Statewide public art consultant named
People interested in creating public art now have a liaison with the Idaho Commission on the Arts with the appointment of Hailey resident Mark Johnstone as public art consultant for Idaho through June 30, 2013.
Johnstone, regional art advisor for the commission for five years, will also present lectures and workshops in different regions of the state.
For 25 years Johnstone worked in public art, curated more than 80 exhibitions and is a widely published author. He also helped create Hailey's Arts Commission, assisted in the passage of a Percent for Art Ordinance and served on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The Idaho Commission on the Arts is a state agency consisting of 13 volunteer commissioners from all regions of the state appointed by the governor to four-year terms and 10 staff members. The commission's mission is to make the arts available to all Idahoans.
For details, visit www.arts.idaho.gov/pa/paresources.aspx.
St. Luke's to host concussion symposium
A free live feed of a concussion symposium taking place in Boise can be viewed at St. Luke's Wood River on Saturday. The symposium is targeted toward coaches, athletic trainers, athletic directors, team physicians and anyone interested in the management of concussion in young athletes.
Research, definition, epidemiology, diagnosis, safe return to play and Idaho's current legislation will be discussed, along with establishing protocols for concussion management. Jesse Foster, manager of St. Luke's Elks Rehab, will facilitate.
The symposium will take place Saturday, July 21, from 9 a.m. to noon at St. Luke's Wood River's Moritz Conference Room.
For more information, call Jean Mutchie at 208-989-8408.
Funding available for wetlands protection
Private landowners interested in enhancing, restoring or protecting their wetlands have a second chance to apply for 2012 funding from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Idaho. Applications for 2012 Wetlands Reserve Program funding must be received by July 27.
"Wetlands play a critical role in improving our environment—they filter out pollutants from our water, prevent floods and control erosion," said Wade Brown, easement coordinator in Idaho. "This program provides incentives to farmers and ranchers to return farmlands that were previously wetlands back to their original wetland state."
The Wetlands Reserve Program is a voluntary program that compensates farmers, ranchers and other private landowners for placing former wetlands into conservation easements. It also provides cost-share funding for restoring and enhancing wetlands. Landowners participating in this program retain the title to the land and the right to control access and recreational use. The land remains on the tax rolls.
The program includes permanent easements, 30-year easements and a restoration cost-share agreement option.
For more information on the Wetlands Reserve Program, visit www.id.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wrp/index.html.
Business After Hours set for Thursday
The Hailey Business After Hours event will be hosted by Jeffrey R. Roth Dental Studio, 408 S. Main St., on Thursday, July 19, from 5:30-7 p.m.
Participants can enjoy food, live music, informal business networking and just catching up on summer news. There will be lots of prizes. People are asked to bring their business cards for the raffle.
Department of Labor changes procedures
Beginning July 23, all unemployment insurance claims with the Idaho Department of Labor must be filed online and questions about claims must be handled by telephone. Each local office has computer terminals in the lobby for claimants to use.
According to a press release from the department, it will have 57 claim specialists stationed throughout the 25 local offices to handle initial claims and follow-up inquiries by telephone. Those specialists will be backed up by 36 claim adjudicators who will deal with disputed claims after their initial processing.
Labor Director Roger B. Madsen said isolating unemployment claims with these specialists will ensure more consistent application of unemployment insurance benefit principles and will free other staff to concentrate on connecting the unemployed with jobs.
<
Zenergy to host talk on integrative medicine
Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor Dr. Donald Levy will present a free lecture on integrative medicine poolside at Zenergy in Ketchum on Tuesday, July 24, at 6 p.m.
Levy is medical director of the Osher Clinical Center for Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. According to a press release from PinnacleCare, a private business putting on the event, integrative medicine combines conventional medical treatments with complementary therapies such as acupuncture, chiropractic, dietary change, yoga, therapeutic massage and mindfulness-based stress reduction.
Levy will discuss health concerns that include:
- Weight-loss diets
- Vitamins and other dietary supplements
- Stress
- Maintaining a well-functioning brain
- Epigenetics and neuroplasticity.
RSVP at the Zenergy front desk or at 725-0595.
Northern Rockies Folk Festival seeks volunteers
The 35th annual Northern Rockies Folk Festival is looking for volunteers to help take tickets in two-hour shifts from 4-10 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3, and from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4. Volunteers will receive a free pass to the festival on the day they work for each two-hour shift worked.
This year's lineup includes Rosie Ledet, Carrie Rodriquez and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
Anyone interested can call Stefany Mahoney at 720-8227 (leave a message) or email stefmahoney@yahoo.com.
Doctor to lecture on health, well-being
Dr. Barry Bittman will discuss a new paradigm for treating the whole person and engaging communities in the active pursuit of health and well-being in a free lecture Thursday, July 26, at 5:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum.
The lecture is part of the St. Luke's Wood River Foundation's 2012 Health and Well-being Speaker Series.
According to a press release from the foundation, Bittman is a neurologist, author, international speaker, researcher and leader in community health innovations.
"Dr. Bittman is a recognized industry leader in innovation and has demonstrated tremendous success in improving the health of a community," said Megan Thomas, chief development officer of the St. Luke's Wood River Foundation.
For more information, call Kathleen McCabe at 727-8419.
Steve McQueen's widow to speak out against asbestos
Barbara Minty McQueen, alongside the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, will speak at the U.S. House of Representatives staff briefing "Asbestos: Environmental and Occupational Exposure Continues" in Washington, D.C., on July 24 to discuss how asbestos took the life of her husband—actor and part-time Wood River Valley resident Steve McQueen, and why the U.S. should ban asbestos.
On July 25, the organization will host a press conference during which McQueen will talk about her late husband's diagnosis in 1979 at age 50 of mesothelioma, an uncommon disease that causes malignant cancer cells to form within the lining of the chest or abdomen or around the heart. Its primary cause is believed to be exposure to asbestos.
According to the organization, Steve McQueen believed he contracted mesothelioma from removing asbestos-filled insulation from the massive pipes in a ship's hold while working in the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard. It is also possible the car-racing enthusiast was exposed to asbestos on New York and Hollywood sound stages or in his protective racing suits and helmets.
Barbara McQueen will also unveil her newly published "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile ... Revisited."
"Most people think that asbestos is banned in America, but that's not true," Barbara McQueen said. "I want to ask President Obama and Congress to get off the bench, get in the game and immediately ban the importation and use of asbestos."
