June 23 / Caterpillar distribution center planned

Caterpillar Logistics Services Inc., of Morton, Ill., announced that a Caterpillar Inc. parts distribution center will be constructed on the West Plains. Construction of the 500,000-square-foot facility will start this summer, and the facility is expected to employ 100 to 150 people when it becomes operational in 2012.

June 22 / EWU to raise tuition 11 percent

Eastern Washington University's board of trustees approved an 11 percent tuition increase for each of the next two years. The tuition hike is part of a larger strategy to address a decline in state funding. The Cheney-based university also said it plans to cut $24.9 million from its operating budget during the next two years, which will eliminate seven to 10 degree programs and 15 to 20 positions.

June 21 / Mental health facilities to merge

Spokane Mental Health and Family Service Spokane, which collectively provided services to 12,100 people last year, said they will merge to form Frontier Behavioral Health on July 1. The agencies said there will be no staff reductions or immediate service changes as a result of the merger. The agencies will continue for now to retain their respective names as operating divisions of Frontier, said David Panken, CEO of Spokane Mental Health. Jeff Thomas, executive director of Family Service Spokane, will become the associate director of Frontier Behavioral Health after the merger is complete.

June 21 / Gold Reserve could be delisted

Gold Reserve Inc., a mining company based in Spokane, said stock exchange NYSE Amex LLC notified it that it intends to delist the business. The exchange said the company's primary business for 16 years has been the Brisas Project in Venezuela, and since the Venezuelan government has seized that mine, the company "has substantially discontinued the business that it conducted at the time it was listed." Gold Reserve said it plans to appeal the decision.

June 17 / Former Empire Ford building sold

Lithia Automotive Group, of Ashland, Oregon, bought the former Empire Ford building, at the southeast corner of Third Avenue and Stevens Street in downtown Spokane, and will move its Spokane-based Camp Subaru dealership there in September, says Justin Robidoux, the dealership's general manager. Lithia paid more than $2 million for the 49,500-square-foot building and a parking lot across Third Avenue.

June 16 / Marty Dickinson to leave DSP

The Downtown Spokane Partnership announced DSP President Marty Dickinson will leave the organization July 1 to accept the position of corporate marketing communications executive, senior vice president, at Sterling Savings Bank. The DSP executive board named Marla Nunberg as interim president.

June 14 / 49 Degrees North plans expansion

Chewelah, Wash.-based ski area 49 Degrees North Mountain Resort announced it acquired a new double-chair lift that it plans to erect at Angel Peak. Construction of the new lift and the resort's Mid-Mountain Lodge are expected to start in the summer of 2012 and are to be completed before the start of the 2012-13 ski season. The expansion is one of five phases of a $15 million master plan that 49 Degrees North developed in 2006.