Solar and renewable energy system installations on commercial buildings in Spokane have increased since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed in 2025, as building owners and businesses hurry to perform planned projects before a clean energy tax credit ends.

As the focus shifts from containment to recovery in the aftermath of the Spokane Complex Fires, work for Fulcrum Environmental Consultants Inc. has picked up as the group of scientists makes its way around the city testing homes, schools, soil, and air for hazards people often can’t see. 

Eastern Washington University is accelerating its sustainability efforts with a roadmap of projects including the implementation of a solar array, geothermal heating and cooling, carbon capturing, and a microturbine that uses existing steam production to create electricity.

Inland Northwest manufacturers are positioning the region as a hub for emerging technologies as they pursue opportunities in nuclear energy, clean energy, and photonics.

Some Spokane-area trucking carriers are struggling to fill seats as an aging workforce and the elimination of some state apprenticeship programs hollow out the labor pool. While the industry experienced a brief post-pandemic rebound, job numbers in the county have since declined to 1,591 in 2025 — a 10-year low.

Estate planning attorney Julie Olds says she is seeing a growing number of clients who don’t want to wait until they're gone to begin making a charitable impact. Instead, they are choosing to give during their lifetimes, allowing them to see the results of their philanthropy and involve family members in decisions about where their money goes.

Northwest Fair Housing Alliance is facing a budget gap as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is delaying the funding of a key grant the nonprofit relies on.

Washington Basset Rescue is preserving its nearly four-decade legacy by entrusting more than $50,000 in remaining assets to SpokAnimal C.A.R.E., a final effort by the Spokane-based rescue to help animals after its closure.

Regardless of why you give, you should consider how you give. Efficient giving takes knowledge and a plan. When done well, it can leave you with more resources to give and, ultimately, increase the benefit received by a charity and the people or causes it serves.

Western Farms of Idaho is increasing production in the Inland Northwest, now delivering 30,000 eggs per week to two dozen Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-area restaurants and 14 retail stores.