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.
University and college leaders are presenting their requests to members of the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee.
It’s education week at the Idaho Legislature. Today, tomorrow and Wednesday officials from Idaho’s universities and community colleges will be asking lawmakers to spend money on infrastructure, employee salaries and programs to keep their schools moving forward.
Governor Butch Otter’s budget for fiscal year 2013 recommends legislators appropriate about $254 million for universities and community colleges. Campus leaders requested nearly $294 million.
The Center of the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University compiles data on state funding of higher education. It’s called the annual Grapevine study. The Associated Pressreports overall state spending nationwide has declined about $6 billion, or nearly 8 percent, over the past year. Continue Reading →
Scenty's fondue line 'Velata' will be available May 1, 2012
Scentsy, the Meridian, Idaho-based wickless candle company, launched into the world of fondue today. The company announced its first food product line, called Velata. The chocolate fondue kit will be available in May. It comes with a microwaveable pouch of chocolate, a silicone dish and an electric warmer.
Scentsy has made some new hires in its corporate office related to the chocolate line. Spokeswoman Stephanie Finch says if the company’s foray into food does well it will require additional corporate support. Finch couldn’t give an estimate on the number of jobs Scentsy could potentially add.
Job seekers speaking with potential employers at the Veteran's Job Fair in Boise in November.
Idaho’s unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in nearly three years. The Department of Labor reports the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down one-tenth of a percent to 8.4 for the month of December.
Idaho’s jobless rate hit a record high of 9.7 percent in December 2010. Those gains mark the largest year-over-year growth in total employment since before the recession officially began in mid-2007.
Still, there are 64,100 Idahoans without work. The Conference board, a D.C.-based think tank estimates there are more than three unemployed Idahoans for every job post.
Food stamp money is now distributed on EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards.
Back in November, StateImpact Idahoreported on the growing number of people using SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) commonly known as food stamps. The program is in the news again this week after lawmakers were briefed on the data and Idaho grocery stores committed $100,000 to changing the way food stamps are distributed.
We know food stamp use is up across much of the country. According to this study from the Urban Institute, Idaho saw its SNAP enrollment go up by 123 percent between 2007 and 2010, Nevada’s grew by 128 percent. So what does this growth look like? It’s pretty dramatic.
Here’s a chart showing the number of Idaho’s food stamp participants for the month of June since 2007.
Source: Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
This second chart shows the same data, but is plotted from zero.
Super 1 Foods opened a new store in Sandpoint, Idaho back in 2010
The Idaho Business Review reports a small north Idaho town is getting a new grocery store and about 80 new jobs. In November, Super 1 Foods broke ground on a 50,000 square foot grocery store that’s scheduled to open in Bonners Ferry in June.
IdahoBusinessReview.com reports the new store will lower Boundary County’s unemployment rate of 14.6 percent two points. Here’s more from the Business Review:
Ryan Wilson, Super 1 Store Director, said the Bonners Ferry store will include a pharmacy as well as a section of organic and gluten-free products. Continue Reading →
LMS Defense currently has 17 employees nationwide.
The Idaho Department of Commerce announced this morning a full service defensive training firm is relocating its Reno, Nevada corporate headquarters to Twin Falls, Idaho.
LMS Defense, Inc. specializes in counterterrorism training to the United States military, law enforcement and security professionals. LMS Founder and CEO John Chapman says he’ll hire five people locally for administrative support at their new Twin Falls headquarters. Chapman plans to hire between 15 and 20 additional people when a new training facility is built in late summer.
Alex LaBeau has been president of IACI since 2006.
The Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry is a statewide public policy organization that works on behalf of Idaho businesses. IACI is the result of a merger between the Idaho Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Idaho. It’s one of the most powerful pro-business groups in the state. It has about 300 members, including companies in agribusiness, technology, construction, health care and real estate. Alex LaBeau is IACI’s president. StateImpact spoke with LaBeau at the beginning in January to learn more about the groups’ legislative priorities.
Q: What are your priorities for the 2012 legislative session?
A: Our priorities are three-fold. One, we want to deal with the state healthcare exchange issues, that we’re still trying to work through the nuances of the federal law, and some of the changes that keep coming at us from the feds resulting from different interpretations. We’ll also be dealing with education reforms again. But those education reforms will be largely looking at the recommendations that came out of the interim committees that worked on the issue last year. So, we’ll be looking for fully funding those, as well as working through some adjustments that need to be made. Finally, we’ll be looking at some issues surrounding the personal property tax, and how you define it, what it is, and hopefully setting the state on a pathway to eliminate the personal property tax eventually but that will be dependent on the reaction we get from the Senate committee. Continue Reading →
A lot of news came out of the Idaho Capitol this week. In case you missed anything, we bundled our five most viewed stories in one nifty package.
Albedo20 / Flickr
Inside the Idaho Capitol rotunda, which is where we'll be a lot over the next four months.
Idaho’s Former Chief Economist Critical of Gov’s Budget Proposal: For 26 years Mike Ferguson was Idaho’s chief economist. He helped craft a lot of state budgets before leaving the job in 2010. He says everyone is in agreement Idaho is in need of economic development, “the problem with using the tax structure to try to promote economic development is it’s a very scattershot kind of approach.”
Gov. Otter’s Salary Increased 4 Percent from Last Year: The governor’s salary is up 4 percent, but he’s still earning less than 261 state employee. We have the salary data you can scan through. Any guesses on the highest paid state employee? Here’s a hint, he’s earning $1.17 million.
Telling a story with numbers seems like a straightforward endeavor. That is, until numbers don’t match or add up. I’ve been working with the state controller’s office to find out how many Idaho state employees have lost their jobs in the last five years. (The story and the numbers are right here.) But while I was in the process of gathering the numbers and asking questions, articles from The Times-News and The Spokesman Review’sEye on Boise Blog were telling a similar story, but with a different set of numbers.
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