Idahoan due to receive state funds for training workers

Idahoan Foods, which in the past year opened new headquarters in downtown Idaho Falls, is due to receive up to $240,000 from the state's Workforce Development Training Fund to train 60 new workers.

The Idaho Department of Labor said its commitment, averaging $4,000 per new employee, will enable the maker of dehydrated mashed, au gratin, scalloped and hash-brown potatoes to expand its payroll to 109. The new jobs pay an average of $14.84 an hour.

Financed by employers through a 3 percent set-aside on unemployment insurance taxes, the fund reimburses companies for the costs of training employees for new jobs if the jobs pay at least $12 an hour and include employer-provided health care. Reimbursements can also be made for training workers who face being laid off from their current jobs if their skills are not upgraded.

Companies must produce a product or service that is marketed outside their region or be in the health care sector.

Since its inception in 1996, the fund has reimbursed 200 companies more than $38 million for training almost 20,000 workers. 

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/10/24/2321066/eastern-idaho-potato-processor.html#storylink=cpy

Snow, smartphones and social media add up to a new autumn ritual

What was my first instinct this morning when I looked out my window and saw snow on the ground? I grabbed my iPhone, snapped a picture and tweeted it. The tweet showed up on Facebook, where I noticed a number of friends were doing the exact same thing.

If anyone needs an example of how social media are changing the way we relate news to each other, I think this is about as basic as they come.

Here's an aggregation of photos from this morning, starting with my own. I'll bet at least six more have gone up in the time I've taken to post this.

Paul Menser

Kathy Balling Lisle

Kathy Duplessis

Stacey Francis

Tyler Ballou

INL researcher takes part in cybersecurity task force

Rita Wells of the Idaho National Laboratory

Rita Wells, a cyber and control systems security researcher at the Idaho National Laboratory, has been appointed to a 15-member cyberskills task force.

The group was formed to help the Department of Homeland Security and the federal government recruit and retain talented cybersecurity professionals. Among the recommendations in a report it presented this month to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the group called for a two-year, community college-based program to identify and train people for critical cybersecurity jobs. It also recommended establishing a cyber-reserve program that would allow cybersecurity professionals from outside government to assist DHS in times of need, and a sustained effort to train and hire veterans for critical cybersecurity positions.

Wells, an INL employee for 22 years, is currently leads the lab’s electric sector security programs. She is the recipient of numerous cybersecurity awards including the SANS Institute’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) security leadership award. She often speaks at national cybersecurity conferences and has provided testimony to Congress on the challenges of cybersecurity in the electric utility sector.

For nearly a decade, INL has been internationally recognized for its research in critical infrastructure protection, cyber and control systems security, and electric grid reliability. The laboratory manages several multi-year security programs, including the DHS Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) and the Department of Energy’s National SCADA Test Bed.

Idaho Falls featured in AAA's Via magazine

Idaho Falls is the cover story of the current Northwest edition of Via magazine.

Idaho and Oregon AAA members are getting their November/December 2012 issue of Via magazine, featuring a cover story on Idaho Falls.

The magazine goes to about 440,000 homes and offices in the two states, said Marie Dodds, director of government and public affairs in AAA's Portland office.

Editors in different regions decide what goes in the magazine and on the cover, she said. "What we're trying to do is offer useful travel information to people in the Northwest, so they might decide to drive or take a flight to a place like Idaho Falls," she said. "We do run some features on international travel, but for the most part we're more focused on travel tips and realistic places to go."

As stated on its Web site, www.viamagazine.com, Via's mission is "to excite, to inform, and to entertain Western travelers; to lay bare the secrets of destinations around the globe, across the country, and, most often, just down the road; to satiate and gratify the armchair traveler and, especially, to spark active travelers to pick up the phone, grab a mouse, or trek to the nearest AAA travel agency and begin making plans for their next trip."

Dodds said they decided on a story about Idaho Falls at their 2011 editorial scheduling meeting, and that the copy was turned in earlier this year.

More ruminations on fast food burgers ... Fuddruckers, anyone?

A juicy burger from Fuddruckers, recently rated No. 5 in a Best Burger survey.

Given the insatiable appetite for news about fast food hamburgers, I did a little digging this morning to see whether I might be missing anything.

You see, I've been intrigued by the re-emergence of a post from October 2011 about In-N-Out Burger, one in which I opined that the Irvine, Calif.-based chain would create excitement in Idaho Falls equal to that which preceded Olive Garden.

I still believe that, but it appears In-N-Out is focused on Texas at the moment, and Texas is a big state. So what are the alternatives?

We already have Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and going by customer satisfaction surveys I'd say we are lucky. Last month, Zagat.com released its annual "America's Best Burgers, Fries, Coffee and More" results and Five Guys ranked Number One. Read about it here: http://blog.zagat.com/2012/09/americas-best-burgers-fries-coffee-and.html.

In-N-Out ranked No. 4, followed by Fuddruckers. I can't imagine Fuddruckers' following is as passionate, but I could be wrong.

Going to its Web site, what I did find interesting is that it has two locations in Boise, not to mention stores in Montana (Billings and Bozeman) and Utah. Could this be Idaho Falls' next great fast food hamburger hope? If I were a betting man, this is a chain I'd put money on.