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.  Continue Reading →
Click on the map to see interactive county-by-county data
The Idaho Department of Labor says the state’s job force is growing. Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percent in November to 8.5 percent. That’s the largest one-month decline since 1983.
Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick says today’s news is another indicator that Idaho’s economy is beginning to pick itself off the bottom. “The appearance now, based on the activity of the last several months, is that the drop-off in jobs will be less than it had been during the recession.”
Fick says there is no doubt there are more jobs in the labor market today, due to holiday hiring, than there will be in January. But he says the test will come next month when it’s up to employers whether to hang on to those seasonal employees. “The question is whether the drop in non-farm jobs will be what it was in the last three years, or closer to what it was during the expansion years of 2002 to 2007.”
Idaho saw a more than 40 percent drop in foreclosure filings from October to November, according to numbers from RealtyTrac, released today. The report shows that one in every 770 housing units in Idaho had a foreclosure filing last month, compared to one in every 432 in October.
Idaho’s 40 percent drop in foreclosure activity is much greater than the national drop of 3 percent. The state’s foreclosure rate has fallen to 16th in the nation. In August, Idaho ranked fifth.
Mike Turner, president of Boise-based Front Street Brokers, believes there’s a clear reason Idaho’s foreclosure rate has dropped. “In Idaho, the foreclosure process is much faster and more streamlined than it is in some other states,” he said. “We’ve had our low point, I think. It was so bad here that most people threw the towel in already.”
According to a Brookings Institution report released today, the housing market began to improve across the West in the third quarter, when home prices showed improvement for the first time since the start of the recession. Still, the report says, prices in Boise remained more than 17 percent below last year’s level.
Allen Brown is a single father with three teenage daughters. He's been out of work since October, 2011.
Name: Allen Brown
Age: 44
Unemployed Since: October 2011
“Every day I go out and look for a job, come back in and look at my answering machine, see if it’s flashing, see if I’ve gotten a call – but as of yet, I haven’t.”
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates nearly 70,000 people in the state don’t have jobs. That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for work. This is the latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series, that follows several Idahoans in their search for work.
When the Clearwater Paper sawmill announced it was selling its Lewiston mill to the Idaho Forest Group back in October, the fate of 250 mill jobs was unclear. For many, it still is, even as the mill gets ready to re-open next week. For one of those laid-off workers, the upcoming holidays are just a reminder of that uncertainty.
The Associated Press and Boise Weekly are reporting a federal judge has ordered Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for businesses providing residential care to developmentally disabled residents.
The ruling could cost the state $4 million.
U.S. District Court
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill made the ruling Monday. The decision came after five residential habilitation companies sued the state in 2009, contending the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was using reimbursement rates calculated in 2006, even though the department’s own subsequent studies showed that the cost of providing services had increased considerably.
According to the lawsuit, the 2006 daily rate for one type of service was $268 – compared to the daily rate of $496 suggested by the department’s study. But lawmakers failed to give the department funding for the increase. – AP
As we reported yesterday, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter says plans for Areva’s Idaho uranium enrichment facility are moving forward.
But the CEO of the French energy company announced Tuesday its uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls is on hold.
“The assurances that I got from the folks over there when I called them, said that’s not the case, that the headline is totally misleading,” Otter says. “The enrichment project is going forward…in fact it’s fully funded through 2012.”
Here’s Governor Otter’s reaction:
The Associated Press reports the vice president of communications for Areva North America, Laurence Pernot, said the announcement should not be interpreted as a decision to abandon future plans in Idaho.
“With a growing market in the United States … this remains a very solid and robust project and we stay committed to it,” Pernot said. “This may impact the construction schedule. But we will continue to work this year on design and pre-construction activities.”
The company has already bought the land and invested significant resources in hopes of beginning construction in early 2012 and to be up and running by 2014. Company officials and economists projected the construction would create several thousand jobs, 700 permanent jobs during operation and join the Idaho National Laboratory as one of the primary drivers of the eastern Idaho economy.
Idaho Governor Butch Otter says mid-day headlines (here, here and here) about Areva suspending its Idaho uranium enrichment plant aren’t true.
“The assurances that I got from the folks over there when I called them, said that’s not the case, that the headline is totally misleading,” Otter says. “The enrichment project is going forward…in fact it’s fully funded through 2012.”
But the CEO of the French energy company announced this morning its uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls is on hold. The press release doesn’t mention Idaho’s Eagle Rock facility, but this slide show presentation does, specifically slide 45:
Slide #45 from Areva's Strategic Action Plan
Areva CEO Luc Oursel says the company has been hit by financial problems that will affect the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility and others worldwide. But Areva officials in the U.S. say something different. Continue Reading →
We’ve been asking policy makers, news media and special interest groups, “Who are the Idaho legislators with the most influence?” The list we came up with isn’t especially scientific. But by and large, these names came up repeatedly. That’s not surprising because each lawmaker who made our list is either a party leader or chairperson of a critical economic policy committee.
Brent Hill (R-Rexburg), Senate President Pro-Tem:
Brent Hill / Flickr
Senator Brent Hill joined the Idaho legislature in 2001. His colleagues voted him President Pro Tempore at the start of the 2011 session. It’s the Pro-Tem’s job to set the daily schedule of hearing bills on the Senate floor and to assign bills to committee. The Pro-Tem and the Speaker of the House are the two people who can single-handedly control the discussion and debate at the legislature. Continue Reading →
“I’m a team player. That’s all there is to it. I’m just hoping they’ll give me the chance.”
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates nearly 70,000 people in the state don’t have jobs. That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for work. This latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series is from Northwest News Network Correspondent Jessica Robinson.
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.
In Iraq, Specialist David Hampton was an IT guy. His formal job title was information management officer. But back in Idaho, it’s a different story. “Right now I’m trying to get by,” Hampton says, “driving around, putting in job apps, submitting resumes.”
The 2012 Idaho Legislative Session kicks off Jan. 9th
Write, call or email your lawmaker: If you’re unable to attend a committee hearing or travel to the Capitol to meet with your legislator, sending a note or leaving a message can be the next best way to participate. The legislature’s website lists contact information for all 105 lawmakers. If you aren’t sure who your lawmaker is, the site can help you with that too.
Testify at a committee hearing: Every piece of legislation starts in a specific committee. Committees are bipartisan panels of lawmakers who get the first crack at reading a bill, asking questions about it, and hearing from the people it will most directly affect. It’s in committee meetings that members of the public can offer testimony and tell their story directly to legislators. The legislature’s website outlines best practices for testifying at a committee hearing. Continue Reading →
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