Briefcase

Sallie Mae restoring deferred payment loan

NEW YORK – Sallie Mae is bringing back an option that lets students wait until after graduation to start repaying loans.

The private student lender, formally known as SLM Corp., had done away with its signature deferred payment option loan during the credit crisis in 2009.

At the time, Sallie Mae instead began requiring borrowers to make interest payments right away while in school. The company said the in-school payments helped defray long-term costs for students by reducing the amount of interest that accumulated on the loan.

The company was also looking to reduce its exposure to defaults during the credit crunch.

Students who are approved for loans in the 2011-’12 academic year will now be given three payment options: make interest payments while in school; make fixed monthly payments of $25; or defer payments.

Associated Press

Kootenai County jobless rate rises

The unemployment rate in Kootenai County edged higher in February despite a slight gain in the number of workers holding jobs.

The 11.2 percent rate reported by the Idaho Department of Labor was an increase from 11 percent in January, and 10.4 percent in February 2010. The number employed rose to 63,607 from 63,516 in January. There were 8,021 unemployed.

The rates for other North Idaho counties were: Benewah, 14.3 percent; Bonner, 12.6 percent; Boundary, 15.4 percent; and Shoshone, 14.4 percent.

In Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, the unemployment rate was 10 percent.  The rate in Boise was 8.6 percent.

The rate for all of Idaho, 9.7 percent, remained unchanged from January and December.

Bert Caldwell

Agency will review Kodak patent claim

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A federal agency said Friday that it will review Eastman Kodak Co.’s high-stakes patent-infringement claim against technology giants Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd.

The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., agreed to examine a judge’s finding in January that Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry don’t violate an image-preview patent the photography pioneer obtained in 2001.

The decision revives Kodak’s hopes of negotiating royalties worth $1 billion or more. The agency’s six commissioners will decide by May 23 whether to alter the initial determination by its chief administrative judge, Paul Luckern, or let it stand.

The company has amassed more than 1,000 digital-imaging patents, and almost all digital cameras rely on that technology. Mining its rich array of inventions has become an indispensable tool in a long and painful turnaround.

Associated Press