Idaho Falls Under Snow Alert

All the snow in recent days has prompted the City of Idaho Falls to declare a Snow Alert effective indefinitely.

That gives the city street department a chance to clear the snow off the roads to make them safer for everyone to get around.

This is only the second snow alert the mayor has declared for the city, but after getting an estimated 8 to 10 inches of snowfall since last Thursday night there's a lot of snow that has to be moved.

Monday morning, the city street department had more than 60 city and contracted workers out removing snow. It is a massive effort to remove piles of snow. Workers will be out clearing the residential and main roads around the clock over the next few days.

Under this Snow Alert, Monday was designated that all cars be off of the north and south streets by 8 a.m. or they are towed.

Seargent Dave Frei with the Idaho Falls Police Department, who was out Monday morning working on ticketing and towing, asks everyone to pay attention to the Snow Alert by moving your car off the roads needing to be plowed.

Sgt. Dave Frei: "Just be aware that tomorrow we're going to be out bright and early doing the east, west streets in the A zones and here if they can just have their cars moved before 8 o'clock it will be easiest for them, easiest for us."

Tuesday the east and west streets will be plowed if your car is in the way, it will be towed around the corner and you will be ticketed 45 dollars.

The mayor is the one who can cancel the snow alert and it will stay in effect until he determines it should end.

For more details on this snow alert including a map of the streets go to the City of Idaho Falls website.

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Obesity Virus

Can you really catch germs that will cause you to gain weight?!

New reports today suggest that obesity can be "caught" -- and that an airborne "adenovirus" germ could be causing the obesity crisis around the world!

According to these reports, up to one in three people who are carrying around extra weight may be able to attribute their obesity to the "highly infectious cold-like virus, known as AD-36."

Allegedly, studies on humans have revealed that 33% of overweight adults have contracted the virus at some point in their lives, while the same is true for only 11% of lean adults.

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Trand Alert : 2009 Sag Awards.

Last night at the 2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, the red carpet was filled with celebrities from television and film. In true Hollywood tradition, all of the women arrived dressed to the nines in ball-gowns and baubles from big name designers and everyone's hair and makeup was flawless. Some of my favourite beauties were January Jones who looked slightly 70's with her loose waves and gold eye shadow, and Freida Pinto whose soft, smoky makeup enhanced her creamy caramel skin. I also noticed that most hairstyles had body as opposed to looking stick straight. In particular, the elegant and timeless wavy updo reigned supreme. Out of these eight elaborate looks, whose do you like the most?

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SF Opera commissions 3 world premieres

The San Francisco Opera plans to commission new operas by American composers Christopher Theofanidis, Mark Adamo and Jennifer Higdon.

The announcement Monday coincided with the release of the schedule for 2009-10, conductor Nicola Luisotti's first as music director. The company canceled a planned new production of Britten's "Peter Grimes" and a revival of Puccini's "La Boheme" because of finances.

Theofanidis' work will focus on heroism and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. It will have a libretto by Donna DiNovelli and is planned to premiere in September 2011. Adamo's opera, "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene," is scheduled to open in June 2013 and will have a libretto by the composer. Higdon's opera, with a libretto by Gene Scheer, is to open in the autumn 2013. The subject was not announced.

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DeVotchKa mixes up world-beat stew at World Cafe Live

The first thing to notice when watching any audience take in the Balkans-meets-Bolero cabaret of DeVotchKa is how the listeners react.

The rabidly enthusiastic throng that sold out World Café Live on Friday certainly knew the nattily dressed quartet through the use of its music in films such as Everything Is Illuminated and Little Miss Sunshine.

Still, kids and adults in the crowd quizzed their buds as to what country such beautiful, mad, bad, ethno-something music could come from. Slovakia? Greece? Mexico? France?

DeVotchKa's sound of foreign intrigue was born in Denver, in the province of Colorado. Take that, Romania.

Denver's mile-high airiness is probably responsible for giving the band's delightfully melodic arrangements such spaciousness, such epic grandeur.

For, rather than sounding kitchen-sink cluttered, DeVotchKa's combination of world-weary chanson, waltz, rai, tango, mariachi, polka, country and atmospheric pop blended ever so elegantly.

That can't be easy when the guitarist is doubling up on theremin when he isn't busy singing like Bono (at his most supple) and Slim Whitman. Or when the drummer jumps between his kit and his trumpet. Yet DeVotchKa made the whole mess effortless.

Tom Hagerman went back and forth between accordion and violin, crafting rolling, thunderous waltzes such as "Head Honcho" and gypsy-whining ballads. His pirouetting piano throughout "Along the Way" was his most potent contribution - simple and sweet.

