With mortgage rates nearly a point higher than they were earlier this year and much of the refinancing demand satisfied, the white-hot home-loan market has cooled considerably, perhaps signaling an industry shakeout.Some of the decline in has a

A series of computer viruses that wormed their way into corporate America last month has spurred some Spokane-area businesses and agencies to review their cyber safeguards.What theyre finding is of little comfort in many cases, professionals

The University of Phoenix, a large private university that targets working professionals, has opened a Spokane learning center and plans to start offering classes here later this month.The Phoenix-based school, which operates 130 learning in 26

Flagstone Development Group Inc., a company here headed by Spokane home builder Jim Sullivan, is proposing two new planned-unit developments in the Spokane area with a combined value of roughly $13 million.On Spokanes South Hill, Flagstone a

Spokane-based Wheatland Bank has agreed to sell its Cheney branch and transfer that branchs deposits to Spokane Teachers Credit Union. The loans held by Wheatlands Cheney branch will remain with Wheatland, but the branchs four employees a

Attorney Mary E. Schultzs corner office is filled with trophies, most of which are from her days of competitive karate. One exception is a motocross trophy, a sport in which she competed while growing up in Great Falls, Mont.Classic music the

A new company here plans to open in Spokane Valley a franchise store of DirectBuy, a membership-based company that offers discounted household goods.The company, Brava Enterprises Inc., has leased about 15,000 square feet of floor space in the

A development company here has proposed constructing a small retail building at the busy Division Street-Second Avenue intersection that would include a Starbucks Corp. coffee shop.The company, Keeper LLC, has requested from the city of Spokane

This game called Blongoball, it doesnt look like much.The ball is a short nylon rope with golf balls attached to each end. The target, called a blongoal, is a three-foot-high structure made of PVC pipe. The object of the game is to so

Gonzaga Preparatory School is seeking to have the Washington state Housing Finance Commission issue $10 million in bonds to remodel part of the private Spokane high school and to refinance debt from past improvements.The commission plans to on