Latest News

Wet spring had varying effects on Northwest growers

Moisture aids wheat crop, but reduces production of hay, apples, cherries

July 29, 2010

With precipitation above average throughout the Pacific Northwest in May and June, wheat growers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana report excellent growing conditions, but the rain has hurt some other crops, Spokane-based Northwest Farm say

Pizza crust maker raises revenues through diversification

Rizzuto Foods expands product line to capture food-service customers

July 29, 2010

Mike McLean

Rizzuto Foods Inc. no longer lives on pizza crust alone.The Spokane company, which started out manufacturing only precooked pizza crusts nearly 20 years ago, now produces an array of products for each segment of the pizza industry, says Tony CEO

Embracing agritourism

Green Bluff's U-pick farms, orchards join with diverse new ventures to win customers

July 29, 2010

Kim Frlan

Farmers, orchardists, and a spate of new businesses on Green Bluff, northeast of Spokane, are looking to capitalize on a growing agritourism trend in the U.S.For many years, Green Bluff growers have been engaged in such activity, defined as any

Finance execs increasingly are pessimistic, uncertain

Poll results show lingering concern about double-dip recession, jobless recovery

July 29, 2010

Continued concerns about the possibility of a "double-dip" recession and a slow jobs recovery, together with increasing economic uncertainty, have a growing number of finance professionals reporting pessimism about the economic picture and outlook

Changes to make federal student loan processing faster

New legislation effective July 1 ends bank-based federal student loans

July 29, 2010

Chey Scott

For college students looking to apply for federal financial aid, the process of securing a federal loan this school year will be faster and more streamlined, but despite big changes in how the U.S. government runs the program, impacts on students a

SNEDA takes strides to be bigger force in microlending

Spokane nonprofit joined with Seattle lender, hopes to get SBA authorization

July 29, 2010

Paul Read

A Spokane nonprofit that provides microloans and other assistance to small and startup businesses says it's taking major steps to rekindle its efforts, including a quest to become an SBA lender, the hiring of a full-time loan officer, and a planned

Most vacationing CFOs say they stay in touch with office

Survey findings suggest, though, that more now are trying not to do so

July 29, 2010

While most financial executives can't resist calling work when they're on summer vacation, it appears that more might be making an effort to avoid doing so.Sixty-nine percent of chief financial officers interviewed for a new Robert Half survey a

Equipment-finance activity survey shows biggest decline

New business volume plummeted 30 percent in 2009, association says

July 29, 2010

New business volume among a sampling of companies that belong to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association fell an unprecedented 30.3 percent last year, says a newly released annual survey conducted by the association.That drop-off compared

Bank loyalty weakens, new survey shows

Decline most noticeable among customers of larger institutions, data indicate

July 29, 2010

For a fourth consecutive year, customer loyalty and perceptions of brand image among retail banking customers continue to decline, while satisfaction has leveled off, says an annual J.D. Power & Associates retail banking satisfaction study released

Bankers here foresee financial reform bill repercussions

Stacks of new regulations said to mean higher costs for consumers

July 29, 2010

Kim Crompton

Spokane-area bankers have widely varying opinions on the merits of the recently approved legislation to revamp the nation's financial regulatory system. One belief at least several of them share, though, is that the thousands of pages of coming new