Business advocates here say they're going to be especially conservative this year when they submit funding requests to the Washington Legislature for the upcoming session because the state's supplemental budget likely will involve more deep cuts in

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the big Bentonville, Ark.-based retail chain, is getting ready to expand its already substantial presence in the Inland Northwest.It says it has started work on two large North Idaho stores—one in Hayden and the in a

Direct-market farmers at Green Bluff, the unincorporated farming community northeast of Spokane, are breathing a sigh of relief following their annual Harvest Festival, held Sept. 12 to Oct. 25. Sales growth flatlined, but the numbers of visitors a

The Cheney School District plans to seek approval of a bond measure that would help pay for $97 million worth of new construction in the district beginning in 2011.Larry Keller, the district's superintendent, says that three new school a new a a

Whitworth University plans to break ground Nov. 12 on a $32 million science building on the north end of its campus. Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, is the contractor on the 63,000-square-foot, three-story structure illustrated here, and LLP