State, federal laws govern animals in the workplace 
POSTED: Friday, May 18, 2012 at 12:54 PM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
The information clerk and receptionist don’t work weekends at Bonner General, so Tricia Bellah and her service dog, Indy, fill in for them. The two greet visitors, give directions, and deliver flowers to patients. Under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Bellah, who has spina bifida, can take her dog with her into most public [...]
New juvenile detention facility opens in Bonner County
POSTED: Monday, May 14, 2012 at 10:54 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
Young people in the Bonner County juvenile detention system have moved this spring from a four-bedroom home with no locks on the doors to a new $4.6 million facility that can hold up to 27 people. The Bonner County facility in Sandpoint, completed April 30, is expected to eliminate the need for county officials to [...]
New life for Sandpoint’s century-old St. James Hotel
POSTED: Monday, April 16, 2012 at 09:03 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
Tags: Pend d'Oreille Winery
The century-old former St. James hotel in downtown Sandpoint has served as a mercantile, a pool hall and cigar store, and a furniture store over the last century. Next it’s slated to be home to a restaurant, retail space, and condominiums with rooftop gardens. Steve and Julie Meyer, owners of the Pend d’Oreille Winery in [...]
Some portions of health care reform could harm seniors
POSTED: Friday, March 2, 2012 at 09:05 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
Tags: Hospice, Medicare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is intended to increase coverage and make medical care more available to those who couldn’t afford it in the past. But it might be having the opposite effect on homebound and terminally ill seniors. One of the provisions in the act requires Medicare recipients seeking home health skilled [...]
Opportunities: More women starting their own businesses
POSTED: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 08:26 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
Barb Perusse spent several years working as an investigator of child abuse in Kansas City. She needed a change. She learned about a wireless communications business that was for sale in Sandpoint, a town she had visited often. She jumped at the opportunity for a fresh start and the chance to own her own business. [...]
Small businesses struggling with health care reform
POSTED: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:21 PM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
Tags: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Wading through the murky waters of health care reform can be overwhelming. While some of the provisions of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as health care reform, were implemented in September 2010, many of the requirements will not be fully in place until 2014. In the meantime premiums continue to rise, [...]
Bonners Ferry to get 50,000-square-foot grocery store
POSTED: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 09:00 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
The small northern Idaho town of Bonners Ferry is about to add a substantial number of jobs to its job market. In November Super 1 Foods of Hayden broke ground on a 50,0000-square-foot grocery store that is scheduled to open in June, creating approximately 80 new jobs. The store will be roughly 6,000 square feet less [...]
For headache device, a market of 35 million
POSTED: Monday, January 16, 2012 at 08:00 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
He’s not ready to leave his day job yet, but a Sandpoint chiropractor has sold 400 copies of a device he invented to ease the pain of headache sufferers. Will Mihin invented his device, the Headache Hammock, after trying a new procedure on patients known as the occipital lift. The lift is performed by cradling [...]
Sandpoint’s bypass is nearly complete
POSTED: Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 11:44 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
After several decades of debate, lawsuits and attempts at restraining orders, Sandpoint’s Sand Creek Byway is nearly complete. Construction is ahead of schedule on the road that skirts downtown, and it’s likely to open in just a few months. The byway was aimed at taking heavy traffic, such as logging and cattle trucks, out of [...]
Investors behind The Idaho Club have new plans for resort community
POSTED: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 08:16 AM PTBY: Patty Hutchens
Tags: The Idaho Club
The investors behind Sandpoint’s The Idaho Club are pressing ahead with a new blueprint for the 900-acre resort community that includes fewer custom-designed homes and a new clubhouse to replace one that burned down in 2008. They’re also going to cut the $50,000 annual membership fees to the course in the coming year – perhaps [...]
