Twin Falls, Gooding, Jerome, ID, and Regional Economic Outlook for 2005


Twin Falls Economic Report done by me; Twin Falls, ID has potential for additional car washes, Detail Centers and mobile washing units. Twin Falls has enough water in their reservoirs to make it through the Summer for farmers and agriculture industries. Mike BuRec said recently that even if this winter has a snow pack of 20 feet we will not be back to normal levels. American Falls is at only 14% capacity. Palisades is at 12% and Jackson Lake is at 65%, but remember fires take water too. Water in the rivers and reservoirs is important for many reasons, and realize that 2/3 of all fresh trout worldwide come from Magic Valley South Central Idaho and Snake River. The Shoshone Falls are 212 feet high,

http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/waterfa...tail.html?id=864

higher than Niagara Falls and has often been called the Niagara Falls of the West. If water situations get too bad and not adequate snow pack in 03-04. We had heard of talk from David McAlindin of the City of Twin Falls Economic Development Dept.

http://www.idoc.state.id.us/idcomm/profile...s/TwinFalls.pdf

that he felt comfortable that the water situation is safe and supply good for businesses. They are working hard to help diversify the industries and recruit non-agriculture, cleaner industries. The region grows all kinds of important food items. Sugar Beets, Potatoes, Dairy, Alphalfa, Sheep, Beef, Hay, Grain, Wine, Beans, Wheat, barley, Sweet Corn, Grass Seed, Oats. They need the water. The supply is said to be better than was predicted or feared and that there is more than enough for summer, but this leaves little to spare in case of a mild winter.

The water supply contains arsenic, from natural erosion and also from previous chip manufacturing, Barium, Chromium, Fluoride and Nitrate from excessive fertilizer run off. These are at present levels not in violation, but the NPDES permitting is going into harsher BMPs and enforcement and has caused a few companies, which do food processing to be unable to get permits, costing future jobs; Glandia Foods, Inc. in Gooding.

The local Senators are working on Ethanol to help out and that initiative could be great for ID. McDonalds has been hit by economy and adverse PR from that Bull shit law suit in Canada about people getting fat from eating at Mickey Ds. Recently McDonalds has also called for lessening of Antibiotics, steroids and other growth hormones, which is a little bit of an issue for farmers, since right now with the Beef, Mad Cow, moratorium in Canada some of those cattle come from ID as well as the milk and ID is a huge Dairy State in the Southern area. Learn about the importance of the Dairy industry in the US and in Southern ID;

http://www.dairybusiness.com/links.htm .

Also hurt by the economy and fewer people going out to eat at QSRs, Restaurants are Kraft Foods, McCain Foods (125 people laid off), J.R. Simplot, which closed the Heyburn potato plant and laid off another 50 people at another processing plant. These companies collectively laying off a total of 600 people in the region. Also blamed are the war in Iraq and lessened travel. Paper is a big water user also and Boise Cascade has had other issues with economic issues. Dairy is up about 6-10% over the last year why? Could it be the increase in Starbucks (6000 plus locations) and the crème and milk in the Frappachinos using milk? Yes some is. Also of worry is the NM Case law regarding the minnows and Rio Grande and Heron reservoir, such an issue with low water levels in Idaho would be the same as the Sarbain Oxley issues in the Corporate World, it would be catastrophic for agriculture in South Central Idaho. But all in all things have been good and have had a net gain even with the bad news. Dell has hired 700 people in nine months in Twin Falls. Also hiring have been Home Depot. We talked to a fiber optic multi-plex line installer who could not seem to get a job in his profession and therefore Home Depot gave him a lower level job at $12.00 per hour.

A waste of brain capacity no doubt but certainly enough to live with the cost of living in Twin Falls which is low due to power and water prices really inexpensive. Twin Falls, Jerome and Gooding had substantial growth in housing. One thing that may hurt the area is the move to try to get seniors out of their cars. Elderly are super worried about losing their drivers licensing, it can be a traumatic experience rivaling a lost loved one, meaning their freedom is gone, some would rather just die, it is that serious as I have discussed with many seasoned seniors. They will not be moving into the Gooding Golf Course areas if this persists. But the area is growing. A few of the outskirt cities are not fairing as well. Burley had a recent "Crazy Days" and Regatta Jet Boat Races, which is a good tourist draw to help locals, non-profits and retailers. All in all we saw a lot of good stuff; ISU-Idaho State University is putting in a 50K dollar nursing facility. Which will employ many people. Solo Cup employed an additional 68 people after earlier in the year laying off 100 people. West Farm added 27 people. Davisco hired 10 workers on Monday. Hamilton Manufacturing is hiring 30 additional workers, but they may have a power problem if prices increase?

