May 26 / Court upholds judgment against CH2M Hill
The Washington state Supreme Court agreed with a Spokane County Superior Court judge's 2008 decision requiring Denver-based engineering firm CH2M Hill Inc. to pay $6.5 million to the families of a deceased Spokane city worker and two workers who were injured. The death and injuries occurred in 2004 when a digester dome designed and managed by CH2M Hill at the city's sewage treatment plant collapsed.

May 26 / AmericanWest merger planned
Starbuck Bancshares Inc., the parent company of Spokane-based AmericanWest Bank, announced an agreement to acquire Seattle-area Bank of the Northwest and merge it with AmericanWest Bank. Subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, the merger is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. Bank of the Northwest's four Seattle-area offices will be rebranded as AmericanWest once the transaction is completed and will give AmericanWest its first presence in the Seattle market.

May 26 / Lawmakers divert funds for MAC
The Washington state Legislature approved about $3 million for Spokane's Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (MAC), which had planned to close after Labor Day due to severe budget cuts. If the budget is signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire as presented, the MAC and the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma will receive funds previously planned for a new museum in Olympia. The money will be exhausted after two years, so museum officials will have to seek other sources of funding.

May 25 / Legislature funds medical school
The Washington state Legislature passed a capital budget that includes $35 million for construction of a medical school building on the Riverpoint Campus, east of downtown. The project wasn't included in Gov. Chris Gregoire's original budget proposal, but Sen. Lisa Brown said it was added because of lobbying by medical school supporters. The allocated funds are half the amount needed to complete the project. Gov. Gregoire must sign the budget into law by June 17.

May 24 / Job numbers increase
About 205,600 people held nonagricultural wage and salary jobs in the Spokane area in April, up by 700 from the April 2010 level, and up by 2,900 from March this year, preliminary state figures said. Preliminary results from another state survey put the Spokane-area unemployment rate at 9.1 percent during April, down from 9.7 percent in the year-earlier month.

May 24 / Alpine College closes doors
Spokane-based Alpine College, a for-profit school that provided training in health care, business, legal, and computer-related occupations, closed abruptly on May 20, affecting about 160 students. The state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, which licenses such institutions, said it will store transcripts and other student records in its Olympia, Wash., headquarters. It said students may apply to the U.S. Department of Education for discharge of federal loans.

May 19 / Ski resort expansion OK'd
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission approved Mount Spokane 2000's request to expand its nonprofit ski area to include a chairlift and seven ski runs on the mountain's north side. The Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park provides 380 seasonal jobs, attracts 85,000 skiers each winter, and generates about $3 million in annual revenue, said Brad McQuarrie, Mt. Spokane's general manager. Opposition to the expansion was voiced by the Washington state Department of Fish & Wildlife and by the Save Mt. Spokane Coalition, a group of environmentalists. Mount Spokane 2000 has been working on expansion approval since 2003.