About $11 million in subcontracting bid packages for the big Spokane Convention Center expansion project have been awarded to several companies here that will lay the ground work for the centers planned new exhibit hall.The Spokane Public of

Ed Haag flushes two ducks as he makes his way toward a small pond on his Loon Lake property. The ducks are mallards; theyre always hanging around, he says. Moving on, Haag spots a kestrel, then a sandpiper. He points to hoof impressions 8

Temporary-help agencies here are enjoying an upsurge in what they call their direct-hire business, in which they refer job candidates to employers who want to fill positions on a permanent, rather than a temporary, basis.The change began to

The Backup Training Corp., a growing Coeur dAlene provider of computer based-training programs for law-enforcement personnel, is taking steps to broaden its clientele.The company is gearing up to deliver any imaginable training topic to and a

The University of Phoenix, a national private university that opened a small learning center in Spokane last year, says it now plans to have a 12,000-square-foot building constructed for it here.The Phoenix-based school, which serves about at a

A Seattle contractor plans to start a specialized lumber-making company in Spokane this fall that he projects will employ 35 people here by early next year. The contractor, Spokane native David Thompson, has leased 40,000 square feet of space &

A joint venture involving Crown West Realty LLC, the Spokane-based real estate company that owns the large Spokane Business & Industrial Park, has bought for just under $52 million the Arizona Business Park, in Phoenix.Located in northern the a

Freds Appliance Inc., of Spokane, plans to move its Coeur dAlene store into the former Rosauers Supermarkets Inc. building at the busy corner of U.S. 95 and Appleway in November.Freds Appliance will lease about 9,000 square feet of floor

Kootenai Medical Center plans to start work on a $3.4 million expansion of its emergency department and its laboratory this month.The size of the hospitals emergency department will double and its lab space will increase by about 30 percent,

A Spokane family has bought Halletts Chocolate Factory, a longtime candy manufacturer here that closed its doors in late spring, and has reopened the business with help from its original owners.The Spokane family, Patty Kane and her Kitty, to