Spring cleaning is here again

This time of year we are busy putting winter away, and looking forward to the cleanliness that spring brings. Greenhouses and gardens are getting cleaned up in preparation for a new garden, yards are getting raked and cleaned of the rotting leaves, pine needles and other garbage accumulated during the winter, cars are getting washed, and in general, it's clean up time. We so look forward to spring and the fresh, newness that the season brings. But what about your body? Have you started cleaning it up from winter sluggishness, comfort eating (of usually the wrong foods), lots of sugar over the many holidays that winter hails, and getting prepared for the freshness of spring, internally?

Gaming is a whole new world

This feeling is based on just one evening.

What's super about Super 1

I’m not in the business of reviews; that’s not what this column is about. I don’t like to promote a particular business (with occasional exceptions for nonprofits). Yet as a customer who happens to be a writer, rather than the other way around for once, this bears saying:

Making the big mess worse

BP's failures on the Gulf made worse by PR woes

HOUSTON - BP is already fighting an oil gusher it can't contain and watching its mighty market value wither away. Its own bumbling public-relations efforts are making a big mess worse.

Fannie Mae reports $8.69 billion loss

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mortgage buyer Fannie Mae reported a loss of $8.7 billion for the January-March quarter, and asked for an additional $8.5 billion in federal aid.

LEVY: Small price to pay for kids

As an involved and concerned parent of children that will soon join the public school system here in Coeur d'Alene, I am painfully aware that state cuts to our schools have a direct and negative effect on our children and the quality of their education. That is why passing the Maintenance and Operations Levy this March is so important. It is even more important in light of the disproportionate impact those cuts will have on our already under-resourced district schools.

Beware area codes from Caribbean hell

Pay attention and you can avoid some very bad things.

Beef or Chicken?

Increasing beef prices hit fast-food chains

NEW YORK - Rising beef prices might not mean the cost of a Whopper is going to skyrocket, but it could mean you'll be encouraged to order a chicken sandwich instead.

ADVERTISING: Advertorial — M & A

In just the last few months mergers and acquisition activity in the wine industry, specifically in the very high end of the wine industry in Napa Valley, has captured two of the most storied wineries in Northern California.

UK central bank intervenes in market to halt economic crisis

The Bank of England said it would buy long-term government bonds over the next two weeks to combat a recent slide in British financial assets

At the gas pump, 2011 was the year of the big squeeze

Gas averaged $3.50 a gallon for the year, a record

We start again!

The first of many communications went out this past week to winemakers, winery owners, distributors and judges announcing the start of the third annual and 2012 version of the North Idaho Wine Rodeo.

Democratic governors nervous about health plan

What is in the number?

Sadly, we are in an economic cycle of steadily increasing wine prices. Many wines from Europe are subject to varying amounts of tariff. Here at home products used in manufacturing and production of wine are also subject to import taxes. In Washington and Oregon new regulations around minimum wage, family leave and other parts of labor and environmental law are driving operating costs higher. With all of these price pressures the question frequently comes up, what goes into the cost of a bottle of wine?

Antibiotics: Something to sneeze at

Doctors should tell us no.

Antibiotics: Something to sneeze at A few good men

Doctors should tell us no.

Long-term birth control options popular

Use of IUDs,hormone implants increasing in U.S.

The white stuff

Most nights at my home, we have a ritual with our kids. They first choose whether they are going to brush their own teeth, or if they are going to lie in our laps and have either my wife or I do it "like a dentist." Whatever they choose, though, they always run to me afterwards and flash a huge smile and ask, "Are my teeth shiny?" And only after I give the nod of approval do they run off to bed and promptly fall asleep. (All right - it's not always that easy, but that's not the point of this article).

PREP ROUNDUP: Chavez, Reynolds help lift Cd'A Charter boys past Bonners Ferry

“Tonight was an intense defensive battle,” Coeur d’Alene Charter coach Craig Daigle said. “Bonners Ferry came out aggressive and went up quickly. We did a good job of staying with our game plan and was able to tie it up at the half. Bonners Ferry came out in the second half connecting passes and getting into our third. I think we were able to counter attack and won numerous corners. (Charter’s) Treffen McCord’s corners were fantastic today and helped lead to the second goal.”

US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight

consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month