Up Close

URM Stores investigation ending; ripple effects continue

Credit unions increase fraud monitoring in wake of attack

February 13, 2014

Spokane wholesaler URM Stores Inc. announced recently that it's nearing the end of its investigation into the cyber-attacks last fall that compromised an unknown number of debit and credit cards, but some aftereffects of that breach still are being felt

Geothermal gains share in custom home market

Alternative costs more to install, less to operate

January 30, 2014

Mike McLean

Geothermal heating and cooling systems are gaining acceptance in residential construction here, although most adopters of the heat-transfer technology are in the upscale custom home market. Jeff Fountain, a principal at Copeland Architecture & Constructi

Sustainability professionals say challenges lie ahead

In Ecova survey, managers expect rising energy costs

January 30, 2014

Staff Report

This year will be a challenging one for those responsible for managing energy and other resources for their organizations, says a report that Spokane-based energy and sustainability management company Ecova Inc. released last month. Titled '2014 Energy

State agency OKs utilities' targets for conservation

In all, plans would save enough to power a city size of Yakima

January 30, 2014

Staff Report

Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission regulators have approved two-year energy conservation targets for the three investor-owned utilities that provide service in Washington state. When realized, the agency says, those conservation ef

Low-impact development said to be in higher demand

Landscape architect reports more inquiries about environmentally friendly architecture

January 30, 2014

Treva Lind

Landscape architect Len Zickler, a principal in the Spokane office of Tacoma-based AHBL Inc., says the company is seeing more requests to design environmentally friendly infrastructure to manage stormwater drainage. He expects this approach, called low-

Kiemle & Hagood subsidiary promotes greener building management practices

brokerage's subsidiary works to help owners find savings

January 30, 2014

Kim Crompton

Kiemle & Hagood Co. says it and a facility-services subsidiary it operates have been using greener building management and maintenance practices they implemented fully three years ago to help building owners and tenants achieve sizable energy savings. Th

Overall vascular health should be factored into varicose vein options, physician says

Spokane surgeon suggests women query providers

January 16, 2014

Treva Lind

Women should talk to health providers about overall vascular health when looking for relief from symptoms caused by varicose veins, says Dr. Stephen Murray, a surgeon at the Providence Vascular Institute, in Spokane. Females seeking medical procedures t

Using clients' values to guide wealth-related advice

Loran Graham Co. here asks clients to align goals, retirement, family legacy

December 5, 2013

Treva Lind

Spokane-based financial planner Loran Graham says he approaches the retirement and wealth management goals of his clients by asking them what they value most. Common themes are time with family and community service, he says. "You can tell what's import

Despite some pessimism, investors should be bullish on '14

Look for sectors that do well in recovering times, steer clear of gold market

December 5, 2013

Michael Maehl

"There are only two kinds of forecasters-those who don't know, and those who don't know they don't know." - John Kenneth Galbraith, economist Yes, it's that time of year-when Wall Street starts putting out projections for the market year to com

'Family bank' shown to hurt plans to retire

Many who provide money to relatives say they don't factor that into expenses

December 5, 2013

Staff Report

During the last five years, roughly three out of five Americans age 50 and older have provided financial assistance to members of their family, including adult children, parents, grandchildren, siblings, or other relatives, says a Merrill Lynch study rele