Bert Caldwell

The Institute for Systems Medicine in Spokane could open a clinical data repository by the end of April, Chief Operating Officer Amy Johnson said Monday. A second institute initiative, a tissue bank, may be ready by the fall of next year, she said.

DigiDeal partners with game developer

Navigation on the Columbia and Snake rivers resumed Saturday after three months of repairs to three locks and extended maintenance on others. Kristin Meira, spokeswoman for the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, said several barge tows were lined up below Bonneville Dam for passage upstream when U.S. Corps of Engineers reopened the Columbia Snake River System at 11 p.m.

Columbia, Snake rivers re-open for shipping

Home Ownership bus at Riverfront Park

There’s nothing plain, or even new, about the economic potential of the West Plains. Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport have been mainstays for decades, their value constantly enhanced by upgrades like the runway improvements under way at both facilities. With companies like Triumph Composites, Associated Painters, Jet Tech and Goodrich clustered around the airport, aerospace in Washington is not just about the Renton-Seattle-Everett axis anymore.

Kootenai County unemployment edges up

The unemployment rate in Spokane County climbed for the fourth consecutive month in February, to 10.6 percent. Statistics released Thursday by the Washington Employment Security Department show a modest increase in total employment, to 213,210, up 460 from 212,750 in January.

The unemployment rate in Spokane County climbed for the fourth consecutive month in February, to 10.6 percent.

County unemployment climbs again

Workshop, networking to empower Next Gen leaders

The agonizing struggle of the Japanese to avoid further catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex necessarily has many rethinking the rethinking about nuclear energy’s future. Many hoped fission would be a cost-effective alternative to combustion that, no matter how “clean,” produces carbon dioxide, the primary cause of man-made global warming. President Barack Obama, like George W. Bush before him, is prepared to backstop loans for new plants with billions of dollars in federal guarantees.

Spokane man guilty of work comp theft

Guard nominates local employers for Freedom Award

The potential for an energy-based development district around the Waste-to-Energy Plant could be compromised if the facility is not reclassified as an alternative-energy provider, Spokane officials said Wednesday. Mayor Mary Verner said the district would be attractive to light industry that could use electricity generated by the plant, as well as the steam and flue gases that are byproducts of burning the area’s waste.

Washington unemployment rate falls

Homes sales in Spokane County edged ahead in February, but average and median prices moved lower. The Spokane Association of Realtors reported 190 sales for the month, up from 186 in January. Last February’s total, 210, was inflated somewhat by a now-expired first-time homebuyer tax credit.

Seminars will teach interviewing skills to employers

Washington Consumer Resource Centers manned by fewer than one dozen staff members put $4.8 million back in consumer pockets last year. That’s a significant drop from 2009, when almost $7.2 million was recovered, but the volume of consumer complaints also subsided, said Doug Walsh, head of consumer protection in the attorney general’s office.

Foreclosure activity in Spokane County fell 20 percent in February compared with January, but the pace remained more than triple that of a year earlier. Banks repossessed 73 homes in the county, and another 126 were subject to a notice of trustee sale, according to RealtyTrac, which monitors foreclosures nationally.

County foreclosure rate eases in February