Former newspaper owner, publisher dies
<p>In this December file photo, Tom Burnett, editor and publisher of the former Rathdrum Star, works on his computer in the newsroom prior to the newspaper closing. Burnett, who passed away Friday, was involved in journalism for about 50 years.</p>
<p>SHAWN GUST/Press The publisher's retirement coupled with financial difficulty has prompted the closure of North Idaho's Rathdrum Star.</p>
Tom Burnett, who founded the Rathdrum Star weekly newspaper before it closed in December due to his retirement, died at his home on Friday night, acquaintances said. He was 70.
Burnett has worked at several newspapers over the past 50 years, including from being a copy boy in Stamford, Conn., to owning the former weekly Post Falls Tribune in the 1980s. The Star was the first paper he started.