Check out some ‘eye candy’ for a great cause

DENVER – What’s being touted as one of the don’t miss parties of the summer in Denver is also focused on helping others who have a life-threatening disease.

This Saturday, June 7, the Matthew Morris Salon is being transformed into something reminiscent of the Candyland board game. The black and white salon will be infused with lots of bright color. The “Eye Candy” fashion show will be the icing on the cake (couldn’t’ resist the pun) of the night.

Salon owner Matthew Morris often travels to the biggest fashion shows in the world, styling the hair of supermodels.

To celebrate the eighth anniversary of his South Broadway salon, Morris wanted to bring a taste of New York Fashion Week and the popular Victoria’s Secret Runway Show to Denver. “Eye Candy” will feature designs by Denver’s Sol Lingerie and A Line Boutique of Greenwood Village.

Morris is also determined to make sure his party has a profound impact past Saturday night.

One of the salon’s stylist, Aja Cobb, inquired if proceeds from “Eye Candy” could go to research into cystic fibrosis.

Cobb’s 11-year-old daughter Soley was diagnosed with the genetic disease after birth. She currently takes 40 to 50 pills a day to help her body deal with the stress that CF puts on her body.

Cystic fibrosis affects the lungs and digestive system of an estimated 30,000 children and adults in the United States.

Because CF has led to her digestive system shutting down, Soley consumes up to 8,000 calories every day to stay strong. She also takes digestive enzymes to help her body absorb nutrients in food. Breathing treatments are also a must throughout each day.

“When mucus clogs the lungs, it can become very difficult to breathe,” according to www.cff.org. “The thick mucus also traps bacteria in the airways which can result in infections and inflammation and often leads to severe lung damage, and eventually, respiratory failure.

There is no cure for cystic fibrosis. That is something researchers are determined to achieve one day.

Over the last five decades, advances in research and treatments have improved life expectancy. In the 1950s, children with CF would not make it to elementary school. It is currently estimated that people with CF can live into their early 40s.

Aja Cobb is humbled and at the same thrilled her co-workers are working with her to raise awareness to cystic fibrosis and to raise money for research.

For more information on Eye Candy, visit: http://bit.ly/1kxDaLv.

For more information on cystic fibrosis and the work of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, visit http://www.cff.org/.

(KUSA-TV © 2014 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

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DNR audit shows lax compliance of abandoned wells

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

Thousands of oil and gas wells have been drilled around the state, some left abandoned and  others orphaned. A report by the Legislative Auditor says that could mean a risk to public safety. The audit found the people in charge of overseeing the problem, the Office of Conservation under the Department of Natural Resources, is not doing its job.

Daryl Purpera, the state legislative auditor, says orphaned wells were drilled at one point in time, but are no longer productive. He adds in many cases they were left abandoned and unplugged.

There are about 60,000 oil and gas wells in Louisiana.

Purpera says when wells are drilled, companies are required to set aside money in case anything goes wrong or to help with clean-up issues. Of those nearly 60,000 wells, 2,850 are orphaned, according to Purpera.

He says the Office of Conservation is not paying the necessary attention to those orphaned wells.

“Fifty-three percent of those that were orphaned oil wells were not monitored within the last three years as required by their regulations,” Purpera said. “Sometimes as many as six years would go by without an actual inspection.”

Those, he says, have the potential for environmental hazards like polluting the water supplies.

The audit also found the OC is not requiring companies to pay penalties for violations and that lax enforcement is creating an atmosphere of non-compliance. It finds that Louisiana is not holding companies to the same standards that many other states are.

“Presents the image of we allow this. We’re not going to penalize you.”

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Governor Bobby Jindal said his experts have the next six months to correct what the auditor found.

“My understanding is the office does have a plan involving new technology and new protocols to hold companies accountable to meet the audit findings. We’re going to give them six months to implement those new technologies and new protocols and we’re going to then ask the auditor to come back within six months to make sure the findings have been addressed. Every  one of those.”

Copyright 2014 WAFB. All rights reserved.

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