North Idaho Briefs August 12, 2011

Bonner County considers cutting extension office

SANDPOINT - Funding could cease for the Bonner County Fair and the University of Idaho Extension Office as county commissioners try to balance a budget that includes employee raises and no tax hike for landowners.

Other options for curbing expenses include reducing full-time employees' hours from 40 to 35, two- to three-day work furloughs and cutting funding to the Bonner County Historical Society.

The commission spent more than three hours shaping the potential contours of the budget on Tuesday, but made no decisions on funding for the fair, extension office or historical society.

Bike riders to help build

a house this weekend

COEUR d'ALENE - Bike riders on a cross-country trip will be in Coeur d'Alene this weekend to help build a house.

The Providence to Seattle team is on day 40 of their 70-day trek through the U.S. They have completed 2,112 of the 3,947 mile trip. The trip includes nine scheduled build days in which the group participates in local affordable housing building projects.

Riders will be building at the Habitat for Humanity build site located on 12th and Hazel on Sunday. Lunch will be sponsored by Mountain View Cyclery and Fitness of Hayden and other accommodations will be provided by St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Coeur d'Alene.

The group will gather at St. Luke's at 7 that evening to share experiences of the road.

So far this trip, the Coeur d'Alene-bound team has raised $152,376 to fight the affordable housing crisis in America.