Silver lining

By BILL BULEY

Overdrive before the overhaul

While lawmakers debate health care, locals learn about marketplace

COEUR d'ALENE - Ready or not, here comes Idaho's version of ObamaCare.

A fall full of wine events

Fall is our favorite time of year, and it is not just the crisp days, wonderful colors and football that we enjoy so much but also the great events in the wine industry. While the 2011 harvest has been less than joyful in wine country, the cool growing season and early rains have resulted in lengthening harvest and crush. We have heard from many of our customers who have recently traveled to California and the wine growing regions of Washington and Idaho that there is still a lot of fruit hanging, so if you have never seen "the crush" or if you have and liked it there is still time to strike out to the vineyards, and witness this annual ritual firsthand.

Riding the road to recovery

Fundraiser helps toward purchase of bike for wounded officer Kralicek

COEUR d'ALENE - A Coeur d'Alene police officer who is still recovering more than five years after being shot in the line of duty a few days after Christmas will get a gift to help with that recovery, thanks to help from the community he was helping to protect.

Restaurant serves lion burgers despite protests

A restaurant owner who put lion burgers on the menu in honor of the World Cup has felt a roar of anger from outraged animal rights activists.

Gun holster maker firing on all cylinders

Local product offers a way to conceal in comfort

HAYDEN - Thomas Tedder's wife kicked him out of the kitchen five years ago for dabbling in making gun holsters so he went instead to his dilapidated shed.

Police investigate reported shoe robbery

A group of minors reportedly stole a pair of shoes at gunpoint Monday night. Police said a group of juveniles approached an individual near the 3rd Street docks in Coeur d’Alene and expressed interest in buying the individual’s shoes.

Middle class focus?

Economy is being eclipsed as top issue for Obama

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama still calls shoring up the middle class his "No. 1 priority," but recent events overseas and at home are overshadowing the U.S. economy as a political issue.

We are holding our own

Interest rate changes last week were inconsequential, moving up to 4.4 from 4.39 percent the previous week. This offers buyers some stability, however fleeting it may be.

How much crazier can Black Friday get?

Shocked? Not!

Not many surprises in Super Bowl ads

Get the top price — staging and decluttering

Neighborhood of the Week: March 28

Spectrum customers pile on complaints

Our new internet service provider, Spectrum (Charter Communications), the company that “merged” with Time Warner’s local cable, has come under increasing fire lately. Many consumers have been calling me about poor customer service, very slow and/or inconsistent internet speeds, higher monthly prices and no printed material available to consumers regarding offerings.

Sales up 19 percent

Even with all the smoke in the air that subdued traffic the past several weeks, our local real estate market continued its solid growth. With August figures tallied, the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service reports a service area average increase of 19 percent in the number of single family homes on less than two acres sold. Here is how the communities within our MLS fared:

World/Nation Briefs September 28, 2014

NETFLIX: On top of the world

High entertainment prices and how to beat them: Cable, satellite TV, movie theaters, are you wondering about declining sales figures? Look over your shoulder and watch Netflix grow even more.

ADVERTISING: Advertorial — Right sizing the U.S. wine industry

For a bit over a year now the United States has topped the world in total amount of wine consumed. On a per capita basis the U.S. doesn’t even crack the top 15! As far as production the top five wine producing countries are Italy, France, Spain, the United Sates and Chile. As the saying goes “lies, damn lies and statistics.” When you combine these statistics with much anecdotal information and more importantly knowledge of what is going on in the wine industry a very interesting “snapshot” starts to come into focus, and somewhat sadly it is not a pretty picture for the domestic wine industry.

No interest in interest rates?

Six consecutive weeks of increasing mortgage interest rates may have an impact on the real estate market but you can not see it in our most recent statistics. On Friday staff at the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service showed a market that is steadily growing. Just take a look at what these cities reported at the end of November:

The yogurt files

French dairy bosses caught colluding

PARIS - Frantic text messages between French CEOs about cottage cheese prices. Clandestine smoke breaks in a Left Bank apartment to collude on yogurt strategy.

Happy Fourth: Gas prices dip as summer unfolds

Cd'A's average has dropped 30 cents in the past month