Teton Wireless is setting up Satellite to WiFi high speed Internet Networks with points throughout the area to help increase the clean industry companies to the area. Kodiak Northwest has got a new snow-removal innovation. And we found many interesting as heck micro market niche manufacturers such as; Golf Swing Aids, Spider Cultivator, Beet Pulp Cattle feed, Plastic Calf Cottages, Yo-yos (seriously, that's where they make em'), Dome Awnings for homes, Fish Pumps, Basque Smoked Chorizo Sausage (and it is good too), Foam Boxes for Fish, Baler Twine, etc. So there are some strong niches that are helping the area. The Sea Food industry has had a bit of discounting due to the slowing in restaurants, but the Sushi is not any fresher lately. This has hurt the Fresh Trout industry, trout are in nearly all rivers and lakes in ID as well as those, which process the fish in the area. The Local Chamber of Commerce in Twin Falls had done a tremendous job in their recent Hot August Night non-profit fair, where they auctioned a Jeep off, as they profiled local businesses. The Chamber cares about local small businesses. Alamlgated Sugar is buying more 129,000 pound trucks. S and G Produce is Building Warehouses and expanding, over 10% of all the worlds sugar comes from Southern ID. Sugar Beets grow extremely well in ID, better than most anywhere. Gooding also gets in on the non-profit community efforts with events such as the huge "Spuds Festivals." Wendell and Jerome has had much growth along I-84 than the towns like Buhl, Filer, Castleford, Hagerman.

One issue hurting the region is the Beef import Taxes by the Japanese and things might get tough and they are worried about Mad Cow if it comes to the US. We Japan to knock that off right now and possibly increase tariffs on something they sell us. Meanwhile lots of debate on the WTO issues of genetically modified crops. Super Corn is a good deal for the world. These issues with genetically modified foods and possibly modifying wild weeds into killer weeds is not a good debate since we are talking about corn, not mountain grown Sun Flowers, Pumpkins, Squash, Blue Berries, Cranberry which is grown near native vegetations. We are not talking about rice. They are already growing it all over the world anyway. And we have already modified crops of all types by cross breeding, same thing just slower in number of generations. Hell we modify people the same way by our own "Melting Pot." Mixing Asian, Hispanic and Middle Easterners in Los Angeles? What's the difference, Arthur C Clark predicts in his book "3001" we will all be looking quite Asian, which is probably correct seeing as this is how things are going with 3.5 Billion Chinese? The EU and 15 nations are developing criteria and it will probably be where people or consumers have a choice and we will see what they buy? Guaranteed genetically modified will win, people like full fresh looking vegetables and fruit. These issues are putting things in Southern ID at a wait and see point and causing issues with capitalization.

Even so Twin Falls area has had a net gain in jobs, which are non-agriculture. 3750 people went back to work and 3440 lost their jobs in 2003 net gain of 210. It is a slow go, but things are picking up. The increase is mostly due to growth and construction, most of which is box stores in the Twin Falls and the new home construction in Jerome and Gooding. In Pocatello the steel plant laid off 40 people and we are seeing this throughout the North West; Steel Plant Closes in OR.

We are noticing some good downtown renovation on Main street in Twin Falls. On the "Messer Block" they won an award for dedication to Historic preservation. As you know we are excited to see downtown areas revitalize and bring people back to the community and a place to talk and the attitude of hometown meetings seems to be done in conversations with locals and therefore more power to the people and more reasonable and less linear decision making like in the suburbs.

There is a bit of a drug problem there which ranges from 18-40 and has to do with Crystal Meth. But they seem to have a handle on it with a new drug court program to get people o break the addictions, which seems to be working and gets people back to work. Fairly good success rate and better than prisons which is also a big employer outside of Boise area. 86% of the people in that program where between 21-40 and were there for substance abuses with Meth. Others include Weed, LSD, Heroin, Mushrooms, Cocaine, Ecstasy and three time drunk drivers. One person interviewed by the local newspaper said he had a construction job and was back on the right track. Downtown Twin Falls is a bummer to navigate if you are new to the area because if you are looking for a location on Second and Second Street, it could be one of seven corners? Ouch. Even the older locals laughed when the city council wanted to therefore change all the names after the founding fathers of the town and current city leadership? Typical. Either way it is a tough deal, luckily the diagonal streets are not in abundance. Twin Falls has 64,000 population, Jerome 18,400, Gooding 14,000. .

