Rexburg creamery to close doors, despite Wal-Mart deal

This broke today on StateImpact, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio and NPR. Reporters Molly Messick and Emilie Ritter Saunderstravel the state to explain how economic issues affect you. Sign up for their Twitter feed.

You can read it for yourself, but before you do this is the quote that jumped out at me, from Reagan Wood, president of the company:  "(The) banking industry has had some changes to where they’re not willing to lend money to a 100-year-old company that has little or no debt.”

https://stateimpact.npr.org/idaho/2012/10/09/idaho-creamery-closes-its-doors-after-striking-wal-mart-deal/

Mountain View Hospital's labor and delivery campaign will be the focus of the first Idaho Falls Advertising Federation "Lunch and Learn" session, Oct. 18 at Rutabaga's.

Brian Ziel, marketing specialist for Mountain View Hospital, will be the speaker at the Idaho Falls Advertising Federation's first "Lunch and Learn" session, Oct. 18 at Rutabaga's, 415 River Parkway.

Ziel recently oversaw the hospital’s recent Labor and Delivery campaign, and plans to explain the strategies and insights that made the campaign successful.

All media, sales, and creative professionals are invited to the event, which will be from 11::30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Lunch choices include: chicken or ham salad on thick sliced sourdough; Rutabaga’s chef salad w/ham, turkey, cheese, tomato, and egg; flatbread pizza (Varied Selection); or chicken alfredo or pasta primavera (for vegetarian option) spiral noodles and chicken tossed
in creamy, cheesy, alfredo sauce. All entrees include a choice of a cup of soup or side salad, beverage, and cookie or dessert.

Online advance ticket price is $10.50 for members, $13.50 for non-members, and $5 for Lemonade & Learn. Tickets can be purchased online via this link: http://groupspaces.com/IFAdFed/item/330126?utm_medium=email&utm_source=group-mail&utm_term=group-mail-97756. AdFed members may bring one guest at member rates. Advance tickets will be sold through Oct. 17. To make a reservation, call Tina at 524-1777.

Also, if you haven’t yet joined AdFed, you can join online here: http://ifadfed.wordpress.com/membership/how-to-join-2/. AdFed is now able to accept credit cards on site.

Idaho Falls seeks public comment on business plan for golf courses

The venerable clubhouse at Idaho Falls' Pinecrest Golf Course.

The City of Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation Division is seeking public input about the operations of the City’s three municipal golf courses -- Pinecrest, Sand Creek and Sage Lakes.

At the request of the mayor and City Council, the division is working on a Golf Operations Five-Year Business Plan, the aim of which is to improve customer service, bring financial stability and create more effective and efficient operations.

Surveys and suggestion boxes have been placed at all three golf courses, and survey forms can also be found on the city’s Web site here: www.idahofallsidaho.gov/wwwroot/userfiles/files/pr/survey.pdf

There will be a public hearing to review the plan Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers.

The city is looking for people who have played golf at the courses to share their thoughts and suggestions, and non-golfers are also encouraged to complete surveys and attend the hearing to offer ideas about potential off-season uses.

Plans filed for $2.7 million remodeling at Idaho Falls Regional Airport

Idaho Falls Regional Airport's terminal is looking at $2.7 million in remodeling and expansion.

The city of Idaho Falls filed plans Tuesday for a $2.7 million terminal remodeling and expansion at Idaho Falls Regional Airport.

The work will involve 47,570 square feet and take place at the northwest end of the terminal and involves an addition to the terminal, TSA baggage screening operations and expansion of the existing commercial aircraft ramp area. The architect for the project is HDR-Insight Architects of Boise, whose contract for the project was approved by the Idaho Falls City Council in April.

In June, the airport administrator, Len Nelson, learned they would be receiving a $1 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration new snow removal equipment, apron construction and terminal building expansion. Nelson retired in August and has been replaced by Craig H. Davis, who started on Monday.

International Isotopes receives plant construction permit from NRC

International Isotopes President and CEO Steve Laflin at the company's plant site in Lea County, N.M.



The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a combined construction and operating license for International Isotopes' $125 million fluorine extraction facility near Hobbs, N.M. The license was signed and issued Tuesday during a brief ceremony at NRC offices in Bethesda, Md.

International Isotopes, which is based in Idaho Falls, submitted its license application to in December 2009. The planned facility is a first-of-its-kind depleted uranium deconversion facility and the first source material facility to implement full-integrated safety analysis and will also be the first source material facility to be licensed by the NRC for a 40-year license term.

The company intends for the project to be a "green, environmentally friendly" production facility that will extract fluorine during the de-conversion process to produce high-value and commercially important products used widely in solar energy, microelectronics, and petrochemical refinement.

Steve T. Laflin, the company's president and CEO, said the license from the NRC is essential to them securing financing for the project. Last year, the company applied for a $97 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Renewable-Energy Technology Development program, which evaluates whether a technology might reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our patented fluorine extraction process uses seven times less energy than conventional industrial processes for making hydrofluoric acid," Laflin told blogger Dan Yurman of Idaho Samizdat Nuke Notes. "This means we can show reductions of six million pounds of carbon dioxide a year over the life of the planet."