Straube promoted to EIRMC physician support IT position

Myles Straube of Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center has been promoted to the position of physician support coordinator for information technology and services.

Straube previously worked in computer technology at EIRMC. He replaces Lenette Maxwell, who has accepted an information technology position with the Hospital Corporation of America's Mountain Division. Nashville-based HCA is EIRMC's owner.

Straube has a degree in information technology and 20 years' clinical experience as a Navy corpsman, Army medic, EMT and private office medical assistant, a hospital news release said.

I.F. Advertising Federation guest speaker to talk about listening skills

Brent Bean of BYU-Idaho

The Idaho Falls Advertising Federation will have its Lunch & Learn this Thursday at Billman's Steakhouse, on 17th Street in Ammon.

The guest speaker will be Brent Bean of BYU-Idaho, who will be talking about developing better listening skills in business and personal matters. Better, more attentive listening, can save time on revisions, reprimands, re-dos and can spare relationships a lot of unnecessary pain.

Sign-in starts at 11:45 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than usual, to give Bean time to arrive from his last class of the morning. Billman’s has a large (and warm) meeting room, so there will be plenty of chairs for all. For lunch: Soup, salad, and build-your-own-sandwich bar with chips, a cookie and lemonade.

RSVP and pre-pay  at a discount online at: http://groupspaces.com/IFAdFed/item/380656
Or, reply to tina@mightymcs.com or Lisa Fischbach before Wednesday 5 p.m., and pay at the door. Cost is $15 for members, $18 for non-members at the door.

Teton VW to hold ribbon cutting at noon Friday

Teton Volkswagen, south of Idaho Falls

There will be a ribbon cutting at noon Friday at Teton Volkswagen, 3084 Outlet Boulevard, on the west side of Interestate 15 Exit 116 and next door to Queenie Linderman's One16 Sports Bar and Grill.

Light refreshments will be served, and there will be a drawing for a VW Mountain Bike.

Teton Volkswagen is owned by the same company as Teton Toyota. The Outlet Boulevard location is temporary, as the plan is to build a new dealership this year on the east side of the Interstate, next to Teton Toyota.

All this comes at a time when Toyota has retaken the top spot as the world's best-selling auto company, passing General Motors. According to a story on NPR this morning, Volkswagen came in at No. 3. To hear the story, follow this link: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=2&t=1&islist=false&id=169387401&m=169392544

Here is the link to Teton Volkswagen's Web page: http://www.mytetonvw.com/. I notice Buddy, Teton Toyota's mascot, is on the Teton VW masthead. I was going to volunteer my dachshund, Schatzi, but it's probably all for the best. She's not comfortable with strangers and even more nervous around children.

Riverbend Communications acquires Harvest Fest, Home and Garden Extravaganza

Riverbend Communications has taken over management of two of eastern Idaho’s largest community events, Harvest Fest and the Home and Garden Extravaganza.

Harvest Fest was purchased from Blue Fox Events and The Home and Garden Extravaganza from 78 Productions.

This year's Harvest Fest, the eighth in as many years, is set for Sept. 14 at Snake River Landing.  The 5th Annual Home and Garden Extravaganza will be held March 15 and 16 at the Kingston Plaza on West Broadway.

The shows join a growing list of events put on by Riverbend Productions, a division of Riverbend Communications, a company owned by Frank and Belinda VanderSloot. Other Riverbend events include the East Idaho Kids Fair in the spring, East Idaho’s Biggest Garage Sale in June, the What Today’s Women Want Expo in October, and The All I Want for Christmas Expo in December.

“Our goal continues to be to provide quality entertainment for the east Idaho community and results for those clients who participate in the events,” said Jay Dye, the company's director of special projects. 

For more details on all the Riverbend events, call (208) 535-8331.

Riverbend Communications companies include, Classy 97, Z103, 105-5 The Hawk, KBEAR 101, NewsTalk 690/1260, Riverbend Digital, Riverbend Outdoor, and Riverbend Productions.

