INL researcher taking part in online "Energy of Star Wars" panel

Vishal Patel of the Idaho National Laboratory's Center for Space Nuclear Research

If you’re eager for the new Star Wars movie but tired of watching the same trailers on YouTube, you are in luck.

As part of Space Week, the Department of Energy is hosting “The Energy of Star Wars: A Google Hangout” on Friday at 2 p.m.

Experts from across the DOE complex, including the Idaho National Laboratory's Vishal Patel, of the Center for Space Nuclear Research, who studies how new forms of nuclear power could fuel tomorrow spacecraft, will be online to answer your questions.

• How much energy would it take to run a Death Star?
• What type of energy source could power a lightsaber?
• Did Mace Windu really have to die?

To frame a question on social media, use the hashtag #StarWarsEnergy. Here are the links:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Google+

Or if you want to use e-mail, send your question to newmedia@hq.doe.gov.

In addition to Patel (whose alter ego in the Star Wars universe, according to the Star Wars Name Generator, is Opeseg Eclipseblast, a Jedi Master from Wroona), the panelists include:

Cathy Plesko, an applied physicist from Los Alamos National Laboratory who uses supercomputers to model what happens when an asteroid hits a planet.
(Star Wars alter ego: Azha Cosmosflame, a wandering trader from Riflor.)
Peter Thelin, a master optician from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory whose expertise is cutting and shaping materials by hand so they can be used by Lawrence Livermore researchers to explore the universe.
(Star Wars alter ego: Suhail Statind, a cantina owner from Tarento.)
Chris Ebbers, a physicist from Lawrence Livermore who uses lasers to study crystals.
(Star Wars alter ego: Bohtsan Cosmicburn, a cantina owner from Rian.)

You can watch at energy.gov/starwars or on the Google+ page.

Fall River Electric holding annual meeting Saturday

Fall River Electric Cooperative will be hosting its annual meeting for owner-members this Saturday at North Fremont High School in Ashton.

This is a free event and open to all customers (members). The theme this year is “Your Power + Our Integrity = A Great Cooperative”.

The day starts with a free breakfast at 8 a.m. offering pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and a choice of beverage. Every member attending will receive a free folding camp chair and carrying bag along with a 20-ounce sport water bottle. Additionally, the first 300 members who visit the energy conservation booth on Saturday will receive two free 60-watt-equivalent LED bulbs with an average life of 25,000 hours.

There will be high-voltage electrical safety demonstrations, conducted by Fall River's linemen, where guests can learn how to avoid the dangers of downed lines and other electrical hazards.

Members will also be able to register for sprizes including: a Husqvarna professional grade chain saw; a Convectair radiant convection electric heater (estimated value: $740); a free home energy audit, which normally sells for $265; a 7-in-1 propane gas smoker with a value of nearly $200; and many more prizes.

Visit the Fall River Propane booth and get a free certificate to fill as many propane cylinders as you want for just $5 each. There’s no need to bring the tanks Saturday, as Fall River Propane will fill cylinders on June 23 and June 25 in Driggs and Ashton.

Fall River Electric's annual business meeting will start at 10:30 a.m. and will include a financial report on the condition of the cooperative, a report on key 2014 activities and future plans, board election results, and an opportunity for members to ask questions during an “open mic” segment.

“Each year we have the opportunity at our annual meeting to give our members an accounting of how we operate their utility, to report on the goals that have been achieved in the past year, and to look ahead at our at exciting future,” said Bryan Case, Fall River’s CEO and general manager. “We hope our members and their families will join us for breakfast and allow us time to get to know them better.”

For anyone interested in the history of the co-op, which started in the 1930s, here is a story from the Teton Valley News that ran in September 2013: Shining light on history of electric service here

Bank of Idaho names new president

Jeff Newgard

The Bank of Idaho board of directors announced this afternoon that Jeff Newgard has been appointed president and CEO effective July 6. He will assume the duties of Park Price, who has served as president and CEO since June 2003. Price will stay on as the Bank of Idaho’s chairman of the board.

Newgard served as president and CEO of Yakima National Bank, Yakima, Wash., from 2005 until the bank was purchased by Seattle-based HomeStreet Bank in October 2013. Until his appointment as president and CEO of Bank of Idaho, he was executive vice president and Eastern Region president of HomeStreet.

