While Washington Trust Bank has yet to release its first quarter financial results, the bank has made some big investments recently that will support its growth in 2019, says longtime President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Heath.

For the first time since the stock markets opened in the U.S. in 1817, most of the value of the top five S&P 500 companies is comprised of intangible assets, says Richard Denenny, president of Spokane-based intellectual property law firm Lee & Hayes PC.

Spokane-based law firm Winston & Cashatt Lawyers PS says it's seen growth in both staff and business this year that appears to be fueled by the region's current booming economy.

The Spokane office of Kutak Rock LLP law firm is looking to expand both employee count and floor space. Currently at 10 lawyers in Spokane, including a three-person litigation team hired last fall, the firm is looking to grow eventually to 25 attorneys

This tax season, the first since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect, is raising the learning curve for both taxpayers and tax preparers, Spokane accountants say.

During the past five years, Spokane-based nonprofit Partners with Families & Children has more than tripled its budget and more than doubled its staff, CEO Carol Plischke says.

A panic spread through nonprofits in the Inland Northwest and elsewhere last year after federal tax changes were enacted. The concern: charitable giving would decrease and hamper the organizations' budgets.

The YMCA of the Inland Northwest's annual budget has crested $20 million this year, thanks in large part to the addition of new facilities on Spokane's South Hill and in Sandpoint.