In This Section:
Dark Skies Ahead For Hailey, Idaho
Rhode Island Inspections Go High-Tech
Smoking Bans Spreading—Today Rhode Island, Tomorrow…The Nation?
School Wellness Policy Could Spread ‘No-Fry’ Zones
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Dark Skies Ahead For Hailey, Idaho
Regulations in Hailey, Idaho, will have you seeing stars—figuratively, or literally, or perhaps both. An ordinance aimed at promoting dark night skies and safe, energy efficient lighting requires full compliance by Aug. 21. So hustle up.
The regs require all businesses to install lighting that "prevents over-lighting, energy waste, glare, light-trespass and skyglow."
According to the rules, all lighting is required to be full cutoff and downcast—that is, fixtures may not allow light to escape above an 85-degree angle, as measured in a vertical line from the lamp to the ground.
Limiting light pollution improves energy efficiency and safety. Properly aimed and shielded fixtures lower electric bills by producing equivalent lighting with lower-wattage bulbs. By contrast, glare from unshielded lamps causes dark spots and shadows underneath, while shining light into the sky—the visual equivalent of a leaky faucet.
A number of towns across the country has already passed similar light pollution regulations, including Flagstaff and Sedona, Ariz.; Ketchum, Idaho; and the towns of Riverhead, Southampton, and East Hampton in Suffolk County, N.Y.
To read the Hailey ordinance, go to www.haileycityhall.org/p_z/outdoor_light_ord.asp.
And for more information about smart outdoor lighting, visit the Int'l. Dark-Sky Association at www.darksky.org.
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Rhode Island Inspections Go High-Tech
If you’re doing business in Rhode Island, you’ll soon be seeing state health inspectors going digital, thanks to a bioterrorism grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state’s Office of Food Protection is in the process of rolling out a wireless system for its 11 inspectors. The computer hardware, software and hosting fees come to more than $150,000, according to Dr. Ernest Julian, chief of the Office of Food Protection.
Inspectors equipped with portable tablet computers with a wireless Internet connection will be able to file reports electronically right from your own operation, or anywhere in the state. Mobile printers will let them present instant inspection reports to facilities.
The Food Protection office began field-testing the system in February. Full rollout is expected by early April.
The inspectors currently handle an average of 460 inspections per person a year—about 5,000 in all. The new system is expected to increase productivity to a total of 5,500 inspections per year. The system will also give allow field access to inspection reports, and let supervisors to concentrate the office’s efforts on the highest risk establishments.
Rhode Island is home to roughly 8,000 foodservice facilities, including 3,500 restaurants.
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Smoking Bans Spreading—Today Rhode Island, Tomorrow…The Nation?
Public smoking is on its way to becoming a dying pastime, so to speak, thanks to ever-more legislation being passed at local, state and even countrywide levels.
The latest state to jump on the anti-tobacco bandwagon is Rhode Island, where the Public Health and Workplace Safety Act took effect March 1 for most public places and workplaces. Bars have until Oct. 1, 2006 to comply.
In other parts of the country, Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey and North Dakota are among states currently debating smoking bans. Fully smoke-free states include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts and New York. On the local/regional level, lawmakers are trying to snuff out tobacco in the greater Kansas City area; the Salt Lake Valley area in Utah; and Toledo, Ohio, to name a few.
In Canada, Ontario lawmakers are moving closer to a full-scale ban, joining five provinces and territories that have already ended public smoking.
Moving farther afield, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have either passed or are the process of enacting public smoking bans. Italy went the no-smoking route in January. Even Cuba, with all its cigars, banned smoking in public enclosed spaces, including restaurants in February.
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School Wellness Policy Could Spread ‘No-Fry’ Zones
Keep an eye on fryers in school kitchens all around the country. They may or may not be there for long, thanks to a federal law taking effect on July 1, 2006.
The Wellness Policy—part of the Child Nutrition and Women, Infant and Children Reauthorization Act—requires local education agencies to create action plans to address the problem of childhood obesity. The three areas that schools will have to address include nutrition education, physical activity and foods sold or served on campus. How a district applies the plans will be up to them.
In Texas, anti-obesity policies for schools will impact both kitchen equipment and menus. As FER Fortnightly reported in its Sept. 28 edition, the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Public School Nutrition Policy, acting before the federal Wellness rules were passed, will require all schools to phase out fryers by the ’09-’10 school year, under penalty of losing federal meal reimbursements administered by the state.
Although no enforcement language was included in the Wellness Policy law at this time—in other words, it’s still a voluntary move—the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin polling school districts next year to gauge progress.
For full details, visit the Food and Nutrition Service section of the USDA Web site, www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/wellnesspolicy.html.
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