A drought a continent away and an ideal growing season here last spring contributed to continued strong wheat prices for Inland Northwest farmers in 2010 and a likelihood that 2011 could be strong as well. Other regional crops also had yields and a

In a mixed outlook for 2011, Kootenai County executives say tourism and manufacturing likely will begin to lead the economy there out of its downturn. Meanwhile, they're hoping that residential home sales will at least maintain their higher level a

While many industries expect to plod through another year of a still-slogging economy, the mining industry expects a repeat of what has been a stellar 2010.Metals prices continued to be strong this year, and in some cases jumped significantly, a

Construction industry sources here are somewhat optimistic that a construction turnaround has started in the residential market and that the nonresidential construction market is at or near its bottom. No one is expecting, though, that 2011 will to

The residential and commercial real estate markets here are expected to turn around slowly in 2011, perhaps finally curbing protracted recession-related sales declines, industry sources here say.In the first 11 months of 2010, 3,913 homes were a