Becky Kramer

Valley Hospital has expanded services to heart patients with a new diagnostic testing procedure. The hospital recently started offering cardiac catheterization, which helps doctors detect blocked arteries in the heart, and allows them to measure the heart’s blood flow and pressure in the chambers.

Mild winters used to put a dent in Avista Corp.’s profits. With customers using less power to heat their homes and businesses, the utility’s revenues lagged. New billing practices are altering how the Spokane-based utility recovers its costs. The changes, recently approved by Washington regulators and under review in Idaho, allow Avista to collect more revenue during warmer years, but they also require the utility to issue customer rebates during years when power sales exceed projections.

Three entities are competing to build a new psychiatric hospital in Spokane County that will help address a statewide shortage of inpatient mental health services. Providence Health Care submitted an application for a 100-bed free-standing hospital with the Washington Department of Health earlier this month, following the submission of two other applications from for-profit companies in May.

Laura Ackerman works at the Saranac Building in Spokane, a short walk from BNSF Railway’s train tracks. Oil trains pass her office on a daily basis, and more will roll through downtown if a new crude oil terminal is built 350 miles away in Vancouver, Washington.

Washington State University researchers are working to develop a roadside test that would detect marijuana in a person’s breath. Studies began last month on a prototype that tests breath for THC, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects.

A robust snowpack in British Columbia will help ease drought conditions in the Northwest this summer. Three B.C. reservoirs will release additional water into the Columbia River to help migrating salmon, power production, irrigation and barge navigation.

Clearwater Paper Corp. has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle allegations of federal Clean Air Act violations at its Lewiston mill. The Spokane-based company will pay a $300,000 civil penalty and spend $800,000 on stricter pollution controls at the pulp mill, according to a negotiated settlement signed by the company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Next year, Alaska Airlines will undertake a demonstration flight using 1,000 gallons of biofuel made from woody debris from Northwest forests. The airline is teaming up with Washington State University, which is leading the effort to develop a wood-based biofuel embraced by the aviation industry. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gases while creating jobs in rural communities.

A $509,000 federal grant will allow Bonner County to purchase and raze a home that was improperly built in the Pack River’s floodway, potentially jeopardizing other local landowners’ ability to get flood insurance. The house is near the confluence of the Pack River and Grouse Creek, where high water velocities and floating debris could cause significant damage during flooding, said Clare Marley, the county’s planning director.

Avista Utilities is proposing a staggered rate increase for its Idaho customers, which would raise a typical household’s electric bill by $12 per month over a two-year period and natural gas bill by nearly $6. The Spokane-based utility submitted the request to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission on Monday. The commission has up to nine months to review Avista’s request, take public comments and make a decision.

Hecla Mining Co. has agreed to pay $600,000 in fines for releasing heavy metals and other pollution into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River during a five-year period. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documented about 500 violations of the company’s federal discharge permit at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, Idaho, between 2009 and 2014.

Hecla Mining Co. has agreed to pay $600,000 for releasing pollution into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River over a five-year period.

Avista Utilities will harness the sun for power generation through a community solar project in Spokane Valley. More than 1,500 solar panels will be installed this summer at the intersection of Barker Road and Trent Avenue, generating about 500,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, or enough to meet the needs of about 50 households.

The state of Washington has hired an internationally known wildlife-conflict specialist to help defuse tensions over the state’s expanding wolf population. Francine Madden is the executive director of the Human Wildlife Conflict Collaboration, which also works in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Houston-based nonprofit tries to resolve conflicts that arise when protecting animals such as lions, leopards and elephants leads to clashes with local communities.

The state of Washington has hired an internationally known wildlife-conflict specialist to help diffuse tensions over the state’s expanding wolf population.