If Coeur d'Alene school trustees agree, teachers in the district will be working under a new contract - a compromise worked out with the help of a mediator - for the first time this year. Members of the teachers' union met Monday evening to ratify a new agreement which will be presented to the school board on Thursday.

The message at Wednesday’s YWCA awards luncheon was for women: take chances in your career, and doors will open. Northwest native Hattie Kauffman knows that first hand, and gave the keynote address at the Women of Achievement event. This year seven Spokane women were recognized for leadership.

Avista Utilities has made its final yearly proposals to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, UTC. Beside normal rate adjustments, another request will give customers rebates some years, and surcharges in others.

A regional power planning group is nervous about burgeoning marijuana production in Washington and possibly Oregon. But it's not a moral or legal issue. It's about the amount of electricity that will be sucked up by pot growers. 

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is due to release a new 5-year power plan next year. But analysts have realized their predictions for power consumption are complicated by new electricity demands from indoor pot growers.

The amount of marijuana at legal stores in Washington has been in short supply since the stores opened in July, but that is expected to change soon. The fall harvest should bring a more abundant supply to those stores. And those outlets may take more of their share away from the black market.