Bert Caldwell

Spokane investors remained on the sidewalk Monday as Wall Street skidded to its worst daily point loss in history. Brokerage lobbies were largely vacant, and some brokers reported that outbound telephone traffic exceeded inbound calls from clients. Hand-holding was the order of the day, but some of the more venturesome were placing orders, brokers said. There was little selling.

Tony Gunderson encourages people to throw a Tantrum when fishing. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A former official of Old National Bank and Farmers & Merchants Bank has been appointed president and chief operating officer of United Security Bancorporation. Richard Emery will assume his new duties Nov. 1 after 16 years at Pacific One Bank and its predecessor, American National Bank, which he helped organize in 1981. The Kennewick-based bank was bought by First Hawaiian Corp. in 1996 and renamed. The bank has assets of $165 million and eight branches.

Itron Inc. is defending accounting practices questioned in the most recent issue of Forbes magazine. An article in the Nov. 3 edition says the "percentage of completion" method Itron has used to record expected income from a contract with Duquesne Light Co. may be barred by year-end. The method allows Itron, the Spokane Valley maker of electronic meter-reading gear, to book revenues up front that won't be completely in the till for 15 years.

Kaiser Aluminum President Ray Milchovish knows from experience that "the competitive world is not static." Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane brokers and investment advisers who remember the 1987 crash differ when asked if the stock market has learned its lesson. For one thing, they note, many of those in financial services today were not yet in the business when the Dow Jones industrial average suddenly dropped 500 points. Ken Roberts, who heads his own investment service, said he's not sure how the current generation of mutual fund managers and brokers will react if the market's volatility strays beyond their comfort zone. He likened some to 800-pound gorillas on a three-hour coffee jag. One slip could trigger a dangerous response.

Itron Inc. on Tuesday announced a return to profitability and a tentative agreement with the world's largest maker of metering equipment that should improve the Spokane company's fortunes in Europe. The memorandum of understanding with Schlumberger calls for the joint sale of automatic meter-reading equipment compatible with technology developed by both companies. The system will be based on Itron's radio meter technology.

Premera has awarded WhiteRunkle Associates of Spokane a significantly greater share of its advertising business. The long-timer provider of service to Medical Service Corp. of Eastern Washington also will manage the accounts of Blue Cross of Washington and Alaska and Health Plus. Premera is the holding company for all three, as well as LifeWise, its Oregon and Idaho brand.

Ross Rhinehart Jr. hoses down a concrete mix that will form an underground retaining wall to trap oil. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Stubborn regulators and soaring stock prices have scuttled a merger between two Inland Northwest banks. United Security Bancorporation and The Wheatland Bank Monday announced they were scrapping the $12.5 million transaction. Terms had called for the exchange of 2.5 shares of USB stock for each share of Wheatland stock. When the merger was disclosed in May, USB stock was selling for $13 per share.

Big shoes to fill. Outgoing Washington Water Power CEO Paul Redmond expects to have more time to fly his private airplane during retirement. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Advanced Hardware Architectures Inc. is challenging the patents of a competitor that claims infringement by the Pullman company. A complaint filed in U.S. District Court Friday alleges that patents held by Stac Inc. of San Diego since 1991 do nothing more than describe what was already known. Stac designs and markets products that increase computer storage capacity and the speed at which information can be transmitted.

Washington Water Power Co. wants to give about 5,000 customers more choices on buying electricity. A pilot program would allow a random sampling of Washington and Idaho consumers to stick with the existing, regulated rate, buy at potentially lower rates fixed for one year or one month, or select a "green" portfolio of wind, conservation and other non-traditional resources, said Rates Manager Tom Dukich. WWP would be the supplier unless the customer bought or leased a specialized meter. Those households and businesses could buy from anyone, he said.

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. was given the Exporter of the Year award by the Inland Northwest World Trade Council at its annual dinner last week. The company expects to ship 27 percent of its output to 36 foreign locations this year. The share was 7 percent just five years ago. The council, which has 200 members, also recognized Eastern Washington University Professor Morag Stewart as the International Educator of the Year, and Karen Marshall for her Outstanding Individual Contribution to International Trade.

Washington regulators will hold a hearing in Coulee Dam on Thursday to find out what Eastern Washington residents consider basic telephone service, and what it should cost. The comments will become part of a Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission report to the Legislature that is due by year-end, said Bob Shirley, a telecommunications analysts with the commission. The Legislature, in turn, will use the information to help create a universal service fund for subsidizing the cost of telephone use in high-cost, rural areas, he said. For example, Shirley said, the monthly cost of providing a residential line in Coulee Dam is about $53. The commission allows US West Communications to bill $10.50 for the service.

Robert Waggoner of Rahco International stands inside the cavernous "Ruslan" transport plane packed with Rahco canal-building gear destined for Egypt. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

The German contribution to Alabama's economic development didn't start with Daimler-Benz, an official with that state's Development Office said Friday. The maker of Mercedes autmobiles trailed by almost 50 years the maker of the Redstone, Saturn and other rockets that gave the U.S. the lead in the space race, said David Echols, who spoke to an Inland Northwest Partnership meeting at Eastern Washington University.

Dave Clack

The last decade has not been a good one for investors who put their money overseas expecting returns above those available in the U.S., the chief investment officer for Tacoma-based Frank Russell Co. said Thursday. Surging domestic markets have outpaced those just about anywhere else in the world, said Randy Lert. But, he added, longer horizons indicate foreign and domestic investments will perform alike over time.

CPM Development Corp., the holding company for Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co. and Inland Asphalt Co., has been sold for $94 million to an international building materials company based in Dublin, Ireland. The transaction was announced by CRH plc Wednesday after stock markets closed. CRH trades on the London and NASDAQ exchanges. The deal closed Friday. The Federal Trade Commission had previously reviewed the transaction for potential antitrust problems.

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Northwest Nexus Inc., the region's largest independent provider of Internet service to business, has acquired Data Source of Spokane. The deal, said Data Source's Chad Skidmore, will enable the company to add new services for local customers while it also builds alliances with like-sized providers in other regions of the country. By piecing together their own "backbone," he said, Northwest Nexus and its partners can improve customer access to a national network that is periodically bottlenecked.

Boats, biological adhesion or something in between investors were tantalized with the prospects for new wealth at a forum concluding today at the Doubletree Hotel Spokane City Center. Eight companies discussed their business plans and products during a succession of presentations to venture capitalists, specialists in private placement, and "angels" with the personal financial resources that enables them to take a flier on start-up businesses. Each also had a booth in an adjoining exhibition area and one, Duckworth Boat Co., showed off a couple of its sleek aluminum jetboats in the parking lot.

Washington Water Power Co. isn't the only Northwest utility relicensing dams on the region's rivers. In the next decade, more than a dozen licenses - some covering more than one dam - come before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for renewal. Projects involved range in size from barely three megawatts to the massive dams in Hells Canyon on the Snake River.