Mike McLean

COHE leaders aim to make pilot project a state program

Efforts help injured workers return to jobs, cut employers' costs

November 25, 2009

The Center of Occupational Health and Education, a pilot project launched in 2003 with a center here and one in Renton, Wash., has succeeded in cutting workers' compensation costs, and now its leaders are working on a plan to elevate it to a as as

Real Estate Roundup

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

Wong Financial Services Inc., a Spokane Valley financial planning service, has leased 1,200 square feet of office space at 12704 E. Nora and has moved there from smaller quarters at 25 S. Blake Road. Tom Watson, of Re/Max of Spokane, and Mike King,

Rendering courtesy of Architects West PA

VA starts work on addition to physical-therapy building

$1 million project to triple space at the hospital now devoted to rehabilitation

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

The Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center says it has broken ground on a physical-therapy building addition that will triple the space the hospital currently has dedicated to physical therapy.The addition will cost about $1 million to build a

Rendering courtesy of NAC/Architecture Inc.

Northeast Community Center to start $6 million project

Addition to Hillyard facility will house nonprofit youth programs, medical services

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

The nonprofit Northeast Community Center says work is expected to start before month's end on a $6 million expansion of its facility in Hillyard. The expansion will include construction of a 31,000-square-foot, three-level addition, an outdoor A

Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Dix picks up three dam jobs together worth $14.3 million

Spokane contractor also is helping design Arizona bridge restoration

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

Dix Corp., a Spokane specialty contractor, says it recently has landed three heavy construction jobs in the Snake and Columbia river systems totaling $14.3 million and is doing some design work on a $5 million bridge restoration project in the job,

Shipper plans $3.6 million Valley terminal

Old Dominion says it will move terminal operations from space it leases here

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., a national trucking company based in Thomasville, N.C., says it plans to erect a $3.6 million, 18,000-square-foot terminal in Spokane Valley and move its Spokane operations there from space it currently leases.The

%u2013Rendering courtesy of NAC/Architecture Inc.

Hoping to avoid cuts in Olympia

Business advocates here to submit conservative requests to Legislature

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

Business advocates here say they're going to be especially conservative this year when they submit funding requests to the Washington Legislature for the upcoming session because the state's supplemental budget likely will involve more deep cuts in

Work starts on two Wal-Mart stores in area

Idaho outlets' project values top $25 million; work force might hit 600

November 25, 2009

Mike McLean

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the big Bentonville, Ark.-based retail chain, is getting ready to expand its already substantial presence in the Inland Northwest.It says it has started work on two large North Idaho stores—one in Hayden and the in a

Interface buys building on West Second

Computer-training school here expects larger quarters will give it room to grow

November 12, 2009

Mike McLean

Interface Computer Services Inc., a computer-skills school that does business here as Interface College-Spokane, says it has bought an 8,800-square-foot, two-story building at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Stevens Street downtown and to

Retraining programs swell

Displaced workers here prepare for changes in careers with state, federal help

November 12, 2009

Mike McLean

Shannon Eslick decided to enroll in dental-assistant courses at Spokane Community College through its state-funded Worker Retraining program after she was laid off for a second time last year by Insight Enterprises Inc.'s Liberty Lake outlet.The