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Good morning! Welcome to the Monday Rundown.

Today marks the start of many milestones for Idaho Business Review, and we have much going on.

First off, I’d like to announce the hiring of Steve Lombard, who is taking on the role of reporter for IBR. He has a long career that spans different industries, but Lombard’s focus is on storytelling. He’s been eager to get started reporting and writing the business news that matters to Idahoans.

It’s only his first day, but we’ve already loaded him up with assignments, the first of which is the next IBR Breakfast Series report.

Speaking of which …

The Breakfast Series continues tomorrow (April 2) with Business Views on Legislation. We will have five panelists from various industries and backgrounds to weigh in on the legislation that has passed, has yet to be passed and what it means for the business community in Idaho.

If you haven’t seen our even listing on the panel discussion, visit here. Our panelists include Rod Gramer, Bobbi-Jo Meuleman, Casey Lynch, Alex LaBeau and Jen Visser. Each one will provide insight to this year’s session and how it can impact the overall community.

Along with the Breakfast Series report, we will be covering tech breaches in the medical industry, small business awareness and investment matters.

If you’ve ever wondered how we come up with our story ideas, it can be a lot of brainstorming and research, but mostly it involves a lot of coffee consumption. However, in the case of investment matters, that comes from my own experience.

The simple route is that I had $10 just sitting in my Venmo account. I never really use it, and, after logging in one day, I noticed the app had the option to purchase different forms of cryptocurrency.

Please understand that I have no idea how crypto works. I don’t even really understand investing, except to say that a CEO of a tech company can sneeze and the stock will tank. I decided to take that $10 in my Venmo at put it into Bitcoin Cash. What’s the difference between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin? One has the word “cash” attached to it and the other doesn’t. That’s as far as my comprehension goes.

That was a couple of months ago. For weeks, it would drop down into the $8 range. Then it would nudge up a bit. I was beginning to feel like it was as useful as putting my money in a slot machine. This past week, it surged upward. I doubled my initial investment.

Why? Again, I don’t know. But I decided to invest a little more into regular Bitcoin. With this foray into crypto, I’m hoping to research and learn even more about investments and how that world works. Look for my report (or bitter tears) on what I’ve learned in the coming months.

Make it a great week!