In brief: GSI hands out Catalyst Awards

Greater Spokane Inc. and TechNet handed out the annual Inland Northwest Catalyst Awards on Friday during the LaunchPad INW Oktoberfest.

In six categories the winners were:

•Company of the year: Absolute Aviation

•Green company: Avista Corp.

•Organization of the year: Institute for Systems Medicine, a nonprofit group spearheading cutting-edge biomedical research in the area

•Clean-green organization: City of Spokane

•Mentor of the year: Steve Salvatori, founder of the Spokane Entrepreneurial Center

•Innovators of the year: Dr. Bassem Bejjani and Lisa Shaffer, founders of Signature Genomic Laboratories

Tom Sowa

Auto Carriage to sell trucks

After more than 100 years of maintaining trucks and wagons, horse-drawn and self-propelled, Washington Auto Carriage is getting into the business of selling trucks.

The Spokane Valley company has obtained a Mitsubishi Fuso truck franchise, the 200th granted in North America, General Manager Clif King said this week.

He said Mitsubishi’s medium-duty trucks are a good fit for Auto Carriage, and the timing is right.

The slowdown in business will allow time for the company to train its technicians on the Mitsubishi trucks, he said. Auto Carriage employs 22 at its shop at 5301 E. Broadway.

The company services recreational vehicles, light and medium trucks, and accessories like plows, flatbeds and dump bodies.

“We talked to a lot of dealers before we made this decision, and all of them confirmed that (Mitsubishi) is very partnership-focused,” King said.

Bert Caldwell

Countrywide probe widens

Washington – A House committee Friday announced subpoenas for documents related to Countrywide Financial Corp.’s VIP program, which offered preferential treatment to well-connected or powerful mortgage customers.

The subpoenas were issued as part of a broad investigation into the role of the nation’s largest mortgage companies in the financial crisis, said Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.

The program, known informally as “Friends of Angelo” for former Countrywide chief executive Angelo R. Mozilo, offered discounted loans and other perks. Federal regulators have filed civil charges against Mozilo for fraud and insider-trading related to the downfall of Countrywide, which was the nation’s largest mortgage lender before the housing market crashed.

Los Angeles Times