Author

Anteia Elswick

Anteia Elswick

Anteia McCollum is an intern with the Idaho Capital Sun. She will graduate from a the University of Idaho with a journalism degree in December. She has served as a columnist, reporter, photographer, graphic designer and editor during her time at The Argonaut, the UI student newspaper. She also freelances with Project FARE, a nonprofit focused on telling Idaho's food stories. In 2017, she joined the Idaho Army National Guard as a combat engineer and will complete her contract in December 2023. She's an avid outdoor enthusiast with an interest in environmental reporting as a lifelong career. Her hobbies collide with her line of work, including reading, photography, design and some outside activities like backpacking and wandering around the local farmers market.

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Challis awarded $3 million loan from Idaho DEQ to rebuild water system

By: - August 23, 2022

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality awarded a $3 million low-interest loan to Challis in Custer County to fund the construction of a new well, well house, booster station, transmission line and to perform leak detection on waterlines, according to a Department of Environmental Quality press release.  Challis qualified for a disadvantaged loan, with payment […]

Priest Lake

Idaho Department of Lands sells 10 Priest Lake lots for $24.6 million

By: - August 22, 2022

The Idaho Department of Lands announced on Aug. 16 that the state sold 10 endowment-owned lakefront lots on the shores of Priest Lake for almost $24.6 million during a public auction that allowed for remote bidding, according to a Department of Lands press release.  The price of the lots added up to $14 million over […]

Exploding population boom in Idaho is affecting domestic water supply

By: - August 18, 2022

As more people migrate to Idaho, counties like Ada and Kootenai are seeing the effects of the rising population on the areas’ already diminishing water sources. Whether water is coming from groundwater sources like aquifers or surface water sources like rivers and reservoirs, local officials say Idaho’s water is being used faster than it can […]

Nearly $17.8 million granted to two Idaho transportation improvement projects

By: - August 17, 2022

A total of nearly $17.8 million was granted to two transportation improvement projects in Idaho through President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law.  The law invested $1.66 billion in grants toward low and no emission public transportation across the nation, according to the Federal Transit Administration. The majority of the funding for Idaho was granted to […]

OutletMackayDam

Central Idaho’s Mackay Dam is an ‘accident waiting to happen,’ officials say

By: - August 15, 2022

The over 100-year-old Mackay Dam in Idaho’s Custer County needs repairs and poses a risk to the town of Mackay just downstream and the Idaho National Laboratory about 30 miles further, according to the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Environmental Defense Institute, an Idaho nonprofit focused on nuclear energy issues. Mackay Reservoir, owned […]

PackerJohnStateForest

Over 600,000 seedlings planted in Idaho’s Packer John State Forest

By: - August 15, 2022

After receiving nearly $300,000 from a grant through the Arbor Day Foundation, the Idaho Department of Lands was able to plant 610,300 new trees over 2,000 acres in the Packer John State Forest in Valley County.  Years of insect infestations and drought had already damaged the forest, but the ruined lumber was sold for salvage […]

Moose Fire firefighters

Fire wardens limit number of burn permits as Idaho faces dangerous fire conditions

By: - August 15, 2022

Rising temperatures over the past few weeks have placed all of Idaho in high or very high fire danger conditions, according to an Idaho Department of Lands press release. Now, fire wardens across the state are limiting state burn permits through the department, which are being issued until Oct. 20 this year, according to the […]

Potlatch Lumber Mill

Idaho’s lumber industry is more consolidated than ever, and making billions in sales

By: - August 4, 2022

In Idaho’s nearly 150 years of history with the lumber industry, the trade has transformed from a wide scattering of communities built and centered around logging and mills, to the more consolidated forestry seen today.  After the forests around the Great Lakes were depleted in the early 1900s, there were two places for the timber […]

Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke

Scott Bedke named president of National Conference of State Legislatures

By: - August 3, 2022

Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke was named the president of the National Conference of State Legislatures on Wednesday at the Legislative Summit in Denver, Colorado. He is the 49th president of the national conference, a bipartisan group that provides research and opportunities for policymakers.  Before becoming president-elect in November, Bedke had served as the conference’s […]

KurtIkedaMinidoka

Minidoka director Kurt Ikeda wins Idaho Humanity Council’s highest honor

By: - August 2, 2022

The Idaho Humanities Council awarded Kurt Ikeda the 2021 Outstanding Achievement in Humanities Award, the organization’s highest honor, awarded annually to recognize achievements that encourage a better understanding of the humanities.  Ikeda serves as the Minidoka National Historic Site’s director of education and interpretation and previously worked as an education specialist for southern Idaho parks. […]

Idaho State University campus

New book on democracy, media, free expression published by ISU professor

By: - August 1, 2022

Idaho State University associate professor Zac Gershberg has co-authored a book on democracy, partisan politics and misinformation titled “The Paradox of Democracy: Free Speech, Open Media, and Perilous Persuasion.” Gershberg’s collaboration with Vox writer Sean Illing examines the impact of modern communication technology on public dialogue and considers the relationship between free expression and democracy. […]

U.S. Forest Service firefighters

Over 200 Idaho firefighters sent across the West this wildfire season

By: - July 28, 2022

As of Friday, the Idaho Department of Lands and Timber Protective Association have sent 221 employees to other Western states to assist fighting fires in the field, according to a press release from IDL.  Firefighters have been deployed to New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, California, Washington, Arizona, Montana and Wyoming. They’re also assisting the U.S. […]