The Spokane-area economy added jobs at a much faster pace through the first four months of this year than it did in the year-earlier period.In monthly reports from the Washington state Employment Security Department for January through April, a

Construction activity in the Spokane area is outpacing what was a bustling 2004, but contractors here worry that a pervasive cement shortage is slowing an otherwise brisk clip. Meanwhile, home-sales activity is maintaining a torrid pace, as and

Cheney Square LLC, of Spokane, is developing a $1 million retail building along First Street in Cheney thats expected to house a dollar store and a fast-cash lending outlet.The contractor on the 13,500-square-foot structure is Kofmehl Inc., a

With business slowed by the reconstruction of Third Avenue downtown, the owners of the Arbys fast-food restaurant at 328 W. Third decided to take on a reconstruction project of their own.Dave McGann, who owns the Arbys outlet with Cyrus to

Spokane Food Service Inc., operator of 26 McDonalds Corp. restaurants in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area, plans to remodel two of its longtime restaurants here. Cory Ray, the companys operations supervisor, says that later this month it the

Covenant Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) hopes to sell its eight-acre site at the northwest corner of 57th Avenue and Palouse Highway and build elsewhere on the South Hill. The move would open up a potential retail site along the coveted a a

Five Spokane-area businesses have earned spots on a list of the Fastest-Growing Public Companies based in Washington state published last month by Seattles Puget Sound Business Journal.Eight Spokane-area companies also made the Puget list

Les Schwab Tire Centers Inc., the big Prineville, Ore.-based tire-sales and automotive-repair chain, plans to develop a service center in Airway Heights, just west of Spokane.Dave Husk, the companys director of development, says the outlet be

Slight upward pressure appears to be building on the amounts Spokane-area employers pay both to lower-paid workers and to more highly paid technology workers.Jeff Zahir, the Washington state Employment Security Departments Spokane-based labor

Cyrus Vaughn can almost talk you out of being interested in his storied food-service career. After all, he says, his partner Dave McGann is the reason the North Side Arbys restaurant is the top-grossing store in the entire 3,450-restaurant he