Things really heated up in Challis last weekend with record temperatures above 100 degrees that along with red flag conditions of dryness, wind and lots of dead timber, fueled explosive growth of the Rabbit Foot Fire to more than 23,000 acres .
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The new loop under construction at Stanley Lake campground is scheduled for completion this week, according to officials with the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
The last day for Challis area residents to submit comments on what kind of public walking, bicycling and motorized recreation trails they’d like to see in and around Challis is Thursday, Aug. 30.
If it’s the second weekend of August in Challis, most people know it’s old home week for members of patriarch Muzzie Braun’s family, fellow musicians, friends and avid -- sometimes rabid -- music fans at the Braun Brothers Reunion Festival.
Aug. 20–24
A rare and distinct population of Chinook salmon began spawning this week, prompting a plea from local outfitters for boaters to steer clear of the spawning areas.
The final weeks of the season at the Redfish Center and Gallery in Stanley are packed with events.
Marjorie Anita Southwick, 95, died June 15, 2018, in Carson City, Nevada. She was born Oct. 3, 1922, in Oxnard, California, the second daughter of Allen T. and Isla G. Coleman. Her sister Helen was her only sibling.
July 30
A 53-year-old man who moved to Challis from Twin Falls in 2017 filed a civil lawsuit in January against the city of Challis, Challis Joint School District No. 181 and the Custer County sheriff. Two of the three parties have since been dismissed from the case.
A new report from the Idaho Department of Labor predicts the continued trend of more growth in Idaho’s urban areas while many rural counties and communities are projected to lose residents.
Four informational sessions for veterans are scheduled in Custer, Butte and Lemhi counties next week.
The first tractor-driving contest at the Custer County Fair went well, and organizer Trent Van Leuven is already planning a bigger and better event for next year.
Margaret Fuller is to discuss the 437 Idaho trails she has hiked and written about at a Saturday, Aug. 11, event in Stanley.
Current dry conditions which are resulting in high fire risk throughout Idaho have prompted two government entities to implement emergency fire restrictions.
Judge Stevan Thompson ordered a young man who shot and severely wounded another young man last summer to increase his monthly restitution payments from $100 to $200.
An interagency incident management team has taken over fighting the Rabbit Foot and two other fires in the Panther Creek drainage north of and below Morgan Creek Summit that together have burned about 2,600 acres of timber, grass and brush on the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
Challis senior citizens are prepping for their annual pancake breakfast held during the Braun Brothers Reunion.
The Jinx Club met Aug. 2 at the senior citizen center.
No one is claiming they’ve taught a dog or cat to read — yet — but children who have been reading to the critters this summer at Heart of Idaho Animal Sanctuary are getting a triple benefit from the experience.
The Kiwah Fire in the wilderness northwest of Indian Creek guard station was estimated at 6,250 acres earlier this week, still moving in a northeasterly direction and was in monitor status with no active suppression by firefighters.
Fresh from the bright neon lights of Las Vegas, the new physician assistant at Challis Area Health Center, Max Smith, and his family are looking forward to life in the much slower city of Challis.
The burglar who stole about $4,000 from six businesses in Mackay and Challis during the wee hours of June 9 has apparently been caught in Auburn, Maine, after going on burglary spree in nine other states.
Custer County Search and Rescue’s Sawtooth Unit was activated on Thursday, July 26, after a report was received that a woman was hanging on to a pine tree above a 100-foot cliff near Goat Lake. Custer County Sheriff’s Office dispatch received the report in a 911 call from the Stanley area at…
Gene Maxwell Solberg, 25, was ordered to serve 3 years on probation and fined $500 on a charge of grand theft for stealing guns from a Clayton area man in April 2017. Judge Stevan Thompson told Solberg that if he does well on probation, he will grant him a withheld judgment that would revers…
The man who held a Stanley bartender at gunpoint and robbed the cash register at the Mountain Village Resort saloon in April got a suspended prison sentence and 5 years of supervised probation from Judge Stevan Thompson last week.
We’ve got some exciting changes coming to the Challis Messenger next week — a fresh look to our print product, a larger format and a new website — and we are eager for you to see and tell us what you think.
Challis Elementary School students will get a new piece of playground equipment during the upcoming school year.
Bert Jefferies of Salmon and Shannon James of Mackay took top honors at the Round Valley Horse Show held at Challis Rodeo grounds July 21.
July 23
For hitting a man hard enough to break several bones in his face and cause him to fall and break his ankle outside Bux’s Place bar in Challis in 2017, Bryant Kendall Armstrong was sentenced in July to 4 years of probation with discretionary jail time of 180 days in case he needs a wake-up ca…
Challis volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services personnel responded to the access road to Little Bayhorse Lake the afternoon of July 16, after a 30-year-old woman and her 3-year old son crashed on an ATV.