INL fire consumes 14,000 acres
A wildfire near the Idaho National Laboratory was contained Saturday evening.
According to a news release from the Department of Energy, the fire consumed 14,000 acres, the equivalent of 22 square miles, of desert vegetation northeast of Atomic City.
The fire started Friday afternoon about a mile north of Atomic City and south of U.S. Highway 20. The highway was closed for several hours Friday because of smoke, and non-essential personnel were evacuated from the Materials and Fuels Complex. No nuclear facilities were within the burned area.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The fire was the second large blaze at INL this summer. A fire that started on July 13 ravaged 110,000 acres of INL and BLM land in the northeast portion of the site before being brought under control the evening of July 14.
Grant awarded to youth center
The Idaho Community Foundation's Deer Creek Fund has awarded a $10,000 grant to the Blaine County Recreation District to expand and improve the HUB Youth Center Backyard at the Community Campus in Hailey.
Creating more and accessible recreational options for kids in the community is part of the district's mission. The HUB Backyard Project will include climbing boulders, recycled tire obstacle courses, a sand play area, an ice pond and sledding hill in winter and a vegetable garden and picnic area in summer.
Free blood pressure checks offered
St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center will conduct free blood pressure checks at the Ketchum Post Office today, Sept. 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information, call 727-8733.
Spinelli elected to Kiwanis post
Hailey resident Jim Spinelli has been elected lieutenant governor for Division 5, Utah-Idaho District, of Kiwanis International for 2010-11. The division includes seven Kiwanis clubs in south-central Idaho.
Spinelli is the incoming president of the Hailey and Wood River Valley Kiwanis Club. He is a five-year member and former president of the Kiwanis Club of Hailey. He was also Hailey city administrator and director of the Hailey Chamber of Commerce.
Delegates from 60 clubs in Utah and Idaho elected Spinelli at a recent annual district conference in Utah. He assumed office Aug. 28 and will serve for one year.
Trails near Fairfield remain closed
The Beaver Creek and East Fork Beaver Creek trails are still closed due to the Deer Park Fire near Fairfield.
The Fairfield Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest has issued a closure for the area surrounded by the Beaver Creek Trail, the Iron Mountain Trail, the Kelley Creek Trail, the East Fork Beaver Creek Trail and the Deadwood Connector.
For more information, contact the Fairfield Ranger District at (208) 764-3478.
Last chance for Music on the Square
The band Low-fi from Boise will play at the season's last Music on the Square concert on Thursday, Sept. 2, from 6-8 p.m. Picnics are encouraged.
Low-fi is a three-piece indie rock band that lives by the motto "less is more." The band formed in early 2007 and released its debut LP, "Where You Are," to local critical acclaim in September of that same year.
Gondola will run weekends this month
Sun Valley Resort will extend summer lift operations with lift service continuing through Sept. 26.
The Roundhouse Gondola will continue to operate on weekends from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the last ride down at 4:30 p.m.
The Roundhouse restaurant will offer weekend sit-down lunch service from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Snacks and beverages will be served from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
After Labor Day, there will be no lift-serviced mountain biking.
Summer lift ticket prices will be reduced beginning Saturday, Sept. 11, with adult tickets at $15, teens at $13 and youth at $8.
Lift access on the Christmas lift will remain open through Labor Day as regularly scheduled,
Kempthorne joins national parks group
Dirk Kempthorne, former Idaho governor and U.S. secretary of the Interior from 2006 to 2009, has been elected to the board of trustees of the National Parks Conservation Association.
As secretary of the Interior, Kempthorne launched the National Park Centennial Challenge, a public-private partnership to prepare for the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016 that provides additional funding for park enhancement projects. Additionally, Kempthorne secured the largest operating budget ever for national parks.
