Week in Review

An insurance affiliate of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. has leveled a $220 million claim against the bankrupt firm, which threatens to delay or reduce the cash recovery of investors throughout the Northwest. Western United Life Assurance Co., which is being run in receivership by the Washington Insurance Commissioner’s office, made good on a long-standing threat to file the claim — in essence, blaming its massive losses and writedowns on Metropolitan.

Tuesday

Penn Siegel, president and CEO of Spokane-based Potlatch Corp., said he would step down from those posts in February. Mike Covey, an executive vice president at Plum Creek Timber Co., will succeed Siegel in those positions. Siegel, 63, will remain Potlatch’s chairman through 2006, the company said.

“ Westin Hotels & Resorts said it is banning smoking indoors and poolside at all 77 of its properties in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. Westin is the first major American hotel chain to go smoke-free; other chains are predicted to see how the ban goes for Westin before making their own decisions.

Wednesday

Avista Corp. recently paid $19 million to buy back its corporate headquarters, after selling the property for $19.5 million in 1986. For the past 20 years, the Spokane energy company has been leasing the property at 1411 E. Mission Ave. for an average of $2.3 million per year.

“ Seat owners of the New York Stock Exchange voted to acquire Archipelago Holdings Inc., a deal that will transform the 213-year-old Big Board into a for-profit company with new, high-tech trading capabilities.

Thursday

Best Buy posted a letter on its Web site to apologize that some of its stores — including the one in Spokane Valley — forced customers to buy merchandise they may not have wanted the day Microsoft’s hotly anticipated Xbox gaming system debuted. On Nov. 22, the Valley Best Buy store posted signs saying it would only sell the Xbox as part of a $570 package including games and accessories, even though the chain had advertised the system alone at $299.99 in advance of the sale.

Friday

Rates on 30-year mortgages, which had fallen for two weeks, resumed their increases. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.32 percent, up from 6.26 percent the previous week. Rates three weeks ago had hit 6.37 percent, which had been the highest level in more than two years.