The collective share of the 50 largest property taxpayers in Spokane County, led by perennial top payer Avista Corp., grew by 16 percent this year to reach nearly 9 percent of the total property taxes levied in the county, according records through

The largest year-over-year individual tax increases in at least a decade are in effect, and high-income earners who haven't planned for them might be in for a shock, tax preparers here say.Many middle-income taxpayers also might be surprised by

Two experienced Spokane entrepreneurs are in countdown mode for the launch of Arevo Health, a cloud-based software startup that they hope will revolutionize corporate health care efficiency tracking.Ryan Fix and Jim Schlosser founded the company

It likely will be another eight months or so before Umpqua Bank logos start showing up at Sterling Bank locations here, assuming Umpqua's proposed $2 billion acquisition of Sterling meets regulatory approval.Umpqua, though, expects to capitalize

A Spokane-based construction team has started work on a $16 million renovation and expansion of the Chief Joseph Village apartment complex on the Washington State University campus, in Pullman, says Louise Sweeney, a project manager for the Spokane

Catholic Charities of Spokane, a prominent social-service nonprofit here, is renovating the Delaney Apartments, one of its largest residential holdings downtown, says Glori Houston, the charity's housing director.The $3.5 million construction to

Spokane County has topped a homebuyer affordability index for three quarters among metropolitan housing markets around the state, says Glen Crellin, associate director of the University of Washington Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.In for