If someone you dont know sits next to you at your office holiday party, acts somewhat strangely, talks a little too loud, and gets into a confrontation, dont react too quicklyit could be an actor from Mystery Division Inc.For the past six

Sandpoint attorney Ford Elsaessers name pops up frequently, often in a major news story or in the context of a high-impact legal issue.It did when he argued an important legal point before the U.S. Supreme Court, and again when he testified on

LineSoft Corp., of Spokane, has grown rapidly in recent years by developing software for large energy companies nationwide. Now, its working to create a more standardized version of its products to sell to smaller utilities and Brown, LineSofts

The legacy of the Spokane-area software industry includes companies that shot to the top by serving major industries or by capturing sizable chunks of national and international markets.Today, however, feisty smaller software developers here and

Flat Spin Media LLC, a young Spokane multimedia company, has moved its operations into a 51,000-square-foot building owned by Visiontec Inc., a contract circuit-board manufacturer located at 10920 E. Sprague in the Spokane Valley.Craig Sorenson,

Meckel Engineering & Surveying Inc., of Coeur dAlene, has bought property in the Coeur dAlene Commerce Park for a new building and plans to begin construction of that structure as soon as it sells its longtime headquarters near downtown.The

Sterling Savings Bank, of Spokane, has opened a corporate banking center in downtown Portland to seek business from small to mid-sized companies there.Sterling says the center offers a wide array of corporate banking services, as well as an

The states largest dental benefits provider, Seattle-based Washington Dental Service, has chosen Colville as the site for a new call center thats initially expected to create nearly 30 new customer-service and claims-processing jobs in that the

The Health Improvement Partnership, a Spokane nonprofit organization, is working through a community initiative called Expanded Choice to develop health-benefit options to offer to uninsured workers in an 11-county Eastern Washington area.Sharon

U.S. Pies Realty LLC, an affiliate of Spokane-based Cyrus OLearys Wholesale Pies, has bought six acres of land in Airway Heights and is studying the feasibility of constructing a 35,000-square-foot pie-production facility there.Barclay of of