One piece of the new Medicare prescription-drug plan thats slated to take effect next January provides an incentive to employers to continue providing their own drug plans for retireesand some big employers here say they plan to take advantage

New assisted-living units are cropping up in Kootenai County this summer, adding to what already seems to be a peak year for such construction in the Panhandle region, according to one North Idaho economist.Projects worth a total of $23 million

Washington State University at Spokane plans this year to seek proposals from developers for renovation of the big, former Jensen-Byrd Co. warehouse building, on the south side of the Riverpoint Higher Education Park, says Brian Pitcher, chancellor

Spokanes budding University District could well become a thriving center for research and development over the next few years, and that, say proponents, could provide big economic-development benefits here.The district is home to Gonzaga and

The master plan is finished, the sales pitch is polished, and the search is in full swing for private developers and public money to make the University District here a reality. Advocates of the U Districta mix of city of Spokane employees, U

Century Publishing Co., of Post Falls, is investing $1.3 million in new equipment and building upgrades this year, has broken monthly sales records three times so far in 2005, and is planning to recruit 30 additional employees.Mike Urquhart, is

Spokane Rock Products Inc., of Spokane Valley, is the apparent low bidder on a Washington state Department of Transportation project to resurface both legs of the Division-Ruby couplet here, from the Spokane River north to just beyond where the two

A Nine Mile Falls businessman has proposed developing 17 industrial lots on 10 acres in Airway Heights.The businessman, Richard Stimson, who owns a hole-drilling business in Nine Mile Falls called DW Polehole Co., says hes in the final stages

A state program aimed at stimulating job growth and business investment in areas where income levels are below the state average is generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for companies here and is the most active of six such in the

Buried deep in the city of Spokanes six-year transportation plan is a proposed $18 million project to replace the big, 94-year-old bridge that carries Sunset Boulevard over the Latah Creek gorge west of downtown.Theres no time line listed a