Housing fuels economic growth

Washington Consumer inflation shot up in July as rising gasoline prices pinched drivers’ wallets from coast to coast. But the rest of the economy kept pushing forward with industrial output rising and housing construction staying at a supercharged level.

A flurry of reports Tuesday depicted a country that so far is withstanding this year’s surge in energy prices, helped by a continued boom in housing activity, the economy’s strongest sector.

Consumer prices jumped 0.5 percent in July, the biggest increase in three months, but the price pressures came almost entirely from surging costs for gasoline and other energy products.

Outside of the volatile food and energy areas, consumer prices rose a much more modest 0.1 percent in July, reflecting in part the biggest drop in new car prices in 30 years.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes and apartments totaled 2.042 million units in July. While that was down a slight 0.1 percent from June, it marked the eighth month in the past 10 that housing construction has been above the 2 million mark, reflecting frenzied activity on the part of builders to keep up with record demand.

Even manufacturing, the weakest part of the economy, managed to post a 0.1 percent rise in industrial production in July, according to a Federal Reserve report. Analysts said the gain would have been much stronger except for a drop in mining output reflecting hurricane-related shutdowns of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and retooling in the auto industry.

Construction starts on Upper Falls condos

Construction began Tuesday on a 32-unit, six-story condominium complex that will overlook the Spokane River, just north of downtown.

Development firm Upper Falls LLC, led by WestCoast Hospitality Corp. Chairman Don Barbieri, is building the Upper Falls Condominiums, which will range in size from 2,000 square feet to 4,000-plus, and in price from $500,000 to more than $1 million.

Spokane sports team owner Bobby Brett is planning to buy one of the units, according to a news release issued Tuesday.

Barbieri said he’s also planning to live in one of the condominiums, which he said are 50 percent reserved. Parking for the condominiums will be underground.

The project is being built next to the Flour Mill shopping center at 820 N. Post Street. Completion of the project, which is being built by Goebel Construction, is slated for fall 2006. The project is being financed by U.S. Bank.

Partners in Upper Falls LLC include Barbieri, Sharon Smith, Flour Mill owner Maxwell Drever and California businessman Mark Conroe.

Avista seeks rate increase in Oregon

Avista Utilities’ 90,000 customers in Oregon will see natural gas rates rise by 18 to 25 percent if regulators in that state approve a request the Spokane-based company filed Tuesday.

The proposed increase would generate an additional $18.9 million in annual revenues to offset the higher cost of wholesale natural gas, the company said in a news release.

Natural gas prices tripled between December 2000 and the end of 2004 as oil prices reached record highs, the release said. The price utilities pay for natural gas – about $8 per 1,000 cubic feet – is running almost 33 percent higher than a year ago, when the price was about $6, the release said.

Natural gas rates recently have risen for Avista’s Washington and Idaho customers as well.

Atlas Mining set to buy Utah clay mine

Atlas Mining Co. has raised $4.4 million to develop a halloysite clay project in Utah.

The Osburn, Idaho, company will use funds from the restricted stock sale to purchase the Dragon Mine in Juab County, pay off debts and move the mine toward production, said Bill Jacobson, company president.

Halloysite is specialty clay used in ceramics, fine porcelain and water filtering systems. Atlas Mining has leased the Dragon Mine for several years, putting in infrastructure, a mill and underground tunnels.

U.S. urges Internet agency to go slow on .xxx

New York Acknowledging “unprecedented” opposition, the U.S. government has asked the Internet’s key oversight agency to delay approval of a new “.xxx” domain name designed as a virtual red-light district.

Michael D. Gallagher, assistant secretary for communications and information at the Commerce Department, stopped short of urging its rejection, but he called on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to “ensure the best interests of the Internet community as a whole are fully considered.”

The department received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails expressing concerns about the impact of pornography on families and children and objecting to setting aside a domain suffix for it, he said.

Approval of the domain name had been expected as early as Tuesday, five years after it was first proposed and two months after ICANN gave it a tentative OK. Gallagher’s letter was sent last week and made public Monday.

Qwest workers’ union says it has new contract

Denver

Qwest Communications’ largest union said it reached a contract agreement with the company late Tuesday, removing the threat of a strike by 25,000 telephone workers in 13 states.

The agreement includes a 7.5 percent wage increase over three years, changes to health care to reduce overall costs for many employees and an eight-hour cap on mandatory overtime, union spokeswoman Candice Johnson said. Workers must still ratify the pact.

A spokesman for Qwest Communications International Inc., Bob Toevs, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. Denver-based Qwest is the primary local telephone service provider in 14 states.