After a jarring ICE raid at a horse racing track, residents of a tiny Idaho town measure the aftermath

Agents outside La Catedral Arena, a horse track in Wilder, Idaho, 
Oct. 19, 2025. (Idaho Statesman photo via Mother Jones)

Some residents of Wilder, Idaho, say the town hasn't been the same since federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on an off-the-beaten-path horse racing track and detained roughly 100 Latinos who were working or attending the races. 

The horse track, known as La Catedral Arena, had been a place where immigrant families gathered to enjoy food and racing together, reports Anna Griffin of The New York Times. Few whites ever attended the races or questioned track activities.

Wilder is located in Canyon
County, Idaho. (Wikipedia)

Sixty percent of Wilder's 1,725 residents are Latino, and most residents take pride in living in harmony. But on Oct. 19, things changed. ICE agents, including a swarm of gun-toting agents on the ground, a helicopter, and the agency's signature SUVs, descended on the track during the busiest time of day. Agents rounded up nearly 100 Latinos and later deported 75.

The raid did more than "crack an alleged gambling ring and increase deportation numbers," the Times reports. "It shattered Wilder’s innocent belief that its out-of-the-way location and deep-red politics could isolate the town from raids." 

Wilder resident Chris Gross, who farms sweet corn seed and mint, expressed concern about how the raid might limit immigrant farm workers. She told Griffin, "We rely on Hispanic labor." 

"The raid 'nearly destroyed' the community, said David Lincoln, a longtime Wilder resident and executive director of a nonprofit economic development agency serving rural towns in western Idaho," Griffen writes. Griffin adds, "Wilder won’t really know the impact until planting season begins this spring."

The day after the raid, at least half of Wilder's students didn't show up for class. Griffin reports, "Gross, who is white, said anyone who sees a black SUV roll through town, regardless of their race, 'freezes up.'" 

Still, the town's mayor, Steve Rhodes, claims the raid "has had 'zero effect' on the town," He told the Times, "These were not our people. What happened out at that track had nothing to do with Wilder.”

In a county with glaring wealth disparities, one reporter looks at how rural is defined and where higher education fits

The Grand Teton Mountains separate Teton County, Wyoming
from Teton County, Idaho. (Photo by Leslie Cross/Unsplash)

About 30 miles and a mountain pass separate Teton County, Wyoming, from Teton County, Idaho, but the county is divided by more than geography: Teton County, Wyoming, has a whopping average $318,297 per-capita income, and Teton County, Idaho, claims a $35,000 average. Higher education reporter Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder discusses three things he learned while visiting the Teton Counties.

Fouriezos writes, "I encourage you to read the piece, which deals with a number of issues being felt across rural America, from how educational institutions and state governments are trying to address workforce gaps to deepening concerns about affordable housing."

When making choices about rural areas, go where the people go. "Earlier this year, the College of Eastern Idaho teamed up with the nonprofit Education Design Lab. . . to design, test, and scale rural postsecondary programs. The college wanted to get feedback from residents of Driggs, a mostly working-class rural town in Teton County, Idaho, which is quickly seeing its own costs rise as people move there while leaving behind its neighboring counterpart in Wyoming.

"To start, the education nonprofit and the college conducted interviews at the local farmer's market. . . . But after spending more time talking to educators in the area, they realized that anybody who could afford to be buying fresh veggies at 2 p.m. on a Thursday probably wasn't their target demographic.

"They shifted gears, doing their next round of interviews while handing out gift cards at the Broulim's grocery store, a popular lunch haunt for construction and service workers in the Driggs area. . . . That moment was a good reminder: If you really want to hear from rural America, don't rely on outliers of the rural experience.

Amid shifting costs, rural communities are feeling pressure to change. Almost every year, Powell Symons says she gets approached by the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce to bring the Teton Valley Balloon Rally from Idaho over to the Wyoming side. Even though the offer has become more tempting as the region's disparities deepen, she has resisted so far. . . .To Powell Symons, it would end a four-decade tradition here in Driggs, one that draws Idahoans from all over the state each year. And having had the chance to share their love for those balloons personally, that would be a tragedy."

Higher ed can't attract students who don't feel like they have choices. "For a time, Luna dreamed of going to cosmetology school. Then she could work at a salon, doing the face masks and other lux cleansing rituals people in Jackson are willing to pay so much more money for than in Driggs. . . . Now, those plans seem far off. She has to make payments on the truck and to fix its transmission. She has to pay her share of rent on the mobile home she shares with her uncle and her grandma, who is now 82 and needs just as much help as ever.

"These are the types of decisions many rural students face across the country. It's not just whether a degree will pay off four years from now, or over a lifetime. . . It's more often about whether they can get by today. Not just for themselves, but for those who rely upon them."

