Idaho crimes becoming more common in national headlines

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - More than 120 times Idaho has made national headlines in the past six months. 

That's what a quick analysis of headlines from just three of our news affiliates showed.

Beyond the surge of newcomers, Idaho is also capturing national attention with crime stories and their resulting court cases.

Local News 8 spoke to 35-year news veteran Jay Hildebrandt who has noticed the same trend.

"And that doesn't paint Idaho in a very positive light," Hildebrandt said. "Which is really unfortunate because there are a lot of good news stories here that could be reported on as well. But those aren't the ones the national news picks up on."

Despite the recent rise in Idaho news making national headlines, Jay says it's still a great place to live. 

"I've always thought of Idaho Falls as being a very safe place to live, and my neighborhood being very safe also. And I still think overall that is the case," Jay explained. "But I think there's no doubt that the perception is, and I think it's the reality, that there are more of these crime stories that are making the news. And again, I think that's unfortunate because we do live in a wonderful community."

A quick analysis by Local News 8 shows out of the 129 national headlines about Idaho from the last six months, 104 of those involved crime. 25 did not.

Of those 25, nine headlines were political, ten were about fatal accidents, 3 were sports-related, and the final three were about a memorial, travel, and a bear incident.