Culver's, Eagle Rock Indian Motorcycle, now open

Brian Tomasko, seated on his new Chief Vintage, with Eagle Rock Indian dealership owner Todd Williams.

Two projects in or near the Taylor Crossing on the River project have opened in the past week: the eagerly anticipated Culver’s, at 946 Pancheri Drive, and Eagle Rock Indian Motorcycle, at 845 Milligan Road.

Culver’s is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. If you go to their web page, https://www.culvers.com/restaurants/idaho-falls-id-pancheri-dr, you will see that today’s flavor is Brownie Thunder and tomorrow’s is German Chocolate Fudge.

Today's flavor at Culver's:
Brownie Thunder

This is the fourth Culver’s in Idaho. The first was opened in Twin Falls in 2014, by Eugene Smith, a fourth-generation Wisconsin dairy farmer who left agriculture and moved west to open a franchise. As an alumnus of Ricks College, where he studied dairy farming, Smith had some experience with eastern Idaho.

The chain dates back to 1984, when George Culver, his wife, Ruth, son Craig, and daughter-in-law Lea, opened the first Culver’s Frozen Custard and ButterBurgers in Sauk City, Wisconsin. Franchising began in 1987, and after a shaky start the chain expanded into Milwaukee and Madison. By the end of 2011, there were 445 Culver’s restaurants in 19 states.

Eagle Rock Indian opened on Friday and sold its first bike the same day, a Vintage Chief to Brian Tomasko. I have reposted the photo from their Facebook page, and it is gorgeous.

Indian is a company that dates back to 1901, when it was founded in Springfield, Massachusetts. In the 20th century it was a longtime competitor with Harley-Davidson in the U.S. motorcycle market. Chiefs, Scouts, and Junior Scouts were all used in World War II, but none could unseat the Harley-Davidson WLA as the motorcycle mainly used by the U.S. Army. The company went bankrupt in 1953.

In the years that followed, however, Indian’s legend was valuable enough for companies to want to revive the name. The latest iteration was formed in 2006, in Kings Mountain, N.C., where it manufactured Indian Chief motorcycles in limited numbers, with a focus on exclusivity rather than performance. In 2011, Polaris Industries, parent company of Victory Motorcycles, announced its intention to acquire Indian. The company’s production facilities were moved to Spirit Lake, Iowa, and in March 2013, Indian unveiled its new 111 cubic inches (1.82 L) "Thunder Stroke" engine and began to sell the newly designed motorcycles based on it.

For more information, visit http://eaglerockindianmotorcycle.com. The Idaho Falls showroom is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. They’d probably appreciate it if you ate your ice cream outside.

Pachanga's in transition, hopes to open on A Street by month's end

The new signage at Pachanga's, with the Willard Arts Center reflected in the window.

If you were downtown Saturday night it was your last chance to eat at Pachanga's at its longtime location at the corner of Park Avenue and B Street. The restaurant is packing up and moving to 439 A Street, formerly the site of Black Rock Fine Wines and Craft Beer and, before that, Vino Rosso.

On Saturday, much work
inside remained to be done.

Pachanga's owner Antonio Meza of Pachangas applied to the Idaho Falls Building Department on March 8 for a building permit to remodel the property. Now that the push is on, the hope is for the new restaurant will be open in a week, two at the most.

Pachanga's started on Capital Avenue across from the Bonneville County Courthouse, but after its business outgrew that location it moved to the Earl Building. Meza said things were set in motion early this year when his landlord, Thomas Development, told him they had a new tenant interested in their space.

He then learned that Jerry and Jeannie Frazzell were looking for a buyer for their property, which had been remodeled as Black Rock Fine Wines and Craft Beer in 2015. Black Rock's lease was up at the end of March, which put owner Chuck Chute in a scramble pattern, but by the end of March he had moved his operation to 343 Park Avenue, next door to the Samoa Club.

There is a Thonton Oliver Keller sign in the window at Park and B.

State board appoints five College of Eastern Idaho trustees

This report is reprinted from Idaho Education News (IdEdNews.org)

The Idaho State Board of Education Wednesday unanimously granted the College of Eastern Idaho permission to begin offering associate of arts degrees to current and future enrollees. The board also unanimously appointed five trustees to govern the school until at least November 2018, when the seats will be on the ballot in Bonneville County.

