Business in brief: GSI officer to resign Oct. 9

Greater Spokane Inc. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Severs will resign as of Oct. 9.

Severs, who joined the economic development organization two years ago, said he plans to open a Northwestern Mutual Life office in Spokane.

“I’m heading off to look at other opportunities,” he said Wednesday. “It’s going to be scary.”

Severs was president and chief operating officer of SprayCool for five years before joining Greater Spokane Inc. He is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

Greater Spokane Inc. President Rich Hadley said Severs’ Air Force experience has been valuable in the organization’s efforts to support Fairchild Air Force Base. He also helped streamline GSI’s internal operations.

“He’s a talented guy,” Hadley said. “I hate to see him go.”

Ammo demand exceeds capacity

METAIRIE, La. – Some bullet-makers are working around the clock and still can’t keep up with the nation’s demand for ammunition.

Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such a demand.

The National Rifle Association says Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammo a year. That figure has jumped to about 9 billion in the past year.

Preservationists protest store site

RICHMOND, Va. – Preservationists and residents filed a legal challenge Wednesday to block construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter near a famed battlefield where the Civil War began to turn in favor of the North.

The legal action is aimed at an Aug. 25 vote by the Orange County Board of Supervisors approving the store near the Wilderness Battlefield.

The battlefield where 30,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were injured or killed 145 years ago is considered one of the nation’s most endangered Civil War sites.

The suit contends that supervisors “brushed aside” mounting concerns about the negative impact the store would have on the battlefield and approved the special use permit Wal-Mart needed.