CASTLE ROCK – The recent blizzard buried Castle Rock”s plans for volunteers to clean trash along Seller’s Gulch last Saturday. The annual event has been rescheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 2.
The event is planned for December each year because vegetation in the warmer months along Cherry and East Plum creeks masks debris, coordinators said.
Storm-water runoff from rooftops, lawns, construction sites and streets load up the nearby waterways with trash, sediment, chemicals and other pollutants.
About 70 people collected more than 50 trash bags of debris last year.
Volunteers will receive instructions and maps at the Philip S. Miller Library’s Community Bandstand at 100 South Wilcox St. The work will be followed by a small celebration with hot chocolate and prizes.
For more information call 720-733-6011.
BOZEMAN, MONT.
Two MSU scientists featured on PBS show
Two Montana State University scientists who study heat-loving viruses in Yellowstone National Park will appear in a science program on the Public Broadcasting Service.
“Wired Science” will air on PBS on Jan. 3.
Trevor Douglas and Mark Young were filmed at Yellowstone and MSU in September and will be featured in one segment of the hourlong show. Jennifer Fulton, an MSU doctoral student, ran the scanning electron microscope and was also involved in the on-campus filming.
Douglas and Young study viruses that live in the thermal pools of Yellowstone Park and look for ways to use the viruses’ protein shells. The shells are tiny containers that can hold a variety of materials. One goal is to use the containers to carry drugs to specific parts of the body.
Douglas is a faculty member with MSU’s Thermal Biology Institute and director of MSU’s Center for Bioinspired Nanomaterials. Young is one of the founders of the Thermal Biology Institute and currently a TBI researcher. Fulton is funded by the TBI.
PBS is considering three science shows that could be developed into a series. “Wired Science” is one of them, according to a PBS news release. The first episode takes viewers into the world of meteorite hunters and travels to Yellowstone with Douglas and Young. The show also dives underwater to find NEEMO, NASA’s extreme astronaut training program, and introduces viewers to rocket-belt inventors, stem-cell explorers, and the developer of an electric car that goes zero-to-60 mph in less than four seconds.
“Wired Science” is a collaboration between Wired Magazine and KCET/Los Angeles, PBS’s West Coast flagship station. Wired Magazine focuses on science and technology.
ESPANOLA, N.M.
City to lobby for help with water system
Just before Halloween, one of the city’s aging water mains sprouted holes, leaking more than a million gallons of water in a few hours.
In the 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found a portion of the city’s underground water was contaminated by chemicals used in dry cleaning.
And in 2001, a summer electrical storm burned out the pump motors on five of the city’s remaining six water wells, forcing the city to pump its only well 24 hours a day, seven days a week just to get 1 million gallons of water per day.
The situations highlight the city’s ongoing water problem, which Mayor Joseph Maestas calls “dire.” The city relies on groundwater wells to serve its 11,000 residents and businesses, and without help from the state Legislature and Congress, the city won’t be able to refurbish existing wells, drill new wells and build a multimillion-dollar treatment plant to handle surface water.
The city plans to lobby hard during the upcoming legislative and congressional sessions for help to meet those needs.
SALT LAKE CITY
Suit filed in alleged work-at-home scam
Federal prosecutors have filed a civil lawsuit against a Centerville, Utah, company that promised a home-based business opportunity would bring investors immediate cash flow and incredible returns.
But the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice say the promise was bogus and lacked a basis for the claim. Both agencies are parties in the lawsuit filed Dec. 6 in U.S. District Court.
The action is among 100 included in “Project False Hopes,” an 11-state federal crackdown on work-at-home scams. Other cases involve home-based business opportunities for vending machines, ATM and Internet terminals, envelope stuffing and medical billing.
The Utah lawsuit alleges Universal Advertising Inc. failed to provide complete and accurate financial information to potential buyers and failed to disclose the number of prior investors who had achieved the profit levels claimed in promotional material.
