John Stucke

A pair of Portland brokers have been targeted by a federal grand jury and ordered to cooperate in a separate U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud investigation into Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.'s failure 18 months ago. The developments against William Sears and Patricia Jean Sears illuminate the continuing interest federal officials have in pursuing cases against former Metropolitan officials and traders. Though no Metropolitan employee or executive has been charged with a crime, numerous lawsuits and a special Bankruptcy Court-ordered examination allege possible securities and accounting fraud along with improper trading practices.

Nurses, technicians and other hospital workers at Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center approved a new union contract that assures a 9 percent wage increase within a year. The contract is a first for about 1,500 hospital employees who voted during the past two years to organize under the Service Employees International Union District 1199NW.

Festering problems between bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities and its valuable insurance affiliate threaten to cut the amount creditors could get back. "We have a bunch of investors over the age of 70 … and all of us should exist only to find as much money for these folks as possible," said Ford Elsaesser, an attorney for another Metropolitan affiliate.

A decision on a the fate of three insurance affiliates of bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. might be weeks away, according to the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Though several bids were submitted in late May, regulators are moving slowly on the sale of Spokane-based Western United Life Assurance Co., Old Standard Life Insurance Co., of Idaho, and Old West Annuity and Life Insurance Co., of Arizona. The three companies were offered for sale as a package deal with the goal of earning cash for thousands of Metropolitan creditors.

Kaiser Aluminum and the state Department of Ecology have reached a deal calling on the company to clean up dangerous industrial pollutants from the Trentwood rolling mill. The agreement is considered a major step to finally get a fix on the polychlorinated biphenyls (commonly known as PCBs), diesel fuel, oils and metals from the massive Spokane Valley factory.

Kaiser Aluminum and the Washington Department of Ecology have reached a deal calling on the company to clean up dangerous industrial pollutants from the Trentwood rolling mill. The agreement is considered a major step to finally get a fix on the polychlorinated biphenyls (commonly known as PCBs), diesel fuel, oils and metals from the massive Spokane Valley factory.

Kaiser Aluminum filed its bankruptcy reorganization plan Wednesday, a 3½-year effort that would wipe away debts and render its common stock worthless, but would salvage key parts of the once-proud company to keep hundreds of people employed in Spokane. Anticipated for many months, the plan calls for Kaiser to climb out of bankruptcy and conduct business with a fresh balance sheet and new labor agreements.

Lawyers argued Monday whether churches and schools should be sold or mortgaged to settle sex abuse claims that have sunk the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane into bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams plans to rule within six weeks, deciding whether parishes are stand-alone organizations or belong to the diocese.

Monday marks perhaps the most significant action to date in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy case. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams will hear arguments that could fold Catholic parish properties across Eastern Washington into the financial holdings of the diocese.

Kaiser Aluminum and the United Steelworkers of America have agreed to a new five-year contract. The smooth negotiations were markedly different from the acrimony of the last labor pact, reached only after the company locked out Steelworkers for 20 months in one of the toughest union-company fights in recent memory.

Catholic parishes in Eastern Washington have asked that payments to bankruptcy lawyers be suspended or at least held down until the clergy sex abuse case is settled. With legal fees running in excess of $325,000 a month draining the cash reserves of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, parish members worry that the diocese could run out of money before the case is resolved.

Bids to buy the three insurance affiliates of bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. will be kept confidential until a purchaser is announced. The companies, including Spokane-based Western United Life Assurance Co., Old Standard Life Insurance Co., of Idaho, and Old West Annuity and Life Insurance Co., of Arizona, were put up for sale together in late March by the insurance commissioners of the three states.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane now says that it overstated the number of alleged sexual abuse victims who haven't filed lawsuits, a disclosure that could undermine the validity of a key creditors' committee. When the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December, it did so with the caveat that the more than 60 people who had filed lawsuits weren't the only victims of pedophile priests.

The board of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council came out against Mayor Jim West on Wednesday, joining two other key business groups and a unified City Council in asking for West's resignation. Also on Wednesday, Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard called for West to step down.

Rains that have swept across large swaths of Eastern Washington are expected to deliver the best winter wheat crop in five years. Drought fears have eased for grain farmers, especially for those in the higher rainfall areas around Spokane and south through the Palouse.