Though she brightened the stage with a sousaphone lined in Christmas lights, Jeanie Schroder's coolest contributions came through creating dense, pliable rhythms - not just the oompah-oompah bounce usually attributed to the tubalike instrument, but a genuine, fluid pulse during every song. Schroder played stand-up bass, too, and crafted a swarming-bee buzzing during a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" that was scarier than the original.

But Nick Urata was DeVotchKa's oddest instrument - playing bouzouki like a ragged punk, toying with his theremin like a mad scientist. Mostly, though, his fragile voice was the night's spookiest highlight - cooing the high, yodeling bridges of the plucky, daydreamy "The Clockwise Witness" and haunting stately ballads such as "How It Ends."

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Obama on the world stage

Obama is in the world news. His news is all over the place.
China Daily, China's English-language newspaper: President Barack Obama has portrayed himself as a pragmatist, and empiricist. Then he should not shut his eyes to the most precious diplomatic legacy of his predecessor.

Sino-U.S. relations have been fragile and vulnerable to politicizing, owing to both Cold War ideologies and conflicting interests. Judging from his previous words, President Obama may see China as a competitor his country will have to deal with. The next question is how.

Interdependence between the two economies is beyond description, particularly during this recession. From the financial crisis to regional stability to global warming, they need each other anyway, even if unwillingly. So zero-sum games are simply out of the question.

The good news for Mr. Obama is that his predecessor, through eight years in office, has laid a decent foundation for one of the world's most influential relationships. That is a fine bequest he should generously embrace.

Times of India: Mr. Obama's inauguration party, which has seen millions of Americans pour onto the streets to have a blast, is a fine celebration of democratic ideals and values. Democracy's enabling promises are why Americans and those who share similar values elsewhere are raising a toast as they welcome President Barack Hussein Obama.

Arab News, Saudi Arabia: If Arab and Muslim eyes were less focused on Washington ... it is because the pain of Gaza is too raw. Even so, we too have high hopes that, after eight years of catastrophic American engagement in the region, there will be a more balanced, more intelligent, more collaborative approach from Washington. For more than half a century, the U.S. has treated the region like an errant imperial possession that needs to be taken in hand, but these last eight years have been the worst. ...

Hope unfulfilled can be reborn as bitter resentment. The unavoidable truth is that the new president is not going to be able to deliver on all his promises, let alone everyone else's expectations of him that exceed by far anything he promised.

Yediot Ahronot, Israel: When the festive noise fades in Washington, and in Jerusalem, the joy over the victory in Gaza, the big U.S. and little Israel must - with or without Europe - look for any and all means to strike at Iran's capabilities - military, economic and diplomatic.

In a more pointed note to President Obama: Up to now, your speeches have been fantastic. Now let's see your actions.

The News, Mexico: Our northern neighbor has sworn in a new president amid scenes of joyous celebration. ... The Calderón administration hopes Mexico will be a player in the U.S. foreign policy debate (and not just as a security risk). The hope is that Mexico will be seated at the table as alternatives and solutions are discussed, and not be regarded as the problem. ... Patience and pragmatism will benefit us most. But for now, it is enough to marvel at the transition itself, particularly how it was accepted - and even embraced - by those who were defeated in the polls last November. That aspect of democracy is something we have yet to achieve. Well, that and accountability - and government transparency.

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Obama Reverses Key Bush Security Policies

President Obama reversed the most disputed counterterrorism policies of the Bush administration on Thursday, declaring that “our ideals give us the strength and moral high ground” in the fight against Al Qaeda. But Mr. Obama postponed for months decisions on complex questions the United States has been grappling with since the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Mr. Obama signed executive orders closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within a year; ending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons; and requiring all interrogations to follow the noncoercive methods of the Army Field Manual. “We intend to win this fight,” he said. “We are going to win it on our own terms.” His actions on the second full day of his presidency won praise from human rights groups and Democrats in Congress, who said the new policies would help restore the United States’ moral authority. Mr. Obama invited to the signing ceremony 16 retired generals and admirals who had spoken out against what they called torture. Their passionate appeal to end harsh interrogations “made an extraordinary impression on me,” he said. Mr. Obama’s orders struck a powerful new tone and represented an important first step toward rewriting American rules for dealing with terrorism suspects. But only his decision to halt for now the military trials under way at Guantánamo Bay seemed likely to have immediate practical significance, with other critical policy choices to be resolved by task forces set up within the administration. Among the questions that the White House did not resolve on Thursday were these: What should be done with terrorists who cannot be tried in American courts, either because evidence against them was obtained by torture or because intelligence is too sensitive to use in court? Should some interrogation methods remain secret to keep Al Qaeda from training to resist them? How can the United States make sure prisoners transferred to other countries will not be tortured?Members of Mr. Obama’s national security team have expressed a wide variety of views on interrogation and detention policy, and there is likely to be robust internal debate before the questions are resolved.

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