Each week we look back at the five posts you clicked and commented on, and shared the most. Before you take off for the weekend, make sure you’re caught up on this week’s must-read StateImpact news.
A day after the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act, let’s take a look at the percentage of Idahoans who are uninsured, and how Idaho’s rate compares to other states. Continue Reading →
Rep. John Rusche (D-Lewiston) advocated for a state-run health insurance exchange before the start of the 2012 legislative session.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its most anticipated decision since Bush v. Gore yesterday, when it upheld the central provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Boise-based anti-fraud company Kount has watched its business grow by more than 350 percent in the last year. That’s according to an article from the Idaho Business Review.
“Fraud, especially credit card fraud, is nothing new in the marketplace, but it has only been a recent development that third-party companies focused specifically on Internet transactions have shown the potential to become behemoths in the industry.
While the technology has gotten far more complex, the dynamic is still simple, said Don Bush, marketing director for Kount.
“What fraudsters try and do is mask who they are, they don’t want anybody to know who they are,” he said. “Our technology basically takes that mask off.” Continue Reading →
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Obama's health care act tomorrow.
News outlets across the country are gearing up for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That decision is expected to come down at 8:15 tomorrow morning, mountain time. Our mothership, NPR, has planned a robust lineup of coverage. Boise State Public Radio’s news team will be hard at work to gather local reaction.
In advance of the ruling, StateImpact reached out to a number of Idaho lawmakers for insight into how the decision could affect the state. Rep. Fred Wood (R-Burley) says he hopes for an up or down vote, upholding or striking down the law in its entirety. He dreads a mixed decision, one that upholds parts of the law but strikes down others.
“That truly is a nightmare scenario, striking down a portion of that law,” says Wood. Continue Reading →
A worker manned a machine as lumber headed to the stacker at the Emerald Forest Products mill this month.
It’s a rare thing for a small sawmill to try to get up and running while a crucial market driver for lumber — housing construction — remains in a national slump. So when the Emerald Forest Products mill reopened in Emmett, Idaho, this month, something unusual was happening. “That’s a news story,” timber industry expert Todd Morgan said of the new mill. “That’s like, ‘man bites dog’ instead of ‘dog bites man.’ It’s very counter to the trend to have a new mill opening during these market conditions.”
New home starts peaked in 2005, when construction began on more than 2 million homes. By 2009, the number had fallen to 554,000, a low not seen in 40 years of record keeping. Housing starts haven’t improved much since. Moreover, the housing crash came on the heels of decades of timber industry consolidation. Since 1990, Pacific Northwest mill closures have put thousands of people out of work.
Given all of that, how is the Emerald Forest Product mill making a go of it? Part of the answer is federal economic stimulus funding. Continue Reading →
Transform Solar received $1.68 million in state training grants shortly before announcing it's closing and laying off about 250 people.
Every state, including Idaho, offers tax breaks, grants or subsidies to businesses in hopes of spurring economic development.
But the states vary widely in terms of what they do when a company doesn’t create as many jobs as it agreed to, or otherwise follow through with its end of the incentive bargain.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, nearly half of all states attach some kind of provision requiring businesses to pay the state back in such circumstances.  This tool is often referred to as a “clawback.” Continue Reading →
Idaho legislators' current annual base salary is $16,116.
The committee that oversees compensation for state legislators today attempted to clarify when lawmakers may claim the $122 per diem payment intended for those who maintain a second residence during the legislative session. That payment became a source of controversy last fall, after the AP reported that one state senator claimed it while staying with his parents, and another claimed it while staying on his law firm’s couch. Continue Reading →
Employees leave the XL Four Star Beef plant in Nampa in 2011 after the company announced plans to shut the plant down and layoff 522 people. XL Four Star received $564,231 in training fund grants.
Last month, Transform Solar announced that it was closing and laying off about 250 people at its facility in Nampa. As StateImpact reported, the manufacturer of high-tech solar cells, had received $1.68 million in workforce training grants from the state of Idaho — money that the company will not have to pay back.
It’s not the first time that’s happened. Eleven companies that have received more than $5.3 million in training grants from the Idaho Department of Labor since 1996 no longer exist in the state. That’s according to data from the department and StateImpact‘s analysis. Continue Reading →
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