Many cities such as Burley, Burl and others in the area have a zero or negative growth rate. Twin Falls 1.9%, Jerome 1%, Gooding hard to say, guessing 1.6%. The jobs in the area seem to be Retail, services, Farm and Ag and then Professional in that order. White people make up 89%, and the population is just slightly older than in Nampa or Boise and more similar to Lewiston and Pocatello; 45-65 age groups make up 20.9% of population. We also found Carl's Pressure Washing Supplies in Idaho Falls a superb vendor for assistance and a Landa Steam Cleaner Dealer also.

As far as tourism the Falls are worth seeing and draw in some 530,000 visitors to stay for the day and spend money each year. The major employers we found were The Sugar company with 425 people and growing (literally), Circle A Construction 325, Clear Springs foods 430, Dell 700, Independent Meat 216, Glandia Foods 430, Jerome Cheese 150, Lamb Weston 850, Magic Valley Medical Center 1115, Seastrom Manufacturing 170, Seneca Foods 200, Spears 275, Solo Cup 115. All in all the area has the employment base to drive a strong middle class as this economy continues its climb to a rebounding and strong pounding recovery.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs





Latest News:



Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news
Myanmar's Suu Kyi to get family letters, news mags (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has managed to wring small concessions from the ruling generals in the form of letters from her family and some international news magazines, her lawyer said on Friday. JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (AP via Yahoo! News)
French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. News Corp tightens grip on Premiere with new CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Rupert Murdoch tightened his grip on German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere by appointing News Corp executive Mark Williams as CEO in a move to get the company back on track. SEC Looks Into UAL Stock Scare; Implications For Online News? (CBS News)
A ton of digits have been devoted to this in other spots but the SEC's decision to investigate takes it to another level. The backstory: a six-year-old news story about UAL declaring bankruptcy made it into the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel 's current news flow, was picked up by a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News bot and, via a reporter for a newsletter, made it onto Bloomberg News. After a lot of buck ... JCDecaux and News Corp. in talks to combine outdoor ad groups (International Herald Tribune)
The News Corp. chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has recently expressed nervousness about investments in Russia, where News Outdoor generated the bulk of its revenue last year. SEC Looks Into UAL Stock Scare; Implications For Online News? (paidContent.org via Yahoo! Finance)
A ton of digits have been devoted to this in other spots but the SEC's decision to investigate takes it to another level. The backstory: a six-year-old news story about UAL declaring bankruptcy made it into the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel's current news flow, was picked up by a Google News bot and, via a reporter for a newsletter, made it onto Bloomberg News. JCDecaux in talks to buy News Corp. billboard unit (AP via Yahoo! Finance)
In a deal that would create the world's largest outdoor advertising company, French conglomerate JCDecaux SA said Thursday that it is in talks to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. Phila. mayor to announce grim budget news (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
The Nutter administration is expected to announce grim budget news today, which is all but certain to lead to significant spending cuts - perhaps as high as 10 percent - in some city departments, according to three sources familiar with the budget. News Corp says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
News Corp. executive Mark Williams has taken over as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in an interim capacity, News Corp. said after the move led to renewed takeover speculation. News Corp. says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Mark Williams, a News Corp. executive named late on Wednesday as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, has taken over in an interim capacity, a News Corp. spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Site: news - Google News
CNET News Daily Podcast: Facebook, Google open competing services - CNET News

PC World

CNET News Daily Podcast: Facebook, Google open competing services
CNET News, CA - 4 hours ago
A new Firefox plug-in turns Amazon.com into piracy heaven for people looking to download music, movies, and other digital content for free. ...
The SFGate friends Facebook San Francisco Chronicle
Facebook Pushes New Service Wall Street Journal
Networking News American Journalism Review
CRN - Mashable
all 184 news articles
McClatchy News VP Howard Weaver to Retire - MarketWatch

McClatchy News VP Howard Weaver to Retire
MarketWatch - 10 hours ago
who twice led the Anchorage Daily News to Pulitzer Prize gold medals for public service, has announced his retirement at the end of the year. ...
News Analysis Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now ... - New York Times

Javno.hr

News Analysis Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now ...
New York Times, United States - 5 hours ago
31, 2011, date for sending the rest of American troops home that is spelled out in the new agreement between the United States and the Iraqi government. ...
THAT NOISE IS MY HEAD HITTING MY DESK. Tapped
all 82 news articles
Fidelity to Roll out New Home Page Providing Real-Time Financial ... - MarketWatch

