Parker Howell

The family that owns Liberty Lake-based cabinetmaker Huntwood Industries is launching a "family-friendly" movie and TV show production company, the corporation's general manager said Thursday. Hunt Entertainment Group LLC will look to make feature films for theatrical release, and its owners have pledged as much as 36,000 square feet of a Liberty Lake building for soundstage and office facilities, said Craig Binkley, vice president of acquisition and development for Hunt Entertainment.

After years of planning, Cheney may be closer to realizing a long-awaited industrial park. The city wants to use a new $1.48 million federal grant and work with a box manufacturer there to create a 38-acre research and industrial park on the southwest end of town that officials envision attracting new jobs and tax revenues.

Starting next year, consumers may be eligible for as much as $80 in federal vouchers good toward devices allowing older televisions to receive broadcast channels after stations switch to purely digital signals in 2009. Stations currently broadcast both traditional analog signals, which people can pick up with "rabbit ear" or roof antennas, and digital signals, but they'll switch to using solely digital after Feb. 17, 2009. TV watchers who don't have a digital-to-analog converter box, newer television with a digital tuner, or a cable or satellite subscription will be out of luck.

Biomedical researchers in Spokane's University District in two years could be using a planned supercomputer cluster there funded by a new $1 million state grant. Much of a parallel $1 million award for the Pullman Industrial Park area is slated to help found a nonprofit center dedicated to promoting "green" data centers.

Spokane technology company NextSentry Corp. sued former CEO Jim Hereford on Wednesday, alleging he knowingly made "false and misleading" statements about the company's operations and prospects to its board and shareholders. NextSentry claims Hereford violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act and his fiduciary duties to the company, according to the 16-page lawsuit filed in Spokane County Superior Court. The lawsuit claims he falsely said some sales contracts had been closed and caused fictional contract amounts to be booked as assets, resulting in the company overstating its 2006 revenues by about $205,000, or 59 percent.

A Virginia-based maker of rugged handheld computers plans to buy long-range wireless network equipment company Vivato Networks Inc., which has Spokane operations. Catcher Holdings Inc. has an agreement to buy Portland-headquartered Vivato Networks, which employs two in the Spokane area and provided equipment for the city's wireless Hot Zone. Two-year-old Catcher Inc. also has local ties, using contract manufacturer Key Tronic Corp. to make its $7,000 handheld computers aimed at the military and first responders, said Hal Turner, chairman and CEO of Catcher Holdings.

Searchers found the bodies of a Spokane climber and his son Saturday in a rugged wilderness area in Chelan County southwest of Leavenworth following a days-long hunt. The bodies of Otto Vaclavek, 53, and his 12-year-old son, Max, were found about 3 p.m. in the area of Dragontail Peak, which rises roughly 8,800 feet in the Wenatchee National Forest, said Chelan County sheriff's deputy Gene Ellis. It appears they may have fallen onto rocks, Ellis said.

A 16-year-old St. John-Endicott varsity quarterback was in intensive care at a Spokane hospital Saturday after collapsing during a game the night before. Beau Winters, the son of St. John-Endicott schools Superintendent Rick Winters, was taken by helicopter to Deaconess Medical Center, where he underwent surgery Friday night to remove a blood clot creating pressure on his brain. Eagles coach Joey McCanna said the teenager, who remains sedated but in stable condition, did not make contact with other players during the play against Sprague-Harrington.

A California-based company that helps background-screening businesses check people's employment and education histories both nationwide and internationally opened a Spokane office this summer and is looking to expand. ReferencePro's local office, opened in June, employs 10, and the company may add six more over the next few weeks, said Jay Fa'asala, director of operations. Headquartered in Novato, Calif., the company has yearly revenues of more than $1 million and employs about 25 people total, said Craig Caddell, vice president.

A local university professor, a business executive and an environmental group leader are starting a non-profit center to spur Pacific Northwest businesses into adapting to and helping alleviate global climate change. The Northwest Climate Change Center will seek to help companies and communities develop and execute climate-change plans, drawing on experts in fields such as "green" building, transportation and energy. The brainchild of Washington State University Spokane health policy and administration associate professor Melissa Ahern, PacifiCAD Inc. President and CEO Ron Reed and The Lands Council Executive Director Mike Petersen, the center is another development in a growing local focus on green practices in the face of potentially harmful global warming and scarcity of fossil fuels.

Former House speaker and potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich touted Inland Northwest Health Services as a "dramatic, pioneering effort" Thursday during a keynote address at a healthcare-information technology conference in Spokane. Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation, spoke to about 250 doctors, IT personnel and medical administrators at the fourth annual Northwest Medical Informatics Symposium, presented by INHS.

Spokane venture capital firm Northwest Venture Associates will not seek to raise a new fund, focusing instead on overseeing its existing portfolio and aiding local companies, its managing partner said Monday. NWVA will support its investments in 16 existing companies, including local corporations SprayCool and World Wide Packets, using what's left of a $133 million fund raised in 2000, said Tom Simpson. But the four-person firm won't invest in any new businesses, he said.

Two north Spokane assisted living facilities closed last week after about 30 residents relocated, but some of the elderly clients have not adjusted well to the move, a former staff member said. One resident repeatedly has run away from a new home, and another had a massive heart attack and was in intensive care, said Amy Rossi, who worked as a caregiver at both Heritage House and Cornerstone Place. Operated by Spokane Valley-based Alternative Care Corp., the facilities closed last week as part of the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

A national company that administers employee benefits has purchased Administration Services Inc., a similar business in Spokane. Zenith Administrators Inc. of Chicago plans to merge its Spokane office with ASI, which has 43 employees, but the local company will keep its name and clients for now, said John Corapi, Zenith president and CEO. Both firms are privately held and primarily administer Taft-Hartley Act trust funds, including overseeing health claims and pensions, he said.

Spokane-based Columbia Paint and Coatings Co. is slated to become a subsidiary of the nation's largest paint maker, the Sherwin-Williams Co., following a planned merger, the companies announced Tuesday. Sherwin-Williams isn't planning short-term changes to the operations of the 60-year-old paint manufacturer and distributor, executives from both corporations said. Privately held Columbia Paint operates 41 stores in eight Western states, including Washington and Idaho.