January 19, 2021
The Idaho endowment fund generated an investment return of 16.3% during calendar year 2020 and ended the year with a balance of $2.8 billion.
The endowment fund generates millions for its beneficiaries every year and distributions in fiscal year 2021 set another record: More than $88 million will go to endowment land beneficiaries. In addition to earnings from the endowment fund, money comes from timber sales and leases on Idaho’s 2.5 million acres of endowment land.
Endowment distributions support Idaho public schools, universities, state hospitals for the mentally ill, state veterans homes, the Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind, Idaho’s juvenile corrections system, and Idaho’s prison system. The Land Board is comprised of the Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Controller, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. (Idaho Department of Lands)
Biz Buzz: Orthopedic practice opening larger clinic in Idaho Falls this fall
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Construction on the new Summit Orthopaedics office at 3720 Woodking Drive in Idaho Falls. The photo above is from the groundbreaking in October. | Courtesy photo
Do you want to know what’s happening in the eastern Idaho business scene? We’ve got you covered. Here is a rundown of this week’s business news across the valley.
BIZ BRIEF
New Summit Orthopaedics building slated for completion this fall
What to Expect From the New Supreme Court Term Posted On January 12, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to take on major cases in the copyright, patent, and employment law spaces, with questions about how the newly enlarged conservative wing will weigh in on these issues. Arguments have already been held in a case involving whether Google’s Android platform illegally infringed software code developed by Oracle. Later in the year, the court will consider whether changes made to patent law designed to combat patent trolls are constitutional or not.
The Supreme Court only hears and decides a small number of cases each year, roughly one out of every 60 or 70 cases that are appealed to the court. Consequently, Supreme Court decisions carry extraordinary weight because they represent the final and unappealable outcome of a given legal issue. Court decisions in the intellectual
BY KEVIN RICHERT / IdahoEdNews.org
Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on January 7, 2021
The Idaho Legislature will begin an unsettling and potentially unsafe 2021 session in four days. The state’s 105 part-time lawmakers will meet in the midst of a surging pandemic that has killed more than 1,500 Idahoans, and in the aftermath of rioting at the U.S. Capitol that left four people dead.
Policies and proposals almost feel irrelevant. Perhaps this year’s overriding goal should be to reach adjournment with everyone’s health intact.
In any other year, that would sound hyberbolic. In 2021, it just sounds pragmatic.
Hundreds of citizens (most unmasked) crowd the Statehouse hallways during a special legislative session in August. That contentious special session, combined with the state’s rising coronavirus case numbers, has education leaders uneasy about the 2021 session, which starts Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. CREDIT: Sami Edge/Idaho Education News