Think the humanities are irrelevant or dead? The Chinese and Russians don't.At a time when support for the humanities is in decline in the United States, countries with a reputation for crushing free speech are introducing Western-style, to for

The Spokane Airport Board awarded three projects totaling more than $570,000 last month to three Eastern Washington contractors, says airport spokesman Todd Woodard.In the largest of the three projects, the board awarded a second-phase Airport &

The city of Spokane plans to construct a $14 million central facility for its fleet services division that would include compressed natural gas dispensing equipment, says Rick Romero, the city's utilities director.The facility, tentatively named

A longtime Spokane business, South Regal Lumber Yard Inc., plans to close by early next year and consolidate with an affiliated business, West Plains Building Supply, says a co-owner of the two operations.John Case, the co-owner and president of

Appleway Chevrolet Inc. is working on $3.6 million in construction and remodeling projects at its AutoNation Toyota Spokane Valley dealership at 8600 E. Sprague and on adjacent property, says Mike Turbak, Spokane Valley permit from the dealership a

Spokane-based Washington Trust Bank says it plans to open new branches in Moscow and Lewiston by the middle of October. The branches will be the bank's first in the two North Idaho cities.Jim Branson, the bank's director of retail banking, it

Hart Capital Management Inc., a Spokane-based investment firm, says the stock value of 15 publicly traded Inland Northwest companies as measured in an overall index fell 6 percent in the second quarter, compared with the previous quarter. For a

Daniel G. Byrne, longtime former chief financial officer here for Sterling Financial Corp., is expected to be named CEO at RiverBank, a seven-year-old boutique institution here, as soon as state and federal regulators approve the a Spokane native a

Spokane developer and hotelier Walt Worthy has filed environmental documents for his proposed 15-story convention center hotel project, and he says he hopes to begin construction within a month or two.Worthy's Spokane Valley-based development a