Downtown Spokanes once airtight Class-A office market has loosened considerably as the Metropolitan Financial Center has gone from fully occupied to 21 percent vacant in 16 months time.Now, the real estate industry here is speculating about

Sacred Heart Medical Center, which opened a Childrens Hospital in its expanded east tower last summer, now plans to build a pediatric emergency department next to the big medical centers general ER.Separately, the Childrens Hospital has a

Swallowable cameras the size of large vitamin pills are helping physicians diagnose problems in parts of the gastrointestinal tract that they previously had difficulty analyzing.The technology is called capsule endoscopy and involves a camera a

A less invasive method of treating prostate cancer now is being used in Spokane.The procedure, called cryoablation of the prostate, involves freezing the entire prostate and killing italong with the cancer with which its infected. Dr. a

Action Mortgage Co., a subsidiary of Spokane-based Sterling Savings Bank, topped $1 billion in total lending volume last year, the first time in the 15-year-old companys history it crossed that mark. Action made residential mortgages and in a

Coeur dAlene-based Mountain West Banks small-business lending department here and many of its customers share a common history. Like the small-time entrepreneur who starts out with big dreams and little money, the banks small-business in

We knew the numbers would be big, and now we know just how big.Last year, real estate-backed loans in Spokane County shot up by 24.1 percent, to $5.38 billion from $4.19 billion in 2002, says RMS Information Services, of Kaysville, Utah, which

CLC Restaurants Inc., of Missoula, Mont., has bought the five remaining corporate-owned Taco Bell outlets in the Spokane area from Taco Bell Corp., of Irvine, Calif., in a transaction that closed in December.The franchisee bought a total of six

A McCall, Idaho-based air-charter and cargo service plans to initiate in May regular flights between Sandpoint and the cities of Boise and Seattle, launching the first-ever regular air-passenger service for the Bonner County town. The company,

Atlanta-based Equifax Inc., one of the three large, national credit-reporting companies, has bought the credit-reporting files of Credit Bureau Services Inc., of Spokane, for an undisclosed sum. In the transaction completed last month, Equifax