T.J. Thomson In the Twitterverse

@topfornews Hoooray for TJ!
— Michael Strickland (@MichaelStrickla) March 28, 2013

T.J. Thomson: "Promoting Healthy, Active Lifestyles for Boise's Children is My No. 1 Priority" bit.ly/11PyPri
— Boise Idaho News (@boisenews) March 28, 2013

T.J. Thomson: Promoting healthy, active lifestyles for Boise's children is my "No. 1 priority"

T.J. Thomson

The health of Boise's residents is effectively being addressed by the city council, according to the Idaho Statesman.

 
City Councilman T.J. Thomson said promoting healthy, active lifestyles for Boise's children is his "No. 1 priority" in city government. In one recent example, the capacity for a workshop which focused on the problem of childhood obesity, was 25. "The number of participants exceeded capacity by seven," the Statesman reported. "The waiting list was about 70,"

The next two workshops will examine nutrition and physical activity for children in daycare. Demand for those sessions is just as strong as for the first one, said Amy Stahl, a city spokeswoman who co-chairs Boise's Let’s Move! committee.

"There's obviously a need for this kind of outreach, and the childcare providers were hungry for information," Stahl said.



Let’s Move!  is a comprehensive initiative, launched by First Lady Michelle Obama. dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams.

Combining comprehensive strategies with common sense, Let’s Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and years: Giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices;  providing healthier foods in our schools; ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food;  and, helping children become more physically active.

Thomson is working on several policy initiatives in the coming months that should have a positive impact in this area. His work could potentially 'move the needle' in the battle against the child obesity epidemic we are facing as a nation.

Boise has enlisted dozens of partners, including schools, health organizations, city departments, private companies and nonprofits. Thomson compared the push to combat obesity to the city's year-old ban on smoking in bars. They're both a matter of shepherding public health, one of the city's core responsibilities, he said.

"Local communities, municipal governments in particular, have to step up and play a major role here if it's not going to happen at the state level, which it's not," Thomson said.

2013 Exchange Club Parade America Now Accepting Applications

Applications for parade entries are being accepted for the 47th Annual Exchange Club

Parade America, which will take place in Nampa on Saturday, May 18, 2013. Thousands of spectators line the parade route every year for this patriotic parade, which is one of the largest in Idaho and includes floats, horses, marching bands, antique cars, and much more.

The theme of this year’s parade is:

“This is My Country.”

Join the fun as a participant by contacting Amy Farnworth at 468-4412 to get an application, parade route map, and a letter explaining the entry rules. Those items are also available online:

What: 47th Annual Exchange Club Parade America

When: Saturday, May 18, 2013

Time: 11 am

Start: Corner of 12th Avenue Road & Lake Lowell, Nampa

Cost: FREE
Contact: Amy Farnworth at 468-4412 or

farnwortha@cityofnampa.us

The parade starts at 11am near Nampa High School. The parade route follows 12th Avenue Road to 7th Street South, to 16th Avenue South, ending near Northwest Nazarene University campus at Holly Street and East Colorado. This parade is free for participants and spectators alike.

The Exchange Club Parade America started in 1966 and is one of the oldest, continuous parades in the area.

Idaho State University Detective/Spy Festival Reflects on Literature and Film

The Idaho Detective/Spy Festival, exploring the detective and spy genre in literature and film, will be held March 17-21 at Idaho State University and the Portneuf Brewery in Pocatello. The festival, organized by the ISU Departments of English and Philosophy and Languages and Literature, will present films, lectures, and a panel discussion offering the Pocatello and ISU communities an enriching opportunity to reflect on the nature of this category of literature and film, especially the representations of violence and crime proper to it.

The festival schedule is as follows:

• Sunday, March 17, at 3, 5 and 7 p.m. – Showing of film "Arbitrage," ISU Pond Student Union Theater, cost is $2 or $1 with a valid Bengal card.

• Monday, March 18, 7 p.m. – Showing of film "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," Rendezvous Complex, Room 118.

• Tuesday, March 19, 7 p.m. – Keynote presentation "Reading Crime and Restoring Order: The International Importance of Crime Fiction" by John Scaggs, professor of English at Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas, Rendezvous Complex Suites A, B and C.

• Wednesday, March 20, 7 p.m. – Showing of film "Headhunters," with an introduction by Thomas Sobchack, professor emeritus, Department of Film and Media Arts, University of Utah, Room 118 Rendezvous Complex, free admission. Sobchack will also lead a discussion of the film following its showing.

