John Stucke

Local public health officials voted Wednesday to cut 8.7 percent from the Spokane Regional Health District’s budget for next year. The move, announced last month, included several layoffs and changes to programs that help babies and children receive care for birth defects and other special needs.

Many middle-class Washington families will save an average of about $1,700 a year once federal health reforms take full effect, according to an organization that advocates for health care consumers. Families USA calculates that changes from the Affordable Care Act will curb insurance rate hikes. In its report released Thursday, the organization said its findings were designed as a counterpoint to Republican presidential candidates’ push to repeal the law.

Northwest Farm Credit reports 3Q profit

Horizon Credit Union merges with Montana lender

$600,000 grant to help enroll uninsured teens

Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane is restarting its cleft lip and palate program next year and seeks to take over a successful Spokane County program that’s threatened by budget cuts. Yet Shriners’ efforts have met stiff resistance from some health district employees and so far, no deal has been struck to transfer that care from the publicly funded health district to the mostly privately funded Shriners.

Rypien Foundation gives $3 million to Sacred Heart

Cutting health programs for infants and children proved too daunting Thursday as the Spokane Regional Health District board decided to postpone passage of its 2012 budget. The move came after dozens of residents testified that cutting district programs that help children with hearing loss, disabilities and cleft lips and palates would endanger lives and leave families in desperation.

Deaconess Medical Center is undergoing a subtle name change to reflect its partnership with Rockwood Clinic. The two health care providers, along with Valley Hospital and Medical Center, have established what they call an integrated health care delivery system under the common corporate ownership of Community Health Systems Inc.

The return of workers to area schools following the summer break is behind a better Spokane County jobs report. Unemployment was 8.6 percent in September, down from 9 percent in August.

McMorris Rodgers isn't naming GOP favorite -- yet

A lottery-winning couple from rural central Washington plan to buy a large stake in Spokane-based RiverBank. Jim and Carolyn McCullar, who earlier this year won $190 million – about half of the Mega Millions Lottery – are reportedly on the verge of buying a 22.33 percent interest of privately held and struggling RiverBank Holding Co., according to the Federal Reserve, which recently printed a legal advertisement in The Spokesman-Review.

Washington Trust Bank has repaid its $110 million TARP obligation to the U.S. Treasury Department. At the same time, the Spokane-based bank borrowed $89.1 million from a different Treasury program to spur small business lending across the Northwest.

Two major hospital systems in Western Washington are combining into what will become the largest medical provider in the state. Perhaps as early as next year, Seattle’s Swedish Health Services will affiliate with Catholic hospital group Providence Health & Services, creating a super-sized organization officials hope can withstand the financial uncertainties of health reform and continue providing top-tier medical services.

The Bank of Whitman’s failure has left other regional lenders stuck with piles of insider loans that could lead to millions in losses. Recent court filings and public records disclose that RiverBank, of Spokane, for example, loaned large sums of money to employees of Bank of Whitman for stock purchases in the Colfax-based institution that federal and state regulators closed in early August. Many of those loans, which critics say were pre-arranged between the lending institutions, are now in default.

Journalist T.R. Reid traveled the world’s richest democracies several years ago in search of answers. He wanted to find the best treatment for an old shoulder injury that was causing pain. But more important, he wanted to investigate how other countries deliver health care to their citizens – often with better results and at lower cost.

Journalist T.R. Reid traveled the world’s richest democracies several years ago in search of answers. He wanted to find the best treatment for an old shoulder injury that was causing pain. Yet more importantly, he wanted to investigate how other countries deliver health care to their citizens – often with better results and at lower cost.

Spokane-based RiverBank has undergone a management shake-up and business reforms as federal regulators insist the bank raise capital and undertake “safe and sound” banking practices. The bank, started in 2006, is now run by Chief Executive Officer Clyde “Chuck” Brooks.

Nonstop daily flights linking Spokane to Los Angeles are expected to start again with the help of federal funds. Spokane International Airport is set to receive a $950,000 transportation grant to lure and market such flights, said Larry Krauter, airport chief executive.