Business briefs

Intermountain Medical Imaging to expand, remodel downtown building

Intermountain Medical Imaging plans to expand and remodel its 6,500-square-foot building in downtown Boise in September.

The company will expand its nursing area by about 240 square feet and move the front door for easier access, said spokeswoman Rachel Bergmann. It will also expand waiting and registration areas. Intermountain bought the building at 927 W. Myrtle St in 1999.

Rudeen Architects and Cornerstone Design are working on the project, which could take up to six months, Bergmann said. A general contractor will be selected from the Boise area, she said.

Construction is expected to range from $400,000 to $700,000 excluding equipment purchased, she said. Most work will be done nights and weekends.

Intermountain Medical Imaging plans to install a 3-Tesla MRI scanner that will add diagnostic capabilities not previously available locally, Bergmann said. Magnetic resonance imaging scanners with a magnetic strength of 1.5Tesla are the standard.

Gem State Radiology owns Intermountain Medical Imaging in a joint venture with Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. It operates five Treasure Valley offices.

Brad Carlson

Federal agency withdraws its plan for power line route

The Bureau of Land Management has withdrawn its preferred alternative plan for a proposed power line traveling through western Montana and into Idaho, an official says.

Tim Bozorth, field manager for the BLM, told the Montana Standard July 9 the agency withdrew the plan because it’s more than a year old and during that time new cultural and visual concerns arose.

NorthWestern Energy wants to use the proposed Mountain States Transmission Intertie utility line to carry power generated from renewable resources in Broadwater County through southwestern Montana and into Idaho to provide electricity for Western states.

A draft environmental review of the 500-kilovolt line that would run from Townsend, Mont., to near Twin Falls, Idaho, has been stalled by litigation.

Bozorth said the agency is talking with local government entities in Montana and American Indian tribes about alternative routes. He said he plans to meet with officials in Idaho next month.

The Associated Press

SEC amends complaint against Idaho nuke developer

Federal stock regulators have amended their claims against a would-be Idaho nuclear plant developer, using a newly crafted complaint to underscore their contention that the company’s leaders defrauded investors.

A federal judge in February lifted a previous freeze on Alternate Energy Holdings Inc.’s assets, but required AEHI to report expenditures over $2,500 to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SEC attorneys now amended their complaint against AEHI that Chief Executive Officer Don Gillispie misled investors, lied about paying stock promoters and unlawfully distributed securities.

Gillispie has denied wrongdoing and his New York-based attorney Richard Roth said July 14 the SEC continues to pursue a losing cause.

Roth says they’re “throwing more darts against the wall and hoping one will stick.”

A settlement conference is scheduled for Sept. 27 in U.S. District Court.

The Associated Press

Historic Idaho building to be restored

A $100,000 gift from an anonymous donor will allow restoration to begin on the facade of a landmark 120-year-old school building in southern Idaho.

The Herald-Journal of Logan reports that the Oneida Stake Academy building restoration effort in Preston also received a $50,000 matching grant from the Murdock Charitable Trust.

Foundation board members hope to reshape the former school into a visitors’ center, a local history museum and a venue for community events.

Friends of the Academy foundation board President Nathan Hale calls the building one of five remaining examples of 35 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints academies built around the country.

Officials list former Mormon presidents Harold B. Lee and Ezra Taft Benson among local notables who attended the school.

The Associated Press

Audit: ID agency broke travel reimbursement rules

Legislative auditors found the Idaho Real Estate Commission violated state travel reimbursement policies when paying employees more than $1,600 for meals that were provided at conferences in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The results of the Idaho Legislative Services Office report were issued July 15.

Auditors found state real estate commissioners and the agency director were reimbursed a total of $1,632 for the conference meals. Under state policy, meals provided and listed in conference agendas should be excluded from reimbursement payments.

In response to the audit, agency director Jeanne Jackson-Heim said the commission believed it was correctly applying state policy because the meals were not provided as part of registration fees, as stated in travel reimbursement rules.

The agency, however, has since changed its procedures to exclude meals provided at conferences.

The Associated Press