Preliminary discussions have begun about a possible merger of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, the top executives of the two organizations say.The executives, chamber President and CEO

A recent sharp narrowing of the gap in the U.S.-Canadian currency exchange rate has triggered an upswing in Canadian visitors to the Inland Northwest and has boosted expectations of more tourism spending here, economic observers say.The dollar,

New and growing businesses have gobbled up much of the vacant warehouse and industrial space in the Spokane market over the past year, dropping vacancy rates substantially, experts in those markets say. Activity is expected to remain strong at

Retirement planning is especially important for women, who often need to be much more involved in their families financial planning than they are, experts here say.Women live longer than men, earn less money, and receive smaller Social and a

The number of Spokane County residents who are between the ages of 40 and 54 in Spokane County more than doubled between 1980 and 2005, far outdistancing growth in the number of residents in other age brackets, government statistics show. here say

Tri-Cities lab believes its pilot-like mock scenarios could help avoid blackoutsPower-grid operators now have the ability to train like pilots, with simulators that provide faulty readings designed to throw them off. Such misleading data and of

You get what you pay for.Spokesmen for three local companies that specialize in helping businesses to offer products and services on the Internet say thats often true in the expanding world of online sales.Tom Bloom, director of marketing

A business here, called Leading Edge Software, says it has created a software product that helps gambling operations comply with state regulations, reduce costs, and become more efficient.The product, which Leading Edge Software released in is

Premier Manufacturing Inc., a Liberty Lake precision sheet-metal fabricator, is withdrawing its application to the city of Liberty Lake to build a 75,000-square-foot building there, says Kevin Collins, one of three owners of the company.Collins

Morning Side Investments LLC, a company that Spokane developers Harlan and Maxine Douglass formed, is moving forward with development of a 200-unit apartment complex in the Indian Trail neighborhood, on Spokanes North Side. The city of issued