Hewlett-Packard set up shop in Boise decades ago, in 1973.
Idaho’s Students Come First laws are controversial for a lot of reasons. There are the limits the laws impose on teachers’ unions, and the effects on teachers’ job security.
This week, when Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter announced that Hewlett-Packard has won a $180 million contract to provide computers, maintenance and technical support to every high school student and teacher in Idaho, a new consideration joined the fray: local tech jobs.
Any Boisean can tell you that HP has a long history in Idaho. This is the home of the HP LaserJet, an iconic printer, as printers go. By HP’s own estimates, the company employs as many as 4,000 people in the state. Lately, though, the company’s news hasn’t been good. Continue Reading →
If you tried to book a spring break direct flight from Boise to Portland on Southwest Airlines this week, you’d notice it’s no longer an option. Southwest released its April and May flight schedule this week, and that direct connection is absent.
“If you have a flight under two hours,” says Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins, “the traffic is just not there anymore.” Hawkins says travelers can still get to Portland on his airline, you’ll just have to go through Las Vegas or Oakland first. Continue Reading →
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna and Gov. Butch Otter at Tuesday's announcement. Meridian School Superintendent Linda Clark and Hewlett-Packard Vice President Von Hansen are also pictured.
There are the limits the laws impose on teachers’ unions, and the potential effects on teachers’ job security.
Now there’s something more to consider: local tech jobs. This week Hewlett-Packard won a $180 million contract to provide computers, maintenance and technical support to every high school student and teacher in Idaho.
To hear StateImpact‘s story about what this agreement means for HP, click on the audio player below.
Southwest Airlines will drop its direct Boise-to-Portland flights this spring. The Idaho Press-Tribunereports the airline says fuel costs were the deciding factor.
Here’s more from the Idaho Press-Tribune:
“The current fuel environment doesn’t allow us to continue operating that market with nonstop service,” Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said over email. Continue Reading →
State Sen. Nicole LeFavour talks with volunteers at Polo's Restaurant in Burley, Idaho.
Burley, Idaho is farm country. About 10,000 people live in the eastern Idaho town, that for many is just a stop off I-84 to gas up.
This is Republican Congressman Mike Simpson’s home turf. He was born in here. But now, Boise Democrat Nicole LeFavour is making one of the most serious runs at his seat in recent history.
On a late October evening, state Senator LeFavour gathered a group of volunteers to canvass the neighborhoods near downtown Burley.
Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District covers about 40,000 square miles of southern and eastern Idaho. It includes all of Boise, and everything along I-84 to the Montana border. For almost 15 years, Republican Mike Simpson has represented the district.
LeFavour’s field campaign manager Tom Hamilton shows a handful of volunteers how to work an iPhone app that identifies which doors to knock on. Continue Reading →
The governor's panel on Medicaid expansion met for the first time back in August.
The Department of Health and Welfare says it’s rescheduling it’s next Medicaid work group meeting on November 9.
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter created the panel to study whether Idaho should allow more low income Idahoans on the health care program. Currently, nearly 240,000 Idahoans are on Medicaid. An expansion would add up to 110,000 more people.
The department says it’s waiting on more data to be collected and that’s why its Oct. 23 meeting has been pushed back to Nov. 9.
That meeting will be at the State Capitol from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and will be streamed live online.
The panel created to look at the feasibility of Idaho creating a health insurance exchange has met four times since August, spending more than $15,000 on supplies and consultants.
Information obtained through Idaho’s public records law, shows Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s health insurance exchange work group has spent the majority of that money on an independent contractor.
Valerie Fend-Boehm has invoiced the state for $12,686.25 as of October 15, 2012, and that doesn’t include her contract work for the first half of this month. Fend-Boehm contracted with Idaho’s Department of Insurance for $85 an hour. Continue Reading →
Upfront, it’s good: unemployment dropped by three tenths of a percent in September, falling to 7.1 percent. The rate “plunged,” as Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick puts it, and reached its lowest level since May of 2009.
Also in the positive column: there were 1,200 more Idaho workers on the job in September than in August. That made for a faster August-to-September payroll growth rate than the state saw in any of its pre-recession boom years. With that gain, the number of working Idahoans hit 720,600 last month, the largest number of people with jobs the state has seen in the last four years. Continue Reading →
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