This is a tense time for those who lead the Spokane areas economic-development organizations.Thats because its budget time.For some, that has meant stating their case before city councils and the County Commission. For others, it has

Boosted by some big-ticket projects and continued strength in residential construction, building permit activity in the Spokane area has surged this year.Through the first 11 months of 2004, the city of Spokane, city of Spokane Valley, and for

An 8-year-old Spokane girl is receiving an experimental drug at Sacred Heart Childrens Hospital for an extremely rare muscle disorder called Pompe Disease. Pompe Disease is caused by an enzyme deficiency. It keeps the body from processing to

Bad debts from patients have become a serious financial complication for health-care providers, and hospitals here increasingly are treating the problem with aggressive strategies to collect more of what theyre owed. Uncollectible patient of

A pair of mergers has left the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area with two fewer credit unions.Numerica Credit Union, one of Spokanes largest credit unions, has absorbed the 3,000-member Coeur dAlene Teachers Credit Union. Also, two of Spokanes

Robert Daugherty had been offered the top post at California Savings Bank and was house-hunting in San Francisco earlier this year when he got a call about the president and CEO posts at Spokane-based AmericanWest Bancorp.Soon thereafter, he at

Roughly two decades after the first in-store bank branch opened here, the banking strategy of putting branch offices inside grocery stores remains strong in the Spokane market, say those in the banking industry.Its a symbiotic relationship to

The West Plains Business Association is considering disbanding at the end of this year to stop duplicating the efforts of the West Plains Chamber of Commerce and Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.A recommendation to that effect by the board

The Spokane Transit Authority hopes to start construction next month of a $1.25 million park-and-ride facility on Spokanes South Hill.The lot, which would provide space for bus riders to park their cars while they take STA buses to downtown a

Paradigm Lasers Inc., a small Spokane Valley laser-systems designer and manufacturer, says it is developing several new commercial lasers and hopes to start producing some of them next year. The company, which moved here from East Rochester, in