This time of year, Spokane’s landscape usually has turned to shades of tan and brown. Most blooming plants have taken a hiatus with the recent heat and will come back around after it cools off. Not in Dixie and Allan LeTourneau’s yard, though. You could see the brilliant purple and pink Wave petunias a block away. Didn’t have to go hunting for that house number.

The top two floors of the Ridpath Hotel again failed to attract a bidder in a national auction that closed Saturday, but a former Empire Ford dealership property on West Third may be changing hands, said Jon Jeffreys, one of the NAI Black associates handling the properties. The Ridpath floors and the adjacent former YWCA Building were first put up for auction this spring. Although there were no bidders, Jeffreys and fellow associate Mark McLees said at the time the level of interest justified a second go-round that would give potential buyers more time to inspect the property and arrange financing.

New equipment for converting wood chips into pulp will reduce natural gas consumption at the Inland Empire Paper Co. by as much as 75 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 33,000 tons annually, President Wayne Andresen said Monday. The $40 million investment will also allow the mill to slightly increase output, to about 570 tons per day, Andresen said.

In other business Tuesday, the council heard a report about the proposed sale of nonprofit Empire Health Services, which operates Valley Hospital and Medical Center, to for-profit Community Health Systems Inc. Afterward, the council agreed unanimously to endorse the sale as a means of saving the Spokane Valley hospital. Munson said each council will sign a letter urging the state Department of Health to approve the sale.

Community Health Systems' plan to purchase Empire Health Services leaves some questions unanswered and lacks a firm commitment from the buyer to the public's interest, according to a review of the proposed sale by a coalition of concerned citizens. The application lacks details about how the Tennessee-based for-profit corporation intends to improve finances at Empire Health's two Spokane-area hospitals, Deaconess and Valley Medical Center, said Amy Freeman, a public interest attorney and member of the legal team put together by the Protect Our Hospitals Coalition.

Community Health Systems criticized the state of Washington for taking "an inordinately long period of time" to scrutinize the takeover of Empire Health Services, contributing to the financial problems of the century-old Spokane hospital group. In remarks to financial analysts Wednesday morning, Community Health CEO Wayne Smith said he expects the cash losses at Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center to wane now that the hospitals have made a series of tough budget moves under an interim management team, including layoffs of certified nursing assistants and other employees.

Financial losses and troubled national credit markets have lowered the value of Empire Health Services and trimmed the $172 million that Community Health Systems Inc. is offering for Empire's two hospitals. Proceeds available for a new charitable foundation would be lowered to $84 million – down from the $100 million Empire's board estimated when originally striking the deal.

A possible new $100 million foundation focused on Spokane health care needs is spurring hope among charitable organizations accustomed to scratching for dollars to pay for programs ranging from wellness to child abuse prevention. The money would come from the sale of Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center, a blockbuster proposal being scrutinized by state regulators. The buyer is Community Health Systems Inc., the nation's largest for-profit hospital company with 130 medical centers in 28 states. If approved – perhaps by late summer or fall – the deal would reshape the health care business in Spokane.

OLYMPIA – After a trip to Tennessee to meet the proposed buyers of Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center, several Spokane officials and business leaders Wednesday moved on to Olympia, urging state officials to approve the deal. Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, a private company, has proposed a buyout of Empire Health Services, including the two hospitals. CHS, one of the nation's largest hospital chains, has proposed paying $70 million to pay off the facilities' debt and another $100 million to set up a health foundation and investing another $100 million in the hospitals.