Aug. 18 / Employment here falls
Nonagricultural wage and salary employment in the Spokane metropolitan area fell to 205,200 in July, down 12,100 jobs from the July 2008 level, according to preliminary Washington state Employment Security Department figures. Preliminary figures from another survey put the unemployment rate here at 8.2 percent in July, up steeply from 5.5 percent in the year-earlier month.

Aug. 17 / Avista rate hikes challenged, earnings rise
The Public Council Section of the Washington state Attorney General's Office has challenged Avista's electric and gas rate increase requests, saying the Spokane-based utility actually might be charging its customers too much. Separately, Avista reported second-quarter net income of $25.9 million, or 47 cents a diluted share, up from $23.5 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Also, the utility applied recently for $20 million in federal stimulus funds to upgrade its distribution system in Spokane to reduce energy losses and costs.

Aug. 14 / Red Lion Hotels posts lower net
Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels Corp. reported second-quarter net income of $1.8 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with earnings of $2.3 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. For the first half of 2009, it reported a loss of $1.1 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $2.2 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. In addition, it announced it terminated the shareholder rights plan that it adopted in January, which gave current shareholders the right to one extra share of Red Lion for every share they owned if someone bought more than 20 percent of the company.

Aug. 6 / Park Board approves Mobius lease
The Spokane Park Board approved a 50-year ground lease for Mobius Spokane, a nonprofit group that aims to develop and operate a planned $29.5 million science center that's to have 56,000 square feet of exhibit space on 5 acres of land on the north side of the Spokane River in Riverfront Park. The city would receive $1 a year from Mobius, 15 percent of the proceeds Mobius might earn from any private commercial development that occurs on other parts of the site, and $12,500 a year for parking fees. The contract requires approval by the Mobius board and the Spokane City Council.

Aug. 5 / Shriners here cuts staff
Spokane's Shriners Hospital for Children said it cut nine employees, reducing its staff to 150 people, and that 13 employees will have their hours reduced. The changes come after the Tampa, Fla.-based organization decided in July to keep all of its 22 hospitals open, but make cuts necessary to meet budget demands. Earlier this year, Shriners International said the hospital here was among six that might be closed due to operating losses and a decline in the hospital network's endowment fund.

July 30 / AmericanWest reports $10.5 million loss
AmericanWest Bancorp., the Spokane-based parent of AmericanWest Bank, reported a second-quarter loss of $10.5 million, or 61 cents a share, compared with a loss of $6.2 million, or 36 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. For the first half of 2009, the company reported a net loss of $25.1 million, or $1.46 a share, compared with a net loss of $37.8 million, or $2.19 a share, for the year-earlier period.

July 30 / Clearwater income shoots up
Clearwater Paper Corp., of Spokane, reported second-quarter net income of $75.4 million, or $6.43 a diluted share, up steeply from $5 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The company said the results were driven largely by federal tax-credit payments totaling $57.6 million. The company said it received the tax-credit payments for its use of black liquor, a byproduct of the pulp-manufacturing process, in an alternative fuel mixture that produces energy at its pulp mills.