Steve Griffitts is confident in his weather prediction: The sun is going to come out in April and eventually, it will stop snowing here.

He has the same confidence in his economic forecast that businesses will rebound, jobs will bounce back, shoppers will return to stores and things will get better.

"People are not afraid of what happened," said the president of Jobs Plus. "They're afraid of what's to come. Let me put you at rest."

North Idaho has gone from a resource-based economy dependent on lumber and mining to a diverse and expanding one marked by growth in medicine, finance and tourism.

"We have seen so much investment in our area," Griffitts said. "Not only financial investment, but intellectual investment."

A cornerstone of the area's success has been manufacturing.

Interesting... so the fact that I've been telling people that medical and manufacturing are the strongest employers in the area is TRUE - wow, fancy that ;)

Full article here.