Bert Caldwell

Washington manufacturers are an unhappy lot. At least they were back in August. Accountants, on the other hand, should be smiling right on through.

Record year for unemployment claims

The purchase of AmericanWest Bank by a new holding company closed Monday. SKBHC Holdings LLC paid $6.5 million for the Spokane bank and its Utah division, Far West Bank. The group also injected $185 million in capital into the bank, which was reeling from losses on construction and real estate loans.

Purchase of AmericanWest closes

Gov. Chris Gregoire did the moral and immoral in a single turn last week: She released a balanced budget for the 2011-’13 biennium. The 40-page summation is moral in that it meets her constitutional obligation to assure the state lives within means diminished by a sluggish economy. It is immoral, by her own definition, because thousands of Washington’s sick and disabled will not get help that the state has been providing.

Foreclosures in Spokane County fell last month but remained significantly above the pace of November 2009, according to figures released Thursday by RealtyTrak. The online foreclosure marketplace said 167 Spokane homes – one in every 1,182 – went into foreclosure, down 52 percent from 109 in October. But only 64 homes were foreclosed a year ago.

Foreclosures drop in Spokane

A longtime tenant of Felts Field will take over responsibility for fueling planes, and plans to add other services under a contract approved Wednesday by the Spokane International Airport board of directors. The five-year agreement with Western Avionics Inc., doing business as Western Aviation, will bring continuity to Felts operations, which have been hampered by inconsistent service, said interim airport Director Skip Davis.

Felts Field to get more services

Spokane County’s unemployment rate rose to 8.4 percent in November despite an increase in jobs. New jobs in health care and hospitality were augmented by earlier than usual winter recreation hires, said state Employment Security Department labor analyst Doug Tweedy.

Spokane County’s unemployment rate increased to 8.4 percent in November despite an increase in jobs.

Unemployment rate up despite added jobs

Here’s one bottom line on all the foolishness about perpetuating the worst-conceived tax cuts in U.S. history: the transfer of $500 billion more in American wealth to the Chinese. Not to pick on the Chinese, much. Their response to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo – creation of an alternative Confucius Peace Prize – was a sad farce.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams on Thursday authorized the sale of AmericanWest Bank to a holding company that will inject as much as $200 million into the Spokane-based institution. The $6.5 million deal between AmericanWest Bancorporation and SKBHC Holdings LLC is expected to close by the end of the year, possibly before Christmas.

Judge approves AmericanWest sale

Unemployment insurance rates to rise in 2011

Rock Pointe Corporate Center has been placed in receivership, and a trustee’s sale of a second major Spokane building owned by a related group is scheduled for next week. Rock Pointe tenants were notified Friday that Prium Companies, which in November 2005 paid $82.8 million for the complex, located at 316 W. Boone Ave., was no longer manager. No rent was to be paid to Prium, and no directions from that Tacoma company followed, according to a letter from Ted Durant & Associates Inc.