• Thursday, March 21, 6 p.m. – ISU Humanities Cafe panel discussion "Ambiguities of Crime and Violence in the Detective/Spy Genre," featuring ISU faculty Dan Hunt and Alan Johnson, and Sobchack.

The selections of films emphasize the international scope of the genre. The American work "Arbitrage," was directed by Nicholas Jarecki, fall 2012; Martin Ritt’s English film "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," was filmed in1963; and the Norwegian "Headhunters," 2011, directed by Morton Tyldum, was based on the novel by popular Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo.

"Arbitrage" and "Headhunters" offer very recent and acclaimed films in the detective and crime genre. Audiences will also have the chance to see the film version of John Le Carré’s classic spy novel, "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," which exposes the moral cost of spying for one's country, the human price paid by the spies and the people they use.

Keynote speaker John Scaggs, professor of English at Southwestern College, Winfield, Kan., an expert on crime fiction, will lecture on "Reading Crime and Restoring Order: The International Importance of Crime Fiction." His talk, followed by a discussion, will address the ability of the genre to reinvent itself in response to changing social and cultural issues. Scaggs is the author of the acclaimed introduction to the genre, “Crime Fiction” (2005) and a regular contributor to the Mystery Caucus at the Popular Culture Association of America.

The three scholars making up the panel for the Humanities Cafe, include Sobchack, along with Dan Hunt, ISU associate professor in the Department of Languages and Literature, and Alan Johnson, professor in the Department of English and Philosophy, will take up violence, censorship, terrorism and secrecy in the spy/detective genre.

For the panel, Sobchack will look at the violent acts carried out by both sexes in classic film noir. Hunt will analyze the new role of the lone-wolf detective in Latin American fiction by Taibo. Johnson will interpret the spy's secrecy and loneliness as reflections of human behavior—about what we like and don’t like, about what drives some people to the edge.

The following sponsors have generously made these events possible: The Idaho Humanities Council, The Cultural Events Committee of ISU, the ISU Committee on the Study of Violence in Society, and the ISU Cinema Circle.

For more information, contact Pamela Park, Languages and Literature program director/professor, 208-282-3717 or parkpame@isu.edu.

Portneuf Medical Center: March 14th is World Kidney Day

Written by Michael Haderlie, M.D.

Our kidneys perform some of the most important functions in our body. Many people do not know that our kidneys have a higher blood flow than our brain, liver, or the heart’s own blood supply and are sophisticated processing machines that continuously keep the blood clean and chemically balanced.

When we think about the vital organs necessary for survival, the heart, lungs, brain, and liver, often come to mind, and the kidneys must also be included. In fact, we need at least one functioning kidney to stay alive.

March 14h is World Kidney Day, a day to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to our overall health and how to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.

The frequency of chronic kidney disease continues to increase worldwide at an alarming pace, as does the prevalence of end-stage kidney disease. One in nine American adults, approximately 26 million Americans, have chronic kidney disease and millions more are at risk.

Read the full article on the Portneuf Medical Center website.

Idaho’s Big Salmon and Steelheads Need Little Fish to Eat

Idaho is suited to all styles of fishing - drifting, backtrolling, spin fishing or fly fishing - from shore or from the boat. The Gem State has some of the best fishing in the country, including Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout. Many of these great fighters will weigh 20 pounds or more. Such large, strong fish attract anglers from throughout the world. Waters around Idaho are famous for the large "B-Run" Steelhead that return to the spawning areas after two years in the ocean. Our state has some of the top streams in the northwest and is supported by the worlds largest Steelhead/Salmon Hatchery.

Big Fish Eat Little Fish
Small schooling species such as sardines, anchovies and other forage fish eat plankton and in turn become a critical food source for everything above them on the food web, including seabirds, whales, and bigger fish like salmon and tuna. Thus, if you care about big (and plentiful) Salmon and Steelhead, then you also need to care about the management of tiny fish way out in the ocean.

"Forage fish are a huge part of the food web out in the ocean," Hayes wrote. "If there are not enough forage fish then the predator fish further up the food chain, like salmon and steelhead, dwindle in numbers. Unfortunately, the global demand for forage fish is growing and these important little fish are being scooped up and then being ground up into food, poultry and fish farms."

What You Can Do 
 There's something you can do about it today, writes Justin Hayes on the Idaho Conservation League website. "If you are like me, and you want these fish to get eaten in the ocean by salmon and steelhead instead of being fed to chickens and pigs, then you need to make your voice heard," Hayes said.

