Agora Awards To Be Announced

Winners of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce’s Agora Awards will be announced at a breakfast ceremony Wednesday.

The event begins at 7:20 a.m. at the Spokane Ag Trade Center.

The Agora, billed as “Spokane’s most prestigious award for business excellence,” recognizes and honors entrepreneurs for their contributions to the region’s economic and cultural progress.

For more information, call Louise Fendrich at 459-4109.

The Agora presentation is the kick-off event locally for Small Business Week 2000, a nationwide observance. Several seminars tied to the theme, “Seven E-Days in May,” are scheduled in Spokane. Check http://www.spokanechamber.org/sbw for a complete list.

In other events this week:

Monday

ABC News analyst and newsmagazine co-anchor Cokie Roberts will be the keynote speaker for the 8th annual luncheon to benefit the Women Helping Women Fund at noon at the Ag Trade Center. For information, call Mary Perdue at 328-8285 or go to http://www.wehelpwhwfspokane.org.

* Monsanto Co. scientist Richard Goodman will speak on “Genetically Engineered Crops: Current Products, Benefits and Safety” during a talk presented by the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute and Eastern Washington University at 7 p.m. at SIRTI, 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd. The talk is free and open to the public.

* Federal Reserve reports on industrial production for April.

Tuesday

The Federal Reserve Board’s policy-making Open Market Committee meets to set interest rates.

* The Entrepreneurs Forum of the Great Northwest presents a seminar on “Legal Issues for Start-ups: Protecting Your Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks” at 5 p.m. at the Bayou Brewery, 1007 E. Trent. For information, call Steve Wilson at 624-8141.

Wednesday

Washington State Community, Trade and Economic Development presents the 14th Annual Downtown Revitalization Training Institute through Friday in Olympia. For more information, call Susan Kempf at (360) 586-8977.

* The Columbia Basin Development League meets at 6:30 p.m. at Michael J’s Restaurant in Connell.

Thursday

The Service Corps of Retired Executives presents a Breakfast for Your Brain seminar on “Marketing Business on the Internet” from 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. in Suite 240 of the Spokane Regional Business Center, 801 W. Riverside. Cost: $15, $10 for chamber members; for information, call 353-2800 or go to http://www.spokanechamber.org/bic.

This sidebar appeared with the story: ON THE SHELF Cashing in on the tech revolution

Forbes, May 15: Goldman Sachs is at the forefront of a race to exploit the technology that otherwise might destroy it, the magazine says in a cover story.

Business Week, May 15: There’s a 67 percent chance of a stock market crash this year, the magazine says, based on an analysis of 100 years of data.