Business in brief: Spokane low for foreclosures
The foreclosure rate last year in Spokane County ranked among the lowest in the United States, according to statistics released Thursday by RealtyTrac, which markets foreclosed properties nationally.
Of the 203 markets surveyed by the company, Spokane ranked 181, with one of every 199 homes subject to some type of foreclosure action. The rate fell compared with 2008 and 2007.
Coeur d’Alene was not included in the rankings, but with one home in 38 subject to a foreclosure notice, the city would have placed between No. 47 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif., and No. 48 Washington, D.C., and suburbs.
The national rate was one home out of every 45, up 21 percent from 2008 and 120 percent from 2007. Las Vegas, with one home out of eight in foreclosure action, ranked No. 1.
Bert Caldwell
‘Dump Hunger’ will aid food bank
Second Harvest Food Bank will benefit from a “Dump Hunger” campaign in partnership with Western States Equipment Company and Spokane Ag Expo.
Western States and expo organizers seek to secure enough food to fill the bed of a Caterpillar 730 dump truck, capable of holding 75,000 pounds.
Donations can be brought to Western States Cat at 4625 E. Trent Ave. or 520 N. Dyer Road in Spokane; 10780 N. Highway 95 in Hayden; or to the Spokane Ag Expo at the Spokane Convention Center next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Western States set a goal of gathering 150,000 pounds of food, up from 116,000 pounds last year. The company also said it will contribute $1 for every five pounds of food collected, up to $17,000.
Expo attendees are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items or a cash donation and deposit them in collection barrels in the ticket lobby and at the Western States exhibit in the Group Health Hall.
Staff report
Microsoft profits up 60 percent
Seattle – Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its earnings in the most recent quarter jumped 60 percent, as a rebound in the personal computer industry drove sales of the company’s latest Windows operating system.
But results in Microsoft’s other divisions show that while consumers have resumed spending on new PCs, big corporations have not.
Microsoft said the division that makes Office software and other business programs, the company’s other cash cow, saw revenue slip 3 percent. Revenue from its typically fast-growing server software group edged up just 2 percent.
For the fiscal second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, Microsoft said its net income rose to $6.7 billion, or 74 cents per share, from $4.17 billion, or 47 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Associated Press