Our Northwest Economy

Idaho To Phase Out Paper Unemployment Checks

This week, jobless people in Idaho will start to see a major transition in its unemployment system. Idaho is phasing out paper unemployment checks and phasing in a system that puts benefits on debit cards. It becomes the second Northwest state to do so.

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Wash. Democrats Admit Goof On Soda Pop Tax; Industry Considers Ballot Repeal

OLYMPIA, Wash. – If you buy soda pop in Washington, soon you'll be making a contribution to help rebalance the state budget. In the final hours of the legislature's special session [earlier this month], majority Democrats imposed a two-cents-per-can excise tax on soda. But now the carbonated beverage industry is considering an effort to repeal the pop tax this November. One of its arguments: the tax law contains a technical goof.

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Recession Suppresses Population Movement Within The Northwest

New Census Bureau estimates show the Northwest added people between 2008 and 2009. These numbers precede the actual 2010 headcount. The headline is that the struggling economy put a damper on movement within the region. [Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports.]

According to the Census Bureau, a few Northwest cities showed strong population growth in 2009. In Washington, the Tri-Cities, Moses Lake and Olympia all added more than two percent to their populations. Idaho Falls and Hood River, Oregon are among the region's other strong performers.
But many cities showed little or no growth.
In Idaho, Labor Department spokesman Bob Fick says people continue their movement from rural to urban areas. But he says the bad economy and a bad housing market are putting a damper on the long-term trend.

Bob Fick: “I think what you saw is the continuing migration, albeit much slower because are just having trouble moving. They can't sell their homes. So that keeps them tied down.”

Fick says about half of the Gem State's counties saw more people move out than move in. He says many rural folks left for better opportunities in larger cities like Boise or Coeur d'Alene.

Several outlying southern Oregon cities, such as Klamath Falls and Coos Bay, also showed a net loss of people from 2008 to 2009.

[I'm Doug Nadvornick reporting.]


Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

WA Budget Shortfall Grows To $2.8B

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington's current budget shortfall has grown slightly to two-point-eight billion dollars. The new number reflects increasing demand for state services and a Supreme Court tax case the state lost. Next week in Olympia Senate Democrats plan to roll-out a proposal to close the shortfall. They'll offer up a combination of cuts and tax hikes. But Senator Rodney Tom, the Senate's number two budget writer, [today] Friday dismissed a proposal in the Washington State House to temporarily raise the state sales tax.

Rodney Tom: “If you look at in much better times when there was an initiative for one percent for education, that went down two-thirds to one-third in a much better economic environment so I think that's wishful thinking.”

Senator Tom says he's more interested in sin taxes like raising the tax on cigarettes to bring in new revenue. Republicans remains staunchly opposed to new taxes. They say it will harm the state's economic recovery. [Washington lawmakers [today] Friday did get some good news from the state's revenue forecaster. It appears the two-year drop in state tax collections is leveling off.]

Lawmakers Debate Online Schools

SALEM, Ore. – Students of online schools in Oregon are in limbo. The future of virtual schools -- as they are known -- is one of the most contentious issues in the Oregon legislature. The question is how should the state oversee school districts that span hundred of miles and exist largely in cyberspace. The issue proved too thorny for lawmakers last year, so they turned it over to a task force. This month, that group is asking the Legislature to have the state Board of Education hash out the details. As Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman found, that means students don't know if they'll be able to continue with their online studies.

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Lawmakers Plan To Move Quickly To Extend Unemployment Benefits

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon lawmakers [today] Monday convened a four-week special session. One of the first orders of business is extending unemployment benefits to an estimated 19-thousand Oregonians. That's how many whose benefits are set to expire soon. Money for the six-week extension will come from the state's unemployment insurance fund. Senate President, Democrat Peter Courtney, says it's one example of why he believes lawmakers need to meet on a regular basis:

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Washington Gets $590M To Improve Seattle To Portland Rail Service

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington will get nearly 600-million dollars to improve Amtrak rail service along the I-5 corridor. Meanwhile Oregon will get just a fraction of that. The Obama administration announced the federal grants [today] Thursday. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins explains what it will mean for rail travel on the West side of the Cascades.

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Tri-City Economy Has Grown Beyond Hanford, Study Finds

PASCO, Wash. – The economy of the Tri-Cities region in south central Washington isn't as closely linked with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation as it was in the 1970s. That's the bottom line of a new study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In fact, less than 8 percent of local jobs in the area were with Hanford prime contractors last year. Correspondent Anna King explains.

Billions of federal dollars pour into the effort to clean up nuclear waste at Hanford each year. Even more with last year's federal stimulus package. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory economist Michael Scott says Hanford is important, but the region isn't all about the site anymore. Scott's study shows total employment in Benton and Franklin counties has increased by a third since 1994. He says many of the new jobs are in health care, food processing and scientific work.

Michael Scott: “Seattle caught cold, caught pneumonia when Boeing went down in the late 60s early 70s, they attempted to diversify and did, they were lucky to snag Microsoft. They reinvented themselves. On a much smaller scale the same sort of thing is going on here.”

[Scott says the Tri-Cities still has work to do to diversify over the next 40 years, when thousands of Hanford jobs could disappear.] Scott's economic study was prompted by several businesses deciding not to locate in the Tri-Cities. They thought the area's economy was too closely coupled to Hanford.

I'm Anna King in Pasco.

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Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network
See the complete study from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Idaho Legislators Scour Budget

The Idaho legislature's budget committee is meeting one-by-one with state agency heads as it looks for places to cut spending. Today (Monday) university presidents took his turn in the hot seat. They stressed their school's economic clout within the state. Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports.


University of Idaho President Duane Nellis came to Boise with a new economic impact study. He told members of the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee the study shows his university contributes a billion dollars to the state economy. He says that's about two percent of the Idaho's total economic activity.
Nellis says he also reminded legislators that the university has already absorbed significant cuts in the last year.

Duane Nellis: “I tried to communicate that further cuts were going to erode our ability to continue to provide that return on investment. It could potentially erode the quality of our degree programs.”

This week, budget writers in Boise are focusing on education, both K-12 and higher ed. Over the next several weeks, the committee will meet with the heads of other state agencies. In late February and March, lawmakers will start writing the budget that will guide Idaho for the next two years.
I'm Doug Nadvornick reporting.

Oregon concerts raise big money for Haiti relief

Fundraisers in Portland and Ashland last night (Thursday) raised more than $160-thousand dollars for relief efforts in Haiti. Ryan Knutson reports.


A benefit concert in Ashland put on by the Rogue Suspects band raised $14,000. Nearly 15-hundred people showed up and made donations to the Red Cross.

In Portland, a benefit concert at the Aladdin Theater got off to a good start ­ halfway through; ticket sales and concessions alone had raised $27-thousand dollars. Then, the Ray Hickey Foundation offered to match every dollar raised, and something amazing happened. Somebody stood up and wrote a check for $23,000.

Theater manager Tom Sessa says it took everyone's breath away.

“It was just a powerful moment. The energy was palpable within everyone.”

The gift sparked even more donations from the 650 people at the event. In the end, the benefit raised more than $150,000. Proceeds went to Mercy Corps.

This is Ryan Knutson reporting