John Stucke

A nasty viral outbreak has sickened 300 residents and employees at seven nursing homes, retirement centers and care facilities in Spokane County. Norovirus may be best known for turning cruise ships into misery vessels. It is highly contagious and results in a 24- to 48-hour bout of vomiting and diarrhea.

Financial losses and troubled national credit markets have lowered the value of Empire Health Services and trimmed the $172 million that Community Health Systems Inc. is offering for Empire's two hospitals. Proceeds available for a new charitable foundation would be lowered to $84 million – down from the $100 million Empire's board estimated when originally striking the deal.

A possible new $100 million foundation focused on Spokane health care needs is spurring hope among charitable organizations accustomed to scratching for dollars to pay for programs ranging from wellness to child abuse prevention. The money would come from the sale of Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center, a blockbuster proposal being scrutinized by state regulators. The buyer is Community Health Systems Inc., the nation's largest for-profit hospital company with 130 medical centers in 28 states. If approved – perhaps by late summer or fall – the deal would reshape the health care business in Spokane.

A study that began in the 1980s as an inquiry into weight-loss program dropouts and evolved into potent childhood trauma research remains a catalyst for helping communities understand and treat the effects of abuse and neglect. The groundbreaking research links a child's traumatic experiences to myriad problems in adulthood, including drug addiction and troubled relationships; medical conditions ranging from heart disease to mental illness; and early death.

Spokane health officials are warning the parents of Roosevelt Elementary School students about the possibility of chickenpox and encouraging them to vaccinate their children. Letters will be sent soon to raise public awareness and try to short-circuit the disease's spread. There have been outbreaks of chickenpox at Garfield and Jefferson elementary schools. The episode has sent several dozen children home until their parents can provide proof of vaccination or that their child has immunity from already having had the disease. Once a rite of passage for young children, chickenpox has become less common because of vaccines administered since the mid-1990s.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has struck a $52 million deal to sell the key insurance affiliate of bankrupted Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. The agreement, pending court approval, would end the challenging and controversial four-year receivership of Western United Life Assurance Co. and deliver significant cash to Metropolitan noteholders, according to Kreidler's office.

Seven cases of bacterial meningitis – including one that hospitalized an Eastern Washington University football player and another that sickened a child in a local day care – are worrying Spokane County health officials. The number of cases during the first three months of this year is higher than usual. Normally three to five cases are reported a year, said Julie Graham, spokeswoman for the Spokane Regional Health District. The district is encouraging residents to review their vaccination status to protect against the disease.

Saying the state has mismanaged a former insurance affiliate of bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., creditors have asked a judge to force Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to relinquish control of the valuable asset. The insurance commissioner seized Western United Life Assurance Co. four years ago in the wake of Metropolitan's financial failure. A successful sale of the insurance affiliate could mean more cash in the pockets of Metropolitan investors, who were left holding $360 million in worthless investments.

A complex, multistate Ponzi scheme that bilked 1,300 investors out of about $100 million has ensnared a former school principal and administrator from Colville. The fallout: After several years of federal legal fights in a Dallas courtroom, George M. Carnie has filed for bankruptcy to keep his Kettle Falls home from being seized and sold to satisfy burned investors.

Washington's big three health insurers continued a run of annual profits in 2007 and socked away another $266 million, swelling their surplus accounts to a combined $2.4 billion. The surpluses are adding fuel to an ongoing political debate about how much money is appropriate for nonprofit insurers to retain when rising premiums are blamed for individuals and employers dropping their health insurance coverage.

They say accidents happen in a flash. Not so for Craig Sicilia. With his daughter and a niece, both 8 years old, in the back seat of his Dodge minivan north of Spokane, he watched with horror as the driver of a speeding Lincoln Continental in the oncoming lane slumped in the front seat.

Helen Sandifur, the ex-wife of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.'s chief executive, will pay $325,000 into a special trust to refund investors in the bankrupted company under a settlement disclosed last week. The Metropolitan trust sued Sandifur two years ago for $2.1 million, alleging her divorce settlement from former Metropolitan Mortgage chief executive C. Paul Sandifur Jr. was improperly funded from the corporate treasury at a time when the company was technically insolvent. The trust also sought to unwind special dividend payments she earned.

The Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. investors' trust has reached a settlement agreement of about $30 million with an accounting firm accused of making mistakes that led to the company's demise. If approved, the settlement with PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP would be the single largest sum collected since the Spokane financial conglomerate went bankrupt four years ago. And it marks the first time a big-money accounting firm has agreed to pay for its role in the Metropolitan debacle.

Residents worried about plans to close Deer Park Hospital next month picketed Providence Health Care on Saturday afternoon, but they faced waning odds that executives will change course. "We know it's hard, but it's also very important," said Sonja Horner, who worked as a nurse at the 24-bed hospital for 17 years.

Recruitment efforts to hire a new leader for the Spokane Regional Health District have failed so far, with the favored candidate recently dropping out of contention. Health district officials are now hoping to fill the job by late summer – more than a year and a half after the controversial dismissal in late 2006 of former health officer Dr. Kim Thorburn.

Burned Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. investors will have their day in court against a big auditing firm they accuse of professional negligence. They have a shot at a potential payday that could top $200 million after U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle on Tuesday reversed earlier tentative rulings and rejected motions by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to dismiss the lawsuit. He encouraged the sides to rekindle settlement talks and drop next month's trial.