SODA SPRINGS, Idaho, July 29 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's Idaho State Office issued the following news release: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Idaho Falls District and USDA Forest Service (USFS) Caribou-Targhee National Forest each released a Record of Decision (ROD) approving portions of the East Smoky Panel Mine and Reclamation Plan under their jurisdiction. The J.R. Simplot Company (Simplot) proposed expanding the Smoky Canyon Mine into the East S  more

WASHINGTON, July 31 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the following article from Economics Daily: A location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a geographic area compared with the nation. For example, the location quotient for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Alaska was 17.9 in May 2019. That means zoologists and wildlife biologists were employed in Alaska at 18 times the national rate! In May 2019, there were four states in which logg  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 28 -- The Bonneville Power Administration issued the following news release: The Bonneville Power Administration has announced the selection of John Lahti as its vice president of Transmission Field Services. Lahti will lead roughly one-third of BPA's workforce responsible for field operations, emergency response, and construction and maintenance of BPA's roughly 15,200 circuit miles of transmission lines in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. "John is the right pers  more

BOISE, Idaho, Aug. 1 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation issued the following news release: The Bureau of Reclamation announced it is seeking public comment on the draft environmental impact statement for the Boise River Basin Feasibility Study. Reclamation and the Idaho Water Resource Board have been studying options for increasing water storage capacity within the Boise River System through an ongoing feasibility study. "Planning for future water needs in the Boise  more

WALLA WALLA, Washington, July 29 -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the following news release: Lt. Col. Richard T. Childers assumed command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, during a 10 a.m. ceremony held in Walla Walla, Washington. Brig. Gen. D. Peter Helmlinger, commander of the Corps' Northwestern Division, officiated as Lt. Col. Christian N. Dietz transferred command to Childers. Dietz served as the district commander for the past two years. The Walla Walla D  more

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, July 28 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory issued the following news release: This month, INL's Small Business Program will host a webinar focused on small business support and financial recovery amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speakers will include Greg Yerxa, a business opportunity specialist from the Small Business Administration, and Caleb Dimick, the senior vice president for Retail & Commercial Banking at Bank of Idaho. The I  more

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, July 28 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory issued the following feature story: Materials scientists scrutinizing the first few moments of battery recharging encountered an astonishing entity. Their discovery defied expectations, logic and experience. More importantly, it may open the door to better batteries, faster catalysts and other materials science leaps. Scientists from Idaho National Laboratory and University of California San Diego investig  more

WASHINGTON, July 29 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service issued the following news release: As part of its efforts to enforce the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) and ensure fair trading practices within the U.S. produce industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed an administrative complaint against First Fruits Holdings LLC, doing business as Four Rivers Onion Packing. The company, operating from Idaho, allegedly failed to make   more