In defense of newspapers and print

Your daily newspaper can never be a niche product, but nobody responds well to an "eat-your-broccoli-it's-good-for-you" kind of pitch.

Considering what I'm doing now it might seem funny that I'm defending newspapers, but I spent 30 years in the business and I care about their survival for a number of reasons. I don't have any solutions, just a few observations.

It's no secret the business is in trouble. Recently, 60 Minutes had a story about the New Orleans Times-Picayune, one of the nation's oldest papers, cutting back publication. The community was outraged and upset. There was talk about a community-based rescue. Strategies for moving content online were mentioned (of course). But no one saw things going back to where they were.

In the last few days, there have been stories about The New York Times slashing salaries, offering early retirement packages, possibly laying off staff. When The New York Times is cutting back, it's not just the canary in the coal mine anymore.

What is happening? The answer is simple: for a lot of newspapers, especially big city metros, readership and advertising revenue are going down fast. Local papers have not been spared the pinch either.

A question for all you middle-aged and older newspaper readers. Do any of your kids take the paper? If they don't, where do they get their news? I'm willing to guess a lot of them get it from their smart phones or tablets. Question No. 2: How well-informed are they?

I don't write for a newspaper anymore, I have this blog, which is the online resurrection of a weekly column I wrote for the Post Register for 12 or 13 years, and it's doing moderately well.

My column was popular because it was made up of brief items rendered in a conversational tone. I did plenty of longer stories, but that column seems to be what people remember most.

I started the blog because I missed the connection with the community my writing gave me, and to make a little money (it's not a big bucks proposition.) As much as I enjoy getting a scoop, I don't regard myself as serious competition to the paper. Perhaps they feel undermined by me. I can't say I blame them. Newspapers are in a special bind.

On one hand it's a business, and we all know businesses have to make a profit. When your costs are going up and your revenues are going down, it's a tough proposition. In a very short time, Craigslist kicked the pins out from under newspapers' classified business. In a lot of ways Craigslist is a garbage dump, but it has its uses and most importantly it's free. How do you compete with free?

Cliched as it sounds, freedom isn't free and neither is a free press. Newspapers, and the watchdog journalism they consistently provide, are essential to a functioning democracy. Our Declaration of Independence says governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. But if the governed are underinformed or misinformed, what is their consent really worth, and how susceptible are they to manipulation?

I don't think widespread public ignorance is exclusive to the Internet age. Not as many Idahoans can name their congressional representatives as can name all the members of the Kardashian family, but I suspect 50 years ago people were more preoccupied with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton than they were with House Speaker Sam Rayburn.

With regard to news online, there are some good national sources. There are lots of local online sources as well, but for the most part it's still the newspaper that breaks the big news.

People always say they want more "good news." I confess I wrote a lot of feature stories when I was at the paper because I'm at heart a people pleaser. It made me a bit of a freak. By and large, journalism is a profession filled with people who enjoy talking to each other more than they enjoy talking to you. Their self-importance can be off-putting.

I was never all that keen on the "truth to power" stuff, and was kind of a wreck anytime I knew was likely to upset people. Most of my colleagues were tougher in that respect, or at least they seemed that way. Nevertheless, I think I added something, because I believe a newspaper ought to reflect the community it serves, the good and the bad.

A few years ago, Idaho Falls had a weekly that specialized in warm, fuzzy stories. It competed with the daily paper for adversing dollars. The daily had an arm tied behind its back. The weekly didn't have to cover car wrecks, homicides, sex offenders, abuses of power, etc. Nor for that matter do Idaho Falls Magazine or BizMojo Idaho. But if the editors at the Post Register were to decide to ignore stuff like that in favor of feel-good stories, the paper's credibility would be nil.

Newspapers perform a necessary and often thankless function. On top of that they are expected to make money, not just to pay for their production but ideally to pay the people who produce the content that makes them essential.

Can anyone convince an increasingly distracted population they are necessary to its well being? Even if you are essential, how do you close the sale? I don't think it's going an easy challenge to meet, but for society's sake I'm hoping newspapers can.