Office Hours blog." />
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
83°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Tom Sowa

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

All Stories

News >  Business

Coldwater Creek gets infusion of cash

One of the country’s largest private equity firms has loaned Coldwater Creek Inc. $65 million. Golden Gate Capital announced the five-year loan Monday at its San Francisco offices. In return, Golden Gate will place two directors on the board of the publicly traded women’s apparel retailer.
News >  Business

Home sale prices down in June

The median price increase from June 2011 to June 2012 was corrected in this story.

June home sale prices in Spokane County showed a narrow summertime dip. It was the kind of month that led Rob Higgins of the Spokane Realtors Association to repeat the recovery mantra: “What we need, obviously, are more people getting jobs.” Higgins said the data for June show Spokane median home sale prices dropping slightly and the number of units for sale up by about 70 homes, compared with May.
News >  Business

Publisher has big plans for Flour Mill’s lower level

Vince Bozzi was not looking to become an event center manager. Along with his wife, Emily, Bozzi runs several Spokane and Coeur d’Alene-based magazines under the name Bozzi Media. Last month they decided to buy the Chocolate Apothecary, a retail shop at the downtown Flour Mill. Perhaps overcome by chocolate fumes, the couple then bought Saunders Cheese Market, a Spokane business run since 2006 by their office manager, Kim Morin. The Bozzis are moving the cheese business into the chocolate shop.
News >  Business

Naming business can pose stern test

When the folks at Inland Imaging wanted to create a name for a new business they were launching, something rare happened. The found a name – Nuvodia – that produced absolutely no Web hits. “It was a complete blank slate” when searching for links to “Nuvodia,” said Jon Copeland, the CEO of the company launched in Spokane this year.
News >  Spokane

Grant boosts center for women, children

Union Gospel Mission has received a $700,000 grant to help complete construction of its new Coeur d’Alene Center for Women and Children. The grant comes from the Affordable Housing Program, a national bank-supported effort to create affordable housing for low-income or homeless families. The AHP was created in 1989 as a result of reforms imposed by Congress on savings and loans.
News >  Business

Paine Hamblen law firm names first female managing partner

Paine Hamblen LLP, Spokane’s second-oldest law firm, has appointed attorney Jane Brown to be its managing partner. That appointment marks the first time a woman has been named the top manager of one of Spokane’s largest law firms, longtime Spokane attorneys say. Brown, 52, has been with the firm since 1990, when she began work as a legal assistant. She graduated from Gonzaga Law School in 1995.
News >  Business

Starting up the future

The Spokane-area job picture is still shaky, with unemployment hovering near 10 percent. But in spite of the gloom, several startups are buzzing along, creating dozens of jobs and attracting workers. They aren’t the only companies that have grown during the recession, of course. But all three opened their doors during the worst economy in generations and have other characteristics in common, including a relatively young workforce and a national customer base.
News >  Spokane

Spokane developer planning to buy portion of Ridpath

A Spokane developer said Friday he may be a step closer to buying the foreclosed Y Building, one of several parts of the shuttered Ridpath Hotel properties. Stephen Antonietti said the Las Vegas lender that financed the building’s sale in 2008 failed to find a single bidder to take over the building, at the corner of First Avenue and Stevens Street.
News >  Business

Spa Paradiso to move to Kendall Yards

Spa Paradiso, the downtown beauty care business in the Davenport Hotel, will move into new space in the Kendall Yards development, owners Jan and Larry Schoonover said.
News >  Spokane

Hillyard man helped thousands track shooting via scanner

Earlier this week when area police rushed to find the man who wounded two Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies, thousands of people – here and across the region – tracked the drama by listening to the Spokane County Emergency Medical Services radio scanner. Some used actual scanners. But a large number – at one time more than 2,000 – tuned in through computers or smartphones.
News >  Business

Lee & Hayes expands scope of law practice

During its 18 years, Spokane-based law firm Lee & Hayes has developed a global reputation in intellectual property law. On Wednesday the law firm announced it is expanding by adding five attorneys for a new corporate and intellectual property litigation group.
News >  Business

Groupon invigorates park use

Popular deal promoter Groupon last year sold thousands of tickets for Spokane’s Riverfront Park. The deals, marketed through direct email coupons, were so successful the Spokane Parks Department just approved a new round of Groupon park promotions.
News >  Business

Residential property market shows signs of healing

It’s not time to break out the champagne yet, but many area real estate brokers have reason to think the first half of 2012 could mark a turnaround from the dismal past three years. They’re seeing positive signs: more homes are selling than a year ago; home prices are up compared with last month and last year; and overall inventory – the number of homes for sale – is dropping.
News >  Pacific NW

Nonprofit delays demolition

A Texas company cannot move forward with plans to demolish the 103-year-old Jensen-Byrd building in downtown Spokane until after a public hearing next month. Austin-based Campus Advantage Inc. is buying the six-floor former warehouse from Washington State University and plans to tear it down. The company plans to build student housing on the spot.
News >  Spokane

Climate, geography push Ephrata up list of glider pilots’ top spots

Noel Wade, an information technology manager in Seattle, was piloting his glider back to Ephrata airport last month after a 2  1/2-hour flight. He was starting his descent checklist, with the cockpit instruments telling him he had enough distance and altitude to make it the final four miles. He was at 1,200 feet above the town of Soap Lake, but he found his motorless glider moving slower and descending faster than it should have been. He realized he’d forgotten to retract the landing gear on takeoff.