Nov. 29 / Special legislative session starts

Spokane legislators joined other legislators in Olympia for a 30-day emergency session to decide on a plan for closing a $1.4 billion gap in the state's operating budget. Social service agency representatives and teachers were among others who also journeyed to Olympia to urge legislators to close the gap with new taxes rather than cuts.

Nov. 29 / County begins operating new sewage plant

Spokane County received its water quality permit from the Washington Department of Ecology, and began operating its new Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility. The $147 million sewage treatment plant, the county's most expensive capital project ever, is expected to reduce pollution going into the Spokane River and Lake Spokane. It has a treatment capacity of 8 million gallons per day and is expandable to 24 million gallons per day.

Nov. 28 / County mulls property tax hike

Spokane County commissioners discussed the possibility of pursuing a 1 percent property tax increase. The county is allowed by state law to increase the property tax by 1 percent annually. The commissioners plan to meet next week to discuss the potential tax hike further, after gathering information from county departments and researching increase requests from other jurisdictions in the county.

Nov. 23 / Ecova to buy Atlanta company

Ecova Inc., a subsidiary of Spokane-based Avista Corp.that formerly did business as Advantage IQ, announced that it intends to acquire Prenova Inc., a privately held Atlanta-based energy management company. Prenova reported revenue of $12.4 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Nov. 23 / County raises building height limit

Spokane County approved an interim zoning ordinance that raises the building height limit in light industrial zones to 150 feet from 60 feet. The county adopted the ordinance in hopes of attracting a Boeing manufacturing plant to the area. The ordinance will end in six months unless extended or replaced by a permanent ordinance.

Nov. 17 / Job numbers fluctuate

About 208,400 people held nonagricultural wage and salary jobs in the Spokane area in August, down by 3,700 from the August 2010 level, but up by 3,290 from July this year, preliminary state figures showed. Preliminary results from another state survey put the Spokane-area unemployment rate at 8.3 percent during October, up from 8.1 percent in the year-earlier month.

Nov. 16 / Providence seeks voluntary layoffs

In light of a $61 million budget shortfall, Providence Health Care notified its employees that it was seeking voluntary layoffs by offering severance pay and cash bonuses. Employees who decided to accept the offer had to turn in their paperwork this week and will have their jobs terminated by Friday, Dec. 16.

Nov. 16 / Next IT, United Airlines strike deal

Next IT Corp., of Spokane, signed a multi-year deal with United Airlines to provide a virtual assistant for use on united.com. The company's software combines personalized service from a live representative with a technology-based system.


Corrections & Amplifications
A new Cheney School District middle school is being constructed at 6120 S. Abbott, near the intersection of Abbott and Hallett roads. The address was listed incorrectly in a story in the Journal's Nov. 17 issue.