Consumers soon will have more options in the growing sport-utility vehicle market as manufacturers introduce crossover-utility vehicles, which look much like conventional SUVs but have rides and fuel efficiency more like cars.Eight such called

Spokane Valley artist Tom Hansons masterpieces dont hang in galleries. Youre most likely to spot them when you deposit your paycheck, sit down at a business conference table for a meeting, or go to a doctors clinic for a checkup. Hanson

Mike Genova, the owner of Spokane-based hot tub accessory maker Leisure Concepts Inc., plans to construct an industrial building near that companys current facility in Hillyard and plans to start a plastic injection-molding company there. says be

Life Care Centers of America, a large Cleveland, Tenn.-based operator of retirement and senior-care centers, plans to develop a two-building complex on a vacant 20-acre site in Post Falls, says an architect involved with the project.The complex

The George Gee Cadillac/Isuzu dealership in Coeur dAlene has bought a Kia franchise there, and says it plans to expand its lot as a result.The dealership, which has changed its name to George Gee Cadillac/Kia/Isuzu, bought the Kia franchise a

Spokane-based Washington Trust Bank says it plans to open its first Airway Heights branch on land it recently bought there.Washington Trust bought more than six acres of land at the southeast corner of Hayford Road and U.S. 2 early last month,

A franchisee of Minneapolis-based barbecue restaurant-chain operator Famous Daves of America Inc. hopes to enter the Spokane market. Pat Courtemanche, a Minneapolis-based spokesman for Famous Daves, says the franchisee, StarRibs WashPac LP,

As dismal news continues to emerge nationally from a struggling U.S. auto industry, dealers here say that sales have been sluggish, but that theyre optimistic about the future.Sagging auto sales and growing consumer preferences for cars have

Research is under way to come up with new drugs to treat multiple sclerosis, of which the Inland Northwest has one of the highest incidence rates in the world, say medical professionals here who specialize in the disease.Already, inroads have a

Avista Corp., of Spokane, has begun the final phase of a multiyear, $35 million upgrade at its 52-year-old Cabinet Gorge Dam, located on the Clark Fork River near the Idaho-Montana state line. The upgrade project enters its final stage as the a