli) just as he entered the crosswalk,” charging documents state.

He never hit his brakes after hitting Eli, the charges state, and then made a U-turn in the street and drove past others who were administering help to Eli, and kept driving. Ohms drove to the parking lot of a nearby business, got out and pulled the bicycle out from under his truck before driving to his Saratoga Springs home, according to the charges.

He parked about a block away from his house but was arrested by waiting police when he arrived home. Hours after the accident, Ohms’ recorded blood-alcohol level was 0.10%, which prosecutors argued meant he likely had a level of 0.22% at the time of the crash.

The incident happened right after Ohms left a bar that he had been at for six hours with co-workers, during which time he claimed on Tuesday he drank four 20-ounce beers and bought additional beers for others. After he made the right turn and saw someone waving him down, he thought that something must have fallen off the back his truck.

“And that’s when I seen someone in the road. I had no clue. I didn’t even understand what happened,” he told the board on Tuesday.

At that point, Ohms claims panic set it.

“As I look back … I let a lot of things just slip through. … I didn’t have discipline. I ran and hid. That’s all I look at (now) is my actions (that day),” he attempted to explain, saying he’s had four years to reflect on what happened. “I couldn’t believe it happened, that I allowed it to happen.”

Ohms says he’s “not proud” of his actions and that the incident was “unbecoming of who I am.”

“It was the worst thing that could ever happen to anybody, yet it was me who did that. No words can describe why I left … why I left someone sitting there. … That’s not me,” he said.

But board member Dan Bokovoy, who conducted Tuesday’s hearing, pressed the repeat DUI offender on what will be different the next time he is in public. Bokovoy noted that even though Ohms, now 53, had no arrests between 2013 and 2022, he keeps “going back to the same behavior” after being sober for a while.

Likewise, Eli’s parents, Jeremy and Lisa Taylor Mitchell, both told the board they can’t understand why Ohms acted the way he did and why he was given so many chances.

“I miss you so much. I miss you every minute of every day. We’re doing everything to honor you,” an emotional Lisa Mitchell said Tuesday, first speaking to Eli before directly addressing the board.

“I lost Eli because of this man’s repeated choices,” she said. “His history shows a pattern that cannot be ignored.”

Jeremy Mitchell noted that 18 victim impact statements had been submitted to the board prior to Tuesday’s hearing, and Eli’s three best friends were in attendance for the parole hearing. He noted that he has enjoyed watching the friends get their driver’s licenses, go on dates and grow into young men. But “these are moments I’ll never share with my son. And it will only get harder,” he said.

Mitchell concluded his comments by saying his desire to have Ohms remain in prison is “not about anger or revenge” but rather about preventing another family from suffering the same fate.

Ohms replied to the Mitchell family by reading a letter he had prepared. He apologized and called his actions “inexcusable, outrageous and morally unacceptable.”

Ohms’ two sentences for convictions of automobile homicide, a second-degree felony, and failing to remain at an accident involving death, a third-degree felony, were ordered to run consecutively. In total, he was ordered to serve a minimum one year in the Utah State Prison and up to 20. If he serves his full sentence, he will be released in the year 2042.

The full five-member board will now vote whether to grant parole or set another parole hearing. A decision isn’t expected for about a month.

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