California & Pennsylvania lead the nation in cocoa and chocolate manufacturing
We all know flower shops and candy makers see a big boost around February 14th, but these businesses operate year round and employ hundreds of thousands of people. The U.S. Census Bureau puts together interesting lists of data for many holidays. Check out some interesting stats on the industries certainly getting some help from Valentine’s Day.
By the numbers
17,124 | The number of florists nationwide in 2009. These businesses employed 75,855 people.
24,973 | The number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2009. In February 2011, these stores sold $2.27 billion in merchandise. Continue Reading →
Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul debate in Florida.
Two Republican presidential hopefuls will be in Idaho this week to campaign in advance of the Gem State’s March 6th caucus. Rick Santorum will host two rallies on Tuesday, one in Coeur d’Alene the other in Boise. Mitt Romney will reportedly host a private fundraiser and a public rally in Boise on Friday.
Idaho’s caucus is just over two weeks away. So we thought it’s time to take a closer look at where the four top GOP candidates stand on basic economic policy.
StateImpact New Hampshire has crafted this easily digestible look at where each of the candidates stands on individual income tax, corporate tax and federal spending.
Keep in mind there are five Republican candidates on Idaho’s ballot: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer.
On February 22 Buddy Roemer announced he is no longer running as a Republican, instead he’ll seek the presidency on a third party ticket.
Wheat ready for harvest. Wheat is one of Idaho's top ag exports.
Idaho’s Commerce Department reports exports totaled a record $5.89 billion in 2011. According to a press release, the department says exports were up more than 14 percent last year compared to 2010.
Idaho’s top exports include; semiconductors (memory chips), industrial equipment, precious and semi-precious metals, agriculture commodities, processed food, fertilizers, paper products and personal care products. Continue Reading →
These are the five stories getting the most love this week. Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting...
Every week we look back at the five stories getting the most attention at StateImpact Idaho. These stories got the most clicks, comments and shares. In case you missed something, here are the essentials:
A: Part of the settlement agreement provides for a settlement administrator, or a claims administrator, paid for by the banks who will administer the settlement. Weâve selected an administrator with extensive experience in identifying and working with vast, massive settlements like this one will be. People will be identified. Theyâll be contacted. The process wonât be immediate, but people will be contacted and notified about eligibility and their options under the settlement. Continue Reading →
INL's Materials and Fuels Complex in southeastern Idaho.
Officials with the Idaho National Laboratory say they need to cut 185 employees to reduce costs.Â
The Associated Pressreports employees at the lab were informed of the job cuts today. Lab officials will ask for voluntary layoffs before deciding how many pink slips to hand out.
Human Resources Director Mark Holubar tellsBoise State Public Radio the layoff process will continue until the end of March.
“This is obviously a very difficult situation for us, and any time that we are talking about the possibility of eliminating somebodyâs job itâs not an easy thing,” Holubar says.
The Idaho National Laboratory cut about 100 jobs last year. INL, which is operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, employs more than 4,000 people. Thousands more on the site near Idaho Falls are employed by contractors and other agencies.
Single mom Kelly Barker has found short-term work, and hopes the job will last.
The unemployment rate has ticked down in recent months, nationally and here in Idaho. Two of the people StateImpact Idaho has followed through its âJobless in Idahoâ series are among those who have made progress in finding work. But they havenât simply landed jobs and resumed the lives they had before unemployment.
When we first met Kelly Barker, a single mom in her mid-40s who lives in Meridian, she had been out of work for seven months. She talked about the âwhat-ifsâ â the fears she couldnât shake from her mind.
A sign advertises a foreclosed home in Nampa, Idaho's Blackhawk Subdivision.
Idaho borrowers will receive close to $100 million from the $26 billion agreement struck between government officials and five of the nation’s largest banks. That’s according to a statement from the Idaho Attorney General’s office, released this morning. Here are the specifics, according to that release:
The agreement provides an estimated $99,857,551 in direct relief to Idaho homeowners whose mortgages are owned and serviced by any of the five settling banks and to individuals whose mortgages were serviced by one of the settling banks and who lost their homes in foreclosures. It also creates loan servicing standards that the settling banks must follow. Continue Reading →
CNN Money and Realtor.com recently included Boise on a top ten list of post-recession ‘turnaround towns’. They slated Boise in sixth place behind Sarasota, Fort Myers, Orlando, Phoenix and Miami. While it might be nice for the Gem State’s biggest city to be recognized on this kind of a list, many of the facts supporting its placement are simply false.
Let’s start from the top. CNN Money reports Boise’s median home price is $120,000. They aren’t too far off. According to Intermountain MLS, Boise’s median home price in January was $130,000.
The post’s opening line characterizes Boise’s economy as an ‘offbeat combination of old and new’.
“The logging industry still pays a lot of the bills in town, but tech jobs have also become increasingly prevalent.”
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