Idaho outdoor journalist's work voted best in nation

Outdoor journalist Kris Millgate

Tight Line Media's 2011 film "Sanctuary" has been voted the best TV story in the nation by the Outdoor Writers Association of America.

Outdoor journalist Kris Millgate's story about the elk whisperer and elk habitat in New Mexico won first place for hunting and shooting sports with OWAA earlier this summer. Then the OWAA President's panel chose the story as President's Choice for best outdoor TV story in the nation at its annual conference in Alaska in September.

“Kris is one of our newer members who has hit the OWAA floorboards running," says Robin Giner, OWAA Executive Director. "This year’s Presidents’ Choice Award is her second in two years, and I expect we’ll see her name on this list of the best of the best in future years, too.”

To view the story, and other clips Millgate has done, visit this link: www.tightlinemedia.com/production-services/video-samples.html

Idaho nuke wannabe eyeballing small modular reactors

Alternate Energy Holdings' ground in Payettte County.

This appeared on PR Newswire this morning and we thought it worth posting, considering the passionate interest around here concerning all things nuclear.

Alternate Energy Holdings today announced it is exploring the use of small modular reactors (SMR) on its proposed nuclear power plant site in Payette County, Idaho. SMRs range between 45 and 220 megawatts, and because of their modular and easily expandable design their implementation can be modified based on future energy needs.

"This would not necessarily replace our plans to build a large-scale reactor on the proposed site, but there may be an opportunity to build one or more years in advance of the larger reactor," said Don Gillispie, the company's CEO.

Several SMR designs are being reviewed including designs from Babcock & Wilcox, Westinghouse, NuScale Power and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). "We are seriously reviewing these options," Gillespie said. "SMR designs may give the company the flexibility it needs in the short term, while at the same time providing a very lucrative addition to AEHI's long-term plans."

Here is a link to the company's Web site, detailing its plans for Idaho: http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/idaho-energy-complex.aspx

Of course, announcing that you intend to do something and actually getting it done are two different things. AEHI's plans for bringing nuclear power to Idaho have gotten a fair amount of attention since 2006. Our most trusted source on all things nuclear, Dan Yurman's Idaho Samizdat Nuke Notes blog, posted this in April: http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2012/04/far-west-follies.html

Key point: "(The Snake River Alliance) still has harsh things to say about the project on its web site. It calls AEHI a 'cartoonish nemesis' and says it does not take its proposals seriously enough to devote time to opposing them. That's probably the last word on the firm. If the local anti-nuclear group can't be bothered to stir up trouble for a nuclear reactor project, how viable can it be?"

I.F. Visitor Information Center, Chamber offices, relocating to Memorial Drive

The scene Tuesday inside the Eastern Idaho Visitor Information Center, at 420 Memorial Drive. 

After nearly 10 years on West Broadway, the Eastern Idaho Visitor Information Center is moving across the river, sharing office space not only with the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce but with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming and the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp.
Starting Wednesday, the offices will all be under one roof at 420 Memorial Drive, in the space formerly occupied by the Moffatt Thomas law firm.

While this moves the Visitor Information Center farther from Interstate 15, it will also expose visitors to the renovations taking place on the downtown side of the Idaho Falls Greenbelt. Idaho Falls Mayor Jared Fuhriman said Tuesday that he is hopeful the first phase of the Memorial Drive project will be finished by early November, before the onset of harsh weather.

Officials said the transition has been in the works for the last year or so, and that the idea has been for people to park, visit and find an all-encompassing variety of information in one spot.

Kerry McCullough. Holly Romrell and Jerda Judy of the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce pause to flex Monday during the move from West Broadway to Memorial Drive.

 

Idaho Falls offers grant money to arts organziations

The city of Idaho Falls Grants for the Arts Committee is once again inviting local non-profit art organizations to submit their requests for grant money the City makes available every year. This year, the City Council has budgeted $10,000 for the program.

Requests for funding of performances, exhibits, or similar functions will receive special consideration. Funding requests of capital expenditures or equipment purchases are preferred over proposals that solicit funds for operating expenses.

The committee will evaluate all applicants on several criteria, two of which include the number of city residents expected to benefit from the request and availability of matching funds.

Grant proposal requests forms are available by logging onto the City’s website, at www.idahofallsidaho.gov. Print the grant proposal request form and mail it to the address shown. Forms can also be picked up at the mayor’s office at City Hall, 308 Constitution Way. Completed forms must be submitted by the end of the business day on Monday, Oct. 15.

Since 1988, the city of Idaho Falls has made funds available to showcase the artistic skills exhibited by many of its citizens.

Rexburg publisher, lawyer tops list of all-time influential Idahoans

Browsing the Web this morning, I found this story in the Idaho Statesman about a new book by Randy Stapilus and Marty Peterson ranking the 100 most influential people in Idaho history.

The names one would expect are there: U.S. Sens. William Borah and Frank Church; potato magnate J.R. Simplot; LDS Church President Ezra Taft Benson.

But occupying the No. 1 spot was someone who's name I've never heard in the 30 years I've lived here, and someone from the Upper Snake River Valley: W. Lloyd Adams, a newspaper publisher, lawyer and lobbyist from Rexburg. The book devotes five pages to him and his influence on Idaho government, beginning with his role in electing a Republican governor in 1912 and ending only with his death in 1969

Here is a link to the Statesman story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/10/01/2295270/idahos-influential-100-new-book.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop

W. Lloyd Adams's headstone, in the Rexburg Cemetery. Interesting that he outlived his wife, Belva, by a little more than four months.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/10/01/2295270/idahos-influential-100-new-book.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop#storylink=cpy