He was born in Poulson, Mont., and is married with two children. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Walla Walla College and an MBA from Washington State University. He is also a graduate of the Colorado Graduate School of Banking.

Headquartered in Idaho Falls, Bank of Idaho has served eastern Idaho since 1985. Currently the bank has branch offices in Idaho Falls, Pocatello, St. Anthony, Ashton and Island Park. In addition, the bank has mortgage offices in Idaho Falls, Pocatello and Twin Falls. The Bank of Idaho Trust Department provides trust and investment services for clients throughout southern Idaho.

Printcraft Press plans new facility in Idaho Falls

Printcraft Press is planning to move to a new, larger building in Idaho Falls, west of Interstate 15 and north of Pancheri Drive, in the area known as Happyville.

The platting and annexation of six acres is on the June 16 agenda of the Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning Commission. If the commission votes to recommend annexation and the City Council approves it at a subsequent meeting, Printcraft owner Travis Waters hopes to build a 35,000-square-foot facility. Digging should start in September or October.

Although there are a few seams of lava rock, Waters said his evacuator has assured him it’s fractured lava and shouldn’t be too hard to extract. The lava rock in the area, and the expense of blasting it for development, has been one reason Happyville has remained unincorporated for as long as it has, although the city put sewer lines in around 1980 to alleviate the problems associated with septic fields.

The new Printcraft building will be about 10,000 square feet larger than where the company has been the past 10 years, in the Sunnyside Business Park. The company’s time there was marked by a dispute with Doyle Beck, the business park’s owner, over wastewater treatment, and Waters said he complained to Bonneville County officials that the water pressure from the hydrants was not adequate for fire protection — something that was proven by fire in March at the Waxie Sanitary Supply warehouse. (Waxie has since opened up a new warehouse at 1359 Commerce Way, off St. Leon Road.)

Regardless of that, Waters said he needed more space. “Our business is bursting at the seams,” he said. Printcraft does more than 80 percent of its business in Utah, much of it with medical and pharmaceutical customers. Waters said he has stayed in Idaho Falls because the costs of land and labor are lower.

“We’ve found a pretty nice little niche that we can service from Idaho Falls,” he said.

Honas honored with Silver Circle award by National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Karole Honas

The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored eastern Idaho’s Karole Honas at its June 6 banquet, inducting her into the 2015 Silver Circle.

Along with the EMMY Awards, the chapter provides the region's professionals with seminars, programs, and networking, also serving communities by offering scholarships.

As a co-anchor on Idaho Falls’ Local News 8 for decades, Honas has become a fixture in homes throughout the region. She is one of eight people to share the Silver Circle honor this year.

Here are the words she wrote for the Academy’s web page:

When I was elected Governor of Girls State my senior year of high school, a reporter asked me what I intended to major in when I got to college. I told her I had no idea, and she decided that didn't sound very mature, so she suggested I say “communications.” The rest is history.

I graduated from the University of Idaho in 1977. I married my college boyfriend, Ken, on July 2 and began working for a new station in eastern Idaho two weeks later. I spent seven years at KPVI Ch 6 in Pocatello. When I started, we were on 16 mm film. The film processor was located in an old barn south of town, so every day at 3 pm we raced to the barn to drop the film off, raced back to the office to write our story and cut the audio on cassettes, back to the barn to pick up the film and back to the office to edit. I still take pride in the fact I could change a film magazine in a black bag while driving the news car.

God blessed us with three boys in the 1980's and I spent that decade learning to be a mother. In 1990 I got a call from my now long-time anchor partner Jay Hildebrandt. He said they were desperate for a fill-in female anchor. His co-anchor went into labor early and had a baby. Would I fill in for a couple months? I did, and never left. Jay and I have shared the anchor set for 25 years at KIFI Local News 8.

Because we are a small market station, our employees are usually graduates just out of school. In the beginning, they were my age, my peers. Then I got a little older and became more of a trainer. Then I got older and became a coach. One day a new rookie came in with her parents to start her first job, and I realized the “parent” was younger than me!

That's when I became a “mom” in the newsroom.

My “kids” have graduated to big markets all over the United States: Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Portland and Seattle. They are such fine journalists, and I take great pride in the fact I may have started them off on the right foot.