Tuesday, January 31
Welcome to a new brand of North Idaho Business Journal
North Idaho has a business landscape with built-in keys to success that are as robust as the area’s mountains, rivers and lakes are beautiful. Idaho companies enjoy low operating costs and a make-sense tax structure. They benefit from a wealth of tax incentives and a statewide culture focused on workforce development. And, as one of the fastest growing areas in the nation, North Idaho offers businesses the opportunity to reach an ever-increasing number of consumers in a variety of target markets. Those are just a few of the reasons we’re excited to announce the North Idaho Business Journal is expanding its focus and coverage area across the Panhandle.
Gem State tourism: Looking up
Economic impact study shows Idaho travel increases, record numbers across the board
Idaho's tourism and travel industry is experiencing a shining moment. The 2021 economic impact report prepared by Dean Runyan Associates, Inc. for Visit Idaho and released in late December shows trends ticking upward from 2020 across all things tourism in the Gem State.
Leading the Cd'A Chamber: An interview with Linda Coppess
Linda Coppess came on board as president and CEO of the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber in late 2021. She recently sat down with the North Idaho Business Journal to talk about how things are going and what’s ahead.
NIA Women of Impact in their words: IMPACTED series lands on 'C' for commerce
Let’s talk “commerce.” Not too sexy of a word is it? How about, let’s talk about “money.” Better, isn’t it? Money. How we make it, spend it, save it, have it work for us, push it around the community, push it around the globe — is all part of commerce. Basically commerce is the overall movement of goods services and money — BIG money. Commerce is the mechanics of all this and it moves the world!
Community-oriented sports performance
Diverge Performance aims to help Idaho coaches, trainers and athletes
Not being able to help athletes and coaches who wanted to improve their performance led to the creation of Diverge Performance — a new community-oriented, sports performance company. The idea for the company — the brainchild of Taylor Elizondo, Max Ouzts, Armand Nance, and Dr. Paul Brewer — came out of frustration that the four were not able to help people the way that they wanted to.
Minds unite at Story Summit
Quarterly gatherings at Innovation Collective offer inspiration, fellowship
If you cross a business conference with a wellness retreat, you'll find yourself among peers seeking inspiration and fellowship at Innovation Collective's Story Summit.
Best of North Idaho in full swing
Voting begins Feb. 8
Get ready to vote in the North Idaho Business Journal's Best of North Idaho contest. Voting begins Feb. 8, and if you're reading this on Jan. 31, there's still time to squeak in a nomination.
Welcome to the Holocene Epoch
It's a time of transition for North Idaho real estate
As I write this column the first week of January 2023, the real estate market is still a disaster. It is not “plummeting” (a favorite media headline term.) In fact, prices here in North Idaho remain stubbornly high given the lackluster demand from buyers. The market is more like a frozen landscape, reflecting the Winter conditions outside my door. I am usually awake at about 3 a.m. every morning: I step outside and it takes my breath away, at once bitter cold and terrifying and peaceful. Frozen solid. Nothing moves, except the wind occasionally howls.
Unemployment rate dropped slightly in December
Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.9% in December, edging down from 3% in November. December’s labor force – workers who are employed or unemployed but looking for work – increased by 587 people (0.1%) to 963,957, the smallest increase since the previous December’s decline of 100 (-0.01%). With the labor force growing at a slower pace than the civilian population, Idaho’s labor force participation decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 62.4%.
Hecla exceeds 2022 silver production guidance
10% increase in silver production over 2021; Keno Hill expected to produce more than 2.5 million ounces in 2023
Hecla Mining Company announced its preliminary silver and gold production for the fourth quarter and full year 2022 and certain estimates for the Keno Hill mine for 2023.
Cd'A Chamber slates economic forecast
Mitchell, Wolkenhauer to discuss what's ahead this year
The event, which includes breakfast, is put on by the Coeur d'Alene Regional Chamber.
Your business in 2023 — small changes for big impact
In a favorite movie of mine, “How Do You Know?,” is a scene in which the leading character gives a gift to a woman at the crossroads of some life, trying to navigate changes, she neither chose, nor welcomed.
Participate in an online employer series
Sessions to be held every other month
Employers across Idaho are invited to attend free Zoom seminars to learn more about different labor topics across the state every other month.
2022 was a wonderful success
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending my second year of the Institute of Organizational Management program through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Tucson, Ariz.
Introducing: North Idaho's 40 Under 40
Nominate your favorite young professionals through Feb. 20
Do you know young professionals who are making a difference in their workplaces and shaping the future of our community? If so, nominate them now!
Jewelers band together
Cd'A Fine Jewelers owner pays it forward with apprenticeship
Owner of Coeur d’Alene Fine Jewelers, Gary Bower, has been a jeweler since he graduated high school in 1976. He left his job shoveling gravel in Anchorage, Alaska to apprentice under a third generation master jeweler from Russia. Now he owns a jewelry business in Coeur d'Alene with his own apprentice.