County matches unemployment low
Kootenai County posted a 3.2 percent unemployment rate in March, matching the historic low rate first reported in February.
The state of Idaho’s unemployment rate was 2.8 percent in March, which also tied the record-low rate first set in February.
Every county in the state has reported a drop in the number of people looking for work over the past 12 months, creating competition for workers. Some of the job growth can be tied directly to population increases, said Roger Madsen, Idaho’s Commerce and Labor director.
The industries creating the most jobs were construction, retail trade, health care, administrative services and food services. Statewide, more than 13,300 jobs were created over the past year.
Madsen predicted slower growth for 2007.
For other Idaho Panhandle counties, March unemployment rates were: Bonner, 3.4 percent; Benewah, 5.1 percent; Boundary, 5.1 percent; Shoshone, 4.8 percent.
Albany, N.Y.
Payments linked to student loan scandal
A student loan company now under investigation paid consulting fees to a student loan officer at Johns Hopkins University, paid for some of her graduate school tuition, and paid consulting fees to officials at two other colleges, investigators said Monday.
In a letter sent to Johns Hopkins President William Brody, investigators for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is leading the investigation, said they believe Student Loan Xpress, a unit of CIT Group Inc., paid more than $21,000 for the school’s director of student financial services to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania between August 2002 to January 2004. Investigators also believe the official, Ellen Frishberg, was paid $42,000 as a consultant for the company from April 2004 to October 2005.
Frishberg was placed on paid leave pending an inquiry by the university.
Los Angeles
Firm pledges security of new-wave DVDs
The group behind security measures for next-generation DVDs said Monday it has fixed a leak that allowed hackers to discover the keys for unlocking movies on high-definition DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Makers of software for playing the discs on computers will offer patches containing new keys and closing the hole that allowed hackers to discover ways to strip high-definition DVDs of their protection.
Digital rights management protection, or DRM, is intended to prevent copying of the movies. Hackers working late last year and early this year were able to observe computer code found on the PC-based DVD players and discover keys that unlock protections on all high-definition discs, so copies could be made.
On Monday, the group that developed the Advanced Access Content System said it had worked with device makers to deactivate those keys and refresh them with a new set.
Stand-alone DVD players, such as the Toshiba high-definition DVD player and the Sony Blu-ray player, are not affected by Monday’s announcement. So far, no problems have been found with their security.