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.
In about 30 minutes, outdoor winter recreators can escape the snow-less city of Boise and find themselves in a winter wonderland. It’s the Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area. Downhill ski slopes along with Nordic and snowshoe trails are perched on the far southern end of Boise County, just across the Ada County line. It’s this seasonal ski hill that is Boise County’s top private employer.
Justin Marty / Flickr
Bogus Basin Ski Area, outside Boise, Idaho
Bogus Basin employs on average 200 to 300 people each year. That’s according to data from the Idaho Department of Labor. To get the data, the department calculated the average number of employees between October 2010 and September 2011. So, it’s not always an accurate measure of what’s really happening.
Each week we take a look back at the five stories getting the most clicks, comments and shares. In case you missed anything, our readers think these are the five essential stories from the week.
Mitt Romney campaigning in Denver, CO earlier this month.
For the second time this month Idaho Republicans Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter and Senator Jim Risch are stumping for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Romney detailed a new tax plan earlier this week, the same day President Barack Obama unveiled his. Now, Otter and Risch are hosting a press conference call this afternoon to tout Romney’s plan.
Romney has previously favored maintaining current individual income tax rates and lowering the top corporate tax rate ten percent. His website notes he’d like to “pursue a conservative overhaul of the tax system of the long term.”
President Obama recently spoke at Boeing in Everett, Washington.
President Obama wants Congress to lower the top federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. The New York Timesreports Obama’s proposal would get rid of dozens of loopholes and subsidies and give preference to manufacturers that would set their maximum effective rate at 25 percent.
Mr. Obama’s proposal, outlined by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner at a midday briefing, also would establish a minimum tax on multinational corporations’ foreign earnings — a feature that Republicans immediately denounced.
An aerial view of Huston, Idaho on the border of Owyhee and Canyon Counties
One of Idaho’s largest private employers is acompany with a name that doesn’t really explain what it does. It’s called Marsing Agricultural Labor Sponsoring Committee Inc. It’s basically a temp agency for farm workers.
The company employs between 500 and 600 people in Owyhee County according to data from the state. And that’s a significant chunk of the local population. Census data estimates about 11,500 people live in the county — one of Idaho’s largest at more than 7,600 square miles. That means there are 1.5 people for every square mile. Continue Reading →
Idaho lawmakers are moving forward with a measure to ensure the state’s 6 percent sales tax applies to all online purchases. It’s called the streamlined sales tax bill. A similar bill failed last year.
The Magic Valley Times-Newsreports it’s not a new tax, but most people aren’t paying it.
Idaho law already requires residents to pay the state’s 6 percent sales tax on purchases made online or from catalogs. But the state lacks a way to collect the taxes other than trusting people will pay up on their annual tax forms. Continue Reading →
CBS News 60 Minutes’ story Trapped in Unemployment follows a group of jobless 40-and 50-somethings. They’re participants in a program aimed at getting people back to work through internships.
The story takes place in Connecticut, some 2,000 miles away from Idaho. But the stories in the 60 Minutes piece don’t stray far from the narratives in our Jobless in Idaho series.
As correspondent Scott Pelley puts it, “There’s a new minority group: the long-term unemployed.”
The Idaho Department of Labor reported in November 12,200 Idahoans have exhausted all unemployment benefits since the start of the recession. It’s unclear how many of those people found work. But according to December’s monthly jobless report 64,100 Idahoans were still unemployed. That doesn’t include the number of people who may be underemployed or who’ve stopped searching for a job.
As Idaho’s jobless rate keeps trending downward, the hope is more people are having success at finding permanent employment. But until more concrete data is available later this year, we just won’t know.
Speaking at a Boise modular building company, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he has the skills it takes to turn Idaho’s economy around.
The former Massachusetts governor was in full campaign mode, delivering a speech that was light on details, but heavy on attacks leveled at President Barack Obama and fellow GOP candidate Rick Santorum, who has made a recent surge in the polls. Continue Reading →
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