Washington Post

Fidelity to Roll out New Home Page Providing Real-Time Financial ...
MarketWatch - 13 hours ago
BOSTON, Dec 04, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Fidelity Investments today announced it will soon begin the rollout of a new home page for Fidelity.com. ...
Fidelity will stress news and advice online Boston Globe
Online Money: Fidelity expands online news focus The Associated Press
all 104 news articles
Scripps to Seek Buyer for Rocky Mountain News - MarketWatch

KRQE

Scripps to Seek Buyer for Rocky Mountain News
MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
Scripps bought the Rocky Mountain News, which is Colorado's first newspaper and the state's oldest continuously operated business, in 1926. ...
Scripps puts Rocky Mountain News up for sale The Associated Press
Rocky Mountain News Up for Sale Examiner.com
Scripps to Sell the "Rocky Mountain News" Memphis Flyer
Associated Content - KRQE
all 286 news articles
Street largely holds ground in face of bad news - The Associated Press

Boston Globe

Street largely holds ground in face of bad news
The Associated Press - 7 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) ? Wall Street showed further signs of stability Thursday as investors calmly took in a flurry of downbeat economic and corporate data and ...
Video: Paulson: Other Rescue Programs Being Examined AssociatedPress
Stocks gain for 2nd session CNNMoney.com
markets plunge on US grim news CNN International
Nightly Business Report - WXIA-TV
all 2,094 news articles
Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines - Los Angeles Times

Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines
Los Angeles Times, CA - 10 hours ago
--New Yorker music critic Alex Ross wins the Guardian's 2008 book award for "The Rest is Noise." --And the Grammy nominations go to . ...
Street Sways On News Deluge - Forbes

BBC News

Street Sways On News Deluge
Forbes, NY - 9 hours ago
The day began with news of substantial rate cuts from the Bank of England, European Central Bank and Sweden's Riksbank, followed by the Labor Department's ...
Big ask...Foreclosures rising...Mortgage rates falling... | KXNet ... KXMC
Flight to US Treasury Bonds Bad News for Economy Washington Post
Official recession news hammers Dow USA Today
Gothamist - Forbes
all 1,279 news articles
TechMeme Gives Up On Fully Automated News - Washington Post

Wall Street Journal Blogs

TechMeme Gives Up On Fully Automated News
Washington Post, United States - 13 hours ago
3+ year old TechMeme, an automated news site that shows breaking news clustered by topic, has always generated "headlines" by analyzing how news sites link ...
TechMeme gets a helping (human) hand Los Angeles Times
Techmeme?s Cyborg Experiment Wall Street Journal Blogs
Techmeme news aggregator embraces its human heritage TECH.BLORGE.com
all 14 news articles
Dallas Morning News' All Big 12 Football Team - Dallas Morning News

Dallas Morning News' All Big 12 Football Team
Dallas Morning News, TX - 58 minutes ago
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News It was the Year of the Quarterback in the Big 12. And the wide receiver. And the tight end. ...

MORE RESOURCES:
Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for book reviews
"Brisingr: Inheritance, Book III" by Christopher Paolini tops Amazon.ca books list (Jam! Showbiz)

Book Reviews Check out the latest hot and not-so-hot books in our reviews section. Edible Landscape Book Reviews (BellaOnline)

Rising food prices have revived interest in vegetable gardens. For those new to edible landscaping, here are some recommended books. Bernanke Book Gets It - Mostly (Fox News)

Lieberman's review of a book about Fed Chief Ben Bernanke by Lehman Brothers economist Ethan Harris Book Reviews (Metro Santa Cruz)

'Colosseum' and 'The Scotia Widows.' Colosseum By Katie Ford; Graywolf; 64 pages; $15 paperback Many of our greatest poets came to us in ruins. The gouging lyrics of the Greek poet Sappho, for instance, were rescued from strips of papyri. Author Royce Buckingham's Second Funny Fantasy Book for Kids Released This Month: Kirkus Reviews Calls Book "A ... (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)

Two kids discover a world of Goblins underground in this hilarious new book for kids by Author Royce Buckingham. Book helps sysadmins get a grip on Python (Desktop Linux)

O'Reilly has published a book on Python that touts the language's suitability for automating system administration chores. Written by Noah Gift and Jeremy Jones, Python for Unix and Linux System Administration includes a free, downloadable Ubuntu virtual machine, and examples of using Python to automate virtualization. Capsule movie reviews (Miami Herald)

