Judy Canada says the Airstream life makes her feel like a kid again.
Duyane Canada has owned Airstream trailers for 30 years.
The iconic silver Airstream has been on the road since the 1930s.
Ted Davis owns Airstream Adventures Northwest.
Inside a new Airstream trailer.
The silver bullet known as an Airstream trailer has roamed the nation’s highways since the 1930s. It’s as iconic as a Coke bottle.  The start of summer brings with it thoughts of exploring and camping. For some people, that means hitching up the Airstream and heading out on the highway.
Superindendent Jim Woodworth was born in Rockland, and has spent 22 years at the helm of Rockland School.
The high school band rehearses for its end-of-year concert.
Music teacher William Lower says local people are “fundraisered out” by the constant job of raising money for the school.
The school sign reminded the town that it was election week.
A mile from Rockland School, there’s open ranchland.
Sharee Petersen heads the Rockland School Foundation, and ranches with her dad and brother.
Sharee Petersen herds cows into a waiting trailer.
While voter turnout was low across much of Idaho, more than 40 percent of Rockland voters went to the polls. Eighty percent supported the school levy.
You might not guess it, if you happened to pass through, but tiny Rockland, Idaho, population 318, is a place of distinction. The town has no grocery store. Its gas station is just a couple of unmanned pumps where you pay by credit card. But what this town does have is a school, and local people stand behind it.
Qusay Alani with Dhiaa and Ahmad, two of his three sons.
The weak economy has exposed shortcomings in a little-known program of the U.S. State Department. Each year, tens of thousands of refugees arrive in the U.S. Most take out federally-funded loans to cover the cost of travel. But in this economy that has left so many without work, refugee advocates and refugees themselves say the travel loan program puts vulnerable people in an impossible bind. Some of those refugees are here, in Idaho.
It’s a sunny, spring afternoon, but the light is dim inside Qusay Alani’s east Boise apartment. He settles into an armchair to tell the story of his family’s long journey from Iraq to the U.S. A neighbor, also Iraqi, translates. “I left Iraq in 1997,” he says. “I went to Jordan.” Continue Reading →
Early on a weekday morning, single mom Kelly Barker settles in at her computer. Ahead are hours of searching and applying for jobs.
Idaho’s economic picture has begun to brighten, but the state has yet to make up the jobs it lost in the downturn. Many in Idaho have watched their months of unemployment add up. Single mom Kelly Barker is one of them. She just reached an anniversary she’d rather not observe. It has now been a full year since she lost her job. After several months of temp work, Barker is back to the full-time job search, and back to unemployment benefits. This is the latest report in our “Jobless In Idaho” series.
Nine homes are under construction at a Coleman Homes development outside of Boise.
Idaho was hit hard in the housing crash. For the better part of three years, the state’s foreclosure rate was one of the highest in the nation. The Boise area saw the worst of it. That means it’s been a while since this scene played out with any kind of regularity.
Maggie Clark set up a booth to sell Scentsy at a recent cheerleading and dance competition in Nampa, Idaho.
Many Idaho companies issued a fair number of pink slips during the recession. But Meridian-based Scentsy didn’t.
Instead, the wickless-candle maker grew. It’s ranked among the country’s most promising companies by business magazines like Forbes and Inc.com. In just seven years, Scentsy has become a multimillion dollar enterprise.
Selling Scentsy
Maggie Clark started selling Scentsy products three years ago, just as the company started taking off. She recently set up a sales booth at a cheerleading and dance competition in Nampa. 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!”
Spc. David Hampton, 21, returned to Hayden, Idaho, in September and is still looking for work.
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates there are at least 63,000 people in the state without work. That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for a job. This is the latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series, that follows several Idahoans in their search for work.
We brought you a story a few months ago about two soldiers from the Northwest. They had just returned from Iraq with their National Guard unit. Both started looking for new civilian jobs. Neither is satisfied with what they found. Both soldiers are now thinking about signing up for another overseas tour with the military. Continue Reading →
At Boise High, a binder that a few years ago was full of job listings for students now has barely any use. A career counselor says local businesses used to call all of the time looking for students to fill part-time jobs. Now, those calls are rare.
The economic downturn hit young people especially hard. Today’s young adults are the “boomerang generation,” given how many have landed back home with parents. For teens, jobs are even harder to come by, and few places are tougher than Idaho. Last year, the state’s teen unemployment rate stood at 30 percent, one of the highest rates in the nation. It’s a number that represents lost opportunities.
It’s a weekday evening, and high school junior Igor Autin is kicked back in his living room, doing something he does a lot: playing video games. “This is Halo Reach,” Autin says. “It’s kind of the biggest game that’s out.”
Cathy Holland-Smith has been working for the Legislative Services Office since 1994.
The Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee began budget setting in earnest this week, after weeks of hearings. Writing the budget is the legislature’s only constitutional requirement, and it has to be balanced. For a primer on the nuts and bolts of the process, StateImpact reached out to Cathy Holland-Smith. She oversees budget and policy analysis for the state’s Legislative Services Office.
Q: The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has finished its weeks of hearings now, and we’re in the budget setting process. What’s at stake? Continue Reading →
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