The minimum wage is scheduled to go up on New Years’ Day in Montana and Oregon. The rate in Montana will increase 30 cents to $7.65 an hour. The The Economic Policy Institute says that means an extra $624 per year in wages for a…
BOISE — The gap between how much men and women earn in the Gem State widened in 2010. The Idaho Statesman reports the salary disparity between men and women increased by 2.2 percent during the previous year, according to data from the federal Bureau of…
Hecla Mining Co. today announced that it is going to build a bypass at Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, Idaho, to take workers away from an area where a rock burst last week injured seven miners. The company said it will build a 750-foot bypass…
More than 3,100 consumer complaints came into the Better Business Bureau serving Spokane, Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana. Of those, we asked the BBB for the list of the 10 Eastern Washington and North Idaho companies with the most complaints from Jan. 1-Dec. 1, 2011.…
Starting Jan. 1, the Spokane-area Better Business Bureau will publish full consumer complaints against companies in the region instead of short descriptions. A number of other regional BBBs have also published complaints as a way of adding informationfor consumers to judge for themselves the performance…
The Step 2 tagline on the online version of the Social Media Sobriety Test sums it up: "Choose your hours of intoxication." About a year ago the coders who work at Spokane creative agency 14Four had fun making a “social media sobriety kit” that kept…
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe will donate $35,000 to the Post Falls Food Bank Weekend Nutrition Backpack Program, which aids Post Falls students who don't have reliable access to good food on weekends. “Hearing about kids who go without food all weekend really tugs at your…
@SR_Officehours is asking Twitter users to respond to the question: What do you think of the Jensen-Byrd building sale by WSU to a company that will tear the building down? We'd like to hear your comments or thoughts, in 140 characters or less. Tweet messages…
So, if you read some of the reader comments found on Thursday's Spokesman.com story about Campus Advantage tearing down the Jensen-Byrd building, you may have wondered how many jobs comes out of this development. The story in a nutshell: many folks regard the 1909 Jensen-Byrd…
The company that's buying the old 1909 Jensen-Byrd building in downtown Spokane has decided it will raze the structure rather than convert it. Austin-based Campus Advantage paid $2.85 million to Washington State University for the buidling, which is roughly 136,000 square feet on land on…
The average total compensation per job in Spokane County rose 2.3 percent in 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce said today. Total compensation – wages and salaries plus employer contributions for pension and insurance funds – averaged $50,336 in 2010, up from $49,227 in 2009,…
BOISE — A federal judge has ordered Idaho to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for businesses that provide residential care to developmentally disabled residents. The ruling could cost the state $4 million. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill made the ruling Monday. The decision came after…
Idaho's delegation has returned from a trade mission to Mexico and Brazil and reports “tremendous interest and opportunities in both countries for Idaho products and services,” says Lt. Gov. Brad Little (right), who led the mission. Seventeen Idaho businesses or organizations participated, from Mountain States…
OLYMPIA — Private-sector job growth has pushed Washington’s unemployment rate to the lowest point since February 2009, officials said today. The Employment Security Department said the drop to 8.7 percent unemployment in November came with the state adding 12,100 jobs. The jobless rate was down…
OLYMPIA — The House has passed two bills requested by Gov. Chris Gregoire meant to shore up the state’s aerospace competitiveness. One bill establishes three grant programs: one for high schools to prepare students for jobs as entry-level aerospace assemblers, another for skills centers to…
The newest issue of Consumer Reports magazine rates wine just in time for the holidays. Of the 15 wines recommended, a third are from Washington. Among the "very good" Cabernets are two Columbia Crest offerings, the 2008 Grand Estates and H3, and Chateau Ste. Michelle's…
The big gathering Tuesday in Seattle was the reunion of two big shots in the dawning era of aerospace travel: billionaire Paul Allen and spacecraft designer Burt Rutan, who now hails from Coeur d’Alene. Rutan, the renowned engineer who built the first commercially successful spacecraft,…
A Texas company has purchased the Jensen-Byrd building and property at the Washington State University Spokane site and plans to convert it to student housing and possible commercial space. The buyer is Campus Advantage, based in Austin. The purchase for $2.85 million was approved Tuesday…
Two area events this week give business managers and employees a chance to redirect their energies and find creative solutions to problems: On Tuesday (Dec. 13) Norm Jewett is presenting a morning workshop on "Turning Problems into Profits." The event will run from 8 a.m.…
Post Falls-based Ednetics Inc. has donated more than 21,000 cans of food to area food banks. The cans were purchased by the company for a daylong "construction" event last week in which teams of workers were challenged to build structures with the cans. Nine teams…
Spokane Teachers Credit Union gets into the game, announcing its new South Valley location will feature an electric car charging station. The Valley branch, at 13211 E. 32nd, will offer a 240-volt charging station for electric cars. It's called the first charging station in Spokane…
We expect things have to get better for Sandpoint clothing retailer Coldwater Creek. Its latest earnings showed a quarterly loss of nearly three times the amount it lost one year earlier. Then along comes an analysis appearing Thursday on The Motley Fool website, by analyst…
Office Hours posted yesterday reports that a trustee was suing accounting firm Moss Adams for about $150 million related to a fraud and bankruptcy of Seattle-based Meridian Mortage. Today the news is Moss Adams officials assert they'll fight the suit and insist they performed auditing…
Sister Sky, a retail business selling natural bath and body care products inspired by Native American herbal wisdom, was honored Thursday as a winner in the University of Washington’s minority business awards. Sister Sky was started by sisters Monica Simeon and Marina TurningRobe, members of…
View Larger Map The owner of the Montvale Hotel will reopen the corner hangout formerly known as the Far West Billiards. The Far West closed July 1 after 10 years in business, at 1001 W. First in downtown Spokane. The plan was to lease the…
The Spokesman-Review business team follows economic development in Spokane and the Inland Northwest.
| Dec. 2011 | Nov. 2011 | Oct. 2011 | Sept. 2011 |
| Aug. 2011 | July 2011 | June 2011 | May 2011 |
| April 2011 | March 2011 | Feb. 2011 | Jan. 2011 |
