Essential StateImpact: Top Five Stories of the Week

Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact Idaho

In case you were outside playing in the snow and missed a story, we put our most-read stories of the week all in one place. Enjoy!

Here’s a look back at our most read, commented and shared stories of the week:

• Jobless in Idaho: Soldiers Struggle to Translate War Experience into Work: Here’s a line most entry-level job seekers don’t have on their resume: “Operated a high-caliber machine gun, in Baghdad, Iraq.”  Many of the 2,700 National Guard soldiers from the Northwest who just returned from Iraq aren’t old enough to have much of a pre-deployment work history.  Now, many soldiers struggle to translate their war experience into a civilian career.  
• Governor Otter Says Areva’s Idaho Nuke Facility is Moving Forward:  Earlier this week the French energy company Areva announced worldwide cutbacks, including suspending work on Idaho’s Eagle Rock facility.  The governor says he’s been assured that’s not the case.
• Power Brokers: Meet Five of Idaho’s Most Influential Legislators:  These are the five legislators we think have the most pull when it comes to Idaho’s budget and economic policies.  The session kicks off Jan. 9th, and these will be some of the people to watch.
• Video: Governor Otter Responds to Areva Announcement: Earlier this week the French energy company Areva announced worldwide cutbacks, including work happening in Idaho.  Governor Otter says despite those announcements, work is moving forward.
• Jobless in Idaho: Laid Off Mill Worker Uncertain of his Future: Allen Brown is a single dad and recently got laid off from his job at the former Clearwater Paper mill in Lewiston.  “I’ve got my education and hoped I could ride that out until I retired,” says Brown.  “But now I’m trying to grab up anything else, and trying to make myself look better than the next guy that’s applying for the same job, or the next 100 guys that I’m up against.  It’s tough.  It’s really tough right now.”