Ever notice how mixed-breed dogs adopted from animal shelters are often a notch smarter than purebreds? Perhaps theyve inherited the best features from their parents lines, forming a unique and improved type of canine, rather than merely being

JM Siok Holdings LLC, a company owned by Spokane businessman John Siok and his wife, Paula, has bought Solicitors Corner, a longtime restaurant at 6301 N. Division.The restaurant has 38 employees and seats about 240 people on three levels. is

Sparkys Inc., a Spokane company that operated a chain of Sparkys Firehouse Subs restaurants here, has converted a Chapter 11 reorganization it filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this year to a Chapter 7 liquidation.A separately owned in

Gold Reserve Inc., of Spokane, has completed a $14.15 million (Cdn.) private placement to raise funds to develop further its Brisas gold deposit in Venezuela and to do a feasibility study on the mining operation it plans to launch there.The in

Group Health Cooperative says it plans to cut or transfer to Seattle 27 computer-related jobs that currently are based here. Group Health will employ about 700 in Eastern Washington and Coeur dAlene after the Spokane positions are eliminated,

A new facility for Spokane Valley-based grain-silo and storage-bin fabricator Scafco Corp. is being mulled.A real estate development company formed by Scafco President Lawrence Stone, named Lawrence B. Stone Properties #11 LLC, has asked the to

La Mesa RV Center, a big San Diego-based recreational-vehicle dealer, has bought the building and property at Liberty Lake formerly occupied by Foretravel Northwest, and has opened a La Mesa dealership and service center there.La Mesa claims to

An investment group headed by Spokane real estate executive Dave Black is buying the Spokane Business Development Center building downtown for $4 million, in a transaction that was expected to close this week.The building, at 801 W. Riverside,

Poor papa, Bruce Arndts family used to lament while standing around him in their home kitchen.The Spokane Valley businessman obsessed for two years over perfecting his recipe for Cajun seasoningsomething he was inspired to do after in a

The city of Spokane is considering the idea of contracting out its parking-meter enforcement dutiesa move that outgoing Mayor John Powers says could save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.Meanwhile, the proposed 2004 city that