Becky Kramer

Kathy Belisle wants her 16-year-old and 17-year-old to develop a work ethic and earn their own spending money. But when she looked at the activities penciled into the family's calendar, Belisle knew that neither her daughter nor son could apply for jobs this summer. In late June, she and her husband took the kids to the Midwest for four weeks, visiting Belisle's parents in rural Kansas. When the family returned to Spokane, 16-year-old Jessica had driver's ed classes and volleyball camp. Seventeen-year-old Andrew is headed to Greece and Italy later this month with his senior class.

TROY, Mont. – Good jobs are hard to find in Montana's scenic but economically depressed northwestern corner. So Mike Ivins didn't hesitate when the Troy Mine reopened in late 2004. He hired on as a mechanic, giving up a road construction job that required frequent travel and time away from his family in Libby, Mont.

The Kodiak — a single-engine plane designed to fly humanitarian missions to remote corners of the globe — has been cleared for takeoff. Quest Aviation of Sandpoint received federal approval last week to begin manufacturing and selling the plane, after passing scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration.

ST. MARIES – Chad Nelson's workday starts at 4:30 a.m., when he slides a key into the ignition of a 75,000-pound log processor. Warming up the 300-horsepower engine takes about 15 minutes. From then on, Nelson's day is all about speed. A Caterpillar operator dumps loads of pine, fir and larch trees in front of his machine. Nelson tries to keep up.

A weathered dairy barn in Coeur d'Alene will become the centerpiece of a new residential development aimed at people 55 and older. Dennis Cunningham, developer for the Meadow Ranch project, said he's fielded dozens of queries about the fate of the barn since announcing plans for a 223-unit housing development on 12 acres near Kathleen Avenue and U.S. Highway 95.

Daniel England is a bit baffled by the recent paint job on his rental house. A crew showed up to redo the front of the 1910 bungalow this spring, giving it cherry-red shutters and a creamy coat of fresh paint. But the rest of the house remains a dingy white. Eight other rentals in Coeur d'Alene's Fort Ground neighborhood got similar makeovers. Front facades were spruced up, while peeling paint not visible from the sidewalk was ignored.

John Stone is built like a high school fullback – a stocky 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds.■At 64, he's been through four surgeries on each knee and a torn Achilles tendon. He has arthritis in his lower back and a calf muscle that frequently knots up.■ His aging body – "older equipment" is Stone's wry self-description – isn't keeping him from competing in today's Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene. At 7 a.m., the Spokane developer will plunge into Lake Coeur d'Alene for the 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run. He expects to cross the finish line about 14 hours later, exhausted and exhilarated.

An auctioneer's chant of "going, going … gone!" could become part of more North Idaho real estate sales. Currently, a little less than 1 percent of all U.S. home sales are conducted by auction, according to the National Association of Realtors. But the sales are growing quickly enough to intrigue Realtors.

In the 1930s, a young geologist named Arthur Sorenson mapped the Star Mine in Idaho's Silver Valley, recording his findings on linen paper. The result was page after page of meticulous drawings, each showing different levels of the 8,000-foot mine. "What the geologist had to work with in the past was these flat maps," said Art Smith, a geologist at Hecla Mining Co., gently handling the yellowing pages.

WORLEY, Idaho – The Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel is gearing up to hire 80 new employees, most of whom will run video versions of blackjack or poker. "These machines are manned with a dealer," said Scott Kramer, the casino's chief financial officer. "You'll still play a machine, with the difference of having a dealer that is actually running the game."