Kyle Pfannenstiel

Kyle Pfannenstiel

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Kyle Pfannenstiel is a reporter for the Idaho Capital Sun focusing on health care. He previously covered rural health care and the COVID-19 pandemic for the Post Register and Report for America and worked as a night reporter at the Idaho Press. He fell in love with storytelling as a reporter at The Argonaut, the student newspaper at University of Idaho, and later worked as media relations manager at the university. His family is from Idaho Falls. He lives in Boise, where he spends his time cycling, brewing coffee and walking with his two small poodles.

After ‘tight budget year,’ Idaho ends fiscal year with positive cash balance
Idaho ended the 2026 fiscal year this summer with a positive ending cash balance that allows the state to transfer about $250 million into next year’s fiscal year 2027 state budget, Gov. Brad Little’s office announced Friday. “What we are...
Idaho committee keeps governor housing stipend flat. But what about building a mansion?
After a legislative session marked by budget cuts, a panel of state lawmakers voted to keep flat the governor’s housing allowance. One of just five states without an official residence for the governor, Idaho has for more than two decades...
In East Idaho, a vaccinated adult contracted measles near outbreak area in Wyoming
In East Idaho, health officials are reporting that a vaccinated adult contracted measles in Teton County, near a Wyoming travel destination area that’s under an active measles outbreak . The case marks Idaho’s 10th case of measles this year. That...
‘Stop threatening your friends’: Idaho Attorney General’s Office lawyer blasts Justice Department
In response to one of the Trump administration’s latest attempts to intervene in state election processes, a high-ranking Idaho state government lawyer representing the state’s top election official sent the U.S. Justice Department a stern letter. Early last week, the...
Idaho reports first parasitic diarrhea infection amid nationwide outbreak
Idaho health officials on Tuesday reported the first local case of a parasitic intestinal infection that is spreading across the U.S. Idaho’s first case this year of a cyclospora infection was in an Idahoan who traveled out of state before...
Vaccine skeptic Dr. Ryan Cole to stay on board of Idaho’s largest public health district
Dr. Ryan Cole, an Idaho pathologist who has been a vocal critic of COVID vaccines, is staying on the board that advises the state’s largest public health district. Cole’s re-appointment — initiated nearly a month ago by the Ada County...
Idaho’s transgender bathroom ban is now the law. How will police enforce it? That’s still unclear.
As parts of Idaho’s criminal transgender bathroom ban are now in effect, how far will law enforcement officers have to go to enforce the new law? What if officers don’t believe a person’s gender markers on IDs? Will they inspect...
Trump administration threatens to criminally prosecute Idaho election officials if noncitizens vote
The Trump administration warned Idaho’s top election official that local and state election officials could be criminally prosecuted if they don’t stop noncitizens from voting in the federal 2026 midterm elections. The letter — which is similar to ones that...
Bracing for Idaho’s new ban, group maps safe bathrooms across the state for trans people
Now that Idaho’s transgender bathroom ban is the law, transgender Idahoans are navigating how to safely use the bathroom in public. Preparing for the ban, Trans Affirm, a nonprofit that advocates for trans people in Idaho, crowd-sourced an online map...
In rural Idaho, medical marijuana ballot initiative hits setback after signatures turned in late
Correction: This article was corrected at 4:17 p.m. June 30 to accurately state how many signatures were not counted in Minidoka County. Minutes after a local elections office in rural south central Idaho closed last month, a contractor for the...
Idaho governor gives state employees more time off around America250 celebration
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed an executive order granting two extra days of paid time off for state employees near this year’s Independence Day, which will commemorate the 250th annual anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In...
How an Idaho state agency stores decades of old government records and artifacts
The first few pages of Idaho’s original state Constitution are tattered. Red ink has bled through — a consequence of state archivists deciding to laminate the first few pages in the ‘70s. But even though the state’s foundational legal document...