Craig — The Moffat County High School Theatre Department’s production of Disney’s Aladdin, Jr. wraps up a series of performances Saturday.

The cast includes MCHS students and several eighth-graders from Craig Middle School.

The show will run at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday at MCHS. Tickets cost $6 and are sold at the door.

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Higher education advocates ask state legislators to change hospital provider fee into enterprise fund

Several boards of trustees have asked the Colorado legislature to change the hospital provider fee into an enterprise fund, including, most recently, the University of Northern Colorado Board of Trustees, according to a press release from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

The change would allow the legislature greater flexibility to allocate funds to other services and programs such as higher education or transportation.

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The Colorado Commission on Higher Education approved a similar resolution in August, joined also by Adams State University, Colorado Mesa University, Fort Lewis College and Aims Community College.

The hospital provider fee is assessed on hospitals to be used only for health-related purposes, and the change would recognize the fee as a designated revenue stream as oppose to General Fund revenue that can be spent in a multitude of ways.

Without a change, a 2011 study concluded that by 2024, “the structural imbalance in the state budget would result in only enough revenue to support Medicaid, K-12 education, and corrections,” according to the release.

The Colorado State Legislature convenes Jan. 13.

CNCC offers pre-GED program for adult learners

Through a new grant, Colorado Northwestern Community College, the Colorado Department of Education, and the Colorado Workforce Center are working together to help Northwest Coloradans earn their GED.

The GED is for individuals looking to earn their high school diploma. CNCC is offering a pre-GED course to help student prepare to take the GED test. The course prepares students in math, science, social studies and language arts. Enrollment is ongoing with flexible scheduling and on-site tutors available five days per week, daytime and evening hours.

Please contact Melissa Dowd at 970-824-1152 or Melissa.dowd@cncc.edu for more information.

Moffat County Library kicks off Winter Reading Program

The Moffat County Library’s Winter Reading Program is under way and this year’s theme is “Slide Into a Good Book.”

Kids are encouraged to spend time with their nose in a book this winter with incentives and prize drawing for the pages they read. The youth program is for kids up to fifth-grade, the teen program is for sixth through twelfth-graders and an adult program for ages 18 and up offers a monthly prize drawing, one entry for each book read.

For more information or to sign up, visit the library.

Study shows that driver education reduces risk to young drivers

Research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reveals that teens that don’t participate in a driver education program are involved in more crashes and receive more traffic convictions compared to their peers that participated in driver education, according to a press release from AAA Colorado.

AAA Colorado and the AAA Foundation have developed comprehensive resources to help teens stay safe on the road including TeenDriving.AAA.com, a state-specific website to help parents navigate the learning-to-drive process.

Imagination Library offers free books to young children

Connections 4 Kids in partnership with Moffat County Youth United Way offers free books to young children through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Any child from birth through their fifth birthday in Moffat and Rio Blanco counties is eligible to sign up.

Each child who joins the program will receive a free book in the mail each month, specially selected for their age and gender. The program is designed to encourage parents to read with their children. Doing so at an early age not only helps kids develop a love for reading, but also helps prepare them for success in school.

To sign up, either visit http://www.imaginationlibrary.comor pick up a registration form from the Moffat County Library or from Connections for Kids in the Center of Craig.