Nov. 19 / Wendell Satre dies
Wendell Satre, former president, CEO, and chairman of the board of Washington Water Power Co., died at the age of 92. Satre, who retired from the Spokane company, now Avista Corp., in 1985, also served on the boards of several other Spokane-area corporations, including Itron Inc., Key Tronic Corp., Consolidated Electronics Inc., and Empire Health Services.

Nov. 19 / Air Force bungles tanker bid info
The U.S. Air Force said it mistakenly sent proprietary bid information belonging to Chicago-based Boeing Co. to the European company that makes Airbus planes, and sent Airbus' information to Boeing. Both aircraft giants are seeking a lucrative contract to replace the service's aging aerial refueling tankers. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who has championed Boeing's bids to secure the contracts, said the mistake could further delay a contract award that already has been pushed back to allow Airbus to compete.

Nov. 19 / Utilities commission approves Avista rate hike
The Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission approved a rate settlement that will raise Spokane-based Avista Corp.'s revenues by an estimated $29.5 million annually, down from a revenue increase of $55.3 million the energy company had requested. The average residential electric customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month will see an increase of $5.62 a month, and a typical natural gas customer using 80 therms a month will pay about $2.20 more a month, the commission said.

Nov. 18 / Trader Joe's picks South Hill site
Trader Joe's, the Monrovia, Calif.-based grocery store chain, announced it will open an outlet in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center on Spokane's South Hill next year. The store will be located in 12,000 square feet of leased space in a single-tenant building to be constructed at 3011 E. 29th, next to the Hogan's Hamburgers restaurant, said Spokane development company Lincoln Heights Center LLC.

Nov. 18 / Bonneville Power proposes rate hike
The Bonneville Power Administration proposed an 8.5 percent rate increase for its Northwest utility customers, which include rural electrical cooperatives, public utility districts, municipalities, and tribal utilities. It said revenue generated by the rate hike would support maintenance and refurbishment of its hydroelectric and nuclear generating facilities. If the higher rates are approved, they would take effect in October 2011.

Nov. 17 / Employment here falls
About 207,200 people held nonagricultural wage and salary jobs in the Spokane area in October, down by 2,500 from the October 2009 level, preliminary state figures said. Preliminary results from another state survey put the unemployment rate here at 7.8 percent during October, down from 8.1 percent in the year-earlier month.

Nov. 17 / Dreamsicles creator, husband sentenced to prison
A former Colbert, Wash., couple were sentenced to prison after they each pleaded guilty to five counts of failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2003 on $2.7 million in income. Kristin W. Haynes, 56, an artist who's known for her Dreamsicles line of collectible porcelain figurines, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, and her husband, partner, and business manager, Scott D. Haynes, 56, was sentenced to 40 months. The two, who moved to Honduras in 2004 and were arrested last June when they traveled to Florida, were ordered to pay more than $833,000 owed to the IRS in back taxes. Scott Haynes was sent to prison in 1998 and ordered to pay $1.3 million in unpaid taxes then.

Corrections & Amplifications
Walker Construction Inc., of Spokane, will be the contractor on Rockwood Retirement Communities' $78 million expansion and renovation project planned on its South Hill campus. A story in the Journal's Nov. 18 issue reported that information incorrectly.