Meetings & Events LaunchPad Inland Northwest will hold a reception at its new training center and work space, at 120 N. Stevens, on Thursday, Jan. 13, from 4 to 7 p.m. RSVP for this event at www.launchpadinw.com. The Inland chapter

The wood products industry anticipates some market improvement next year, continuing a recent month-to-month trend, but expects the gains to be small, compared with the depth of the trough from which companies in that sector are trying to normal be

The retail sector should see modest improvement in 2011, but that's from a depressed baseline pushed down by the poor economy, and observers here say it could be some time before the industry recovers fully."We are cautiously optimistic about of

After what tourism officials here say was a banner 2010, with a number of big-impact events, convention activity in the Inland Northwest is expected to undergo a dip next year."Spokane has had, from a convention standpoint, with a large number a

The health-care sector here faces major hurdles and uncertainty in the coming year, due partly to eroding patient volumes, pressure on government funding sources, and the continuing consolidation of hospitals and physician groups."I think it be

This year has been better than 2009, and 2011 should be better than 2010, but the economy won't completely turn around until 2012, bankers here believe."We anticipate that 2012 will be the turnaround year for the economy," says Jack Heath, and a

High-tech manufacturers here generally expect strong growth in 2011."This year will go down as the best year in our history on all fronts," says Mike MacKay, president of MacKay Manufacturing Inc., of Spokane Valley. "Looking forward, I think a