Spokane Valley to receive new ice cream shop

A couple is opening a new premium ice cream shop in Spokane Valley and moving their existing chocolate business next door.

Aaron and Rachelle Blackmer are moving a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store previously located on Sullivan Road to 1330 N. Argonne Road, according to a news release. The couple and their family also own the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store at River Park Square. The franchise businesses make and sell chocolates, caramel apples and dipped strawberries.

The Blackmers also will open Pete and Belle’s Ice Cream Shop next door. The new business will offer ice cream for takeout as well as other ice cream treats and iced coffee drinks. The business is named after the couple’s two children, the Blackmers said in a news release.

The businesses will hold grand opening events Friday through Sunday. They’re moving into space formerly occupied by Spear’s Furnishings.

Staff report

Delta reports profit of $1.4 billion; shares up

MINNEAPOLIS – Six years after it emerged from bankruptcy protection, Delta Air Lines on Tuesday announced a profit of more than a billion dollars, as more passengers paid a little bit extra to fly on its planes in the third quarter. Even its new oil refinery made money.

Just a month after the company was added to the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index and resuming paying a dividend, Delta’s shares hit a post-bankruptcy high of $26.24.

Delta, which bought Northwest in 2008, is benefiting as its biggest competitors struggle with merger problems. United Airlines is still working through its 2010 merger with Continental, and American Airlines and US Airways need to beat a federal antitrust lawsuit if they want to go forward with their own tie-up.

Delta President Ed Bastian said the airline is benefiting from a combination of rising corporate travel, and some travelers shifting to Delta and away from other airlines. Delta is taking a “considerable amount” of business from other airlines, he said on a conference call.

Passenger traffic rose 2 percent for the quarter. The amount passengers paid for each seat flown 1 mile rose almost 5 percent.

For the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Delta’s net income jumped 31 percent to $1.37 billion, or $1.59 per share. Not counting gains from fuel hedges, the company would have earned $1.2 billion, or $1.41 per share. That was 5 cents per share more than expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $10.49 billion, about what analysts were expecting. Associated Press