In the mid-1980s movie The Karate Kid, a wise, old martial-arts instructors first several lessons for his young prodigy involved having the youth perform tedious household tasks, rather than the kicking and punching exercises commonly with to

Business leaders here are working to set up a new economic-development campaign to succeed the $5 million, five-year Focus 21 effort, which has entered its final year.JoAnn Ficca, who served for a year as Focus 21s president and now is working

They call it the last milethat stretch between the high-speed data lines you hear so much about and the individual buildings and homes that so far lie outside of their reach.Its lure is great: lightning-fast Internet access for the masses

Left high and dry by a slowdown in the electronics industry, Spokane-area high-tech parts manufacturers have had to chart new courses.Some of the companies have searched extensively elsewhere in the West for new business, a strategy that has off

Washington Trust Bank, which said earlier this year that it hoped to open a branch in Liberty Lake and expand its presence in southern Idaho, has filed applications with regulators to establish bank branches in those areas.Washington Trusts to

A regional brokerage company recently downgraded its rating on Spokane-based Ambassadors International Inc.s stock to neutral from strong buy in response to a dramatic rise in Ambassadors stock price in the last few months. stock price

Fresh Air Ag LLC, a company founded last year by a group of Inland Northwest grass-seed growers and other businesses to take advantage of alternatives to field burning, has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy

Webiness, founded by Ethernet guru Bernard Daines as a Web-site design and hosting company, is getting out of that business, says Daines brother, Dan Daines, Webiness general manager.In February, Artesian Direct, a Liberty Lake-based and it

Inland Asphalt Co., of Spokane, has been awarded more than $15 million in road construction projects by the Washington state Department of Transportation.The largest of the projects, a $6.9 million contract for the resurfacing of Mission Avenue

POST FALLSThe city of Post Falls is considering annexing 320 acres of land that would be developed into a residential subdivision with nearly 1,200 housing units. The proposal by a group called Prairie Falls LLC features plans for 879 homes to