Jan. 26 / Key Tronic posts higher earnings
Key Tronic Corp., the Spokane Valley-based contract manufacturer, reported net income of $1.7 million, or 17 cents a diluted share, for its fiscal 2010 second quarter ended Dec. 26, up sharply from $100,000, or 1 cent a share, in the year-earlier period. The company said its total revenues for the quarter were $44.8 million, down from $47 million in the year-earlier quarter, but that it had unusually high gross and operating margins due to a favorable sales mix.

Jan. 25 / S&P upgrades city of Spokane's bond rating
The city of Spokane said Standard and Poor's upgraded its bond rating to "AA" from "AA-." S&P said the revision reflects the city's "very strong available general fund balances and management's efforts to reduce expenditures." Other strengths cited by S&P include the city's diverse economic base and low debt burden.

Jan. 25 / Itron wins big contract in India
Itron Inc., of Liberty Lake, announced it has won a contract to deliver a complete remote water meter-reading system to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, in India. The deployment, which will be completed within two years, will include 150,000 automated meter-reading water meters, Itron said. The water utility, which loses 700 million liters of water a day to theft and leaks, awarded the contract after a six-month pilot project involving 3,000 Itron meters, Itron said.

Jan. 21 / SIA passenger numbers, air cargo down
Spokane International Airport reported that 240,300 passengers arrived and departed here in November, down 12.1 percent from its passenger count in the year-earlier month. SIA also said that 3,400 tons of cargo either were shipped out or sent here during the month, down 11.6 percent from November 2008.

Jan. 21 / EWU to cut costs by combining colleges
Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, said it will combine four of its academic colleges into two in response to severe state budget cuts. The change will entail eliminating two dean's positions and combining administrative functions of the colleges, which EWU said will save about $500,000 a year. The university said it plans to merge the College of Arts & Letters with the College of Education and Human Development, and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences with the School of Social Work and Human Services, as of July 1.

Jan. 20 / Employment here dips
Nonagricultural wage and salary employment in the Spokane metropolitan area fell to 213,300 in December, down 3,900 jobs from the December 2008 level. Preliminary figures from another survey put the unemployment rate here at 9.3 percent in December, up from 7.3 percent in December 2008.

Jan. 14 / Red Lion names interim president, CEO
Red Lion Hotels Corp., of Spokane, said it appointed board member Jon Eliassen to serve as interim president and CEO, replacing Anupam Narayan, whose "employment ended." Narayan had held those positions for about two years, after earlier serving as Red Lion's executive vice president and CFO. Eliassen, who has been a Red Lion board member since 2003, formerly was senior vice president and CFO of Avista Corp. and president and CEO of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council.