Today, December 22, is Energy Engineers Day in Russia. The festive event took place this Friday. Regional Governor Sergei Zhvachkin noted that the energy industry is one of the foundations of the economy, and the future of industry, the social sphere, and the construction of new microdistricts depends on the pace of its development.

Rush Hour journalists checked whether the most popular products for the New Year's table are becoming more expensive in Tomsk markets: meat, fish, caviar and sweets. According to sellers, prices were not raised for the New Year. However, Tomsk residents are not yet stocking up for the holiday: they mainly buy food for corporate events and for the regular home table. Not everyone can afford delicacies for a feast. Black caviar - 18 thousand per half kilo, red - 300 rubles per 100 grams.

Driving school training may change. Now they are considering a bill to extend the theoretical part of classes. If now 106 hours are allotted for studying traffic rules, that’s about 2 months. Then from 2014, the training time may increase to 5 months.

Two men were detained in one of the Tomsk apartments while checking information about a drug den, the regional police press service reported. The men were suspected of storing and selling synthetic drugs - spice. “When the police arrived, the owner of the apartment was packing drugs. There was also a Tomsk resident in the home, from whom, during a personal search, the police seized 2.78 grams of a similar drug,” the press service reported.

Journalist, co-author of the books “Conversations with Vladimir Putin” and about Mikhail Khodorkovsky “Prison and Freedom” Natalya Gevorkyan commented on Skype to journalists of the “Rush Hour. Saturday” program on the pardon of the ex-head of YUKOS. On December 20, ex-head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky was released after a 10-year sentence. The pardon decree was signed by President Vladimir Putin after a request from Khodorkovsky himself.

The bodies of the dead were found after a fire in the incubator of the Tomskaya poultry farm. This was reported by employees of the regional Investigative Committee. The message that the roof of one of the incubators of the Tomskaya poultry farm in the village. The youth engulfed in fire was reported to the Ministry of Emergency Situations on December 21 at 9:17 . The roof burned over the entire area - about 3 thousand square meters. m. At 10 o'clock its partial collapse occurred. At 12:42 p.m.

Today everyone is invited to a test dive in the pool together with the athletes of the TPU "Afalina" diving club. The organizers themselves informed the TV2 news agency about this. The test dive will take place on Sunday, December 22, from 15:00 to 17:00 in the Trud pool. “We hold such events regularly. They allow Tomsk residents to try themselves in this sport,” explained the organizers.

Photo: Roman Unashev A fair of New Year's gifts was held at the Museum of Wooden Architecture. Tomsk residents were invited to choose their favorite jewelry made from beads or wool, as well as numerous toys, painted plates and New Year's souvenirs.

The other day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Dima Yakovlev Law, as some call it, or the Law of Scoundrels, as others call it. A ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans. However, within a year the ban spread to other states. These days, the question of how Russian orphans live in their homeland is especially relevant. In orphanages, orphanages... The documentary film “Bluff or Operation Happy New Year” was shot by director Olga Sinyaeva.

Deputy Governor of the Tomsk Region for Social Policy Chingis Akataev told Rush Hour reporters about this during the opening of the first dentistry in Tomsk for children with cerebral palsy. A special dentistry opened on Irkutsk Trakt, 78/6 on the basis of the Dentalia clinic.

This week an amnesty was announced on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution. 7 people from correctional institutions in the Tomsk region may be released under this amnesty. The final decision will be made next week. Three of these seven are serving their sentences in a colony-settlement at Medical Correctional Institution No. 1.

Social networks have gone around the call not to bring gifts to orphanages before the New Year. According to news agencies and charitable foundations, orphans receive from 4 to 20 gifts on New Year's Eve. This does not make children happier, but they stop appreciating the gifts themselves. In addition, strong children often take gifts from weak ones. According to philanthropists, it is better to give gifts to the elderly, lonely and homeless.