Bert Caldwell

Washington Water Power Co. and the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute will cooperate on the development of fuel cell technology like that used in spacecraft. Together with other potential partners, said SIRTI Assistant Director John Ryan, the work could lead to construction of a manufacturing facility in Spokane.

Neither side in the weeklong strike against Kaiser Aluminum Corp. takes for granted the outcome of today's vote on a new contract. United Steelworkers of America pickets at the company's Spokane plants said Monday they are not sure modifications made Saturday in talks between the two sides address their fears about potential job cuts.

Negotiators for Kaiser Aluminum Corp. and the United Steelworkers of America retired to their corners Sunday after another round of talks yielded a potential settlement to a strike that enters its second week today. The agreement was disclosed late Saturday, after the two sides had met separately and together throughout the day in Salt Lake City.

Sunh Han throws aluminum into a crucible of the molten metal at the Kaiser Mead plant Saturday. Han usually works as a lubrication engineer at the Trentwood plant. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

County worker Pat Riley assembles a fence to keep pickets off the streets near Kaiser Trentwood planr. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

A trucker and his companion are subdued by Kaiser security at the east entrance to the Trentwood plant. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Rick Bower, a furnace pour operator at Kaiser's Mead smelter, gives "five" to a passing motorist. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The Washington Water Power Co. will help with privatization of the stateowned electric utility in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic deep in Central Asia. Representatives of the two utilities signed an agreement Wednesday under which WWP will lend technical and other assistance to the Kyrgyz Energy State Holding Co.

A proposed gas-fired turbine near Creston could overload transmission lines to Spokane, Washington Water Power Co. engineer Scott Waples said. And, added Bob Anderson, the Spokane utility's manager of licensing and environment, WWP is scrutinizing the turbine developers' application for a right to take water from the Spokane River above its Little Falls Dam. But both said they expect their concerns to be resolved without major differences with the plant's backers, KVA Resources Inc. of Bellevue and CSW Energy Inc. of Dallas.

Valley Assembly of God Pastor C. Allen Hulten checks drawings for the new sanctuary. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Washington Water Power Co. and some of its present and former subsidiaries have been sued by the minority partner in a British Columbia plant that burns wood waste to generate electricity. Houston-based Tondu Energy Systems Inc. filed its complaint last week in Spokane County Superior Court. The company is seeking $10 million and other damages. Tondu alleges WWP and a subsidiary, Pentzer Corp., denied it the chance to buy half of the Spokane companies' one-third interest in the Williams Lake Generating Station.

Sagging Spokane area construction activity in the last half of 1994 dragged totals for the year below those for 1993. In December, the city issued the fewest number of permits for singlefamily homes - 11 - since February 1988. That was one of the worst years for home building in the last quarter century. The county issued 54 permits, down almost 40 percent from the 89 of a year ago.

Itron Inc. Monday reported record earnings for 1994 and the fourth quarter. The Spokane maker of automated meter-reading equipment for the utilities industry said revenues for the quarter ended Dec. 31 reached $34.9 million, a 43 percent increase from the 1993 period.

Stronger fourth-quarter earnings were not enough to keep Washington Water Power Co. results for 1994 from slipping below 1993 levels. Chairman Paul Redmond said warm temperatures and low streamflows sapped 1994 earnings.

FOR THE RECORD: (February 4, 1995): A Washington Utilities and Transportation action against International Pacific Inc. was undertaken before its acquisition last year by LDDS Communications Inc. An article in the Jan. 27 Spokesman-Review implied otherwise.

The last major piece of litigation generated by Washington Public Power Supply System plants Nos. 4 & 5 has been resolved. The settlement, disclosed in a memorandum of understanding announced Wednesday, will cost Washington Water Power Co. $500,000.

December home sales in Spokane dropped 11 percent below year-ago levels, but the total for the month was still the highest since December 1993, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors. Also, prices continued to increase - by 11 percent over December 1993 and 3 percent over November. The association's Multiple Listing Service reported 607 homes sold during the month, down from 682 the year before.

Mark Harnishfeger says the success of his consumer counseling is due to his religious studies. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Earthquake-caused destruction at the port of Kobe has jarred shipment of Jacklin Seed Co. containers to Japan. Vice President Hiromi Yanagisawa said the Post Falls company was notified Thursday the port will be closed for six months. The port in nearby Osaka, to which many ships have been redirected, will close for a week while officials decide how to handle the backlog, he said. Meanwhile, Jacklin has eight containers of seed sitting on a Seattle dock. Those must be loaded by 5 p.m. today in order to be accepted at Osaka, Yanagisawa said.

Efforts to boost salmon survival have driven up BPA's energy costs and made the agency less competitive. File/Associated Press

Ed Cassens

Starting Sunday, dialing parts of Western Washington will take a 360-degree turn. That - 360 - is the new longdistance code for the area outside a corridor that stretches from Everett to Tacoma, with a tentacle reaching up the Green River Valley. For the next four months, callers into Vancouver, Olympia, Bellingham and non-metropolitan areas of Western Washington who continue to use 206 will get a message informing them of the new 360 area code, but their calls will go through.