Chamber sponsoring Obamacare workshop this week

The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce Business Resource Committee will host an Affordable Care Act workshop Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. at Stevens-Henager College, 901 Pier View Drive in Idaho Falls.

Topics include an "Introduction to the Affordable Care Act" by Dave Noak; "Health Insurance Exchange Option" by Tom Donovan; and "Employer Compliance" by Tim Anderson.

The goal of the workshop is to give business owners an idea of how they might be affected by the law and how to avoid possible pitfalls and penalties, the chamber news release said.

Attendance is free to Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce members and $5 for guests. For information, contact Frosty Wilson at the Small Business Development Center, 523-1087. Seating is limited and those planning to attend should RSVP to hromrell@idahofallschamber.com.

Work continues at Gold's Gym Ammon site

Crews at work at the future home of Gold's Gym, where Teton Spectrum Raceway used to be.  Poking our nose in Monday, the granite counter at the entry has been built. Efforts to find out a projected opening date have been unsuccessful so far. Late last year it was estimated the 40,000-square-foot project would take six or seven months.

Pro-nuke "Pandora's Promise" sparks national debate

Since it premiered last winter at the Sundance Film Festival, my friends at the Idaho National Laboratory have been sharing every post they can find about "Pandora's Promise," a documentary that casts nuclear power in a favorable light.

This should come as no surprise. With the exception of Arco, I don't think you'll find a more pro-nuclear community on the face of the earth than Idaho Falls. Our city owes a lot to the Atomic Energy Commission and its decision in 1949 to locate its National Reactor Testing Station on the desert to the west. The work that has gone on there since then has been controversial at times but nevertheless extraordinary.

Anyway, any movie that premieres at Sundance usually starts being seen by the rest of the world five or six months afterward, which means that's also when you start seeing movie reviews and online discussions. This weekend I noticed a piece on Salon.com about "Pandora's Promise," which I found interesting. I'll post the link -- http://www.salon.com/2013/06/22/are_environmentalists_rethinking_nuclear_power/ -- and invite those of you interested in such things to read it and the comments.

Likewise, the film has begun to get some ink (or whatever the Web equivalent is) on the New York Times Web site. Today we see an article by Richard Rhodes, who has written an exhaustive four-part history of the nuclear age (if you're looking for a power read, try the first book, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb.") Rhodes has come to the conclusion that nuclear power is essential to our effort to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. He also has a clear take on why nuclear power has such vehement opposition.

"Nuclear testing, nuclear crisis and nuclear power were all born together in the long wake of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. I’m not surprised that the clean and peaceful technology, which today provides about 13.5 percent of world electricity without air pollution or greenhouse gases, was tarred with the same brush as the Bomb. I am surprised, however, that idealistic, intelligent people who want to clean up the air and limit global warming are opposed to nuclear power. They might as well be out there promoting fossil fuels. In effect, they are."

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/welcoming-a-real-debate-about-nuclear-power/?_r=0 

Idaho Falls chamber names Michelle Holt new CEO

Michelle Holt

Michelle Holt has been named the new chief executive officer of the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Holt has worked as executive director of Lost Rivers Economic Development since 2005, and has more than 20 years in non-profit organizations, with experience in board development, grant writing, fund-raising and economic development. She has served as chairwoman of the Lost Rivers Medical Center Board of Trustees in Arco; as past president of Eastern Idaho Economic Development Partners and the Idaho Economic Development Association; and in various roles in local education.
 

Acting CEO Kerry McCullough will resume her previous role as programs and events coordinator until the chamber's July 4 activities are over, at which time she will begin full-time as the city of Idaho Falls' public information officer. McCullough will continue to serve as a volunteer on the chamber's Taste of Idaho and annual golf tournament planning committees and board of directors.


Holt will begin work on hiring a new programs and events coordinator and working with the staff on the upcoming Independence Day Parade and Liberty Festival on the Falls.

