Scott Maben

A Ketchum, Idaho, company wants to build a 621-bed jail in Kootenai County in the next two years and lease it to the county to give the sheriff’s office the relief it long has sought from jail crowding and the cost of housing inmates in neighboring counties. The county likely would spend less on jail operations than it does now with a more efficient building and extra cells to rent to other jurisdictions, according to a pitch Facilities Management LLC/Rocky Mountain Corrections made Wednesday to county commissioners.

Former Coeur d’Alene Mayor Raymond L. Stone, a World War II veteran, teacher and jazz musician, died Monday. He was 89. Stone served on the City Council from 1971 to 1979 and two terms as mayor, from 1986 to 1994.

Former Coeur d’Alene Mayor Raymond L. Stone, a World War II veteran, teacher and jazz musician, died Monday. He was 89.

This may be one of the clearest signs yet the housing market is recovering in the Inland Northwest: A patch of Coeur d’Alene hillside poised for new homes for eight years is finally under construction. Streets, sidewalks and utilities were put in back in 2005, but the 75-lot subdivision has sat unfinished. And that didn’t go unnoticed, given the property faces Interstate 90 just west of the Northwest Boulevard-Ramsey Road exit.

Yes, it has wheels. Really, there are wheels under it. You can drive it.

A group resurrecting hydroplane racing on Lake Coeur d’Alene has cleared a tall hurdle to staging the event at the end of summer. CdA Diamond Cup LLC said Thursday it has raised enough money from sponsors, donations and the backing of a Spokane bank to ensure the races happen over Labor Day weekend.

The races are a go, say the architects of the return of hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d’Alene this summer.

Lidwina Dirne, who brought affordable health care to thousands of North Idaho residents during the past three decades, died Monday at age 97. She was the driving force behind the nonprofit Dirne Community Health Center, which provides pediatric, adult and geriatric care at clinics in Coeur d’Alene and Rathdrum. The center serves 15,000 patients a year, including about 1,700 who are homeless.

Coeur d’Alene’s Midtown neighborhood is known for a cluster of thrift stores operated as nonprofits that benefit a variety of causes, from animals to children to battered women. The new kid on the block also works on behalf of a worthy cause, but its business model is unique.

Barbara Allen-Kelsay delivered sweet treats to two of her doctors Thursday – a token of her thanks for diagnosing and treating a severe infection that has plagued her for most of a decade. “They saved my life, there’s no question in my mind,” the North Idaho retiree said. “If not for their quick action, I would not be here today.”

Ben Wolfinger, the sheriff of Kootenai County, said he has not decided to keep or drop the Boy Scout troop chartered by the sheriff’s office. But he said his Christian faith and what the Bible says about homosexuality are weighing heavily on him as he struggles with the recent decision by the Boy Scouts of America to end the organization’s membership ban on gay youth.

Shooters will return to the Farragut State Park gun range Saturday for the first time since late 2006. A legal fight over noise and safety that closed the state shooting range the past six years isn’t quite over, with opponents hoping to limit the number of shooters allowed and how much of the range reopens.

The shooting range at Farragut State Park will reopen Saturday after a prolonged legal fight over noise and safety concerns.

When Michelle Bristow moved to Kootenai County in 2010 to attend North Idaho College, she was taken aback by the level of services available for her second-grade daughter, Kaytlynn, who was born with hearing loss. In the Portland area, where Bristow grew up, Kaytlynn had thrived with the support of half a dozen early-intervention specialists, including an audiologist and a speech and language pathologist, through schools and local agencies.

COEUR D’ALENE – This is shaping up to be one of the busiest summers in the Lake City, with the planned return of hydroplane racing over Labor Day weekend capping a full schedule of events that draw crowds from around the Inland Northwest. It also will be one of the most challenging seasons for traffic flow and parking due to major construction on the south edge of downtown.

Don Martin surveyed the damage and could only shake his head in disgust. Late one afternoon last week, he heard what he thought were gunshots on his rural property near Coeur d’Alene.