EITC to rename building in honor of former president

Eastern Idaho Technical College and the Idaho State Board of Education will be holding a ceremony Monday to rename the Technical Building in honor of former president and administrator Bill Robertson.

The official naming of the William A. Robertson Building will take place at 1 p.m. Robertson, 67, who retired in 2008, will attend the ceremony.

Completed in 1979, when EITC was still Eastern Idaho Vocational Technical School, the building currently houses the Business, Office, and Technology division; Information Technology department; Media Services; Energy Systems Technology program; and other Workforce Training programs including the INL Training Partnership (which was established during Robertson’s tenure.)

Overall, Robertson served EITC for 37 years. He began in 1972 when, fresh out of college, he was hired as an admissions counselor. In 1978, he was promoted to assistant director of student services, where he presided for the next 18 years. In 1996, he was named the dean of administration, focusing on securing EITC’s financial stability. Also during this time, he served as interim director/president of the college three times – in 1990, 1995-96 and in 2003. In 2004, Robertson was appointed EITC president by the Idaho State Board of Education.

During his tenure at EITC, Robertson oversaw the improvement and expansion ofcampus facilities, including the construction of the Health Care Education building. He was instrumental in developing partnerships with both the Development Company in Rexburg and the Idaho National Laboratory, both of which resulted in substantial contracts and grants for facilities and training. In 2008, Bill led an institutional self-study and successful renewal of EITC’s accreditation with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Robertson was a participating member of ECIPDA, Grow Idaho Falls, and served on the board of directors of the Partnership for Science and Technology.

Robo calls asking for credit card numbers should be reported

This was posted today on Facebook by the Bank of Idaho and I thought it worth sharing: Automated robo-calls for several local banks are going out to customers telling them their card has been locked, and instructing them to enter their card number after pressing "1" to release the hold. THESE CALLS ARE NOT FROM BANK OF IDAHO. If you receive a call like this, do not provide any information. Hang up and report the incident to a bank representative immediately.

Home prices continue to rise, locally and nationally

The big news this morning on the real estate front is that home prices continued to pick up speed in February, showing the biggest gain since height of the housing bubble in 2006.

The S&P Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 major markets showed a 9.3 percent rise over the last 12 months, the biggest yearly gain in the index since May 2006, which was one month after the index showed record-high home prices.

After that, the index showed a decline in prices almost every month until May 2012, when the turnaround began. Every month since then there has been gain in home prices, with each month's gain stronger than the one that came before.

In eastern Idaho, the widely held view is that home prices didn't fall as hard in 2008 because they hadn't risen at the same pace as they had in markets like Boise, Reno, Las Vegas or Phoenix.

Nevertheless, looking at the number from the Snake River Multiple Listing Service, the slowdown was quite real. Here are the median prices for single family homes and the number of homes sold in Bonneville County every February between 2006 and this year:

2006  -- $129,400     86

2007 -- $148,450      112

2008 -- $161,000      92

2009 -- $151,950      58

2010 -- $134,500      42

2011 -- $141,000      52

2012 -- $122,250      76

2013 -- $147,154      79

The housing recovery has been driven by a number of factors, including near record-low mortgage rates, a drop in foreclosures and reduced unemployment, all of which have helped lift both new-home sales as well as sales of previously owned homes. The rising home prices has helped bring back some buyers who had been reluctant to buy while prices were falling.

"Despite some recent mixed economic reports for March, housing continues to be one of the brighter spots in the economy," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

But Stan Humphries, chief economist for home price tracker Zillow, told CNN there are signs in the market could slow down. "Regardless what data you look at, home values are clearly rising at an unsustainable pace," he said. The increases in the index may be distorted by the shift in transactions to private home sales from the foreclosure sales that had been dominating the market.

Work to start soon on new Idaho Falls Stinker station

A building permit has been issued for a new Stinker station at First Street and Holmes Avenue.

Our routine stop at the city of Idaho Falls Building Department office yielded a few new developments on projects already reported.

A building permit has been issued for the new Stinker Station at the corner of Holmes Avenue and First Street. No demolition permit has been issued, but what we're going to see is the car wash taken out and a new store begun (estimated value of the project is $800,000 -- that's going by square footage calculations.) Once the new store is built, the old store will come down. In the course of the renovation, the gas pumps will remain in the same place and in service.

Also at the department office on Park Avenue were exterior plans for "Building L" at Snake River Landing. This 10,000-square-foot structure on Milligan Road, just south of Buffalo Wild Wings, will eventually be the home of McKenzie River Pizza, as well as tenants to be named later.

Boise-based Web developer aims to give job hunters, employer with new tools

LaborFeed.com, which debuted April 17 at Boise’s Tech Cocktail event, is offering a new twist on employment ads by uniting people on the hunt for contract and day work with homeowners and businesses in need of workers.

Rod Adams, a Boise native and resident, said he created the new Web site out of his own need while facing unemployment. As one of millions of out-of-work Americans with a broad spectrum of skills – professional to manual labor – Adams said he wondered why he couldn’t find a reputable Web site to help locate contract or day work.

Out of his frustration and need an idea was born: create a web site with a simple and free interface that includes a rating system and offers an option to receive real-time job alerts.

“Today’s job market landscape is different.  So we’re different too,” said Adams.  “We’re here for the laborer and the professional.  Our mission is to help you find workers, find jobs and get stuff done.”

Adams explained that the LaborFeed concept addresses new employment trends identified by the U.S. Department of Labor.  As companies lean more on temporary workers in a post-recession economy, LaborFeed.com helps businesses and homeowners find workers to fill long- or short-term contract and day work positions.  While most job seekers understandably hope to secure a full-time job, career experts say now is not the time to snub temporary job listings. That’s because temp positions not only provide an income, but they also can help build new skills or enhance existing ones while making valuable connections that can lead to permanent, full-time posts.

At the same time, Adams said he wanted to keep the process simple, hence the no-nonsense Web interface. Whether someone wants to find work or a business or homeowner is offering job opportunities, LaborFeed.com allows users to quickly create a free account and post a worker or job ad.

For more information or to create a free LaborFeed account, visit www.laborfeed.com.