Briefly
Confidence dips in September
New York Continued job worries resulted in an unexpected decline in consumer confidence in September, the second consecutive monthly dip, a New York-based private research group said Tuesday.
The Consumer Confidence Index fell to 96.8 from a revised reading of 98.7 in August, according to The Conference Board. Analysts had expected a reading of 99.5.
“Soft labor market conditions have clearly taken a toll on consumer confidence,” said Lynn Franco, director of the organization’s Consumer Research Center. “Still, expectations for the next six months are virtually unchanged from August.”
Economists closely track consumers’ outlook about the economy and employment because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.
Stay Connected expo set for next week
A daylong Stay Connected business expo, focusing on ways companies can protect key information, will be held next week at the Liberty Lake Internet Exchange building, 23403 E. Mission.
The Oct. 8 event will be hosted by Liberty Lake Internet Exchange, a data center and technology office center owned by entrepreneur Bernard Daines. Daines will introduce the event’s two keynote speakers, Daniel Twing, CEO of NETDelivery and Ed Reed, security director for Novell. Twing will discuss changes occurring in the area of corporate management of data and security. Reed will focus on issues of security and data protection for users of open source software, such as Linux.
The session will start at 9 a.m. and run until 5 p.m., and costs $25 in advance and $50 the day of the event.
Liberty Lake Internet Exchange will also host a free networking social on Oct. 7, the day before the business expo. That open house will include tours of the facility, and will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For information, go to www.llix.net or call (509) 688-2555.
Spokane firm gets $1.4 million contract
An Indian-owned small business in Spokane has been awarded a two-year, $1.4 million contract to help the U.S. Department of Education improve services it provides to Native Americans.
Kauffman and Associates, owned by JoAnn Kauffman, will provide technical assistance to schools, the Education Department announced in a news release. A $1.8 million contract also was awarded to New West Technologies in Colorado to perform analytic services such as research and data collection.
The goal of the two contracts is to improve the services provided to schools, tribal colleges, universities and education departments, and to increase opportunities for Native American students.
Kauffman grew up in Idaho and Seattle and has a master’s degree in public health administration from the University of California at Berkeley. She founded her consulting firm in Washington, D.C., then moved it back to the Northwest in 1994 so her children could grow up on the Nez Perce Reservation.
Her consulting firm has worked nationwide on Native American health issues including aging, substance abuse and services for people with disabilities. The firm previously landed a $500,000 contract with the U.S. Administration on Aging to seek better services for Native American seniors.
Medicare may boost defibrillator coverage
Washington Medicare on Tuesday proposed expanding coverage for expensive cardiac defibrillators that are surgically implanted in patients who are at risk for sudden cardiac arrest.
Officials projected that 77,000 Medicare patients would have the stopwatch-size devices implanted in 2005. That would be about a 50 percent increase from the 52,000 who received them in 2003.
About 500,000 Medicare beneficiaries, including some who have never had a heart attack, would be eligible for the defibrillator, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. In many cases eligible patients don’t receive defibrillators because their doctors advise against it.
The proposal is based on new clinical studies, CMS said. A government-funded study earlier this year showed the technology significantly reduced deaths in patients with even mild heart disease.