In three years of writing this business column, this is the first week that I don't have enough "new" news to fill the space - things such as a new business, new location, new owner, major change or addition. I have a good list of stuff coming up, but the nearest in time is several weeks away.

Ironically, the local Democrat group asked me to give a talk on how I gather and present the items for this column - so that's what you lucky readers will get this week.

Usually I have three or four "newsy" items followed by the Tidbits - hints for the future, "funny" or ironic items from print, out-of-business news and writing tips. The news items contain the basic journalism W's - the what, when, where, why. who, how in the newsiest order.

The "what" includes what the business offers, the days and hours open and the contact info (phone, website). I try to make the "who" a bit personable - where from originally, what brought them to North Idaho when, why, from where, their related educational and business background and the number of employees.

Most of what a journalist calls his "leads" (items for content) for me come from several sources. (These "leads" aren't to be confused with the "leads" that also is the term for the start of a story, the lead. In the "old" days we spelled this "lead" l-e-d-e to not confuse it with "lead" (pronounced "led"), the metal that comprised the printing type before we used "offset" (basically printing photos of the page) and computers.

Here's how I get my stuff:

A. Websites that show commercial building permits.

B. Business-related blogspots.

C. Spies in key locations and positions such as real estate, public relations, commerce ties.

D. Take major commercial streets from one end of town to the other and notice when an empty location (building or property) suddenly has activity. My favorite example was when I saw surveyors north of Neider Avenue between Government Way and Fourth Street. They wouldn't tell me what they were up to, but later that day I walked to one of the stakes they had pounded in the field and it said "CostCo."

The "activity" can include a suddenly-gone lease sign, papers covering windows, a truck in the parking lot. The "where" includes major streets and business areas such as downtown, Riverstone and a major mall or mini-mall.

E. Tips Club. A group of business people who meet for breakfast weekly and give each other "tips."

F. Spies such as neighbors of places where something is or will be happening - and readers like you!

G. Ads in publications that may say "opening soon" or "grand opening." It may be an article on a business page of a "rival" publication.

So that's it. Remember, I need spies. And thanks!

Here's today's tidbits:

- Kurt's Classic Barbershop has opened in a building just north of Safeway on Fourth Street with owners Gerald Arno and Curtis Scalph. As "home of the hot-towel shave," haircuts are $10 and $8 (for seniors). It opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

- Maybe this is the only location in the nation where the directional signs at an intersection point to towns in three states and another country. At the confluence of I-90 and Highway 95 you see "Moscow," "Missoula," "Spokane" and "Canada." Cool.

- Government Way needs at least a center lane from Canfield Avenue to Prairie Avenue.

- Contact Nils Rosdahl at [email protected].