Emergency roadwork in Ketchum starting today
A new fiber-optic cable will be installed in Ketchum starting today, Aug. 6, due to technological glitches in the fire and police departments, according to a Ketchum city news release. Installation could take up to three days and traffic delays are expected, the news release states.
Traffic between City Hall to state Highway 75 to 10th Street and Warm Springs Road will be affected by the work. Portions of Fifth and Sixth streets and East Avenue also will be affected, the news release indicates.
“We are experiencing intermittent computer failures because of overloading and feel that it is unsafe to delay replacing the old wiring,” said Mike Elle, chief of fire and emergency medical services. “Traffic delays are far less inconvenient than delays in a response by an ambulance or a fire truck.”
Sun Valley to host Comprehensive Plan town hall
The city of Sun Valley will host a “town hall” on Monday, Aug. 18, to review the 2014 Comprehensive Plan Update with the public.
The plan “is a basic document used to guide the growth and development of a city,” according to an Aug. 4 news release from the city. The update is based off a 2005 Comprehensive Plan Update. Following more than a year of public meetings and forums, the Aug. 18 meeting is an opportunity for the public to speak before determinations or adoption of the Comprehensive Plan occurs.
The meeting at Carol’s Dollar Mountain Lodge is slated to start at 3 p.m. and to last two hours.
Study: National monuments help economies
Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research organization in Bozeman, Mont., recently updated research that found that national monument designation throughout the West has generally benefited or at least not harmed nearby communities.
In July, the organization released findings updating the results of a 2011 study comparing economic conditions between 2000 and 2008 of communities near 17 recently designated national monuments. Trends since then either continued or improved in each of the regions.
Per capita income increased for the studied counties adjacent to every national monument in the years following establishment.
The new analysis again compared the economic performance of national monument counties to similar benchmark counties. In most instances, the growth in four key economic indicators was the same or stronger in national monument counties than in comparable peer counties, though that varies by monument. Thirteen grew at similar or faster rates compared to the benchmark and four were slower.
Wake Up Hailey set for Tuesday
Join the Hailey Chamber of Commerce for the monthly Wake Up Hailey event on Tuesday, Aug. 12, from 9-10 a.m. at the Jessica Collins Photography studio in Hailey. The studio is located at 400 South Main St., Unit 304 C (across from Third Floor Salon).
Visitors can enjoy a cup of coffee and sweet rolls made by Collins. For more information, call the Hailey Chamber at 788-3484.
Lightning ignites fire near Middle Fork
A wildfire has burned about 30 acres near the mouth of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
According to a news release from the Salmon-Challis National Forest, the lighting-caused fire was detected Friday about three miles southeast of the confluence with the Main Salmon River.
The fire is burning in narrow lines of alpine fir among rock outcroppings and cliffs where the terrain is very steep and inaccessible. Smoke and fire may be visible from the lower end of the Middle Fork and along the Main Salmon.
Salmon-Challis fire managers expect the fire to continue to burn throughout the summer or until a significant weather event occurs.