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.
A passenger checked in at the Boise Airport early this week.
For the last week, StateImpact Idaho has been reporting on recent cuts to flights in and out of Boise. The guiding question: will airlines’ cutbacks affect Idaho’s prospects for an economic turnaround?
Airlines are, of course, responding to broader economic conditions when they determine to stop offering a flight between, say, Boise and Los Angeles. They’re considering the cost of fuel and the demand for service. The chart below gives a sense of just how that demand for flights in and out of Boise has changed over the last decade. Not surprisingly, many routes saw a substantial increase in ridership between 2000 and 2007.
It’s the declines since that time that are particularly telling. Continue Reading →
The price of oil is the key factor in that projection of lost profits. Oil is now trading at about $107 a barrel. If the price were to spike to $150 a barrel, the AP writes, “the industry’s diminished profit forecast for 2012 could turn to losses of more than $5 billion.” Continue Reading →
On a Monday morning, the Southwest ticket counter at Boise Airport was mostly vacant. The airline recently suspended service from Boise to Seattle, Salt Lake and Reno.
Boise resident C.K. Haun has this routine down. He may live in Idaho, but he’s a senior engineer at Apple. Long before the sun is up, he arrives at the Boise Airport, to catch his regular flight to San Jose. “I can do this by autopilot now,” he says. “Most of the TSA people know me, and we smile and say hi. Every Monday morning, week in week out!”
Bill Connors believes the local business community can be an asset in retaining -- and even attracting -- important flights.
StateImpact is considering the potential economic effects of the shrinking number of flights in and out of Boise. As we mentioned in a post yesterday, there will be 20 percent fewer seats leaving Boise this summer than last. The Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce is targeting the issue through a new travel committee. Early this week, I spoke to Bill Connors, the chamber’s president and CEO.
Q: How much of an issue is air service and flight availability when you’re looking at business recruitment and retention?
A: It’s an issue, and it’s particularly an issue for Boise because we’re one of the remotest metro regions in the nation. Continue Reading →
A spokesman for the state controllers office says creating a transparency website is a priority, but so far there's no funding.
Yesterday, StateImpact published a story about Idaho’s last-place finish in a government transparency study. In it we noted that Idaho was one of only three states that didn’t respond when the study’s initial findings were sent to government officials, requesting comment. It was the Department of Administration’s Bill Burns who received that survey. He wasn’t available yesterday, but answered a couple of questions this afternoon. Continue Reading →
Frontier Airlines recently announced it won’t resume service between Boise and Denver this spring. Early this year, Southwest discontinued its flights from Boise to Seattle, Salt Lake and Reno. An American Airlines affiliate has cancelled its service from Boise to Los Angeles. The net effect is that there will be 20 percent fewer seats leaving Boise this summer than last. What does that mean, as the city and state hustle to attract new businesses? That’s the question I’ve been asking of a lot of people this week. Among them is Adie Tomer, a senior analyst with the Brookings Institution, who focuses on transportation and infrastructure issues.
Q: You have reviewed the recent numbers related to air service in and out of Boise. What do you see? Continue Reading →
Idaho earned last place and an “F” ranking in an analysis of government transparency released today. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group study focuses on how easily the public can get information about government spending.
“The main thing is that Idaho is one of the four states that does not have checkbook-level expenditure information,” Tax and Budget Associate Ryan Pierannunzi explained. “We consider that the very basic thing that all states should have.” Continue Reading →
Ben and Lori Jensen now live in Meridian, after losing their home in Star, Idaho.
Four hundred. That’s how many foreclosure-related documents an Ally bank employee might have processed every day at the height of the foreclosure crisis. At Bank of America, the rate was a stunning 75 to 80 per hour.
Would-be workers lined up at a job expo early this year.
As the jobless rate continues to fall, a lot of people have found themselves wondering how the U.S. economy is producing jobs when it’s actually not growing all that much. Planet Money sums up the puzzle with this pithy question: “What’s The Opposite Of A Jobless Recovery?”
“Back in 1962, Yale University economist Arthur Okun described a long-running relationship between economic growth and jobs. When the economy grew faster than its long-run trend, the unemployment rate tended to fall by about half as much as the additional growth in percentage terms. Continue Reading →
This truth still holds: women earn less than men. Despite decades of improvement, women who work full-time and year-round earn about 77 percent as much as similarly employed men. Where do women fare the worst? Financial news and commentary site 24/7 Wall Street has compiled a ranking of the cities where women are paid the least. The Boise metro area earns a spot on that unfortunate list, coming in eighth.
The analysis, based on U.S. Census data, shows that the median income for women in the Boise area is $32,514. That’s compared to a median of $44,908 for men.
The Huffington Post has built a slideshow from the findings. Take a look here.
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