Herald movie reviewers rate movies from zero to four stars. Excellent | ½ Very Good | Good | ½ Worth Seeing Mediocre | Poor | No Worthless Personal Tech (Washington Post)

The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro will be online to discuss recent reviews and answer your personal tech questions. Two win National Book Award honors (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)

Barney Rosset , at left, publisher and First Amendment defender whose battles on behalf of Henry Miller 's "Tropic of Cancer" and other explicit works helped overturn U.S. censorship laws, has won a National Book Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, the nonprofit literary organization announced Wednesday. PREP TICKER: A ringing endorsement (Detroit Free Press)

SOS's endorsement: "I haven't read this book, but if I did, I would probably like it." Site: book reviews - Google News
Larry Wilson: We're all diminished by loss of book reviews - Contra Costa Times

Larry Wilson: We're all diminished by loss of book reviews
Contra Costa Times, CA - 18 hours ago
Book reviews are highly available online, or in other periodicals, noted Dr. Stephen Kanter, the Pasadena MD who is now a reader at the Huntington. ...
Fiction in translation: how to find the year's best - Los Angeles Times

Fiction in translation: how to find the year's best
Los Angeles Times, CA - 5 hours ago
How do you think readers might find out about these books, if they're not being covered by major book reviews? In terms of the LA Times and reviews of ...
BOOK REVIEW | The Night of the Gun - Charleston City Paper

Charleston City Paper

BOOK REVIEW | The Night of the Gun
Charleston City Paper, SC - Dec 3, 2008
... remain will be appreciation for one of the best memoirs of recent memory. Eric Liebetrau, a Charlerston native, is the managing editor of Kirkus Reviews.
Fresh CCP Book Reviews Charleston City Paper
all 2 news articles
Book Review: Say 'Oui' to 'Marie Antoinette' - Andover Townsman

Book Review: Say 'Oui' to 'Marie Antoinette'
Andover Townsman, MA - 11 hours ago
However, as is often the case, the movie fell short of the legacy of the book it was inspired by. "Marie Antoinette" by Antonia Fraser is a complete story ...
HALLOWEEN AND OTHER SEASONS (Book Review) - FANGORIA

HALLOWEEN AND OTHER SEASONS (Book Review)
FANGORIA - 15 hours ago
As noted by the title, HALLOWEEN AND OTHER SEASONS (published by Cemetery Dance Publications), Al Sarrantonio?s latest short story collection centers on ...
Tumnus?s Book Shelf: The NarniaFans Book Reviews: The Magician?s Book - Narnia Fans

Tumnus?s Book Shelf: The NarniaFans Book Reviews: The Magician?s Book
Narnia Fans - Dec 3, 2008
Written by Laura Miller, whose credentials include Salon.com, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The LA Times and Time Magazine, ...
The Tales of Beedle the Bard early reviews - Examiner.com

guardian.co.uk

The Tales of Beedle the Bard early reviews
Examiner.com - 8 hours ago
by Michelle Kerns, Book Examiner Like all of my fellow Potter heads, I'll be reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard during every spare moment for the next few ...
The Tales of Beedle the Bard Now Available, Early Reviews Now Online The Leaky Cauldron.org
'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' by J.K. Rowling Chicago Tribune
Attention Harry Potter fans! Chicago Sun-Times
Associated Content - Telegraph.co.uk
all 1,292 news articles
Book Review: Mary Jane - Her Book by Clara Ingram Judson - Blogcritics.org

Book Review: Mary Jane - Her Book by Clara Ingram Judson
Blogcritics.org, OH - Dec 2, 2008
Writing Christian book reviews and on the topics of Christian family living, home-schooling, homesteading and more. Keep reading for information and ...
December book reviews from Highlands Ranch Library - YourHub.com

December book reviews from Highlands Ranch Library
YourHub.com, CO - Dec 2, 2008
This book informs the reader about the history of Cuba from October 10, 1868 when a handful of Cuban plantation owners set their slaves free and declared ...
Book Review: Bedlam South by Mark Grisham and David Donaldson - Blogger News Network

Book Review: Bedlam South by Mark Grisham and David Donaldson
Blogger News Network - Dec 2, 2008
by Simon Barrett in Book Reviews, Reviews The disorder known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) came to the forefront following the Vietnam conflict. ...
Home | Site Map | Resource Links