July 12 / Rockwood Clinic CEO to step down

Dr. Craig Whiting said he plans to retire from his position as CEO of Rockwood Clinic in June 2014. The Rockwood Clinic board has appointed a committee to begin the task of conducting a national search for a successor. During Whiting's tenure, Rockwood Clinic affiliated with Deaconess Hospital and Valley Hospital to create the Rockwood Health System.



July 12 / PAML, Cleveland Clinic to collaborate

Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories LLC, of Spokane, said it has signed a letter of intent with Cleveland Clinic Laboratories, based in Cleveland, Ohio, to identify ways to collaborate on delivering comprehensive laboratory diagnostic services. PAML said the two organizations will explore potential alliances in the areas of test development, value-based care, analytical tools, and companion diagnostics for better therapeutic decision making.



July 11 / Innovate Washington mulls future

Innovate Washington CEO Kim Zentz said the agency hasn't decided yet steps it will take after learning that state legislators had eliminated its operational funding for the 2013-2015 biennium. The agency, which was created two years ago through the merger of Spokane-based Sirti and the Seattle-based Washington Technology Center, had sought $5.6 million in state funding to support continued operations at current levels. Zentz said the agency has about $2.7 million in reserves that will enable it to continue operating for now.



July 9 / Kootenai Health rebrands

Kootenai Health, the Coeur d'Alene-based health care provider network, unveiled a new logo and said it's changing the name of Kootenai Medical Center to Kootenai Health. It also announced a new organizational structure and umbrella name of Kootenai Clinic for its 77 employed physicians and their practices. It said the changes were part of its new vision of becoming the premier regional medical reference center for North Idaho by 2020.



July 9 / City mulls low-impact ordinance

The city of Spokane said it's working on a proposed new ordinance that would encourage property owners and developers to use green strategies—called low-impact development—to manage storm water as part of their development or redevelopment projects. Low-impact development emphasizes site conservation and uses natural landscaping features to filter and retain storm water close to where it falls. The City Council is expected to take up the ordinance later this summer.



July 8 / Avista, First Wind mark milestone

Avista Utilities, of Spokane, and First Wind a, Boston-based renewable energy company, commemorated the generation of 150,000 megawatt hours of electrical power by the 58-turbine Palouse Wind project since the wind farm started commercial operations near Oakesdale, Wash., in December 2012. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and several other state officials attended the ceremony at the project site in northern Whitman County, which First Wind representatives said is reaping millions of dollars of financial benefit from the project. Avista is buying the energy produced by Palouse Wind under a 30-year power purchase agreement.



Corrections & Amplifications

Drs. Craig R. Barrow and Khalid Shirzad, both fellowship-trained foot and ankle orthopedists here who do ankle replacement surgeries, plan to attend an upcoming conference in Las Vegas to learn about a new ankle replacement product. A story in the Journal's July 3 issue misstated their reason for attending the conference.