Longtime Spokane bank executive John Wagner has been named president of Spokane Valley-based Farmers & Merchants Bank, where hes charged with expanding the bank aggressively. Wagner, 53, retired last month as president of Bank of Americas

Coeur dAlene Mines Corp. says it will increase its mining activity in Idahos Silver Valley if exploration currently under way there yields positive results.The Coeur dAlene-based company said in its third-quarter earnings release that it

Purcell Systems Inc., of Liberty Lake, has quadrupled the production capacity at its manufacturing facility here in an effort to handle soaring sales volumes.Rick Varnell, Purcells vice president of sales, says the companys sales this year

The Grinch who stole the holiday shopping season for the last couple of years seems to have retreated out of Whovilleor out of the Spokane area, anyway, some economic observers and retailers here say.Strong holiday sales are expected here in

POST FALLSWhen Bob Templin decided to build a hotel and resort on the banks of the Spokane River here in the mid-1980s, Post Falls was a bedroom community with so little happening that its City Hall was open just three days a week. On the of

Spokane-area businesses, battered by several straight years of mostly double-digit percentage increases in group health-plan premiums, will have to find ways to cope with more of the same next year. Benefits consultants and representatives of a

Iron Bridge LLC has secured a tenant to take most of the first building at its Iron Bridge Corporate Campus and hopes to start work soon on $30 million in additional structures at the largely undeveloped office park along the Spokane River east of

Huntwood Industries Inc., the big Spokane Valley-based cabinet maker, has decided to build a massive new manufacturing facility in Liberty Lake that will allow it to quadruple its production volume in coming years.Tim Hunt, chief executive and

As senior citizens and policy experts continue to debate the merits of prescription-drug coverage under new Medicare-reform legislation signed into law this week, for most hospitals, the laws benefit is clearthey get more money to care for in

Columbia Primary Care, of Spokane, is a lot like the primary-care physicians that are its membersit takes care of the basics. The organization has 50 physician members who pay a monthly fee to Columbia Primary Care to negotiate reimbursement