Business in brief: Dry Fly Distilling to release bourbon

Spokane’s Dry Fly Distilling plans to release a line of bourbon this fall.

The company already produces craft-distilled gin, vodka and all-wheat whiskey.

Bourbon, a corn-based whiskey, makes a natural choice for Dry Fly, said co-founder Don Poffenroth.

The new product will be called Dry Fly Washington State Bourbon.

The bourbon will be aged for three years in new American Oak barrels. No price has been set, he said.

Tom Sowa

Home sales fall for third month

Washington – Sales of existing homes fell for a third straight month in February, pushing sales down to the lowest level since last July.

The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of previously occupied homes dropped 0.6 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.02 million.

The weakness in sales depressed prices with the median home price dropping almost 2 percent from a year ago to $165,100.

Associated Press

Memo: Toyota will replace pedal

Washington – Toyota owners who are dissatisfied with the repairs to their vehicles covered by a massive recall to address sticky gas pedals can have replacement accelerator pedals installed, according to a memo the company sent to dealers.

The Japanese automaker said in a memo obtained Tuesday by the Associated Press that if a customer is unhappy with the feel of the accelerator after the car is repaired, dealers can provide a replacement pedal at no charge.

Dealers have been inserting a piece of metal into the gas pedal mechanism to eliminate friction that was causing the pedal problem on 2.3 million vehicles involved in a January recall.

The memo, dated February 2010, said the pedal replacement “is based upon specific customer request only. Dealers are not to solicit pedal replacement.”

Associated Press

Daimler reportedly settles long probe

Washington – Car manufacturer Daimler AG will pay $185 million to settle criminal and civil investigations in which the company is accused of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to officials of at least 22 foreign governments over the course of a decade, two people familiar with the deal said Tuesday.

Filings in federal court in Washington said the German-based company and three of its subsidiaries engaged in the misconduct from 1998 to 2008 in countries that included China, Russia, Egypt and Greece.

The payments allegedly were aimed at helping secure contracts with government customers for the purchase of Daimler vehicles valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

Daimler AG will avoid indictment when two of its subsidiaries enter guilty pleas in federal court April 1, according to the two people knowledgeable about the outcome of the five-year probe. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal still must go before a federal judge.

Associated Press