Pullman, Washington-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. has announced it’s initiating an accelerated hiring program through which the company plans to bring on 400 new employees, about 240 of whom will be in Eastern Washington and northern Idaho. 

Comcast Corp., the Philadelphia-based cable, internet, and phone provider, has opened its third Xfinity store in the Spokane area.

Employers in the Spokane Metropolitan Statistical Area have added about 1,900 jobs a 12-month period ending in July, preliminary data from the Washington state Employment Security Department show.