Kim Frlan

Mortgage lending branch opens in Spokane Valley

Longtime lending officer starts her own venture with New Mexico entity

September 23, 2010

Longtime Spokane-area lending officer Carla Scott-Durheim says she has opened a home-loan brokerage here, called QualitySource Mortgage, that works under the umbrella of a New Mexico company.Scott-Durheim says the new office, located in 250 feet

Going the distance for athletes

September 23, 2010

Kim Frlan

With 50 years of experience between them in competitive endurance sports, Michael and Marla Emde have folded their love for such competition into a business that coaches athletes and hosts racing events.The couple own Emde Sports Inc., which and

Jigsaw Corp. moves center to the Valley

Post Falls operation takes space formerly occupied by General Dynamics

September 23, 2010

Kim Frlan

Jigsaw Data Corp., a San Mateo, Calif., technology company that has operated a sales and customer service center in Post Falls, has moved that operation to space in Spokane Valley that most recently was occupied by General Dynamics Itronix move, at

Hi-Rel Labs keeps focus on service

Hillyard company uses sophisticated equipment to test electronic parts

September 23, 2010

Kim Frlan

Challenged by serving a volatile market, Spokane electronic components tester Hi-Rel Laboratories Inc. says its recipe for survival includes staying small, lean, and tightly focused on customer needs.The highly specialized company, which mostly

Preparing for reform

Employers here say they're unsure how health-plan rule changes will affect them

September 9, 2010

Kim Frlan

Employers here say it's too early to know how coming provisions of national health-care reform will impact the insurance plans they offer to their employees, or their own bottom line, but insurance brokers say those impacts are starting to come has

Getting creative in a poor economy

Law firms here shift focus from slowed sectors, say they're holding their own

September 9, 2010

Kim Frlan

While the recession has pounded some big law firms elsewhere, firms here say they've held their own by shifting focuses where necessary to meet whatever demand there is. Though corporate law and real estate work has been soft, they say, and are the

Graham begins work on new buildings for Grant Transit

$4.1 million project gives bus service new facility on 10 acres in Moses Lake

September 9, 2010

Kim Frlan

Graham Construction & Management Inc., of Spokane, has begun work on a $4.1 million project for the Grant Transit Authority, in Moses Lake, Wash.The work involves constructing a 4,500-square-foot administration building, a 10,000-square-foot and

Leone & Keeble Inc. wins work for Oroville Housing Authority

$3.2 million project targeted at migrant worker housing, to be completed by spring

September 9, 2010

Kim Frlan

Leone & Keeble Inc., of Spokane, has begun work on two construction projects for the Oroville Housing Authority to improve farm worker housing near Oroville, Wash., about 180 miles northwest of Spokane. The $3.2 million in combined projects will

Real estate brokerage ends in bankruptcy

Mother-daughter team launches new concern that will use Exit name

September 9, 2010

Kim Frlan

Gregg Elizabeth Jones and her daughter, Sabrina Jones-Schroeder, are liquidating their Spokane real estate company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, but have launched a new company that will operate under the Exit Real Estate brand the former company used.

Center Partners plans third call center in North Idaho

Company expects to hire 150 people there initially, employ up to 280 later

September 9, 2010

Kim Frlan

Center Partners, a Fort Collins, Colo.-based call-center operator that already employs more than 1,100 people in Kootenai County, says it plans to open a third facility there soon, this one in Hayden, that will employ 150 people initially and as as