Tonight at 10 p.m. is the deadline to submit entries for the Top Business Story of 2013 for the Spokane North Idaho area.

Just place a comment here or on the two earlier posts that listed Stories No. 5 and No. 4: They were the rehab and cleanup of the Mead smelter and the renovation of a number of major buildings in the downtown area.

Here's the No. 3 story of the year: The widespread credit and debit card fraud connected to data breaches at Spokane's URM Stores. The grocery cooperative operates as a data transmitter for more than 120 regional stores. At some point in the fall, an unknown hacker got access to secure card data. The impact is still uncounted and no doubt affects several thousand local residents (coming a few weeks before the national credit card fraud connected with Target stores).

The most recent Spokesman.com story on that problem is here.

Later this afternoon, check back and we'll announce three stories of major significance that ARE NOT among the top business stories of the year

 

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