Flathead Valley Business: Kalispell, Montana News

KALISPELL – A Kalispell man has pleaded guilty to negligent arson for a fire that destroyed several units in an apartment building.

David Bernach was accused of using gasoline to ignite wood in his fireplace on Nov. 21 after several previous attempts to get the fire started with other methods failed. Some of the gas spilled out of the fireplace and spread flames into the apartment. The blaze destroyed 10 units in the building.

WHITEFISH – Idaho Timber of Montana says it will close its plant in Whitefish with the loss of 26 jobs.

Sixteen workers lost their jobs last week; and the company says the 10 remaining workers will be let go within the next three months.

WASHINGTON – Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Workers also saw weekly wages fall, suggesting Americans will have little appetite to spend and the economy's road to recovery will be bumpy.

The Labor Department report, released Thursday, showed that even as the recession flashes signs of easing, companies likely will want to keep a lid on costs and be wary of hiring until they feel certain the economy is on solid ground.

NEW YORK – In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don't have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence.

Increasingly, states aching under the weight of the recession are seeking a way around that rule. Because companies like Amazon.com Inc. get help drumming up sales from online affiliates - people who link to products on their blogs, promote Web shopping deals and offer coupons - several states say the Internet retailers should charge sales taxes in states where those affiliates are based.

BILLINGS – The bankrupt co-founder of Montana's swank Yellowstone Club is being sued for the alleged illegal transfer of $1.1 million from a failed spin-off of the millionaires-only ski resort.

Edra Blixseth sold the Yellowstone Club in southwestern Montana for $115 million last month and has remaining debts estimated at $357 million.

For so long, the Tidyman’s building sat abandoned. But last week, with the opening of Super 1 Foods, it sprung back to life. And judging by the long lines, locals were ready for a new grocery store in downtown Kalispell. The 115 jobs are nice too.

Less than a week before Super 1’s grand opening, Safeway in Whitefish opened its doors following a 10-month remodel period. The store provided 125 jobs, 92 of which were new while the remaining 33 were previous employees.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Crews are testing residential yards near W.R. Grace & Co.'s former insulation factory in Spokane for asbestos fibers that can cause cancer. The work was prompted by the recent declaration of Libby, Mont., as a public health emergency.

For 22 years, Vermiculite Northwest produced Zonolite, an asbestos-tainted attic insulation. Rail cars brought vermiculite ore from Libby to the plant, where furnaces heated the ore until it puffed up into lightweight insulation.

In a room with 100 billionaires, 80 of them are just your average billionaire (whatever that is), 15 of them are high-achievers (within that group) and 5 of them can kick the crud out of the other 95 at anything laid before them.

Yet they’d all be billionaires.

I've seen this situation again and again. It's held true for photographers, welders, timber framers, people who write business columns – and many others. In other words, even in a room full of highly-successful people, 5% of them could kick the crap out of the others in business, tennis, mountain climbing or whatever they attempted.

The difference? Click that link on the right to find out.