John Stucke

FAIRFIELD – Farmer Al Anderberg peeled off his helmet, sweat trickling from his graying hair into the collar of his colorful shirt. A grin stretched across his face. Harvest may be bringing good times to Eastern Washington farmers this fall, but there's nothing Anderberg would rather do than speed old motocross bikes across 20 acres of bluegrass.

Farmers across Eastern Washington are keeping one eye on the paths of their combines as the huge machines cut valuable grain, and the other on federal legislation wending its way through Congress that they expect will sustain them if prices collapse. Every five years Congress passes a Farm Bill, the most important federal law for agriculture. It's expected to be a $40 billion heavyweight offering money for nutrition programs, including food stamps; conservation initiatives for farmers to return farm fields to wildlife habitat; and crop subsidies that guarantee farmers a paycheck for growing staples like corn, wheat, soybeans, rice and cotton.

RITZVILLE – The first thing Ron Jirava does on this warm morning is slip a key into the ignition of his 3,000-gallon water truck and coax its old diesel engine to start. After a few minutes of idling, he kills the engine, hops back into his work truck, and drives a half-mile to prep a pair of combines.

Turnaround executive Jeff Nelson has left Empire Health Services after bringing the Spokane hospital operator back to profitability and arranging the pending sale of Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center. "It was pretty obvious his tenure with Empire was not going to be long-term. His duties were diminishing," said Ronald F. McKay, board chairman of Empire. "It's in both our interests that Jeff make the move that he's making."

Ryland "Skip" Davis will leave his post as the top executive of Providence Health Care, the regional organization made up of Sacred Heart Medical Center, Holy Family Hospital and other area Providence operations, to lead a new division created by the system's parent company. A national search has begun to find Davis' successor to lead Eastern Washington's largest hospital and the biggest private employer in Spokane at a time when its rival, Empire Health Services, has signed a letter of intent to sell to the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain.

Community Health Systems Inc. has the money in place to buy Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center. With a collection of big-name banks lined up to offer the company credit, putting together a nine-figure deal has more to do gaining the approval of regulators and medical community, and less to do with finding the cash, said Ron McKay, chairman of Empire Health Services, which operates the two hospitals.