As the leaves turned their fall colors in North Idaho, news didn’t slow, featuring some of the year’s top stories regarding protests, walkouts and parking. Below are a few stories that captured the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year’s top stories. 

SEPTEMBER  

Local missing teen found in North Dakota  

Bailey Mohler, 16, was safely located in Williston, N.D. on Sept. 2.   

Mohler was reported missing following her disappearance in the Sandpoint area on Aug. 30, 2025.   

According to a Facebook post made by the teen's family, a North Dakota resident saw a poster labeling Mohler as a missing teen at a Williston market. He later spotted an individual walking down an alley that resembled Mohler, which prompted him to call the number listed on the missing poster — Mohler’s mother — the night of Sept. 2.    

City nixes paid on-street parking plan 

The city pumped brakes on its plan for paid on-street parking after it received overwhelmingly negative feedback during a question-and-answer event with downtown business owners Monday, Sept. 8. 

Community and Planning Development Jason Welker told the Daily Bee that the city will instead shift it focusing on increasing enforcement of the existing time limits on spaces. The idea of enforcing time limits was brought up by several business owners, who vastly preferred the idea to the proposed paid parking and dynamic pricing model.  

“The feedback I got was to focus on enforcement, so that’s what we are going to do,” Welker said. “We were there to listen and we did.” 

Local resident reunited with 72-year-old-postcard  

A 72-year-old postcard was returned to its sender, Alan Ball, 88, on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at his home and hand-delivered by a local mail carrier who was eager to reunite Ball with his lost mail.  

Sitting on the back porch overlooking his carefully landscaped lawn, Ball recalled his memories of the postcard that was intended for his parents to receive during the early summer of 1953, where he traveled to his aunt’s house in Puerto Rico.  

“So, I sent it, and never heard another thing, because they didn’t get it,” said Ball. “In the meantime, this (postcard) is lost somewhere in the U.N. And, oh my gosh, just several days ago they found it.”    

Through research by an Ottawa local reporter, the postcard sender, “Alan,” was identified. In a matter of days, the once-missing letter was confirmed to be Ball’s, and it went back through the mail service to find its long-lost owner in Sandpoint.   

OCTOBER  

City Council legal representation dispute starts and ends 

In an apparent dispute over legal counsel, all members of the Sandpoint City Council walked out and abruptly ended Wednesday’s meeting.  

Councilor Joel Aispuro raised the point of contention after William Harrington was introduced as the temporary legal counsel for the meeting. Aispuro said he did not feel comfortable proceeding without the council’s appointed attorneys from Lake City Law present. 

Nearly a week later and following a nearly two-and-a-half-hour executive session, the City Council unanimously approved a resolution that keeps Lake City Law as the city’s legal counsel and Fonda Jovick as city attorney. 

'No Kings' rally draws more than 800 

From the entrance to town to Pine Street, more than 800 people packed First Avenue on Saturday as part of the community’s “No Kings” rally. 

One of several thousand rallies held across the United States, organizers said the No Kings rally was meant to send a clear message to current and future elected officials: Democracy matters, and Americans must stand up for their rights. 

“People are here to support the Constitution and the rule of law,” said Rachel Castor, one of the Sandpoint rally organizers. “We’re all worried. People are worried that [President Donald] Trump is creating rights for himself that are above the law and above what the Constitution allows the president to have. The actions are concerning if we want to keep a democracy.” 

Local couple’s persistence leads to Turning Point chapter in Sandpoint  

Local couple Andrew and Mickey Garcia officially brought Turning Point USA, a nonprofit founded by the late Charlie Kirk, to Sandpoint and the surrounding areas as of Oct. 7.  

The Garcias felt compelled to bring Turning Point USA to north Idaho after a Sandpoint walk honoring Kirk in mid-September left community members eager for more events that would inspire people to come together.   

Concluding the walk, Andrew Garcia spoke about a conversation between walkers and their desire for a Turning Point Sandpoint chapter.    

“We started thinking about it, and we prayed on it, and we slept on it, and we realized that it’s definitely something that needs to happen,” said Garcia. “We wanted to start the faith-based chapter so we could be all inclusive. We want to be able to reach out to as many schools as available for those who are interested.”