Employers here say spiraling health-insurance premiums and other benefit-related labor costs are forcing them to trim pay raises and bonuses for their workers.Benefit-cost increases are outpacing wage increases by a wide margin, with premiums 5

In the architectural and engineering industries, business can fluctuate like a roller coaster ride, with projects peaking during the summer and plummeting during the winter. Womer & Associates Inc., of Spokane, hopes to rise above that trend to

Mark Barnes, owner and president of Spokane-based National Furniture Store Inc., has sold his companys warehouse at 1004 N. Calispel to the Inland Northwest Blood Center.Barnes says he sold the 7,800-square-foot warehouse with a mezzanine and

The city of Spokane Valley has been awarded an $8.1 million grant by the Federal Highway Administration to replace the Barker Road Bridge.The bridge is a two-lane span that sits almost halfway between Interstate 90 and Trent Avenue, and carries

Ron and Toni Bell, owners of a dove-release business in Cheney, often field a number of inquiries about their birds. Before they respond, the couple would like to answer one question they figure everyones got on their minds. Weve had

Coeur dAlene-based Mountain West Banks small-business lending department here and many of its customers share a common history. Like the small-time entrepreneur who starts out with big dreams and little money, the banks small-business in

CLC Restaurants Inc., of Missoula, Mont., has bought the five remaining corporate-owned Taco Bell outlets in the Spokane area from Taco Bell Corp., of Irvine, Calif., in a transaction that closed in December.The franchisee bought a total of six

Atlanta-based Equifax Inc., one of the three large, national credit-reporting companies, has bought the credit-reporting files of Credit Bureau Services Inc., of Spokane, for an undisclosed sum. In the transaction completed last month, Equifax

Taxable sales at retail stores jumped 7.9 percent in Spokane County and 6.4 percent in the city of Spokane in the third quarter of 2003, the most recent quarter for which numbers are available.Sales at retail outlets totaled $889 million in the

The Inland Northwests exercise industry has discovered that middle-aged, mostly out-of-shape women want to drop something besides extra pounds. That something is men.More and more women are plunking down the $29 to $89 monthly membership fees