The unemployment rate in Spokane County dropped more than half a point in June, and statewide joblessness is back down to where it stood a year ago, state officials said today. Unemployment last month fell to 8.5 percent locally, down from 9.1 percent in May…
A major road construction project in Spokane Valley will shut down the busy intersection of Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road for what's expected to be three weeks, beginning July 19. Traffic will be re-routed on Broadway, Conklin, Fourth and Adams. It'll be more difficult to…
From time to time various companies come through town and tell folks they'll buy your gold, or sometimes, your silver. You see it a lot when the economy is bad and people feel a need to trade in items like watches for some spending money.A…
View Larger MapThe South Hill former Blockbuster building, at 1318 S. Grand, has been closed for 14 months. See the closing announcement.A local group planned to move a restaurant called Savory into that building. Then the project stalled due to unexpected issues, including remodeling costs.There's…
Next week's July 22 Executive Connect Breakfast will feature Jennifer Hall, one of the key people who helped launch the Main Market Cooperative, a full-fledged food retailer and nutrition education center.Presented by Connect Northwest, the morning session starts at 7:30 a.m. in downtown Spokane, in…
An index of Inland Northwest stocks fell 8.9 percent during the second quarter, but nevertheless outperformed the S&P 500 Index, according to Hart Capital Management.The Spokane investment firm said a rebound in the value of two Spokane banks — Northwest Bancorporation, up 30.5 percent, and…
Liberty Lake-based Itron Inc. said this week that they've just helped install their millionth OpenWay smart meter at Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation’s largest electric utilities.What is striking is that the media folks at Itron went out and even found who the…
Home sales in Spokane County dipped slightly in the past month but remain near levels seen a year ago.The average sales price in June was up from May but lower than one year ago, the Spokane Association of Realtors reported today.Closed sales totaled 506 in…
One of the main news announcements this morning came by way of Boeing, Alaska Airlines and Washington State University. This is the formal announcement of an initiative to promote more biofuel use by the aviation industry.WSU has been active in promoting this topic. The news…
The photo that ran with this business story on Thursday shows former astronaut Mike McCulley visiting with the workers at Liberty Lake's Insight Direct. (CLICK the link to look at the expanded size version of the image.)He was speaking inside a hallway at the firm's…
A tourism official from Loudon County, Va., has been named president and CEO of the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau. Cheryl Kilday will begin her new job in Spokane on Aug. 23, the CVB said in a news release this morning. She has 25…
The publication Hospitals and Health Networks revamped its method of coming up with its 99 "most wired" U.S. hospital list. It claims it's created a more accurate set of surveys given to medical IT directors asking questions on clinical quality, patient safety, continuum of care…
MODIFIED with new information, updated at 6:00 p.m. July 6:An unknown hacker took advantage of a web vulnerability to redirect the Sirti.org website to an Iranian website over the weekend.The Sirti main page was replaced by a page with Arabic words, a reference to the…
Hecla Mining Co. is opening an office in Idaho’s Silver Valley to keep local residents abreast of future expansions at the Lucky Friday Mine and the company’s role in environmental cleanup in the area.U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo will speak at the grand opening of the…
Our recent post on the continuing quest by Spokane inventor Rick Woodbury to win the Automotive X Prize produced questions by commentators. Among them: Who would buy one of his cars, when they cost about $120,000? What does it mean to say the test requires…
U.S. construction employment fell by 22,000 in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.6 million, the lowest level since August 1996, according to Random Lengths newsletter.Citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the newsletter said that the unemployment rate in construction was 20.1 percent…
Spokane International Airport Director Neal Sealock has submitted his resignation, effective July 21.Sealock, who became director in December 2005 after 31 years in the U.S. Army, said he wants to spend more time with his family, and pursue a doctorate.Dave Brukardt, head of the airport…
Northwest Map & Travel Book Center has moved from downtown Spokane and reopened in Spokane Valley.Owners Linda and Steve Mitrovich moved the business from 525 W. Sprague to the new address, 10525 E. Sprague.They made the move last weekend. Yes. The old and new addresses…
This goes into the Smart Grid file, in the subfolder on home monitors that track residential power consumption.Cisco has unveiled a new home device. It's the Cisco Home Energy Management Solution. Like other devices coming to the market, it provides a network hub to manage…
A minor addition to our earlier post about Integra Telecom offering a free year of T1 connectivity for a qualifying Spokane nonprofit organization. The post ran on June 30.Melissa Moore, a spokeswoman for Portland-based Integra Telecom, said the value of the service is between $5,000…
A conservative California-based research group has produced a state-by-state study it titles the U.S. Tort Liability Index 2010. It's the kind of group that would publish this study with a forward by Sarah Palin.So how do Washington and Idaho fare on this index, which looks…
View Larger MapSpokane telecom company Integra Telecom is ready to give away one full year of T1 Internet service. Yes. A free year, to an eligible Spokane-area nonprofit that meets the guidelines of the contest.The contest requires a nomination of an eligible area nonprofit. Following…
We didn't make up that description.Tonight is when Seattle tech guy Chris Pirillo gets his chance to sound off on social media, at an event hosted by LaunchPad INW.Pirillo got to town all right today. The picture here is the proof. He quickly posted a…
Spokane electric car maker Rick Woodbury has made it through the most recent cut at the Progressive Auto X Prize, the worldwide competition that has $10 million in prizes for innovative vehicles. Side note: we originally said "electric vehicles." In fact, the X Prize is…
Seventeen banners have been placed near businesses along East Sprague, to call attention to that area's new claim as Spokane's International District.First question: what do you think of the banners? And is there any other part of the metro with a better claim to the…
The Spokesman-Review business team follows economic development in Spokane and the Inland Northwest.
