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Becky Kramer

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All Stories

News >  Idaho

CdA to examine ‘work-force’ housing costs

Wanted: A few perceptive comments from ordinary folks about Coeur d'Alene's real estate market. Affordable housing is the topic of two public forums at City Hall this week. As part of the discussion, residents will get a chance to sound off on whether Coeur d'Alene is still an affordable market.
News >  Business

A key victory against germs

With computers becoming as common as stethoscopes in medical exam rooms, health care officials are awakening to an unpleasant realization: The keystrokes that make it so easy to look up a test result or enter data into a patient's medical chart are spreading germs. Keyboards have emerged as a culprit in hospitals' fight against infection. Harmful strains of bacteria can linger up to 24 hours on keyboards. A single touch can contaminate doctors' and nurses' fingers, research indicates, allowing them to cross-contaminate patients.
News >  Idaho

Coeur d’Jazz canceled due to slow ticket sales, costs

Coeur d'Jazz organizers hoped to reignite North Idaho's appetite for jazz and raise thousands of dollars for school music and arts programs in the process. Instead, they ended up with a canceled festival and $50,000 in the hole.
News >  Business

A cooler summer in N. Idaho

HAYDEN LAKE, Idaho – Aggressive Californians made a nuisance of themselves last year in Gene Langford's driveway, angling to buy his just-finished retirement home. Langford says he turned down 15 to 20 unsolicited offers for the house, which backs up to Avondale Golf Club's fourth fairway. One particularly insistent couple was willing to write Langford a $450,000 check on the spot, if he would agree to move out in 30 days."People were trying to buy it out from underneath me," said the 63-year-old Boeing retiree.
News >  Idaho

New development would cater to horse lovers

A group of investors who want to return horse racing to the area received approval this week to annex 200 acres to the city of Rathdrum for an equestrian-themed development. Pleasant View Properties LLC wants to develop a mile-long racetrack on the property, along with two show arenas, stables, a hotel, an RV park and 65 acres of housing.
News >  Idaho

Mill site could go to colleges

Proponents of a higher education corridor along the Spokane River in Coeur d'Alene will be able to buy a key piece of land for $10 million. Developer Marshall Chesrown has agreed to sell the DeArmond Mill site to local colleges for roughly what it costs him to acquire it.
News >  Business

Fueled by a bargain

BONNERS FERRY, Idaho – Stu Grant was a bit wistful as he filled up the gas tank in his camper at an Exxon station 35 miles south of the Canadian border. "It's the last of the cheap gas," said Grant, who lives in Alberta. Grant and his pal, Ken Robertson, were on the final leg of a 3,000-mile road trip that took them to Monterey, Calif., to watch motorcycle races. On the way, they got used to American prices at the pump.
News >  Business

CdA seeks boost for midtown area

Wanted: a developer to build a multistory building in Coeur d'Alene's midtown neighborhood. The city's urban renewal agency is advertising for a partner to build a demonstration project on three lots it owns in the 800 block of Fourth Street.
News >  Business

North Idaho home market eases slightly

Buying a house in Kootenai County is getting easier. More homes are for sale, according to recent statistics from the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service, and fewer buyers are competing for them.
News >  Idaho

Review found $340,000 in undocumented expenses

Employees at the Coeur d'Alene Casino failed to provide proper documentation for nearly $340,000 charged to company credit cards over a 22-month period ending in June 2005, according to an independent review conducted last year. Joseph Eve & Co., an accounting firm in Great Falls, scrutinized credit card expenses at the casino at the request of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's council. The review noted that:
News >  Idaho

Web site facilitates tribal dialogue

From his kitchen table in Minnesota, David Newberger plugs into news and gossip on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation, a distant 1,300 miles to the west. His laptop brings him daily posts about the tribal council's performance, speculation over the recent firing of a Coeur d'Alene Casino executive, and a schedule for the Julyamsh Powwow.
News >  Idaho

Chesrown to buy, redevelop two waterfront mill sites

Stimson Lumber Co. has reached a final agreement to sell two mill sites along the Spokane River to Black Rock Development. The sale of the Atlas Mill site, which shut down in December, should be complete by spring 2007, the two parties said Wednesday. The sale of the DeArmond Mill, which is still operating, should be final by March 2009. About 135 people work at the DeArmond Mill.
News >  Business

Beyond the gaming table

PLUMMER, Idaho – Eight months ago, Andy Barrett and Chief Allan looked each other over, and liked what they saw. Barrett is managing partner of Berg Integrated Systems, a small manufacturing firm with goals of expanding its work in government contracts.
News >  Idaho

Priest Lake landmark in limbo

PRIEST LAKE, Idaho – East Twin Island is a veritable dewdrop in Priest Lake – a tiny hump of land that grows a few pine trees and stirs Dean Stevens' protective instincts. "It's a beautiful little island," said Stevens, a former Bonner County commissioner. "There are trees that eagles perch in to fish, and the number of those places is dwindling. … I regret not giving it directly to the Forest Service when I was in office."
News >  Business