According to the Pew Charitable Trust, in 2012, west coast fishery managers recognized the need to protect tiny but vitally important fish in order to maintain a healthy and balanced ocean ecosystem here along the Pacific coast. This is due, thanks in large measure, to a strong demonstration of public support. Last June, the Council adopted a policy objective to prohibit new fisheries targeting currently unmanaged forage fish because of their role in sustaining a healthy ocean food web. The California Fish and Game Commission adopted a similar policy for state waters within three miles of California's picturesque beaches. However, the best of intentions mean very little without action to back them up.

They need your help to keep the momentum going in 2013. 
According to the Idaho Conservation League, the first-ever Fishery Ecosystem Plan is now available for public comment, and the Pacific Fishery Management Council has a chance to move ecosystem protection from theory into practice. However, the best of intentions mean very little without action to back them up. The council's public comment period closes soon. Please take a moment to tell the council that it's time to enact firm measures to sustain the Pacific marine ecosystem, starting by protecting the ocean food web.

You can comment at this convenient website.

University of Idaho Women’s Center Celebrates Women with Award-Winning Films at LUNAFEST

Michael Strickland  

The University of Idaho Women’s Center will celebrate its eighth anniversary of hosting the only national touring festival of short films by, for and about women. The LUNAFEST Women’s Film Festival will take place in Moscow on Thursday, March 21, 2013. LUNAFEST™, produced by LUNA, The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women?, provides a national platform for independent women filmmakers to share their talents and stories.

“This is a great opportunity to bring the campus and community together for a fun, educational event, and celebrate women and their contributions,” said Lysa Salsbury, program coordinator at the Women’s Center.

As a special additional feature to the event, inaugurated at last year’s festival, the Women’s Center will host a pre-screening reception at 6:30 p.m. with beverages by Camas Prairie Winery and complimentary hors d'oeuvres by Mikey’s Gyros.

The screening, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, located at 508 S. Main Street in Moscow, includes nine award-winning films selected from more than 200 submissions that made their way through a multi-stage judging process. The films to be shown at this year’s LUNAFEST address a wide range of topics, including health, women’s athletic prowess, women and outdoor recreation activities, women’s art, relationships and personal identity.

“The films chosen for the festival are all top quality, and promise to engage the audience,” said Salsbury. “I hope some great discussion will come out of the evening.”

A percentage of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Breast Cancer Fund, a national non-profit that funds research into the environmental causes of breast cancer. Any additional profits will benefit the Betsy Thomas Memorial Gender Equality Scholarship provided by the Women’s Center, a scholarship offered annually in the amount of $1,000 to two deserving students.
Tickets for LUNAFEST are on sale at the Women's Center, located in the Memorial Gym on the University of Idaho campus, and Book People of Moscow, at 521 S. Main Street in downtown Moscow. Tickets for the reception are $10 for students with valid ID, $15 for general admission, and include the films, one ticket to a multi-prize raffle of gift items donated by local businesses and organizations, free appetizers, and one beverage of choice. Admission to the films only is $3 for students, $8 for general admission.

For more information on the Moscow LUNAFEST, please visit the official LunaFest website at www.lunafest.org or the Women’s Center’s website at www.uidaho.edu/studentaffairs/womenscenter, or contact the Women’s Center at (208) 885-2777 or wcenter@uidaho.edu.

Bill Will Increase Hydropower Development, Create Rural Jobs

by Michael Strickland

U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-ID) and John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the “Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act.”  The bill will help create jobs in rural communities across the country and provide America with a cheap and clean source of electricity.

“One of the best sources of renewable, clean, energy is hydroelectric.  If we can continue to modernize conventional water canals, conduit piping, and irrigation ditches with new conduit hydropower technology, then why is the federal government making it so difficult to expand hydropower technology in Idaho and other western states?  This bill will streamline federal bureaucracy and eliminate red tape to allow Idaho canal companies and irrigation districts to expand agriculture projects, create new jobs, and generate new clean energy,” said Risch.

According to Barrasso:

“Wyoming has the most Bureau of Reclamation canal sites of any state in the country—but Washington regulations prevent us from installing hydropower units in these areas.  It’s time to eliminate red tape that stops America from fully embracing hydropower’s potential.  We need to take advantage of this abundant, renewable and inexpensive source of electricity.  By removing the barriers to hydropower development, our bill will create jobs and lower electricity prices for American families.”  

Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) are original co-sponsors of the “Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act.”

