Spokane rates high for brains
Spokane is brainy, according to a new survey from newspaper group American City Business Journals.
It’s not Boulder, Colo. brainy; it’s not even Boise brainy. But at No. 60 out of 171 metropolitan areas ranked, based on the educational achievement of working-age adults, Spokane tops McAllen, Texas (ranked dead last), Tacoma, Los Angeles and New York.
American Cities Business Journals’ rankings use a formula that gives different point scores depending on the highest educational rank reached by working-age adults. A graduate or professional degree, for example, merits 5 points; no high school degree is 0 points. Points are multiplied by the percentage of working-age adults at that level, taken from U.S. Census Bureau data.
Boulder comes in at the top of the list, with nearly 25 percent of its working-age adults holding advanced degrees. In Spokane, that group comprises about 8 percent of the working-age population, although nearly 28 percent has some college education.
Boise ranked No. 30 on the list, and Seattle No. 15.
ISR leases new space in Liberty Lake
ISR, Inc. said it has leased another 28,000 square feet of space adjacent to its main building in Liberty Lake to accommodate its growing commercial-products division.
The company announced the formation of that division in August, and said at the time it should employ about 30 people by the start of 2006. ISR employs about 200 now in Liberty Lake and about 250 companywide.
The new space will house ISR’s finance and information technology departments as well as the commercial division, the company said in a press release. The office has been outfitted with a custom test lab. With the additional space, ISR occupies about 75,000 square feet of space in Liberty Lake.
The privately held company was founded in 1988, and up until now it has worked under government contracts for the U.S. military. The company developed a patented technology called SprayCool to cool heat-generating electronic components.
In late August, ISR landed a $6 million investment from a Vancouver, B.C., venture capital firm to accelerate the growth of its commercial division.
Shopko gets unsolicited offer
Discount chain ShopKo Stores Inc. Monday said it received an unsolicited offer to be acquired by an investment group for $26.50 a share, or $822 million, plus assumed debt, just days after its board accepted a bid that was 4 percent lower from another group.
The new offer for the Green Bay, Wis., retailer, came from Sun Capital Partners Group IV Inc., Developers Diversified Realty Corp., Lubert-Adler Partners and Elliott Management Corp.
It surpasses a sweetened bid of about $25.50 a share, or $790 million plus the assumption of debt, last week by Badger Retail Holding Inc., an affiliate of Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc., of Minneapolis.
Monday, ShopKo’s shares closed at $26.28, up 76 cents, or 3 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.