Becky Kramer

Coeur d'Alene's newest park is emerging from an old gravel pit. Massive dump trucks dropped loads of dirt in the bottom of the pit Thursday, followed by graders that packed down the fill. The pit swallows about 8,000 cubic yards of dirt every day.

The U.S. population will expand by 33 percent over the next quarter century, with the West receiving a disproportionate share of the growth. The forecast – from the U.S. Census Bureau – poses daunting questions for Kootenai County, said Maureen McAvey, a senior fellow with the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C.

SANDPOINT – About 65 miles, and the jagged peaks of the Cabinet Mountains, separate the communities of Sandpoint and Troy, Mont. The towns share a blue-collar past in resource extraction. But when it comes to the proposed Rock Creek Mine, the neighbors are worlds apart.

The former president of a Post Falls group home has been charged with stealing $150,000 from the company and its employee pension plan and using the money for lavish purchases, such as anti-aging hormone supplements, a Nigerian money scam, hotel rooms in Barcelona and a bogus MBA. James C. Stone, 55, ordered Alpha Health Services' bookkeeper to record the charges as legitimate business expenses, according to a federal grand jury's indictment. The hormone supplements, for example, were billed as "nursing supplies" for clients, court documents said.

Despite a winter drought that left ski areas high and dry, Idaho's tourism industry grew last year at a rate not seen since before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Receipts from that state's "bed tax" hit a record $5.7 million during the fiscal year, which ended June 30. The 2 percent tax, levied on hotel and campground receipts, is used to measure lodging activity.

COEUR d'ALENE – Buying into a brand-new subdivision once meant your neighbors were homeowners, too. Theoretically, you left behind the world of rentals, filled with the stereotypical rowdy college kids, neglected lawns and all-night garage bands. In North Idaho's hot housing market, however, there's no such guarantee. At Sunshine Meadows, a tasteful new development of vinyl-sided houses near Prairie Avenue in Coeur d'Alene, "For Rent" signs are nearly common as newly seeded lawns. One block sports four "For Rent" signs. Other subdivisions in Hayden and Post Falls are experiencing the same influx.

Midtown merchants wrestled over the future of their Coeur d'Alene shopping district Tuesday night, attracted to pictures of pocket parks, quaint store facades and park benches in other communities, but wary of what change could bring. Most liked the idea of beautification. Others fretted over higher taxes and changes in traffic patterns.

OSBURN, Idaho – The dusty road leading up Two Mile Gulch once carried stagecoaches to Murray, Idaho, and it hasn't seen a grader in years. Justin Rice inched his 1988 Cadillac up the grade on a recent summer day, easing in and out of potholes. Unpromising as the road is, Rice expects to find treasure at the end.

KELLOGG – Hundreds of cyclists pedal past Mike and Debbie Domby's Kellogg bike shop each day. Most whiz by, intent on the mountain scenery that spans the 73-mile Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. But a minority stop in, and it's made all the difference to Excelsior Cycle. Mike Domby tends to about five emergency bike repairs on a daily basis. Debbie Domby sells T-shirts, jackets and visors with Excelsior's logo to out-of-town cyclists.

POST FALLS – Jigsaw Data Corp. has parallels to eBay – it's an online marketplace for buying, selling and trading. But you won't find Elvis memorabilia, used CDs or musical instruments here. The commodity for sale is virtual business cards.

SANDPOINT – Rising home costs priced Mark and Tal Harlan out of Sandpoint. The couple hoped to buy their first home in this eclectic resort town on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille. But after four months of searching, they gave up trying to find a modest house in their $160,000 to $200,000 price range. They ended up north of town, on the Pack River Road.

Plans for 73 more luxury condos are under way downtown, even as Coeur d'Alene's leaders ponder what a spate of high-end development will mean for the community. The Towers at Ridge Pointe is the latest in a series of condo projects proposed for the city's central core. A Montana investment group plans to start construction in August on the $60 million, three-building Towers project, which would be built on 11 acres overlooking the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. The property is a forested, rocky outcropping, adjacent to Lost Avenue and 19th Street.

SILVERTON, Idaho – When JB and Monica Howick decided to relocate their small publishing company from Utah, they had a few distinct needs. Easy access to Interstate 90 and warehouse space were both musts. So was a certain mystique. "There's a romanticism in publishing that people both like and expect to see," said JB Howick, president of WindRiver Publishing.