Many rural water and irrigation districts and electric utilities in Idaho and Wyoming, as well as in other western states, seek to develop hydropower on Bureau of Reclamation water canals and pipelines. However, outdated and unnecessary federal regulations hinder these small hydropower projects, rendering them economically unfeasible.

The “Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act” will enable job creators to invest in domestic energy production by removing duplicative environmental analysis and reducing regulatory costs associated with hydropower development.

In addition, the bill:

• Provides America with a cheap and clean source of electricity available through modern technology.

• Creates an environment for substantial rural job creation.

• Generates federal revenue, as CBO estimates that the bill will generate $5 million in federal revenue over the 2012-2021 period.

• Does not harm the environment since the generation units would be placed on already developed ground within existing facilities that have already gone through federal environmental review.

Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03) introduced the companion bill today in the House of Representative

You are invited! 2013 Connect the Pieces Gala

Marie Hattaway writes:
Dear Friends,
 
I am passing along an invitation to a great upcoming community event~ The 2nd Annual Connect the Pieces Gala, themed the Roaring 2020's: A Vision for the Future. 
 
This event is put on by Supportive Housing and Innovative Partnerships (SHIP)* and proceeds from this event will benefit SHIP's Connect the Pieces campaign, which is shining a light on the dangers of prescription drugs in our commuities.  Evening includes dinner, auction, live music, and interactive games!

When: Friday March 22, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM MDT

Where: Riverside Hotel, 900 W. Chinden Blvd, Boise, ID 83714 (Click here for map)

Tickets: Click here for more information or to purchase your ticket today

Inquiries: If you have any questions about tickets, donations or sponsorships, please contact,Chris Thomas, Connect the Pieces to Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse ~ 208-914-3940

Thank you,
 
Marie

The Roaring 2020's: A Vision for the Future

You are cordially invited to join us at the Second Annual Connect the Pieces Gala, which is themed the Roaring 2020’s: A Vision for the Future. Unlike the Roaring 1920’s of the Prohibition era, we are shining a bright light on the dangers of prescription drug abuse in our community. We want to work together with all segments of the community to determine
how we can each do our part to eliminate this epidemic! Join us for  dinner, auction, live music, and interactive games.

Featured Speaker: Ada County Sherriff Gary Raney

Click Here to Purchase Tickets

Idaho Voices in Recovery

Idaho Voices in Recovery is a group of persons in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, family, friends and allies coming together to insure that people in recovery have a voice! We want a say in policies and legislation that impacts our lives. Join us!

Public Health Crisis: Prescription Drug Abuse in Idaho

 (Drug-induced deaths do not include newborn deaths associated with mother’s drug use,
accidents such as falls and motor vehicle crashes, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use.)

Information gleaned from Death Certificates by Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Division of Health, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, March 2011.

Ten-Year Trends:

• From 2000 to 2009, 1244 Idaho residents died from a drug-induced death.
• The number of drug-induced deaths increased two and a half times from 69 (2000) to 184 (2009).

Three-Year Aggregate:

• Ninety-five percent (95.2 percent) of Idaho resident drug-induced deaths occurred within the State from 2007 to 2009.
• Sixty percent (60.0 percent) of drug-induced deaths to Idaho residents from 2007 to 2009 were the result of an accidental poisoning.
• The most common substance listed on the death certificates among those who died in Idaho were:

            Narcotics (262 deaths)

                              Hydrocodone (68 deaths)

                              Methadone (54 deaths)

                              Oxycodone / Oxycontine (43 Deaths)

                              Morphine (28 Deaths)

                              Heroin (6 Deaths)

      Antiepiletic, Sedative-Hypnotic, Antiparkinsonism and Psychotropic (225 Deaths)

                              Anti-depressants (65 deaths)

                              Benzodiazepine (60 deaths)

                              Methamphetamine (25 Deaths)

                              Muscle Relaxants (23 Deaths)

                              Cannabis / Marijuana (2 Deaths)

      Alcohol in combination with drugs (65 deaths)

• More than 40 percent of Death Certificates (184 out of 456 deaths) did not list a specific drug, medicament, or biological substance as contributing to the drug-induced death.

Treefort Music Fest 2013 Schedule / Single Day Passes and Main Stage Tix Announced!

The official Treefort Music Fest 2013 music schedule is now available so start making your plans and sorting out those tough decisions! Check it out HERE. Now that you have the schedule, presale for Single Day Passes and Main Stage Tickets will go on-sale on March 1st — one week from today. Information on both …

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And see;

http://treefortmusicfest.com/