In response to an alarming 10 percentage-point drop in hotel and motel occupancy rates here during the past two years and a nudge from the Spokane Hotel-Motel Association, the Spokane Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is looking at placing more a

In a strong showing thats contrary to other published numbers, Spokane County employers had an average of 4,200 more people on the job last year than they did in 1997.Employers here kept an average of 188,900 people at work in 1998, up from in

Canadian eye surgery clinics are invading the Spokane market with advertisements aimed at luring across the U.S-Canada border patients who are seeking elective, laser vision-correction surgery.In a bid for patients in an area of medicine thats

The federal government has denied the city of Spokanes application for designation as an empowerment zone.Started in 1993, the empowerment zone program offers qualifying communities $100 million in federal grants over 10 years, and tax breaks

Lincoln Partners LLC, a development company launched by Spokane developer Joe Stanek and his brothers, Steve, Frank, and Tim Stanek, has doubled the size of a proposed Mead-area shopping center, named Mount Spokane Plaza, because of interest from 2

Cavanaughs Hospitality Corp. is adding 40 stations to its call center here, increasing the number of stations to 75, says Jack Lucas, the Spokane companys vice president of entertainment services.Meanwhile, the call center has increased its of

Garco Construction, of Spokane, has begun offering development services through a new affiliate company, called Garco Development Services, and has bought two projects, at Liberty Lake and in Pasco, Wash.Those projects include the planned of a &

Mead School District plans to begin work in mid-May on a big, $21.5 million renovation and expansion of Mead High School, at 302 W. Hastings north of Spokane.A general contractor hasnt been selected for the project yet, but construction bids a

Ford Leasing Development Corp., an affiliate of Ford Motor Co., has bought three parcels of land in Airway Heights from Western United Life Assurance Co., an insurance subsidiary of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., of Spokane, according to a

Cost Plus Inc., an Oakland, Calif.-based retail chain that sells imported home dcor and specialty items, appears to have firmed up earlier reported plans to enter the Spokane market.A city of Spokane building-plan reviewer says the city is to a