Business in brief: Convention center redo paying off
Spokane’s expanded convention center has booked nearly $76 million in convention business through 2013 – events that wouldn’t have been possible before the expansion and remodel, according to the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The added exhibit and ballroom space for the Spokane Convention Center campus has earned the facility a significantly higher rank in the Major Exhibit Hall Directory by Tradeshow Week, a news release from the CVB said. Ranks are based on exhibit hall size and Spokane jumped from 300th to 130th in the directory following the opening of the expanded space.
Additionally, the Group Health Exhibit Hall earned a silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The exhibit hall is the third convention center nationwide to earn the distinction.
Washington
NightHawk CEO’s stock sale posted
The chief executive of radiology services company NightHawk Radiology Holdings Inc. sold 60,000 shares of common stock under a prearranged trading plan, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
In a Form 4 filed Monday with the SEC, Paul E. Berger reported he sold the shares Friday for $17.65 to $18 apiece.
The stock sale was conducted under a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan which allows company insiders to set up a program in advance for such transactions and proceed even if they come into possession of material nonpublic information.
Insiders file Form 4s with the SEC to report transactions in their companies’ shares. Open market purchases and sales must be reported within two business days of the transaction.
NightHawk Radiology is based in Coeur d’Alene.
Washington
Fed consolidating check processing
People are writing fewer checks, so the Federal Reserve is consolidating most check-processing operations into four regional centers and cutting 1,740 positions around the country.
The moves, announced Tuesday and planned over the next four years, will reduce the number of Fed employees processing checks by more than half, from the current 3,300. Most of the remaining workers will be located in four regional check processing sites in Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland and Philadelphia.
A total of 14 current processing centers will lose 50 or more positions, according to Tuesday’s announcement. The biggest reduction is scheduled for Minneapolis, where 210 full-time positions currently swill be trimmed to six to 12 employees by the summer of 2009.
The other Fed check-processing facilities scheduled for reductions of 50 or more are Baltimore; Cincinnati, Ohio; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Denver; Des Moines, Iowa; Jacksonville, Fla.; Memphis, Tenn.; Los Angeles; St. Louis, Mo.; Seattle; Utica, N.Y., and Windsor Locks, Conn.
From staff and wire reports