Tony McMillan says her career has gone to the dogs.

McMillan, a freelance Boise artist, makes a living drawing and painting pictures of pets, sometimes with their owners. She also draws historical scenes and landscapes. She has illustrated a book and designed logos for local governments and other organizations. She draws calendars and can draw a contemporary image — like your car — into a historical streetscape.

Harvest time is over, but Idaho farmers’ use of undocumented workers is back in the news.

Temporary U.S. Labor Department rule changes for work-related immigration will become permanent two days before Barack Obama takes office, the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation notes.

Meanwhile, two North Idaho legislators plan to introduce again a twice-rejected bill to penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants — and that has the Idaho Farm Bureau weighing in again.

Ten years ago, Boise was a place where half a dozen corporate CEOs could make decisions “just like that,” says Nancy Vannorsdel, the president and chief executive of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce. Today, most of Boise’s big corporate headquarters are history. Micron and IdaCorp remain, but Albertsons, Morrison-Knudsen (later Washington Group International), Boise Cascade and other powerhouses have been sold.

Micron Technology’s annual meeting Thursday drew about 50 shareholders, says Statesman business reporter Brad Talbutt, who covered the meeting and Chairman Steve Appleton’s news conference afterward.

Bloomberg reports that Hewlett-Packard is freezing salaries to contain costs. A Boise TV station said HP denied the report, but that’s not quite accurate. The Bloomberg story quotes unnamed sources “familiar with the plan,” and then quotes a company spokeswoman with a general comment that neither confirms nor denies the sources’ report.

It won’t be a happy holiday gathering, but Micron will hold its annual meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday at its headquarters, 8000 S. Federal Way. Shareholders will hear from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Appleton, President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Durcan and Chief Financial Officer Ron Foster. Micron’s share price has fallen from $4.98 Nov. 4 to $1.81 at Thursday’s close. Shareholders will be eager for Appleton’s and Durcan’s outlook on the end of the memory-market nightmare. And who knows — perhaps they’ll even make news. The meeting will be Webcast.

It was a big, coffee-craving crowd.

About 900 people got up early Wednesday to hear a blend of predictions, pleas and appraisals at the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce’s annual Economic Outlook Forum.

The predictions came largely from Gerald Hunter, president and executive director of the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.

President Bush and government officials are “not overstating” the dangers of allowing the U.S. financial markets to collapse, two Boise economists told the Statesman's Joe Estrella on Thursday.

Boise State University professor of economics Don Holley and Boise economist John Church agree that a nationwide financial disaster could ensue if the administration and Congress do not reach a quick agreement on the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout package.

“We’re walking on the edge of a knife,” Church said. “It could be the 1930s all over again.”

Two Idaho real estate brokers are urging their colleagues to put their money where their financial interests are and help the economy by buying property.

One is John Knipe, a real estate broker with Boise's Knipe Land Co. and a former officer of the National Association of Realtors Land Institute in Chicago. The other is Meridian broker Douglas Ferguson, president of the institute's Idaho chapter.

The National Association of Realtors has more than 1.5 million members — enough purchasing power to help solve the national housing crisis, Knipe and Ferguson say.

The public's antipathy toward the big Wall Street bailout has prompted even Idaho Republican members of Congress to criticize President Bush.

A bailout deal between Bush and congressional leaders of both parties is reported to be in the works, and its terms may well bring some critical Republicans around. You'll find the latest about that on the Statesman's home page.