Even in a sea of markdowns, shrewd shoppers can spot the difference between poor-quality merchandise and brand-name labels.The stock market is trickier. All stocks in a bear market appear low-priced, but investors can't be absolutely certain the

May 19 / Avista seeks to reduce gas rates; credit rating improves Avista Corp., the Spokane based energy company, filed requests with utility commissions in Washington state and Idaho to reduce natural gas rates by 8.1 percent and 6.7

Meetings & Events Washington Public Campaigns will hold a public forum and panel discussion titled Achieving Health Care for All, on Wednesday, May 27, at 7 p.m., in the Spokane Community College Lair Auditorium, 1810 N. Greene. There

The Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, a nonprofit trade group for life-sciences enterprises, has opened an office in the Sirti Building on the Riverpoint Campus here.Chris Rivera, WBBA's president, says the organization, which a

A former home builder and entrepreneur in Greenacres has filed for Chapter 7 protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here, listing debts of almost $2.3 million.In his filing, Victor Jay Grant says he operated a custom-home company of

The company that owns Thompson's Chevron, at Third Avenue and Monroe Street, has acquired the former Mercedes-Benz dealership property next door, and says it's looking for a tenant to take the entire block.The family-owned concern, F.A.T. Family

Renton, Wash.-based Service Paper Co., which operates distribution centers in Renton, Portland, and Spokane, has purchased Easy Packaging Northwest, of Spokane, for an undisclosed sum and has combined business operations here, says Larry Baker, the

The city of Spokane Valley plans to begin resurfacing busy Sprague Avenue between University and Evergreen roads in July.Spokane Rock Products, Inc., of Spokane, is the apparent low bidder, with a bid of $2 million, for the project which was by

The nonprofit health-care provider Community Health Association of Spokane, which operates five clinics here, says it will consolidate its administrative operations into space it has leased in the Liberty Building downtown and will move 50 staff a

Intermountain Community Bancorp, of Sandpoint, has put its headquarters building on the market, but says the region's troubled economy had nothing to do with that decision.Even though it has been in its 90,000-square-foot new Sandpoint Center a