City pools closed today

The Casper Recreation Center, Casper Family Aquatic Center and all five outdoor pools will be closed today, according to city officials.

"Last year the pools were open and attendance was very low," said Peter Meyers, administrative analyst for the city. "We figured the trend would continue this year. It appears that people have other plans for Independence Day."

Facilities will reopen on their normal schedules July 5.

Meyers said city garbage collection will operate as usual today.

For more information, go to www.casperwy.gov.

Music and fireworks today

Casper's annual fireworks festival at the Casper Events Center starts at 4 p.m. today with live music from the Todd Scott Trio, followed by Chaser at 5:30, the Tremors at 7 and Kingbilly at 8:45.

The fireworks show starts around 10 p.m. with the soundtrack of patriotic music broadcast on Clear Channel stations 104.7 KISS-FM, 107.9 The River, AM 1030, Star 96.7, 95.5 KWYY, and AM 1400.

On Events Center grounds there will be a beer garden and food and vendor booths selling jewelry, toys, games, barbecue, burgers, ice cream and more. People must be at least 21 years old to enter the beer garden serving area.

Coolers, food and drinks are permitted but people can't bring glass containers or alcohol onto Events Center grounds with them.

Gates open at 4 p.m. Admission must be paid in cash. It's $10 per vehicle, $5 per motorcycle, or free if all occupants in a vehicle have tickets to the Cavs game.

Responders investigate non-drownings

Emergency workers with Casper Fire-EMS, the Natrona County Fire District and the Casper Police Department responded to two separate calls of possible drownings Tuesday on the North Platte River.

Officials said neither of the incidents turned out to be anything serious.

In one incident, a concerned citizen reported seeing a pink raft floating down the river by itself without a swimmer. Officials located the owner of the raft, who was not injured, and interviewed other people along the river before clearing.

Officials remind people to be safe and wear life jackets when floating the river.

Bed, Bath & Beyond picks Casper

Bed, Bath & Beyond, a nationwide chain that offers a wide variety of merchandise, plans to open stores in Casper and Cheyenne this fall.

Company spokeswoman Catherine Gentile said the Casper outlet will occupy about 20,000 square feet in the Eastridge Mall. It will be located between Zales Jewelry and JC Penney with an entrance facing Second St.

These will be the first Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in the state, she added. The chain has over 800 outlets nationwide.

Among products the company offers are bed linens, bath accessories, home furnishings, cookware and storage items.

CY students honored

Top honors went to CY Junior High students during the May 2007 Project Citizen State Showcase as CY's four teams each received superior ratings, according to a news release from the Natrona County School District.

KC Hunsicker, Brendan King, Kayla Davis, Tyler Kroll, Sam Struck, and Tianna See received a superior rating on their portfolio, "Whip Discipline Into Shape," and they won the hearing portion of the showcase. This is the first time in Wyoming Project Citizen history that one team has received the top award in both the portfolio and the hearing competitions.

This portfolio will now represent Wyoming during the National Project Citizen Showcase to be held later this summer in Boston.

Physicians honor doctor

A scholarship in the memory of Dr. Paul Johnson has been established by his fellow physicians at Casper College.

The Paul Johnson Memorial Scholarship will provide financial assistance to students who are studying to become medical laboratory technicians, according to Paul Hallock, Casper College Foundation executive director, in a news release.

Drs. Gregory Brondos and Robert Tobin initiated the scholarship.

"So far more than $11,000 has been received from our medical community," Hallock said.

The money received have been matched by the State of Wyoming as part of an additional matching fund initiative and the fund balance is now over $22,000, he said.

"This is a wonderful tribute by Paul's many friends and represents a commitment from the medical community to not only remember a colleague, but to encourage students to pursue a career in medical laboratory technician at Casper College," Hallock said.

The first Paul Johnson Memorial Scholarship will be awarded in the spring of 2009.