John Stucke

A dead magpie gathered from the West Plains area is the first animal to test positive for West Nile virus in Spokane County.

Almost a year of failed bargaining between Community Health Systems Inc. and its 1,100 unionized employees will be addressed in a hearing next month by an administrative law judge. The Seattle regional office of the National Labor Relations Board sought the hearing.

A spike in the number of sudden infant deaths – 13 in the past 18 months – has prompted health officials to warn parents of dangers posed to babies by secondhand smoke and sleeping in the same bed with their parents. Those two risk factors of SIDS factored in the local deaths, said Julie Graham, spokeswoman for the Spokane Regional Health District. About half the deaths occurred in situations where babies slept with parents.

A worrisome spike in the number of sudden infant deaths – 13 in the past 18 months – has prompted health officials to remind parents about the dangers posed to children from second-hand smoke and sleeping in the same bed with their parents.

Almost a year of failed bargaining between Community Health Systems Inc. and its 1,100 unionized employees has resulted in a hearing next month by an administrative law judge.

A Spokane man in his 50s has died of complications from H1N1 influenza, aka swine flu – the second such death in the county. The contagious virus has hospitalized seven people in Spokane in the past month.

Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest required unnecessary office visits by its poorest patients, a practice that led to excessive payments from the taxpayer-financed Medicaid program, according to a recent audit. The audit also uncovered troubling billing procedures and problems with unauthorized staff prescribing and dispensing birth control pills, said Doug Porter, Washington’s Medicaid director. Medicaid covers the medical bills of poor people throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

With health reform dominating headlines, the stakes in Spokane are extraordinary. About 25 cents of every dollar spent in this community is tied to health care. Some clinics are concerned that the congressional proposals are asking too much of their practices, and hospitals are bracing for deeper givebacks – even after the state hit them with multimillion-dollar cuts in Medicaid spending.

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center has asked state regulators to reconsider the hospital’s expansion plans. While Sacred Heart won approval for 21 new intermediate care nursery beds, the Washington state Department of Health foiled Sacred Heart’s big plans to add 152 adult acute care beds.

Martin Howser, who finances conservative causes and candidates and comes from a wealthy Spokane family, has filed for bankruptcy. He is attempting to shield his wife’s assets – estimated in the millions of dollars – from lenders and other creditors, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings in Spokane. Howser is the grandson of the late Martin Woldson, the Spokane pioneering businessman and railroad builder whose name now graces the refurbished Fox Theater. Howser’s aunt, Myrtle Woldson, donated the money to the theater renovation effort. Howser continues to live on the South Hill’s well-heeled Sumner Avenue with his wife, Charis Howser.

Monsanto Co. is moving back into the business of developing genetically modified wheat, a development that the Washington Grain Alliance says will help keep wheat competitive with other food crops. The world’s leading seed producer announced a deal Tuesday to pay $45 million to buy a Bozeman research and development business, marking the end of Monsanto’s five-year hiatus from changing the genetic structure of wheat.

Health officials are considering mass vaccination clinics this fall to ward off a possible swine flu epidemic. Washington Health Secretary Mary Selecky said Thursday that five companies are expected to produce 100 million doses of a vaccine designed to combat the H1N1 virus, aka swine flu. The vaccine should be ready in October.