Bert Caldwell

Twenty-three Cox Communications Inc. employees will lose their jobs when TeleCommunications Inc. takes over the Spokane-area cable television system next month. Allan Collins, Cox vice president and general manager in Spokane, said most of the cuts will affect workers in marketing and accounting.

State Farm insurance adjuster Tammi Marshall talks with John Roberts about damage to his north Spokane home. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

1. Technological treasure hunt. Dave and Linda Brower keep the phone lines busy at Western States Electric on Friday. The two have spent all their time at the office calling all over the country for everything from transformers to galvanized bolts for power line repairs. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Transformers are a hot commodity at Western States Electric, a supply store that is scrambling to keep up with demand because of the ice storm.

Linemen Dennis Scott and Bill Sharp work to restore power to Idaho's Blue Bay. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

An avalanche of callers seeking assistance with their winter heating bills brought phone service on parts of the South Hill to a near standstill Monday. The surge will be repeated today as thousands of low-income Spokane County residents compete for the help.

Kim Marcus, of Dames & Moore, does much of his work with foreign clients. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Old divisions over allocation of the Northwest's cheap hydroelectric power, and how much should be spent by whom on fish and conservation, erupted Wednesday in Spokane before a committee searching for consensus on those issues. In three hours of testimony before representatives of three regional governors, environmentalists criticized what they said were feeble commitments to restoration of Columbia River salmon runs.

Descriptions of Wells Fargo invoke images of a linebacker, not a bank. Tough. Aggressive. Savvy. Definitely a force to be reckoned with as it absorbs First Interstate Bank branches across the Northwest. Although Wells Fargo historically had a presence in the region - a Spokane office opened in 1879 - the bank stuck closer to its California roots than cross-state rival First Interstate.

Dozens of credit unions in Washington and Idaho are turning away potential members who do not belong to the industries the institutions were formed to serve. And many current members could be forced out if a U.S. District Court judge orders the credit unions to limit themselves to their core constituencies.

Washington Water Power Co. wants to sell its share of the Centralia Power Station, the executive in charge of the utility's thermal operations said Tuesday. George Perks said the Spokane utility notified Washington regulators and the seven other Centralia owners of its intentions last week.

Itron Inc. will read 50,000 meters for Southern California Edison in a test that could lead to the biggest deployment yet of its fixed-network automated meter-reading equipment. The utility, with 3.8 million meters, is the second largest in the United States.

A newly formed Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance should extend increasingly scarce conservation budgets, backers said Thursday. Although participating utilities are not dedicating any new money to the effort, working together will make the $65 million committed over the next three years go farther, said Washington Water Power Co. conservation analyst John Powell.

Thriving downtowns are the magnets that attract companies with high-paying jobs, hotel developer Don Barbieri said Wednesday. Although talk about the proposed downtown revitalization effort focuses on retaining Nordstrom and other retailers, he said, the project's importance goes beyond its impact on a few blocks in the city's core. Low wages are putting affordable housing beyond the reach of many in Spokane, Barbieri said. Recruiting companies with well-paid workers helps the whole community, he said, but executives who make relocation decisions are not going to move to areas without shopping and cultural amenities.

WSU student David DeVries, right, and Gonzaga University professor Shibi Bayyuk watch over fuel cell technology equipment. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

In rapid-fire testimony that won the admiration of the hearings officer, Spokane officials on Thursday unanimously endorsed forming a foreign trade zone at Spokane International Airport, the adjacent business park and Felts Field Airport. A trade zone, they said, would add to the list of pluses the area can use to attract new businesses, or retain those already here.

Establishing a foreign trade zone is not a sure-fire economic booster, but it does show an area wants to be more aggressive in international commerce, a federal official says. John Da Ponte, executive secretary of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board, will be in Spokane today to conduct a hearing on a Spokane Airport Board application to create a zone covering Spokane International Airport, the adjacent business park and Felts Field.

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. reported a $6.6 million loss for the third quarter on Wednesday, a figure at the low end of a preliminary announcement made two weeks ago. The red ink, equivalent to 12 cents per common share, contrasts with net income of $12.5 million, or 13 cents per share, for the same three-month period last year.

The Internet has snagged little Wheatland Bank. A Visa card offered by the Davenport-based institution turned up last summer on a cyber-list of those charging the least interest and no annual fee.

Washington Water Power Co.'s wholesale electricity business brightened normally lackluster third-quarter earnings, the utility announced Tuesday. Revenues increased almost 40 percent to $219.8 million, of which $63.5 million was generated in wholesale markets where WWP has emerged as a leading player.

Itron Inc. has primped for a party, but finds itself at the window searching for the guests. The Spokane maker of automated meter-reading systems for utility companies has developed state-of-the-art products.

Fans of Eddie Bauer clothing and gear will soon be able to show off purchases from the famed Seattle outfitter at locales from the Galapagos Islands to the Alps, thanks to a new pact with Spokane-based Ambassador Programs. Eddie Bauer Travel will be launched next month with catalog inserts and direct mailings to the retailer's Vibram-heeled clientele, said Ambassador President Jeff Thomas.

Karen Marshall is blazing a trail that could lead the world to Spokane. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Telemarketing fraud has become a $40 billion industry, and more than half the victims are senior citizens, a former investigator with the Washington Attorney General's Office said Tuesday. Doug Shadel, now an educator with the American Association of Retired Persons' Seattle office, said retirees are targeted because they are easily contacted at their homes, have money and, most importantly, are trusting.

Stocks of companies based in the Inland Northwest figured highly and lowly in the Dain Bosworth Pacific Northwest 100 stock index in the quarter that ended Monday. Gold Reserve, which closed at $13.13, polished off the three-month period with a 72 percent increase. The mining company has reported ever higher estimated reserves at its Venezuela concessions.