Mockli's Music Shop and School merges with Piano Gallery

Dillon Mockli

If you've driven down South Boulevard since Christmas you may have noticed that Mockli's Music Shop and School is now empty.

Owner Dillon Mockli has moved and merged with the Piano Gallery Music Superstore, at 2995 E. 17th Street.

He said Piano Gallery owner Doug Brown approached him a few years ago about a partnership. Music classes were part of Brown's plan in 2010 when he remodeled the old Rex Store, adding six studios and a recital hall. At that time, Mockli said he was still building his business, but in late 2012 the idea of a merger became more appealing.

The expanded class schedule at Piano Gallery has prompted the Piano Gallery to add two new classrooms, one for guitar and another in the back for drum lessons (the latter of which the store hasn't offered until now.) Lessons are being offered in guitar, piano, violin, drums and voice. Mockli said he is looking for a cello teacher.

For more information, call 524-4420.

Manufacturers directory ranks I.F. 3rd in state in industrial jobs, up 3 percent in 2012

Idaho Falls ranked third in the state for manufacturing between October 2011 and 2012, according to this year's Idaho Manufacturers Directory, published annually by Manufacturers' News, Inc. of Evanston, Ill. During that time, industrial employment in the area increased 3 percent, twice the rate of the entire state.

Boise remained the state's top city for manufacturing employment, with 21,939 jobs, up 1.4 percent over the year. Nampa ranked second with 5,890 jobs, up 2.4 percent. Industrial employment in Lewiston decreased 8.4 percent over the year with the fourth-ranked city accounting for 2,916 jobs, while Pocatello, home to 2,827, was up 4.8 percent.

MNI reported that Idaho gained 1,096 manufacturing jobs, the first gain the company has recorded for the state since 2006. Idaho is now home to 2,152 manufacturers employing 73,920 workers. Southwest Idaho accounted for the largest share of the state's manufacturing employment with 41,547 manufacturing jobs, up 1.9 percent. Southeast Idaho ranked second at 17,972, up 1.7 percent. Northern Idaho was home to 14,401 industrial jobs, with no significant change reported over the year.

Bright spots included the opening of Chobani's $450 million yogurt-manufacturing plant in Twin Falls; Cives Steel Company's plans to open a steel fabrication factory near Idaho Falls; and the opening of a Southwark metal ductwork plant in Caldwell. Losses for the state included layoffs at Lewiston's Clearwater Paper lumber mill after it was purchased by Idaho Forest Group.

MNI reported industrial machinery and equipment remained Idaho's largest industrial sector with 15,331 jobs, down 1.7 percent over the year. Food products manufacturing ranked second and accounted for 14,883 jobs, down 3.3 percent. Third-ranked lumber/wood represented 8,808 of the state's jobs, up 2.4 percent over twelve months.

Most other industrial sectors gained jobs over the year including:

• Textiles/apparel, up 5.5 percent
• Primary metals, up 5 percent
• Fabricated metals, up 4.7 percent
• Paper products, up 4.3 percent
• Instruments/related products, up 3.2 percent
• Furniture/fixtures, up 3 percent
• Chemicals, up 2.9 percent
• Transportation equipment, up 1.7 percent
• Stone/clay/glass, up 1.1 percent.

Losses were seen in printing/publishing, down 5.4 percent; and electronics, down 1.3 percent.



Detailed profiles of Idaho's 2,152 manufacturers and 390 distributors can be found in the 2013 Idaho Manufacturers Directory, available in print for $89, or available online through MNI's subscription-based service at www.ezselect.com.

BizMojo Idaho Focus: Author Rob Morris

Rob Morris: Teacher/Author

Now that BizMojo Idaho is an Amazon.com affiliate, here's an interesting question: How many of our social media friends have things for sale on Amazon?

I have to be up front about this. If you buy something on Amazon using a link from BizMojoIdaho.com, I receive a commission. Ergo, it is in my interest to post as many links as I can.

With regard to people I know on Amazon, the first person I thought of was Rob Morris, a teacher in Idaho Falls School District 91 and the author of two books about U.S. bomber crews in World War II. I interviewed Rob for the Post Register when he published his first book, Untold Valor: Forgotten Stories of American Bomber Crews over Europe in World War II. His second, The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond: The 95th Bomb Group in War and Peace, was published last July. He is busy at work on another.

Getting to know Rob since our first encounter has been a real pleasure. Not only do we share a passion for World War II history (and history in general), we also have compatible tastes in music (Beatles, Stones, Who) and a fond feeling for the windier parts of Wyoming.

So, if you have an Amazon gift card from Christmas that you haven't used, maybe you want to get one of Rob's books. If WWII history isn't your thing, I still invite you to check out these links and find out what people have to say about his work.

Untold Valor: http://amzn.to/WcVGYS
The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond: http://amzn.to/UiYF2j

This is only the beginning, by the way. I am going through all my Facebook friends (hundreds of people) to search their names on Amazon and see if they have anything to feature on this blog. I have no idea what to expect, but I'm hoping to find some interesting stories about people in my own social media corner of the world.

Reflecting on '12, looking ahead to the new year

I hope everybody is ready for a fulfilling and profitable new year. As BizMojo Idaho has finished its first full calendar cycle, I thought it might be a good time to look at the numbers and reflect on where this all might be going. There have been a lot of highs and lows and lessons learned.

