May 21 / Employment here rises

About 209,800 people held nonagricultural wage and salary jobs in the Spokane area in April, up by 3,600 from the April 2012 level and by 2,700 from March this year, preliminary state figures show. Preliminary results from another state survey put the unemployment rate here at 7.7 percent during April, down sharply from 8.6 percent in the year-earlier month.

May 14 / Montvale gets new manager

Hotel Market Solutions, a Spokane-based hospitality firm, said it has been hired by a Chapter 11 trustee to manage the Montvale Hotel while owner Rob Brewster Jr. works through bankruptcy proceedings. The 36-room boutique hotel, which opened in January 2005, occupies part of the 114-year-old Montvale Block building at the southwest corner of First Avenue and Monroe Street. The trustee recently closed the Catacombs Pub in the building's basement out of concerns about proper licensing and is seeking a buyer for the pub.

May 14 / Federal mining lab here adds jobs

An official with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said the agency is gradually refilling 12 jobs at Spokane's Mine Research Laboratory that had been stripped away in recent years. The Mine Research Laboratory is the only federal lab in the West devoted to mining safety. NIOSH currently employs about 35 people at its Spokane office, down from more than 90 about a decade ago. NIOSH took over former operations of the Spokane Bureau of Mines office in 1996.

May 14 / City seeks Mann Center proposals

The Spokane City Council announced that it's seeking proposals for redevelopment of the military surplus properties comprising the PFC Joe E. Mann U.S. Army Reserve Center in the Hillyard neighborhood. Spokane Public Schools had been looking to buy the vacant property, located at 4415 N. Market, until it was damaged so extensively by vandals that the district said it would cost millions of dollars to repair. The Spokane City Council has been designated as the "local redevelopment authority" for the property on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense.

May 10 / Felts gets temporary reprieve

Felts Field, in East Spokane, received at least a temporary reprieve when the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the Federal Aviation Administration would stop its planned June closure of 149 air-traffic control contract towers, including at Felts and four other airports in Washington state. The announcement came on the heels of legislation signed into law by President Obama earlier this month that allowed the FAA to transfer up to $253 million from other accounts within the agency to keep the contract towers open through the end of the 2013 fiscal year, on Sept. 30.

May 9 / Hecla's earnings dip slightly

Hecla Mining Co., of Coeur d'Alene, reported first-quarter net income of $11 million, or 4 cents a diluted share, down from income of $12.4 million, or 4 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Phillips S. Baker Jr., Hecla's president and CEO, said in a press release, "There has been significant weakness in precious metals prices this spring, which we are watching closely, but I am pleased to note the increase in demand for the physical metal, particularly in the Middle East and in Asia, that has emerged as a result of these lower prices.