Emilie Ritter Saunders was StateImpact Idaho's multimedia reporter until the project merged with the Boise State Public Radio site in July 2013. She previously worked as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio and was a Senior Fellow with NPR's Economic Training Project from 2009 until 2010. She graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2007.
MTV
The direct selling industry isn’t just for Mary Kay or Tupperware consumers anymore. It seems the younger demographic is getting on board. The entertainment blog WetPaint and parenting blog Babble have recently posted that two women from the MTV reality show Teen Mom are selling Scentsy products.
Scentsy is the Meridian, Idaho-based wickless-candle and personal care products company. Continue Reading
Direct Selling Association
Amy Robinson is the Chief Marketing Officer at DSA.
One of Idaho’s fast growing companies is Scentsy. They sell wickless candles and personal care products. It’s a direct sales company, meaning independent consultants sell products largely through home parties (think The Pampered Chef).
The Direct Selling Association is a trade group for some of the country’s most well known direct sales companies like Avon, Herbalife and The Pampered Chef. DSA has about 200 members, including four companies based in Idaho (Kyani, Melaleuca, 21Ten and Scentsy). According to DSA, direct sales in the U.S. totaled more than $28.5 billion in 2010.
Amy Robinson is the Chief Marketing Officer at the Direct Selling Association. StateImpact Idaho recently spoke with her about the industry.
Q: How have direct-selling companies grown in the United States? Continue Reading
Kevin H. / Flickr
The State Integrity Investigation gives Idaho a D-.
The latest government transparency report gives Idaho a near failing grade, ranking the Gem State among the ten worst states for transparency in the country.
The State Integrity Investigation gives Idaho an overall grade of D-. The report looks at 14 categories, six of which the state failed. The worst grades went to categories like legislative accountability, executive accountability and ethics enforcement.
You can click through the different categories to get more information on the methodology used for grading. Continue Reading
.reid / Flickr
These are the week’s top five stories, as determined by you. These got the most clicks, comments and shares. In case you missed one, take a look:
Adam Bartelmay / Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce
Gov. Otter signed HB 546 (IGEM) into law this afternoon
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has signed into law his plan to kick-start collaboration between university researchers and private industry.
Otter’s IGEM, the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission, spends $5 million to spur local innovation through research. The plan sets aside $1 million in Idaho Department of Commerce grants for start-up businesses, $2 million for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies. Another $2 million will be split between Idaho’s three research universities. Continue Reading
Jessica Pupovac / NPR StateImpact
Click the map to enlarge...
One of our readers recently asked why the Sun Valley Resort isn’t one of Blaine County’s top employers. Data from the Idaho Labor Department shows the Blaine County School District is the biggest employer in that county.
Back in January we posted this map, which shows the top five employers in each county. We wanted to see how many top employers were government entities and how many were private companies. Continue Reading
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Recent job fair in San Francisco.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been compiling interesting data on the number of job openings and job turnover each month. It’s dubbed JOLTS, a handy acronym for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
As of January 31, 2012 there were almost 3.5 million job openings in the U.S. During the same month more than 4 million people were hired for jobs and almost 4 million people either quit, retired, were fired or laid off.
The data isn’t broken down by state, but it is by region. The Idaho Department of Labor currently has 2,317 jobs posted on its searchable website. That doesn’t include jobs that are posted through other sites like Monster, Craigslist or Indeed. Continue Reading
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Idaho's current cigarette tax is 57 cents per pack.
Idaho lawmakers won’t take up a plan to raise the state’s cigarette tax. Â The House Revenue and Taxation Committee killed a bill that would have done just that by a 11 to 5 vote.
The plan, supported by the American Cancer Society and about 25 other groups, would have raised Idaho’s cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack. The state currently charges a 57 cent tax on a pack of cigarettes, which is one of the lowest tax rates in the country.
Rep. Lenore Hardy Barrett (R-Challis) told the committee the bill was “the most blatant case of social engineering” she’d ever seen. Continue Reading
Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact Idaho
It's spring-time in Boise....
Here are the five, most-read StateImpact Idaho posts of the week. We know it’s beautiful outside, but you don’t want to miss these…
Tim Flach / Getty Images
Holstein cows stand in a field.
If dairy farmers could predict their monthly profits or losses, the industry would likely be a more stable place. But as StateImpact Idaho reported last year, that uncertainty (among other things) is making the industry a tough place to do business.
NPR‘s ‘Planet Money‘ co-founder and economics writer for The New York Times Magazine, Adam Davidson, revisited the struggle many dairy farms have. While technology has made it more efficient to milk hundreds or thousands of dairy cows, the profit margins have changed dramatically. Dairy products and feed for the cows are now globally traded commodities. Continue Reading
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