Here’s a list of the trustees:
• Stephanie Mickelsen, Zone 1.
• Calvin Ozaki, Zone 2.
• Park Price, Zone 3.
• Craig Miller, Zone 4.
• Carrie Scheid, Zone 5.

(Click here to view the county’s community college zones, as well as candidate resumes.) The State Board selected the trustees from 54 applicants.

“We met and reviewed the candidates carefully,” said board member Richard Westerberg. “There were many, many (who were) qualified.”

Associate degree offerings and a board of trustees mark two key steps in EITC’s expedited transformation into a community college. In May, 71 percent of Bonneville County voters approved a ballot measure to turn EITC into a community college. The only remaining step is for trustees to hold their first official public meeting, said EITC president Rick Aman.

“We are currently looking at holding that meeting as early as this coming Monday,” Aman said.

EITC already offers an associate of applied science degree, a career-technical certification aimed at helping students immediately enter the work force. An associate of arts degree is designed as a starting point for students hoping to earn a bachelor’s degree.

The school plans to add its third — and final — community college offering this January: an associate of science degree. Students hoping to earn that degree can enroll in the associate of arts program during the fall semester that begins on Aug. 21, and transfer credits toward the other degree later.

Band to give free concert Monday night in Freeman Park

A detachment from the Idaho Army National Guard’s 25th Army Band will be giving a concert Monday at 7 p.m. at the Freeman Park band shelter, 1290 Science Center Drive in Idaho Falls. The concert is free and open to the public.

 The woodwind and brass detachment consists of two musical performance teams – “MAYDAY” and “ALL BRASS, NO AMMO.” The teams perform concerts throughout Idaho each year and are under the supervision of Sgts. Jeremy Otstot and Richard Eisele.

The band performs multiple styles of music including the traditional marching band, 1940’s era big band, small combo jazz standards, as well as today’s popular music. The detachment will be performing a family-friendly mix of music to include patriotic marches and today’s hits.

The 25th Army Band was originally formed in Caldwell in the fall of 1925 and is currently under the command of Chief Warrant Officer (CW4) Kevin Durfee and First Sergeant Mike Simon.

The band, stationed at Gowen Field in Boise has members from Idaho, Oregon and Washington who vary in civilian occupations from a college student, to schoolteacher to engineer.

Tours for the unit have included military installations throughout the United States, and in past years have included trips overseas for performances at American Embassies in France and Costa Rica.

The focus of the 25th Army Band’s 2017 tour is Eastern Idaho. For more information, follow this link: http://www.music.army.mil/organizations/pages/?unit=25AB&p=performances

GAIN announces $4.2 million in vouchers for project involving INL, other national labs

The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) announced Monday that 14 businesses will be provided nuclear energy vouchers worth pproximately $4.2 million to accelerate the innovation and application of advanced nuclear technologies. This follows an earlier announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy awarding nearly $67 million in nuclear energy research, facility access, crosscutting technology development, and infrastructure awards in 28 states.

The GAIN nuclear energy vouchers provide advanced nuclear technology innovators with access to the extensive nuclear research capabilities and expertise available across the U.S. DOE national laboratories complex.

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) leads the GAIN initiative. “DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy established GAIN to provide the nuclear innovator community with assistance to address a range of technology needs,” said Director Rita Baranwal. “Through these vouchers, GAIN encourages accelerated nuclear technology innovation and promotes progress in the private sector.”

GAIN nuclear energy voucher recipients do not receive direct financial awards. The GAIN nuclear energy vouchers provide access to national laboratory capabilities at no cost to the voucher recipients.

The two businesses selected to receive 2017 GAIN nuclear energy vouchers for work with INL included:

• MicroNuclear LLC, of Franklin, Tenn., for development of the Microscale Nuclear Battery Reactor System
• GSE Systems Inc., of Sykesville, Md., for human factors engineering allowing them to move to digital control systems.

GAIN awarded the first round of nuclear energy vouchers in 2016. DOE established GAIN to provide the nuclear community with the technical, regulatory and financial support necessary to move innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercialization, while ensuring the continued safe, reliable and economic operation of the existing nuclear fleet.

For more information, follow this link: GAIN Announces Second Round of Nuclear Energy Voucher Recipients.