Item: Kootenai County unemployment soars: First time in 46 months that rate is higher than state, national numbers/Tom Greene, CDA Press

More Info: Think the national jobless rate is bad at 6.5 percent? For the first time since 2004, Kootenai County has edged out both the national and state jobless rate with 6.6 percent. "There were 46 months where Kootenai County's rate was below the national and this is the first month it's higher," said Kathryn Tacke, regional economist with the Idaho Department of Labor. "In itself it's not really horrible. It just depends on if this keeps up."

Question: Do you know someone who has lost his or her job as a result of the bad national economy?

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