Have a pest-free summer

With the start of summer comes a lot of great things—longer days, more time spent outdoors, and warmer temperatures. However, as with most things, you can’t have the good without the bad, and as we get into summer, we’re also getting into the heart of flea and tick season.

Facebook users weigh in on, well, Facebook

Price of flying expected to take off

Facing rising fuel costs, airlines push fares higher as summer approaches

DALLAS - Airfares are up and headed higher this summer.

Here's a strategy for healthier students

Are we failing or just falling down in our ability to provide our children with clean food and healthy nourishment at school?

Nonviolence, community action at heart of MLK Day event

Civic Engagement Alliance, HREI host Community Conversations online seminar

Civic Engagement Alliance, HREI host online seminar on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Keeping inflation tame

U.S. consumer prices rise just 0.1 percent in August

Rising mortgage rates cause concern

Although our customary check of the Idaho Housing and Finance Association's website on Friday showed their rate held at 4.88 percent for a 30-year mortgage, other lenders are seeing increases in those rates. Freddie Mac's Mortgage Tracker reports the nation's average rate for last week has risen above 5 percent for the first time since April 2010.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING CONTENT — NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE WEEK: Summer fun and cozy living at Parkside Bungalows on Lake Pend Oreille

Low-maintenance living in a true North Idaho paradise

Community Thanks January 16, 2011

OUTLETS: Great place to shop

FOOD: A modest proposal

I think I’ve found the perfect solution for getting more food in the food banks (see Bare Bank Blues, Feb. 4 Press). Those of us who hesitate about spending an outrageous amount for a food item and continually see the price increase every time we shop: JUST STOP BUYING. That way the big suppliers and stores will have more to give to the food banks, less it goes to waste. (Don’t forget, they write this off their taxes.)

Doctor receives prison sentence

COEUR d’ALENE — A Silver Valley physician who was found guilty of more than 60 counts of illegally dispensing opiates will serve 16 years in prison, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene.

Alcohol deregulation, the wine industry

I have been asked many times now by customers and readers about my feelings on proposition 1183 in Washington state and its effect on the wine industry and the prospects of a similar law here in Idaho.

Digestion: It takes guts

A few years ago, I had an interesting chat with one of our local medical doctors, who has since left the area. He referred to himself as an alternative medical doctor. He was a good doctor. This memorable day as we were chatting, he suddenly said “Are you curious about how I became interested in alternative medicine?” I said “Sure!” So he began a very lengthy discussion about a chain of events that got him thinking about how he was practicing medicine.

Dole out the exercises

I was talking this weekend with my son and clinical intern from last summer who was visiting, and my son all of a sudden turned to us and said, "You physical therapists dole out exercises like a doctor hands out medicine. Is that what you do every day?" We both just looked at him and laughed. "Well," we told him, "I guess we do." Exercise is our prescription for our patients to be well, just like a patient who is a diabetic or has high blood pressure needs medicine from their physician to be well.

Drought and other questions

After my recent trip to Napa, I received questions from readers and customers about the state of wine country, from the arsenic lawsuit to the effects of the drought on wine production. There is nothing like spending time with folks up and down the "chain of command" at wineries - from executives to winemakers to growers and cellar folks - to get first hand answers.

Traders recall the 'rush' and 'roar' as famed pits close

Health care changes start soon

Bigger changes will happen slowly

WASHINGTON - The first changes under the new health care law will be easy to see and not long in coming: There'll be $250 rebate checks for seniors in the Medicare drug coverage gap, and young adults moving from college to work will be able to stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26.

Sticky mess triggers new industry for local mom

Kristin Ahmer is riding the wave of being a mom and owning an expanding company.

Sandpoint post office reopens after crash

The Sandpoint post office is open for business. Crews quickly responded Saturday night to board up the damaged wall where a car crashed into the building earlier that afternoon and, at 8:30 a.m. Monday, the post office reopened the building to the public.

Gas prices steady

Some even fall

Gas prices steady