Dec. 18 / Mobius, city stop lease negotiations
The board of directors of Spokane Mobius, a nonprofit group that earlier said it planned to develop and operate a planned $29.5 million science center on the north side of the Spokane River in Riverfront Park, announced it is withdrawing from lease negotiations with the Spokane Park Board for park property. It now will seek an alternative location for its planned science center, and has decided to seek a building that can be retrofitted, enabling an opening in 2011 instead of 2013 as originally planned.

Dec. 15 / Employment here dips
Nonagricultural wage and salary employment in the Spokane metropolitan area fell to 215,200 in November, down 5,200 jobs from the November 2008 level. Preliminary figures from another survey put the unemployment rate here at 8.7 percent in November, up from 6.2 percent in November 2008.

Dec. 11 / Sterling hit with delisting warning, class-action suit
Sterling Financial Corp., the Spokane-based parent of Sterling Savings Bank, announced it was notified by the Nasdaq Stock Market that it no longer meets the $1 per share requirement for continued listing on the exchange. Sterling has until June 7, 2010, to resume compliance with the minimum bid price rule. Separately, San Diego law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP said that it filed a class-action lawsuit against Sterling in U.S. District Court here on behalf of an institutional investor and other investors who bought Sterling stock between July 23, 2008, and Jan. 13, 2009.

Dec. 10 / Asarco settlement big for Cd'A basin
Asarco Inc., the Tucson, Ariz.-based copper and nonferrous metals producer, agreed to a bankruptcy settlement that commits $583 million to environmental restoration and cleanup of mining-related contamination in the Coeur d'Alene Basin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. The agreement, which EPA called the largest environmental bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history, was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in Corpus Christi, Texas. In all, Asarco agreed to pay a total of $1.79 billion to address past and future costs incurred by federal and state agencies at more than 80 contaminated sites around the country.

Dec. 10 / Lee & Hayes law firm expands practice
Lee & Hayes PLLC, a prominent Spokane-based law firm that specializes in intellectual property protection, said it has launched a corporate practice group that will handle general corporate and tax transactions. The group will be headed by veteran attorney Terry Kelly in the firm's Spokane office, and three other attorneys have joined the practice group.

Dec. 8 / County's 2010 budget drops 150 employees
The Spokane County commissioners approved a $412 million budget for 2010 that will include an overall work-force reduction of 150 positions. Commissioner Chairman Todd Mielke said the board can't control the escalating cost of health-care premiums, the state's retirement plan costs, or unemployment insurance. He also said roughly 75 percent of the county's general fund budget is committed to public safety and criminal justice, and almost 20 percent is dedicated to programs and services mandated by the state's constitution.

Dec. 2 / Sterling Mining Co. stock to be auctioned
Sterling Mining Co., of Coeur d'Alene, which controls the lease for the historic Sunshine Mine, in North Idaho, said it will sell its remaining unissued common stock at auction Feb. 1 as part of a Chapter 11 reorganization plan it filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in Coeur d'Alene. The company had received two bids at the time of the filing, including one for $12.5 million. In the reorganization plan, the company lists $12.9 million in secured and priority unsecured claims, and between $6 million and $9.5 million in unsecured general claims.