Downtown visitors this weekend can get free Wi-Fi from the Spokane HotZone as two area firms have stepped in to keep the tech service going.Created in 2004, the Wi-Fi service area has had continuing problems due to aging equipment and reluctance by the bandwidth provider…
Thirty three states, including Washington, have agreed to a $173 million settlement with six chip companies who were accused of conspiring to keep prices inflated during the Y2K mania from 1998-2002.The six firms, including NEC and Micron Technologies, admitted no wrongdoing. They agreed to a…
One more adjustment in the Chris Pirillo visit to Spokane was announced this week by the event host, LaunchPad Inland Northwest.Pirillo will be visiting town to talk about social media and marketing on June 29, next Tuesday.But the venue has changed. It's now scheduled at…
Design awards should soon be flowing in the direction of The Flying Goat, the new north Spokane neighborhood pub in the Audubon Park area. (Exact address: 3318 W. Northwest Blvd.)The neighborhood restaurant used a handsome selection of recycled wood to put together the floor, the…
OK, we're still blogging about the deal signed by the Army with Hayden-based Unitech Composites & Structures. It's not that we like their name that much. Instead we finally got our hands on two images that tell half the story -- what those units the…
The U.S. Army is spending good money to improve something most civilians take for granted -- survival gear for airmen and helicopter crews.We found out that the Army is looking for a better survival kit used by crews who fly over water, and Hayden-based Unitech…
Triumph Composite Systems and the union representing its 43 Spokane engineers have reached a tentative contract agreement that will provide bonuses and wage increases, cap medical premiums, and bar layoffs through September 2013.Members of The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace will vote on…
There's a showcase out in Liberty Lake. And "green homes" is the focus of that home show. If taking a close-up look of several new energy-efficient homes sounds appealing, you might note the showcase organizers have cut the cost of admission.The coupon now at the…
A former deputy general counsel for Microsoft, Dan Crouse, is joining the Seattle office of Lee & Hayes, a Spokane intellectual property firm.Dan Crouse worked for Microsoft from 1993 to 2003 where he managed the Microsoft Patent Group. With Lee & Hayes he'll focus on…
Sandpoint-based Litehouse Inc. today announced the purchase of Green Garden Foods of Kent, Wash.Operations of the two companies will be consolidated into Litehouse production facilities in Sandpoint and Lowell, Mich., acording to a Litehouse news release.Both companies make sauces, dips and salad dressings, with Litehouse…
You can pretty much count on two consumer impacts from the recent new sales taxes imposed by Washington's legislators, says Jeffrey LaFrance, a Washington State University professor.So-called "sugar taxes" imposed on candy and gum will hardly change the consumption of Washington's sweeth tooth community, said…
ONE of an ongoing series of posts about useful area business websites.Spokane and Inland Northwest business leaders and economic development folks are right in boosting the green economy that's blooming in this area.You can find a very healthy consortium of industries and researchers tackling clean…
The average wage in Washington rose nearly 2 percent last year, largely because thousands of low-paying jobs disappeared during the recession.Average annual pay increased 1.9 percent to $47,153 in 2009 – the smallest increase since 2004. The average weekly wage was $906 last year, the…
The biannual report, The Fiscal Survey of States, is chockful of fairly grim numbers on how the economy has pasted states from coast to coast. The survey is released by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers. The overview states:…
The original June 15 evening with Chris Pirillo, sponsored by LaunchPad Inland Northwest, has been rescheduled to June 29. Pirillo, a Seattle area tech guy and blogger, had conflicts and had to reschedule, said LaunchPad director Bill Kalivas.The location remains the same, the Red Lion…
Last week The SR's business column Here's the Dirt featured a story on the new storage center built by Harlan Douglass just south of Interstate 90 near the Sprague exit.The six-acre site is on the former home of the East Sprague Drive-in. One thing we…
Employment in Spokane County fell by 1,700 in May, but the unemployment rate also slipped because fewer people were job-hunting.The Washington Employment Security Department said state employment increased by 8,600, but only because 9,000 workers were hired to help conduct the 2010 U.S. Census.The state…
A four-year medical school in Spokane would support more than 9,000 new jobs by 2030, and generate $1.6 billion in new economic activity, a new study says.Entitled "America's Next Great Academic Health Center," the report and its co-authors say the doctors and medical research produced…
Miller Paint Company of Portland, Ore., will open a store in Spokane June 28.It will be the employee-owned company’s 36th retail store and the first company-owned store east of the Cascades, President and CEO Steve Dearborn said today.The Spokane store will open in a building…
Spokane's Dry Fly Distilling, a boutique distillery with a growing reputation for quality spirits, is set to release its next 300 bottles of wheat whiskey on Saturday.The company will start selling off 300 bottles of the whiskey starting at 8 a.m. In previous releases customers…
Clearwater Paper Corp. will build a new tissue paper plant in Shelby, N.C., Gov. Bev Perdue announced today.Spokane-based Clearwater will invest at least $260 million in the plant and equipment, which will produce 10 million cases of tissue. Company facilities now produce 30 million cases,…
Fewer Spokane and Kootenai county homeowners received foreclosure notices last month compared with April, but the numbers remained double those of a year ago.RealtyTrac today reported 136 Spokane and 216 Kootenai county homeowners were in foreclosure in May. In Kootenai County, one in every 279…
We'd guess the total number of active, managed websites for Inland Northwest businesses must be climbing somewhere in the several thousand range.Today the SR Office Hours blog will begin featuring business sites worth discovering or revisiting. Our criteria will include novelty, design, news value or…
British Columbia visitors will become eligible July 1 for a non-resident sales tax exemption on goods purchased in Washington but intended for use outside the state.The province recently changed its tax structure in a way that allows residents to claim the exemption. Ontario also made…
Home sales in Spokane County rose for the eighth consecutive month compared with 2009 levels, according to May statistics from the Spokane Association of Realtors.The May total of 519 was up almost 33 percent compared with May 2009. Sales were also marginally ahead of the…