Idaho

Bringing the Economy Home

Idaho Falls Hospital Becomes First Medical Center To Receive Training Grants

Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center

The Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center will receive up to $31,500 to train ten registered nurses and a child life specialist for its new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

The hospital is the first medical center to receive a workforce development training grant through the Labor Department.  The grants are a reimbursement of training dollars, paid for by a 3 percent tax on businesses.

The department reports the average wage for these jobs is $24 per hour.  In order to receive a training reimbursement, businesses must pay at least $12 an hour plus benefits.  Continue Reading

Truckers, Mechanics To Lose Jobs At Idaho Molybdenum Mine

Courtesy: Thompson Creek Metals Company

Thompson Creek Mine is the company's one Idaho location.

Thompson Creek Metals Company answered questions from investors today after announcing yesterday that it will suspend a planned phase of activity at its molybdenum mine in Custer County, resulting in job cuts.

The company expects to lay off 104 of its approximately 400 employees, CEO Kevin Loughrey said today.  “They’re going to be primarily truck drivers and then some maintenance people who deal with those trucks,” he explained.

Molybdenum is used in alloying steel.  Thompson Creek’s underlying problem is widespread economic weakness, which has driven down prices.  Continue Reading

Why Idaho’s Electricity Is Cheaper Than The Rest of The Nation’s

Lately, we’ve covered the wind industry’s aggressive move into Idaho, and utilities’ attempts to rein in the industry’s expansion in the state. Related to that reporting, it’s worth taking a look at the big picture of electricity generation in Idaho.  With that in mind, we posted this map last week.  Now, let’s size it up from another angle.

Source: Institute for Energy Research

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How Idaho Is Trying To Boost Its Number Of Doctors

Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact

Idaho has fewer doctors per capita than every state in the nation except one.

A few years ago, the Idaho Board of Education, which oversees colleges and universities in the state, put together a list of priorities to increase the number of doctors in Idaho.

While nearly every state in the country is facing a shortage of doctors to a certain extent, there are fewer doctors per capita in Idaho than every state in the country except Mississippi.

At its April 2009 meeting, the board agreed to work on 10 things.  Just four have been fully or partially implemented.

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Updated: Idaho Molybdenum Mine Announces 100 Layoffs

Adam Cotterell / Boise State Public Radio

A view of the Thompson Creek mine near Challis, Idaho. Thompson Creek has been Custer County's largest employer.

The Thompson Creek molybdenum mine issued 105 layoff notices today according to the Idaho Business Review. 

Molybdenum is a metal with a high melting point used in steel alloys, among other things.

The central Idaho mine is operated by a company based in Denver and Vancouver, B.C.  The Business Review reports the company estimates it will save nearly $110 million in operating costs and expenditures through the job cuts.

The layoffs are effective Oct. 5.

Last year, CEO of Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc. Kevin Loughrey, spoke with Bloomberg Television’s Pimm Fox when the price of molybdenum was $17 per pound.

Today, according to the commodity website infomine.com, molybdenum is priced at $10.89 per pound. Continue Reading

What North Dakota Can Show Idaho About Training Rural Doctors

University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Science Hall in 1903, home of the University of North Dakota's original medical school. Science Hall was razed in 1999.

With about 680,000 people, North Dakota has less than half as many residents as Idaho. Yet North Dakota has something that Idaho does not: its own medical school.

North Dakota’s school got its start in 1905 as a two-year program, where students would have to leave the state to finish their education. Since 1976, the University of North Dakota has had a full-fledged, four-year medical school to educate doctors in-state. Continue Reading

Wal-Mart Orders 40,000 Pounds Of Idaho Cheese

Courtesy Leah Clark

Shelves are stocked at a Walmart store in Jerome.

Wal-Mart stores across southern Idaho have begun carrying cheeses from a Rexburg creamery this week, according to the state agriculture department.

Nelson-Ricks Creamery will provide cheddar, mozzarella and other varieties.

“The brand is “Idaho Cheese,” says Idaho Preferred program manager Leah Clark.  “When you look at it in the case, it’s got a big State of Idaho and “Idaho Cheese” and then the variety.  It’s a big, white, plain, not pretty label.”  Continue Reading

Public Hearing On Vacant Governor’s Mansion Today

The public will have a chance to weigh in on the state’s vacant governor’s mansion this afternoon at the State Capitol.

The mansion, which hasn’t been lived in since the Simplot family donated it in 2004, made headlines earlier this year after a Democratic lawmaker said the state shouldn’t continue to pay to maintain the home.

Data StateImpact obtained through a public records request show the hilltop mansion has been used 42 times in three years, while costing more than $100,000 per year in upkeep.

The hearing is at 4:30 p.m. MST at the State Capitol.

Why Idaho’s Doctor Shortage Won’t Be Easy To Solve

Dr. Jennifer Petrie has known since she was a high school student in Lewiston, Idaho, that she wanted to be a rural family physician.

Petrie works at the Emmett Medical Center, less than an hour’s drive north of Boise.  She sees patients four days a week in her small, sparse examining room here and also works the emergency room shift a couple times a month at the neighboring hospital.

Dr. Petrie is a generalist. She didn’t want to choose a high-paying specialty.  For her, seeing all kinds of people was the most appealing thing about being a doctor. Continue Reading

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