Idaho Voices

Generating leads and referrals, building healthy relationships, and delivering value over the long-term are vital to any successful networking group. Kriss Mitchell said her new networking group, Post Falls Women in Networking, provides all of this and more. Mitchell, who owns Living Well Counseling and Consulting, and Cindy Spence, a business developer, held their first group meeting in July.

The gift shop at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is one of a kind. Who would ever think that bison dung would be a product to purchase in a national park? The idea is a topic of conversation with a serious message for visitors to Yellowstone National Park: Buy green and help save the park and the planet. The national parks in the West are showing the effects of global warming. Glacier National Park has seen accelerated melting of its namesake glaciers. Many have already disappeared and the rest are predicted to be gone within 30 years.

Seventeen-year-old Mead High School student Benjy Migliuri recently returned from a visit to the University of Washington. While it’s not unusual for high school seniors to tour prospective colleges, Migliuri’s 10-day stay was unique and one he’d never dreamed possible. “I’m a quadriplegic from birth,” he said. “I’ve been in a wheelchair all my life.”

BOISE – There was a time when then-Idaho Sen. Larry Craig was dubbed the “cybersenator” because he was the first U.S. senator to send out podcasts. Now, it seems, our digital edge in the U.S. Senate has slipped. George Washington University and New York University’s Stern School of Business have completed a joint study that evaluated and ranked every senator for what it dubbed their “digital IQ,” or “online competence” based on presence on websites, social media following and sentiment, digital marketing aptitude and search engine optimization skills. Idaho’s results? Sen. Mike Crapo ranked 64th among the 100 senators, and Sen. Jim Risch ranked 93rd.

About 20 new jobs will begin in Sandpoint in mid-September when a new Pita Pit restaurant opens at First Avenue and Bridge Street. Built in the 1950s as a service station, the double-front, 1,700-square-foot structure has served as many stores over the years. Pita sandwiches comprise several meats and veggies and also are available as breakfast and children’s items. The menu includes salads, soups, smoothies, beverages and platters.

Inside the Manresa Grotto a stone altar still stands in the cool shade of the huge rock wall. The ceiling is pitched high above as tall as in any church, and the view through the huge opening is sweeping over the treetops, the Pend Oreille River and the Kalispel Indian Reservation.