Relay for Life organizers want people to paint the town purple

Starting today, Idaho Falls residents may notice the color purple appearing in windows, on bridges and in banners, all in support of the American Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life event. Through June 30, people are being encouraged to decorate their homes, businesses and vehicles with purple, all part of a warm-up to the actual event, which is scheduled for July 12 at Bonneville High School's Thunder Stadium.

Relay for Life events happen all over the world to raise money for cancer research, promote awareness of the work being done and recognize the struggles past and present of patients and the people caring for them.

Leading up to the event, teams raise money with car washes, garage sales, fashion show, and special events like "Dancing With the Idaho Falls Stars."

"We recognize that many small local businesses and individuals do not have the means within their budgets to support the annual Relay For Life fundraising event," said Liza Leonard, this year's  chairwoman. "Paint the Town Purple was created with the goal of involving more people without overwhelming them with the expectations of substantial donations. This event is to help generate cancer awareness in fun and creative ways, while bringing the community together."

A person can do anything from dressing up in purple to offering a special discount on all purple items or add a vinyl sign to their window.

"We are not all personally affected with cancer, but if we come together we can help raise the spirits of those battling with the disease and restore hope for many," Leonard said.

For questions or to get involved, call (208) 201-4133 or email lizaleonard@hotmail.com. The local Web link is relayforlife.org/idahofallsid.

D Street underpass project hits 'rocky' patch

The view Thursday from the top of the big hole at D Street and Yellowstone Avenue

Anyone who has driven on North Yellowstone Avenue since Wednesday has most likely noticed the big pile of rocks in the hole where the D Street Underpass used to be.

Crews blasted into 10 feet of basalt at 2 p.m. Wednesday to clear away space for the new bridge's footings, said Kelly Kofoed of Cannnon Builders, the city of Idaho Falls' contractor on the project.

The stones will be hauled away to a Landon Excavating pit. The tree immediately south of the stone tower is also slated to be removed next week. The city wanted to save the tree, but the excavation around the tower, which is actually a pump station dating back to around 1910, damaged too much of its root system, Kofoed said.

Building a bridge is a lot different than building a house or office building. "It's kind of like building a house around your wife while she's making dinner," Kofoed said. Cannon has also been the contractor on the John Adams Parkway bridge over the Idaho Canal, due to be finished in  July. "We had to go deep for the footings at the same time we had traffic going over it every day," he said. In the D Street project's case, train traffic had to be re-routed with a "shoefly," a four-month undertaking by itself. The new underpass is scheduled to open sometime in 2014.

The D Street excavation has yielded all sorts of interesting things: masonry foundations from buildings that made up the Oregon Short Line Railroad depot, which was torn down in 1964, and old tools that had been discarded by railroad workers decades ago.

Kofoed said he and his crew were the first people since the '60s to set foot inside the pump station. There was a hardwood floor that had rotted and a lot of sludgy water in the foundation, which goes down 30 feet. "I'm sure the old pumping equipment is in there," he said.

C&S Auto Repair looking to expand staff

Inside the garage at C&S Auto Repair

C&S Auto Repair (where I have been taking my cars since 2009) is looking for a three or four mechanics motivated to put in long hours and learn new skills.

"I've got the work; I need the manpower, people who know their stuff," said Shana Poulsen, who owns the business with Chris Neal, who heads the current team of five mechanics. "What they need to understand that this is flat rate. The harder they work, the more money they are going to make."

Neal and Poulsen moved in September 2012 to their current location, 2435 E. Iona Road. With 9,834 square feet, the new shop has more than twice the space they had on Ammon Road, and positioned within sight of the roundabout at Hitt and Iona Roads.

They're about to get OE-specific scanners for Chrysler, Ford and GM vehicles. Neal's specialty all along has been GM electronics, and they rebuild instrument clusters for $150. "It's been kind of a hot area for us," Poulsen said

For more information, call (208) 524-2770 or visit their Web site at www.candsautorepairllc.com.