Here's a snapshot from our Google Analytics page, with some numbers and statistics that still mystify me.

Click on graphic to view larger size

All I can say in the end is that 15,393 people is more than the population of Blackfoot (Note: I have nothing against Blackfoot. There are lots of things I love about Blackfoot and I'd be glad to tell you what they are if you want me to post them.)

Marissa Bodnar

In terms of eyeballs, the biggest bump I got all year was in mid-August when I was interviewed as an "expert" by Marissa Bodnar of Local News 8. It was a revelation the way the line graph shot up after that segment aired on the 10 p.m. news. I hardly had time to thank Marissa before she moved to take a job in Portland, Maine, so I'd like to now.

One question I get asked a lot (usually by my mother) is "Are you making any money doing this?" I would like to call your attention to the advertisers on the page, especially Snake River Landing, who has been with us the whole year. I hope to monetize the site more. You might notice the Amazon.com link on the page. Just yesterday I began looking into affiliate marketing after reading a column in the New York Times by David Carr. The story is not about affiliate fees, but about Brian Lam, who found great success on the Web, burned out, left and then came back on his own terms. Worth a read: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/business/media/buffeted-by-the-web-but-now-riding-it.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Content is always going to be the heart of any blog, but I am convinced that in the age of social media the conversation that goes on between the storyteller and the listener is the most important aspect. I sort of knew this when I was writing my weekly column for the newspaper (BizMojo Idaho is basically its online reanimation). People sometimes told me, "When I read your column I feel like you're talking to me," which I considered the highest praise I could receive.

So stay tuned, folks. I predict something will happen this year with the old T.G.I.Friday's on Hitt Road, which now has been vacant for more than a year. Don't ask me to make any predictions about Costco, though.

Deadline for comments on INL, nuclear energy, is Jan. 4

Spent fuel in wet storage

When it comes to the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Commerce Department Director Jeff Sayer sees a big disconnect between people on either side of the state.

In Idaho Falls, the chief concern is mainly the effect the lab has on the local economy. That's understandable. INL is one of Idaho's biggest payrolls, and it's hard to imagine what this part of the state would look like had the Atomic Energy Commission decided in 1949 to build its test reactors somewhere else.

Ask people in Boise, however, at least seven of 10 would say they wonder about having nuclear materials sitting atop the Snake River Aquifer, he said. The INL's economic benefits? More a matter of, "What has it done for me lately?"

Sayer was in eastern Idaho Thursday to invite anyone with a special insight or opinion about the INL to send their comments to the Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission, which he chairs. The deadline for comments is Jan. 4, and the commission will be giving its final report to Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on Jan. 25.

The biggest issue is whether more nuclear waste from other parts of the country will be allowed into Idaho. A 1995 agreement between Idaho, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy curtailed shipments of spent fuel from government and commercial reactors and set a 2035 deadline for cleanup and the removal of high-level radioactive materials.

But a lot has changed since 1995, Sayer said. When the agreement went into place, the understanding was that Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be open and ready to receive waste from the lab. But now Yucca Mountain has been ruled out and there is currently no permanent repository designated for high-level waste.

Battelle Energy Alliance, whose president, John Grossenbacher, sits on the LINE Commission, has indicated that allowing greater amounts of spent fuel into Idaho would allow it to do expanded research work. In fact, in January 2011 the DOE and the state of Idaho signed a memorandum of agreement setting out conditions under which the INL may receive limited research quantities of used commercial fuels for examination and testing.

This has prompted the Snake River Alliance to invoke the 1995 Settlement Agreement as inviolable. "A consent-based interim storage facility might become a lifelong dump, invitation or not," it said in comments released Dec. 21. "The LINE Commission must not encourage the risk."

Sayer said the commission has no intention of recommending that INL become an interim storage facility. But there are challenges that have to be addressed. For example, the 1995 agreement says calcined waste at the lab -- liquid waste that was incinerated into a salt-like form, then put in double-lined stainless steel tanks -- must be re-characterized, put in new containers and shipped out of state. The cost of doing this has been estimated at around $400 million, and at the moment there is no place for it to go.

Idahoans must also consider that leaders in South Carolina and New Mexico are indicating a willingness to allow waste into their states. "If they agree to let waste in, they're going to want the research, too," he said.

Sayer said he believes, "There are ways to find solutions that will bring Idaho benefit and protect the environment. What we are seeking right now is a conversation in the spirit of respect and not of fear."



LINKS:
A summary of the 1995 Settlement Agreement: http://www.deq.idaho.gov/inl-oversight/oversight-agreements/1995-settlement-agreement.aspx
The Line Commission's Web page: http://line.idaho.gov/
The Snake River Alliance's press released in response to the LINE Commission's Dec. 3 progress report: http://snakeriveralliance.org/snake-river-alliance-responds-to-governors-nuclear-commission/
Web site of the Partnership for Science and Technology (leading eastern Idaho nuclear issues organization): http://www.p-s-t.org/index.php?section=23
A blog posting from Idaho Samzidat Nuke Notes on the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future and its January 2012 report to Energy Secretary Steven Chu:
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2012_01_22_archive.html