Parker Howell

The Better Business Bureau in Spokane is warning consumers about what it calls an advance-fee loan scam by a company claiming to operate in Nine Mile Falls. The bureau received complaints about callers purporting to represent Cornerstone Investment who offer loans to applicants who will wire an advance fee of $3,200, according to the BBB. The caller claims the loan funds will be deposited in the customer's account within two days, but it never shows up.

A new grassroots movement hopes to foster investment in area "green" businesses — but first needs some green of its own. The Sustainable Local Investments Partnership would seek to set up investment accounts at banks that would help bankroll loans for "environmentally sustainable and socially responsible" businesses that normally might not qualify for such financing.

A Honolulu-based solar-energy firm is expected to be the second tenant at Avista Utilities' test bed for clean energy sources. Sopogy Inc. plans to use part of the five-acre Rathdrum facility to assess its concentrated solar power technology on the mainland, said Jim Maskrey, vice president of business development and sales.

While volatility rocked Wall Street Thursday, local financial planners characterized the instability as a natural part of the market cycle. Investment advisers stressed the need for long-term investing, saying they haven't received inquiries from panicked investors because of how they've set up clients' portfolios.

Mining has resumed at the copper-silver Troy Mine in northwestern Montana, but federal investigators on Wednesday still were looking into an underground accident that killed a miner there last month. Although the Mine Safety and Health Administration last week approved mining in most areas of the mine, the section where a July 30 groundfall buried a pickup driven by the victim will be isolated, according to mine majority owner Revett Minerals Inc. of Spokane Valley. The administration considers that area hazardous, and a routine investigation into the fatal accident is ongoing, said MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

Some investment analysts this summer have changed their tune on Avista Corp. stock, recommending people buy it in light of optimistic predictions about company performance next year. Avista recently lowered per-share earnings expectations for 2007, and its stock closed at just $19.69 on Monday – near its 52-week low. But analysts foresee a possible rate increase helping Avista's bottom line and predict potential dividend increases as the company looks to refinance debt and focus on its core regulated-utility business.

A new, super-fast data link between Spokane and Seattle is ready to connect regional researchers to distant colleagues after three years in the making. City and state officials on Tuesday will ceremonially launch the Inland Northwest Gigapop, a $2.5 million project that may tie area universities, schools and hospitals already connected to high-speed fiber-optic networks to national and international high-performance networks. Project advocates bill the link as promoting research and, eventually, driving economic development.

A new, preliminary review of small-business incubators statewide found that while Washington has spent millions of dollars on such organizations, there isn't enough data to adequately measure their performance. But incubator advocates contested that conclusion Wednesday, saying there is proof that incubators boost small businesses' success.

A San Francisco Bay Area private equity firm has purchased Spokane Valley-based Robotic Process Systems Inc., which develops and produces soldering equipment for the circuit board manufacturing and assembly industry. Bought by GaitherCapital last week, the 22-person company will stay local but be renamed RPS Automation LLC, said Reed Gaither, managing director of GaitherCapital. While Robotic Process Systems had a "great name and a great product," it was looking for money to expand after suffering in the post-Sept. 11 electronics industry slowdown, he said.

Two Spokane-based employment-services organizations will receive a combined roughly $4.1 million in federal money this year to help needy parents find work. Nonprofit Career Path Services will get about $1.8 million to serve people in Spokane, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Ferry and Okanogan counties as part of state programs to assist parents on welfare who've had trouble getting or keeping jobs. While the organization has held a local contract for nine years, it also successfully bid for about $1.9 million to expand its services into Western Washington.

The founders of Pondera Engineers LLC went from engineers to businessmen nearly overnight three years ago. A spinoff of Itron Inc., the company started with a software product used by the power utility industry and dozens of customers. But it entered a niche market already dominated by a competing firm.

Spokane biotechnology company GenPrime Inc. plans to use a new $500,000 loan from a fund for regional technology companies to finance field testing and marketing of its latest product — a rapid test for bacteria in blood platelet supplies. The company still requires federal approval of its portable BacSTAT device, which it is looking to launch this year, said Johnny Humphreys, chairman of GenPrime's board of directors.

Spokane Valley-based Ecolite Manufacturing Co. is slated to fabricate equipment for a new two-megawatt solar power plant destined for a California utility. The product of an undisclosed arrangement between startup GreenVolts Inc. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co., both of San Francisco, the plant will sit on eight acres in Tracy, Calif., according to a PG&E news release. The project, the first commercial GreenVolts plant, will be completed in 2009.

Local consumers may get their hands on Apple's much-anticipated mobile phone Friday evening. But unlike its ubiquitous cousin the iPod, the iPhone won't be on sale at big box stores or most electronics shops. Would-be purchasers are limited to buying online or visiting four Spokane and Hayden AT&T retail locations when the phone debuts at 6 p.m.