U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams today authorized the sale of AmericanWest Bank to a holding company that will inject as much as $200 million in new capital into the Spokane-based institution.The $6.5 million deal between AmericanWest Bancorporation and SKBHC Holdings LLC is expected to…
Sushi Maru, a kaiten-style sushi restaurant, opens its doors on Friday in the former spot of Sawtooth Grill in River Park Square. Kaiten restaurants use conveyor belts with foods on plates that pass by diners’ tables. Diners pull off the items they want.Sushi Maru is…
Hayden-based Transtector Systems has won a $4.6 million contract to build advanced and highly secure panels used by the Air Force to protect Minuteman missile control systems from attack. The award was announced by Smiths Interconnect, a global corporation with extensive programs in research and…
The owners of a Post Falls motorcycle dealership, Beaudry Motors, were ordered by a Coeur d’Alene court to repay $2.1 million in default loans. Wells Fargo Bank won a default judgment against Steve and Stephanie Beaudry, owners of Beaudry Motors, Inc. and Beaudry Motorsports, in…
Washington's unemployment insurance tax rate will increase to an average 3.26 percent next year because jobless workers received a record $2 billion in benefits, the Employment Security Department said today.The unemployment trust fund collected only $1.2 billion during the year, but retained a $2.5 billion…
To mark the occasion of the launch of Google eBooks, we browsed over to the new site and searched for e-books there about Spokane, our fair city.We found more than several interesting historical titles there which happen to be out of copyright and are free…
Matt Gerber, who’s held key jobs at area firms Itronix and SprayCool, has become CEO of Liberty Lake-based IT-Lifeline.Gerber, who’s 46, takes the reins of the company started by Steven Tabacek, the firm’s only other CEO. Tabacek told board members he felt it was time…
KXLY TV's Teddie Gibbon, who's been vice president and station manager, will move into the general manager's job effective in January. Formally, she's taking that job with Spokane Television, Inc., the company that operates KXLY TV. Gibbon, who's 46, takes over for Steve Herling, who's…
Josh Wade, the owner of Nectar Tasting Room, said he hopes the Spokane wine tasting hangout opens by the end of the year."We've got our permits in and should be getting electrical, plumbing and HVAC work done this week," said Wade. It's been about two…
Womer & Associates, a Spokane-based architectural, engineering, and environmental services firm, is winner of this year’s Northeast Washington Minority Business of the Year Award. The University of Washington’s Business and Economic Development Center (BEDC) made the selection and honored the company at a Seattle ceremony…
OK, this will make our third and last post here about the MacKenzie River Pizza Co. location announcement, made this week by Glacier Restaurant Group, out of Whitefish, Mont.Our earlier post noted that a press release quoted Glacier COO Brad Ridgeway explaining the choice of…
Sometimes we just move along with the material given to us and don't stop to think what's been said.Point in case, the earlier post we had about MacKenzie River Pizza coming to Spokane next year, near the big new WinCo.The COO of Glacier Restaurant Group…
The Montana restaurant company that will bring a Ciao Mambo eatery to downtown plans to build its first Eastern Washington MacKenzie River Pizza Co. store in north Spokane next year. Glacier Restaurant Group said it will lease a 5,800-square-foot restaurant to go in the corner…
A Concord, Calif., hotel will become a Red Lion Hotels Corp. franchisee next month, the Spokane-based chain said today.The Holiday Inn Concord, with 189 room and 5,400 square feet of meeting space, is the third Northern California hotel to convert to the Red Lion brand…
If you still can't figure out what INHS does, and what they're doing in the area of electronic health records (EHR), the chance to get some answers is next week, during the next Executive Connect Breakfast, at the Spokane Club.It will be a session Dec.…
A start-up pharmaceutical company in Spokane has received a $1.38 million grant to develop new burn treatments for the Department of the Army.Iasis Molecular Sciences will work with Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Connecticut Health Center to formulate and test compounds based on…
Shoppers jammed parking lots from Wandemere to Spokane Valley to North Idaho this morning, ignoring snowy roads and cold temperatures to buy 46-inch televisions and 700-count sheets.At the Northpointe shopping Center, Best Buy Manager Keat Shankle estimated as many as 2,000 shoppers had been through…
Employment in most North Idaho counties fell in October, with Boundary County the notable exception.The Idaho Department of Labor Friday released a county-by-county breakdown of employment statistics, having announced earlier in the month a statewide rise in joblessness to 9.1 percent from nine percent in…
Our newsroom colleague Paul Turner mentioned in his Slice column recently the appearance in downtown Spokane of the word "think." on a mural not far from the heart of town. The source, at the time, was unknown. He later got a message from Dennis Magner,…
Two Spokane companies have launched the Deal Planet, a daily online coupon offer modeled on the popular approach taken by Groupon.com.Bozzi Media and Se7en LLC teamed up and began testing the plan over the past two weeks. They concluded the test and are ready to…
This post is sort of a mailbag response. Last week we wrote about the role the Washington State Department of Licensing played in slapping a Spokane tow truck firm for alleged misdeeds during this year's Hoopfest. A Spokesman.com story summarized the key issues.The company, Evergreen…
Trader Joe's confirmed a long-circulated rumor on Wednesday, affirming plans to build its first Spokane store in the South Hill neighborhood of Spokane.The specialty grocery chain, based in Southern California, is going to lease 12,000 square feet in Lincoln Heights Shopping Center, at 29th and…
The unemployment rate in Spokane County slipped to 7.8 percent in October, the lowest rate in almost two years.The number of employed rose to 220,210, up from 216,960 in September and 218,850 in October 2009.But Doug Tweedy, local labor economist for the Washington Employment Security…
The economic recovery will grind slowly forward next year, extending this year's modest improvements but not breaking out strongly enough to significantly affect unemployment and household income, economists John Mitchell and Grant Forsyth said today.Speaking at a Greater Spokane Incorporated forecast breakfast, Mitchell said businesses…
Spokane green product retailer Eco Depot Inc. will present a a class on the basics of solar power, from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 20.Company CEO Nadine Sullivan, in the picture here, will lead the class at the Eco Depot office, 1226 E. Sprague.The…