Bert Caldwell

Airport traffic off slightly in February

Sterling Financial extends repurchase deadline

Three northeast Washington companies will receive $3.2 million in federal stimulus money that will add or save more than 300 jobs, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced Tuesday. Demand Energy Networks, of Liberty Lake, Borgford Bioenergy, based in Colville, and Ponderay Newsprint Inc., near Usk, are among 13 Washington companies Gregoire and the Department of Commerce said will split $16.5 million intended to support innovative energy initiatives and the people employed as a result.

Kootenai Health and North Idaho Family Physicians will combine their urgent care services in North Idaho under a new banner, Kootenai Urgent Care. Family Physicians will manage the network of five clinics; two each in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, and one in Hayden.

Eastern Washington companies receive energy funds

Spokane homes cheapest among Northwest cities

First Sgt. Dennis Frederick took up golf while stranded at Ft. Sill because his unit and equipment had gotten separated before deployment to Iraq. As he walked through the rough and out-of-bounds areas looking for his own errant tee shots, he found dozens of golf balls bearing corporate logos. Was anyone, he asked the course pro, doing something similar with military insignias?

Felts Field Aviation Inc. will provide fuel service at Felts Field, the general aviation airport in Spokane Valley, for another year.

Idaho Independent Bank on Wednesday reported losses for the fourth quarter and full year 2009, but improved capital ratios as the Coeur d’Alene-based bank reduced its size.

Employment across Spokane County fell by 2,280 jobs in February and, despite a surprising decline in the number of job seekers, the unemployment rate remained at levels the county has not experienced since the mid-1980s. County-wide employment, at 212,490, was about 10,000 positions lower than it was in February 2009, according to figures released Tuesday by the Washington Employment Security Department. Between January and February, the county’s retail sector alone lost 700 positions.

Sterling Financial Corp. on Tuesday announced tentative agreements with the U.S. Treasury and a potential investor that will determine whether the bank holding company remains an independent Spokane business and one of the largest financial institutions based in the Northwest. In a complicated financial restructuring plan months in the making, the Treasury would accept a steep markdown on the $303 million that it invested in Sterling only 15 months ago.

Tax Freedom Day will come early again this year. The Tax Foundation, which every year calculates the day on which wage-earners start to work for themselves instead of government, is still crunching the numbers, but President Scott Dodge says the blessed event could fall on April 13, as it did in 2009. Once as late as May 9, the day has moved down the calendar as the tax codes have changed.

Spokane Hearing Examiner Greg Smith on Friday approved the first phase of the revised development plan for Kendall Yards – but with a lengthy list of conditions. He also called for a public hearing on changes new owner Greenstone Corp. proposed in January.

Home sales in Spokane County improved in February for the fifth consecutive month, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors.

A former vice president of finance for The Bunker Hill Co. will examine the books of a Spokane company allegedly involved in a Ponzi scheme. Charles Hall could begin his work next week, said John Munding, trustee for LLS America LLC, which filed for reorganization in July. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court appointed Hall examiner on Tuesday.

The trustee for a bankrupt Coeur d’Alene mortgage modification company is suing nine former officers for as much as $1.3 million he says they did not earn. Apply 2 Save Inc. closed its doors last May, and filed for liquidation in June. The company allegedly ripped off hundreds of consumers who paid as much as $1,500 for help staving off foreclosure.

Boeing Co. will try for the third time to get a tanker based on its 767 in the hands of U.S. Air Force pilots before the KC-135s parked at Fairchild Air Force Base collapse in place. The company announcement Thursday was no surprise. Consensus opinion on an Air Force request for proposals released last month says the Boeing airplane fits better than a potential competitor based on the A330, an Airbus airframe that would be assembled in Mobile, Ala., by a Northrop Grumman Corp.-led consortium.

Felts Field Aviation Inc. will cease most operations at Spokane’s general aviation airport by April 1. In a statement released Wednesday, the company said it has been unable to negotiate new leases with Spokane International Airport, which manages Felts and Spokane International airports.

Washington employment numbers improved in January for the first time in more than one year, but not enough to prevent an increase in the unemployment rate to 9.3 percent. The state Employment Security Department on Tuesday reported a gain of 12,400 jobs compared with December. That gain did not offset a slightly larger increase in the work force, so the rate inched up from a revised 9.2 percent for December.

Washington employment numbers continued to fall in January, although there was a small gain if adjusted for seasonal variation.