Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne dedicated a portion of Monday's State of the State and Budget Address to describing how tight the 2005 fiscal environment would be for his state. The temporary sales tax will lapse, costing the state $170 million in foregone revenue. The one-time $83 million in federal bailout funds are depleted. State employees will get a 27th biweekly paycheck this calendar year, resulting in an additional budgetary burden of approximately $20 million.

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher has named Derrick Ramsey as deputy secretary of the Commerce Cabinet.

The Acting Director for the Idaho Department of Commerce is Roger Madsen. Madsen also is serving as director of the state Department of Labor.

The Idaho Economic Development Association has named Jan Rogers as new president.

ConnectKentucky, a public-private partnership leading efforts to accelerate broadband availability and technology literacy throughout the Commonwealth, has formed a national umbrella organization called Connected Nation. In addition, René True has joined ConnectKentucky as director of operations, and Brent Legg has been added as director of state and local initiatives for Connected Nation

John Kotek, formerly with Argonne National Laboratory-West, has been named deputy manager of the Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office. The office oversees the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

Mike Leavitt of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory has been appointed the Co-chair of the Federal Laboratories Consortium State and Local Government Committee.

Sixty-nine percent of Kentucky businesses use computer technology to handle some of their business functions, but only 36 percent use the Internet and little more than 20 percent have a website, according to a report released by Governor Paul Patton's Office for the New Economy. Kentucky Prepares for the Networked World, which details computer, Internet and website use among the state's businesses, shows more than 50 percent see "no need" to use the Internet.

Idaho Falls businessman LaMoyne Hyde was appointed by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to serve as Director of the Idaho Department of Commerce.

Elizabeth Sellars is the new manager of Idaho Operations for the Department of Energy.

A technically-skilled workforce is one of the elements required for a tech-based economy, so the issue of stopping the brain drain is of critical importance to some regions and states.  The choice for some states, it has been observed, is to turn into retirement homes or to retain their college graduates; in short, to avoid losing their minds.  Maine, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are just a few of the states that have been looking at the issue.

Laurence Gebhardt has been selected to serve as the first director of Idaho's TechConnect East.

Gary Mahn, director of the Idaho Department of Commerce, has announced he will resign from the position at the end of the year.

Kentucky Governor Paul E. Patton is the new chairman of the National Governors' Association. Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne was named vice chairman. Patton has identified education as his highest priority while serving the one-year term as chairman.

Governor Dirk Kempthorne has announced the creation of TechConnect East, a regional science and technology office to be located at the Idaho State University Incubation Center in Pocatello, Idaho.

While tight state budgets have slowed the number of tech-based economic development programs being created by states, Kentucky and Oregon have both approved new laws designed to encourage the growth of technology companies.

John Glerum, former president and CEO of Ore-Ida Foods, has been named science and technology coordinator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Glerum also will serve as director of the new Technology and Entrepreneurial Center, to be built on the campus of Boise State University West.

Buddy Buckingham, director of regional planning at Murray State University, will serve as interim director of the new MSU Innovations and Commercialization Center. Buckingham also currently serves in the Kentucky General Assembly.

Bill Shipp, president of Bechtel BWXT Idaho and lab director of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, is retiring effective Oct. 25. Paul Divjak will be his replacement.

LaMoyne Hyde, director of the Idaho Department of Commerce, also announced he will resign his position by the end of the year.

Science policy and tech-based economic development have taken center stage in Idaho with last week’s release of the Idaho Science and Technology Strategy and the supporting new initiatives included in Governor Dirk Kempthorne’s recent budget message.

A new resource for tech-based businesses in rural Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia was launched last week. The Appalachian Regional Entrepreneurship Initiative (AREI) is expanding its efforts to support growth of a technology-based entrepreneurial economy in Appalachia Ohio and neighboring states through a new website, http://www.bizfirststop.com

Kentucky Governor Paul Patton has appointed Bill Brundage to the serve as the state's first Commissioner for the New Economy. Dr. Brundage will oversee the new Kentucky Innovations Commission, which is attached to the Governor's Office and tasked to oversee the state's $55 million New Economy initiative.