More counties use four-day school week to improve learning, retain teachers and cut costs

In Homesdale, Idaho, a small farming community, children no longer attend school on Fridays. Homesdale and counties across the nation—especially in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Oregon—have adopted the four-day school week to improve learning, cut costs and retain teachers, Madeleine Cummings writes for Slate.

Although the new schedule helps save money on transportation and food, the main appeal is that it can help teachers teach and students learn. Although empirical evidence doesn't exist to prove it, Homesdale's experience suggests that the five-day school week might not be right for every community.

Homesdale teachers say the new schedule, which includes longer class periods, allows for more in-depth instruction including more time to read complete stories, include videos and Skype with professionals about the subject matter. Christine Ketterling, a second-grade teacher at Homedale Elementary, said, "I'm not doing anything different, so the only thing I can think of is the four-day week."

The extra day is good for teachers as well. In some areas, teachers have that day to relax and prepare lesson plans. In others, that day is reserved for professional development for the exchange of teaching strategies. The four-day week is also helpful for retaining teachers. "Ketterling says Homedale's four-day week schedule is a 'huge incentive' for her to stay there although she could earn a higher salary elsewhere," Cummings writes.

Some are concerned the new schedule could have negative effects. While teachers may originally work on Fridays, they may eventually stop if districts don't require it, said Paul Hill, who chairs the Rural Opportunities Consortium of Idaho and is drafting a paper about the benefits and risks of the four-day week. Some low-income in Kentucky switched back to the five-day week when test scores dropped, and some students were not receiving the meals they would during the traditional schedule. Concerns also arose about a lack of activities for students on Fridays. (Read more)

Postal Service ending last backcountry mail drop

Howard Berkes of National Public Radio reports the U.S. Postal Service will end the nation's last backcountry mail plane service to more than 20 addresses in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho this June. (Encarta map)

Residents are struggling with how they will cope when the service is eliminated. The weekly mail drop costs about $44 a week per customer and has served ranches, outfitters, lodges and a University of Idaho research station for 50 years, but the annual $46,000 price tag is too much for the USPS to continue.

Instead, it will provide free mailboxes at a post office in the Valley County seat of Cascade (lower left on map), a move that confounds locals. "Many of these places are inaccessible totally, except by air," Carol Arnold, whose Arnold Aviation company has had a mail-plane contract for 34 years.

"If you take that point of view to the entire mail system, there's a huge swath of rural America that wouldn't be served by regular mail service," resident Doug Tims told NPR. "They've (had) the commitment over the years to the American public to deliver the mail. And I think this is part of that commitment." Read more here.

Virginia makes a felony of cockfighting, so West Virginia could see more of the illegal fights

Recently, Virginia joined the 36 other states that make cockfighting a felony. Since cockfighting remains a misdemeanor in West Virginia, officials with the Humane Society of the United States warn that the crime could be on the rise there, reports Tom Searls of The Charleston Gazette.

"The national Humane Society rates West Virginia's laws among the most lax, along with neighboring Ohio and Kentucky," Searls writes. John Goodwin, the national Humane Society's manager of animal fighting issues, told Searls that the majority of cockfighting goes on in rural areas — such as the mountainous region along the Virginia-West Virginia border — where locals know what's going on. Thus, there need to major deterrents, Goodwin said.

Two bills dealing with cockfighting failed to gain traction in the West Virginia Legislature, one of which would have made any participation in cockfighting a felony. Ohio and Tennessee have considered strengthening cockfighting laws, but Kentucky has not. (Read more)

This week, a bill making cockfighting a felony passed the Tennessee House Criminal Practice Subcommittee, reports Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "The bill, HB2143, would increase the penalty for active participation in cockfighting from the current Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, to a Class E, punishable by up to a prison term of between one and six years and a fine of $3,000," Humphrey writes. "A spectator at a cockfight can now be punished for a Class C misdemeanor, which has a maximum penalty of up to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine. The bill would raise the crime of being a spectator to a Class A misdemeanor."

Leighann McCollum, Tennessee state director of the Humane Society, told Humphrey that supporters of cockfighting have been lobbying legislators to oppose the change. "We feel like they are cowering to the loud voices of the minority of people in this state who enjoy cockfighting," she said. (Read more)

The Humane Society ranks the states in order of cockfighting laws, with Arkansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Mississippi and Alabama at the bottom.

Interior secretary says he will propose easing ban on guns in national parks

"In a victory for gun-rights advocates, the federal government is preparing to relax a decades-old ban on bringing loaded firearms into national parks . . . in states with few gun restrictions," report Richard Simon and Judy Pasternak of the Los Angeles Times. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne responded to pressure from members of Congress, including 50 senators. "Senators from both parties have backed a drive to repeal the ban, which has been in place in some parks for at least 100 years," the Times notes.

The National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment groups praised the action as common sense. ""If you're hiking in the backcountry and there is a problem with a criminal or an aggressive animal, there's no 911 box where you can call police and have a 60-second response time," Gary S. Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, told the Times.

