In brief: Jacklin’s operations moving to Othello

Jacklin Seed will wind down its Post Falls operations and move its production and seed cleaning business over the next three years to Othello, in the heart of Washington’s irrigated farm country, the company announced this week.

The company, including its building along Interstate 90, has been a fixture in Post Falls for decades. J.R. Simplot Co. bought Jacklin Seed in 1997.

Most Post Falls workers will be offered jobs at the Othello plant. About 25 jobs will be lost.

The company’s moving plans include opening a sales office in Spokane that also will serve as a research and development center.

Jacklin bills itself as the turf-grass industry’s largest producer, with sales of seed to 70 countries.

John Stucke

Community steps up for cancer agency

After a plea for help from the community, Cancer Patient Care received $60,000 in donations and has moved to a less expensive facility.

Melissa Halverson, executive director for the nonprofit that offers services such as gas cards and wigs to cancer patients, said the organization was in danger of closing toward the end of last year.

With the donations, including several worth thousands of dollars from corporations, the nonprofit was able to stay afloat.

The staff moved its office from East Sprague Avenue to 104 S. Freya St., cutting its office expenses by 75 percent.

Halverson said her staff was proud of and grateful to the community, and that the patients were enjoying the new space and thankful not to lose the support of the organization.

“They are all just so excited and so thrilled,” she said.

Jennifer Pignolet

Hulu CEO announces plan to step down

LOS ANGELES – Jason Kilar will step down by the end of March as the chief executive of Hulu, the online video service owned by the parents of ABC, NBC and Fox.

Kilar, 41, broke the news to staff in an email, which he posted on the Hulu blog on Friday. While he didn’t state a reason, the video site has been losing money despite posting nearly $700 million in revenue last year. But it’s growing fast, adding 200,000 paying subscribers in the last seven days alone, Kilar said. Last month, the company said it had more than 3 million subscribers.

The company’s CEO since its founding in 2007, Kilar has at times clashed with Hulu’s owners over strategy. Spawned in part as a bid to offset Internet piracy, Hulu got its start showing reruns of ABC, NBC and Fox shows free on the Web with minimal advertising, and added a $10-per-month subscription tier in June 2010 that expanded the back catalog.

Associated Press