Idaho

Bringing the Economy Home

Molly Messick

Reporter (Former)

Molly Messick was StateImpact Idaho's broadcast reporter until May 2013. Prior to joining StateImpact and Boise State Public Radio, she was a reporter and host for Wyoming Public Radio. She is a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Boise Economy Shows Relative Strength In Shaky Recovery

Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images

Boise's growing number of construction jobs boosted employment in the city this spring, the Brookings Institution's Mountain Monitor report says.

Early this year, as a signs of economic recovery faded into yet another spring slump, Boise for the most part held its ground.

That’s the main local takeaway from the Brookings Institution’s current Metro Monitor report, which sizes up the health of urban economies from April through June.

Idaho’s unemployment rate held steady during that period, staying just below the national average. But Boise’s employment — its total number of wage and salary jobs — grew by 1.3 percent.

That may not sound like much, but the city was one of only six major metros to post gains of one percent or more, the Brookings report says. Continue Reading

Buying Trumps Renting In Boise’s Recovering Housing Market

Courtesy: Trulia

Click on the screenshot above to see Trulia's full study.

It is, in general, cheaper to own than rent.  That’s the broad finding of a recent report from real estate website Trulia.

How much cheaper? Assuming a 3.5 percent mortgage rate and 20 percent down payment, among other things, “buying is now 45 percent cheaper than renting in the 100 largest U.S. metros, on average – that’s a savings of $771 a month,” the report says.

Trulia doesn’t include Boise in its 100 largest metros, but company chief economist, Jed Kolko, walked through some of the numbers to consider.  First, there are basic measures of the local housing market’s health, like the magnitude of the price decline in the housing bust, and price improvement in the last year.  Continue Reading

In One Year, Idaho’s Foreclosure Rate Posts A 60 Percent Drop

Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho

A year ago, Boise resident Carmel Crock talked to StateImpact about the painful experience of losing her home in a short sale.

Idaho’s foreclosure rate was the fifth highest in the nation when housing data provider RealtyTrac released its numbers at this time a year ago.  At that time, John Starr of Collier’s International gave a folksy, downbeat description of the local foreclosure problem.

“You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting somebody who has been personally affected or has a family member or an acquaintance who has been affected,” he said.  Continue Reading

Fewer Workers Covered By Longstanding Health Insurance Plans As Law Takes Effect

Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama left a rally celebrating the Affordable Care Act's passage on March 23, 2010.

If you have trouble getting jazzed about health care policy, consider this: “Between 1999 and 2012, workers’ health care costs grew four times faster than their earnings,” The Atlantic reports.

The data is drawn from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual Employer Health Benefits survey, released this week.

The survey also includes information about how employers have responded to Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements as they kick in.  It’s information that is worth noting in this state where implementation of the law remains particularly contentious.  Continue Reading

For Some Idaho Farmers, This Year’s Drought Means Losses Next Year

Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho

Last month, Hans Hayden examined wheat yields near his farm in Arbon Valley, near Pocatello.

In Idaho, this summer’s drought has picked winners and losers.  In southeast Idaho, farmers with deep wells and sophisticated irrigation systems predicted record profits as harvest time began last month.  Meanwhile, dryland farmers nearby contemplated withered spring wheat fields, and hoped to break even.

Now, dryland wheat farmer Hans Hayden says the drought is beginning to cause problems for next season’s crop.  “We’ve already lost potential for next season,” Hayden says. Continue Reading

Farm Bill Delays Bring Frustration, Resignation In Idaho

Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho

Emmett, Idaho, where farmer Vaughn Jensen raises corn, wheat, alfalfa hay, clover seed and cattle

A coalition of farm groups calling itself Farm Bill Now will descend on Washington, D.C. next week.  The group aims to pressure Congress to take action on 2012 farm bill legislation before the current farm bill expires September 30.

The Senate passed its version of the bill months ago, in June, but the full House has yet to take it up.  Many expect that stall to continue until after the November election.

Idaho Farm Bureau spokesman John Thompson says the delay poses problems for farmers in Idaho and nationwide. “Not only are we experiencing the worst drought since 1956,” he says, “but a farm bill in place gives farmers certainty into the future, when they’re trying to plan crop rotations or capital purchases or building herds or reducing herd sizes.  If no farm bill is in place, they can’t use that to their advantage.”  Continue Reading

Idaho Touts Local Culture And State Law To Draw Gun Manufacturers

Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman

At a recent trade show in Nampa, Stacey Nagy of Idaho-based Primary Weapons Systems exhibited one of the company's firearms.

It’s a straightforward pitch: Idaho is a gun-friendly state.  Why not encourage gun manufacturers to come in and set up shop?

Several years ago, that logic led Idaho’s Department of Commerce to begin recruiting “recreation technology” companies.  The term refers to makers of all sorts of outdoor equipment, but the department’s most prominent pitch was to firearms and accessories manufacturers.

In the process, state representatives have touted not only Idaho’s tax structure and comfort with firearms — as in this video, from last year — but also its firearms-friendly regulatory environment.

Continue Reading

Idaho’s DNC Delegates Include State Lawmakers, Tribal Leaders, Activists

Streeter Lecka / Getty Images News

Preparations were underway Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Idaho’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention have wended their ways to Charlotte, N.C., where the convention gets underway today.  The delegate list includes prominent party members like Sen. Edgar Malepeai, from Pocatello, and Boise Mayor David Bieter, as well as a retired mailman, a teacher, an electrician, and the president of Idaho Young Democrats, Morgan Hill.  The full list is available here.

“There’s a kind of complicated formula, but the majority of the people on the list were elected at the state convention,” explains Dean Ferguson, the Idaho Democratic Party’s communications director.  “They had to give speeches to their fellow delegates about why they were best to go.”  Continue Reading

Who Are Idaho’s Firearms, Ammunition, And Accessories Manufacturers?

Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho

PNW Arms, a relative newcomer to the state, manufactures several lines of ammunition at its new facility just outside of Potlatch, Idaho.

Kayla Cuellar counts herself lucky.  She was born and raised in Idaho, and considers it a great place for the business she and her husband started a few years ago.

It’s called Valiant Firearms and Ammunition, and it specializes in pistol and rifle ammunition.  Each cartridge is assembled by hand.

Cuellar spends a lot of time testing their products, which means a lot of shooting.  And in Idaho, she explains, that’s not hard.

“Here in Idaho, stick your gun on the dash of your car, the seat of your car, as long as it’s in open view,” she says.  “Drive out to BLM land or wherever you like to go.  I don’t have to worry about how I transport my firearm.”

Earlier this week, StateImpact published this map showing where Idaho’s 180 gun and ammunition makers are located.  But what about them?  Who are they and what do they do?  Continue Reading

Idaho’s Uninsured: Rural Counties Post Highest Rates

U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates

To see the Census Bureau's interactive map and full data set, click on the image above.

In five Idaho counties, at least 29 percent of residents are uninsured.  In two — Clark and Owyhee — the rate tops 32 percent.  That’s much above Idaho’s state average of 20.3 percent, which is itself higher than the national average of just over 16 percent.

The county-level data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Health Insurance Estimates for 2010, released today.  The estimates don’t include people older than 65, who are eligible for Medicare.

Clark and Owyhee Counties are best described as remote and rural.  With a total population of just 982, Clark County has the fewest people in the state.   Continue Reading

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