Erika Bolstad, Washington reporter for the Idaho Statesman, offers another rural viewpoint and a summary of current rules: "It is common for outdoorsmen to carry guns in the backcountry for hunting and self-protection, and citizens can carry loaded guns on most federal lands. Sometimes, people must stop, break down a gun and stow it in a carrying case when they cross from state lands to federal lands. ... Generally, people who carry or transport guns in national parks or wildlife refuges must render them inoperable. However, there are some exceptions, especially in national parkland in remote parts of Alaska. Loaded guns also are allowed in some national parks and refuges where hunting is permitted." (Read more)

Some park rangers and advocates say "permitting firearms would be dangerous for visitors and wildlife and would alter the national park experience," Simon and Pasternak write. Thomas Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said the move was "alarming" and "a blow to the national parks and the 300 million visitors who enjoy them every year." (Read more)

New federal rules ease restrictions on wolf hunting

The endangered gray wolves of the Northern Rockies are thriving, and that's bad news for the area's elk herds. (At left is a gray wolf in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo.) The wolves are considered one of the main reasons the elk herds of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are smaller than the USFWS would like, so new federal rules have enacted to make killing wolves easier, reports the Billings Gazette.

"The rules, expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday and take effect in late February, make it easier for state wildlife agencies, livestock owners and others to kill wolves if they're affecting elk populations or are seen attacking dogs, horses and other stock animals," Mike Stark writes for the Montana paper.

A USFWS official told Stark the new rules would not reduce drastically the area's wolf population, which is estimated at more than 1,500 and growing 24 percent per year. Last year, 26 percent of adult wolves were killed by hunters, and environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife say the new rules could mean hundreds are killed this year. The groups plan to challenge the rules in court and they oppose the USFWS plan to remove the wolves from the endangered-species list next month. (Read more)

For more on the wolves, check out the post by Andrew C. Revkin on the Dot Earth blog of The New York Times.

Rural gentrification, spurred by Internet, likely to keep increasing as more baby boomers retire

"Broad swaths of rural America" are being gentrified by "affluent retirees and other high-income types" whose "demand for amenities like interior-design stores, spas and organic markets ... is the biggest change since the interstate highway system came barreling through in the 1960s and 1970s," Conor Dougherty reports in The Wall Street Journal.

This "class colonization" is just part of a larger change, "from a resource-extraction economy to an aesthetic-based economy," Peter Nelson, an associate professor of geography at Middlebury College, told Dougherty, who further identifies him as "an expert on rural migration." The change is driven in part by the Internet, which allows work to be done from remote, second homes, but is expected to accelerate as more and more baby boomers retire.

As The Rural Blog has often noted, these changes create both challenges and opportunities for the rural areas being colonized. New jobs are created, but and and housing prices go up; infrastructure is strained, but newcomers can increase civic capital; retailers become more diverse, but social tensions are created "as longtime residents are either driven away because they can no longer afford housing or are forced to adapt to new careers," Dougherty writes from McCall, Idaho, 100 miles from Boise -- a farming and timber town that "is attracting newcomers from as far away as New York and Sydney."

Other examples cited by Dougherty: Bath County, Va., high in the Alleghenies; Eagle County, Colo., home of Vail; and Mono County, Calif., home of Yosemite National Park. (Read more)

How do you measure gentrification? Look for "an increase in residents' total dividend, interest and rent income," which is tracked by the Commerce Department. Here's a Journal graphic with a map based on that metric; it has one error: The marked location of Teton County, Wyo., is actually the location of McCall and Valley County, Idaho. For a larger version, click here.

Little book offers big ideas from everyday heroes

In The Little Red Book of Everyday Heroes, author Sylvia Lovely, right, offers "simple but provocative prescriptions for civic engagement [that] tell how the Main Street heroes she knows transform communities with the ideas she explored in her first book," The Little Blue Book of Big Ideas, reviewer Al Smith writes in The Courier-Journal.

"With catchy slogans like 4 P's (Persons, Place, Perspective and Prosperity) and 3 T's (Talent, Technology and Tolerance), Lovely singles out successful transformations of community life in Morehead, Ky., and Moscow, Idaho, in which her League's consulting adjunct, the New Cities Institute, has been a partner," Smith writes. "In Morehead, a campaign to tie the town and the university closer started with "listening" sessions in which as many as 500 citizens shared ideas. In Moscow, home of the University of Idaho, the city leaders reached out to another university 12 miles to the west in Pullman, Wash., and created a 'knowledge corridor' to boost the economy of both towns."

Lovely, the executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities, "preaches inclusiveness, pointing to the benefits of cultural consciousness raising in staunchly fundamentalist enclaves like Campbellsville, Ky., where the Baptist university has recruited students from Mongolia and civic leaders host business prospects at a Mexican café," Smith writes for the Louisville newspaper's book page. (Read more) The book is published by Clark Publishing.