U.S. mills see peace dividend

Ending a trade war with Canada over imported lumber will deliver substantial benefits to Inland Northwest sawmills, an industry leader predicted Tuesday. Local mills won't have to compete with below-cost lumber dumped into the U.S. market by mills from interior British Columbia, said Jim Riley, president of the Intermountain Forest Association in Coeur d'Alene. As a result, mill owners should find it easier to invest in expensive new upgrades needed to keep them competitive in a global marketplace, he said.
News >  Idaho

Bike festival rocks Silver Mountain

KELLOGG – High above this former mining town, a mountain biker shot across the lip of a jump, paused for a moment mid-air against a backdrop of ski runs and forested hills, and then dropped out of sight. "That guy really rails," Stephen Lane, Silver Mountain's marketing director, said. "He's tough to keep up with."
News >  Business

Tribe, company team up

Berg Integrated Systems, a Coeur d'Alene manufacturing firm, was looking for a new location and a cash infusion to expand its operations. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe wanted to diversify its business holdings.
News >  Idaho

Let the celebrating commence

BAYVIEW, Idaho – The Bayview Daze parade lasted a mere 15 minutes Saturday, but it packed plenty of patriotic fervor. Soloist Suzy Orth sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" while the American Legion color guard marched down Main Avenue. Harley riders festooned their bikes in red, white and blue. Kids in flag shirts walked their dogs. The crowd cheered for the Disabled American Veterans, the Timberlake Little League and Bayview Postmistress Sue Thompson, whose float celebrated the 110th anniversary of the community's post office.
News >  Business

Open house tours go upscale

With the real estate market cooling and a $1.7 million Hayden Lake home to sell, Realtor Julie Anderson knew she needed a novel approach to getting people through the front door. Taking a page from the Street of Dreams, Anderson worked with other real estate agents to stage the "Hayden Lake Loop" tour.
News >  Business

North Idaho to get new marina

Construction has started on the $5 million Dover Bay Marina – one of the first new public marinas in North Idaho in recent memory. Sandpoint developer Ralph Sletager is building the marina in conjunction with a 535-unit housing complex in Dover, Idaho. The marina will feature 274 slips, with some designed to accommodate boats up to 60 feet in length. The marina is located about three miles west of downtown Sandpoint, where the Pend Oreille River flows out of Lake Pend Oreille.
News >  Idaho

Ex-casino CEO wants changes to tribal constitution

David Matheson, ousted CEO of the Coeur d'Alene Casino, will hold a press conference today to discuss proposed amendments to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's constitution, including the use of gaming profits to pay a $1,000-per -month stipend to each member of the tribe. Matheson, 54, was fired in late May. Days before he was dismissed, Matheson sent a letter to the tribe's 1,900 members, suggesting that the casino was profitable enough to increase the payments. Enrolled members currently receive about $2,000 each semi-annually through a profit-sharing plan.
News >  Business

CdA firm cited for unpaid medical claims

A Coeur d'Alene firm that operated an insolvent medical benefits plan has been barred from doing business by the federal government and ordered to pay $1.9 million to settle unpaid medical claims. In 2001, ePEO Link began offering medical, vision and dental benefits to other employers, eventually attracting clients in 22 states. But the company failed to base its premiums on risk studies for expected payouts, according to a 2005 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor. As a result, the premium rates were set too low, the suit said.
News >  Idaho

Ironman brings a gold rush

On Sunday morning, Mike Gaertner will don a wet suit and plunge into Lake Coeur d'Alene with about 2,000 other Ironman competitors. For the next few days, however, tending to business at his bike shop is Gaertner's first priority. Vertical Earth in Coeur d'Alene typically doubles or triples its sales in the week leading up to the Ironman Triathlon. Gaertner, the owner, will put in 12- to 14-hour days – assembling bikes that have been shipped to Coeur d'Alene in pieces, performing emergency repairs on brake and steering systems, and selling souvenirs.
News >  Business

Pampering for a profit

SANDPOINT – When the pressures of her job as a software designer for American Airlines caught up with her, Darcy Chambers would check herself into a chi-chi Dallas spa. "Fix me," she'd tell the masseuse and the manicurist. At the end of the day, she'd emerge – kneaded, polished, relaxed and ready for another round of 12- to 14-hour workdays. Today, Chambers is part of the $15 billion U.S. spa industry. She runs Heaven – the Spa in Sandpoint, selling wellness, relaxation and beauty treatments to other overtaxed professionals. Visiting a spa is one of the fastest-growing leisure activities in the United States. More than 130 million people, most of them women, will visit a spa this year, according to industry statistics. Over the last decade the number of U.S. spa facilities has quadrupled, to more than 12,000.