Broulim's receives award for beef marketing efforts

Broulim's Fresh Foods, a seven-store grocery chain based in Rigby, was recognized Thursday with a  National Retail Beef Backer award at the 2012 Cattle Industry Annual Convention & NCBA Trade Show in Nashville.

Funded by the Beef Checkoff Program, the award is given in recognition of grocery establishments that do an outstanding job of marketing and merchandising beef in the meat case.

Broulim's received the award in the Independent Retailer category for the second year in a row. According to the notes in the announcement, "customers shopping at Broulim's can count on employees to have knowledgeable information on new beef cuts, recipes, safety, labeling and even the production process that goes into delivering a quality product."

The Beef Checkoff Program was written into the 1985 Farm Bill. It assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, and a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the program under USDA approval.

Energy Advocate Award winners announced for 2012

The Partnership for Science & Technology has announced its 2012 Energy Advocate Award winners. The award is given in honor of the winners' committment to energy initiatives, nationwide and in the community. They will be honored at an awards luncheon on Feb. 21 at the Red Lion hotel.

• National Energy Advocate Award Winner : DOE Office for Nuclear Energy
• Local Energy Advocate Award Winner : Teri Ehresman, INL Liaison for Nuclear Programs
• Nuclear Energy Advocate Award Winner : Dr. Kathryn McCarthy, INL Deputy Assistant Laboratory Director for Nuclear Science and Technology
• Energy Education Advocate Award Winner : Ken Erickson, Eastern Idaho Technicial College

Idaho Falls seafood restaurant plans Feb. 6 opening

Captian's Cove, at 2040 Channing Way, announced today on its Facebook page that it plans to open Monday, Feb. 6.

Hours will be Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations are advised. The phone number is (208) 552-0702, the same number the restaurant had when it was Buddy's.

General Manager Sherri Biorn and her head chef, Jon Wilson, have prepared a menu featuring hand-cut steaks and fresh seafood. All sauces, dressings, and desserts are all made fresh every day, in house.

To keep up with their latest postings, the restaurant's Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/buddy's-idaho-falls#!/profile.php?id=100001585400287.

Skyline students seek sponsor for Big Band Jazz Dance

Time to get your zoot suit out of mothballs. Skyline High School will be having a Big Band Dance on Feb. 18 at the Idaho Falls Elks Club, a benefit to help raise funds for the trip to Anaheim, Calif., that the Jazz and Symphonic Bands plan to take this spring.

As with any benefit, the less they have to spend on the event the more they get to keep for the trip, so they are looking for a sponsor in addition to American Fabrication, Inc., band director Bob Dunmire said.

There is no admission to the dance, but the recommended donation is $5 per person or $8 per couple. Music will be by the EITC Jazz House Big Band, directed by Doug Wareing, and the Skyline High School Jazz Band. Punch and desserts will be provided, and there will be a silent auction and raffle.

The dance begins at 7:30 p.m., but free dance lessons will be provided at 6:30 by Swing Junction (http://swingjunction.blogspot.com/)

If you would like to support the band, contact Dunmire at (208) 525-7770 or by email at
dunmrobe@d91.k12.id.us.

"Super credit" agencies ready to mine social media for the dirt on you

FreeCreditReport.com may have catchy commercials, but there's nothing cute about where the credit reporting industry is headed. This is a case of Big Brother watching not only you but all your friends on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.

It used to be that a credit reporting agency concerned itself with investigating the creditworthiness of a person who had applied for a loan. That may be part of the mission still, but there's a fair argument to be made that financial institutions are using credit scores to make money. Consider the news that Freddie Mac wants to keep collecting higher interest on your mortgage. How do they do this? By slapping down ordinary people anytime they put a foot wrong. And now they're not only going to be looking at you, but everyone connected to you.

An article last month on AmericanBanker.com titled "9 Trends Reshaping Risk Software" points to the growing use of the super credit score. "One idea banks are toying with is that of incorporating social media data into assessments of credit risk, for instance, by considering the credit scores of a person's friends in addition to that person's own score," it says.

http://www.americanbanker.com/btn/25_1/9-trends-reshaping-risk-software-1045226-1.html

I suppose there are people who might see this as an opportunity to rent themselves out online as "SuperFriends."

Yellowstone Warehouse plans expansion by summer

The Yellowstone Warehouse, in the old Grand Central/Fred Meyer building, will be doubling its size by this summer.

The Yellowstone Warehouse in Idaho Falls, at 1765 N. Yellowstone, will be doubling its size by this summer, expanding into the rest of what used to be the Yellowstone Mall and the old Albertson's at west end.

At the moment, they occupy 108,000 square feet in the old Grand Central/Fred Meyer store, storing materials for such clients as the Idaho National Laboratory, Restoration Hardware and Sam's Club, not to mention ordinary people who need a whole household's worth of furniture crated up and held between moves. It is the largest controlled environment commercial warehouse in Idaho.

Steven Keim, who started the business in 2004, said the business has grown steadily through the downturn of the past three-and-a-half years. The warehouse is the lynchpin for two companies: Gellings Moving and Storage, the Atlas Van Lines agent for eastern Idaho and western Wyoming, and WestOne Logistics, which handles the receiving and distribution for big industrial and commercial clients.

How do third party logistics work? To give an example, INL is going to break ground this year on a $30 million, 46,163-square-foot, Research & Education Laboratory complex. The slate for that building is already being stored at the Yellowstone Warehouse, and will be available when it's needed.

Suppose Costco decides to build a store in Idaho Falls or Ammon? There has to be a place where all the materials and furnishings can be held as the project moves forward. Keim said he is hopeful that WestOne can get the business. In the case of a company like Restoration Hardware, most of the jobs WestOne does are "last mile" deliveries to custom home projects in Jackson, Wyo., or Idaho's Wood River Valley.

Although thousands of people drive by every day, Keim said he is sure most of them have no idea what is going on in the Yellowstone Warehouse.

You won't have to fly your Lear Jet to Nova Scotia to see a total eclipse of the sun

I suppose I could try to give this a business spin -- "Utah, Nevada, expect tourism $ from May eclipse" -- but on Sunday afternoon I'd rather just write about something that fascinates me.

If you're thinking about a road trip to Las Vegas, Mesquite, St. George or even Reno, mid-May might be a good time. On May 20, Nevada and southern Utah are going to experience an annular solar eclipse. They don’t happen very often, and when they do they’re usually over the ocean or someplace far from home.

You undoubtedly know that a solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the Sun and the Earth and casts a shadow. An annular eclipse is when the moon is farther away from the Earth and therefore smaller in the sky and a ring of light from the sun shines on the outside.

Thanks to Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, eclipses are easy to predict, so astronomers have known for years this has been coming. Nevada and Utah are on the tail end, which means the sun will be low in the sky when the moon creeps in front of it. Given the locale -- Zion National Park, anyone? -- there could be some epic sunset pictures. If you've got people in Reno or northern California, the eclipse will be in view as well. Near Reno, the eclipse will be in its full glory along southern shore of Pyramid Lake.

After this one, the next time a solar eclipse occurs in North America will be Aug. 21, 2017. And guess what? The path will run right over central and eastern Idaho. Looking at the map, I've come to the conclusion that either Redfish Lake or Menan Butte will be the best places to see it. Mark your calendars. You read it first here.

With an annular eclipse, there's a burning ring of fire around the Moon.