Already slowed by high fuel prices and a sluggish national economy, trucking companies say surging insurance rates have slapped a jake brake on their profit margins.Some Spokane-area trucking companies report that their liability-insurance have

Skippers Inc., the Edmonds, Wash.-based quick-service seafood restaurant chain, has leased sites for two new outlets in Spokane and is negotiating to have a structure built for a third new store here.The three new Skippers Seafood & Chowder

Bartons Heating & Air Conditioning Inc., a 13-year-old Spokane company that at one time employed about 40 people, has closed its doors. However, two of its managers say they plan to launch a successor company, called The Barton Boys Inc., as soon a

Eller Corp., of Newman Lake, is the apparent low bidder on an about $1.1 million project to reconstruct Washington Street from Spokane Falls Boulevard north to Boone Avenue.Assuming Eller is awarded a contract for the job, construction should at

Spokane-based Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., which has a long history of involvement in Hawaiian property development, is pursuing a new multimillion-dollar project on the island of Oahu. The company, through its Summit Property plans a

A hardware retailer from Phoenix plans this summer to open an Ace Hardware store in a former Albertsons Inc. supermarket space on Spokanes South Hill.The retailer, The Jant Group Inc., of Phoenix, has subleased Albertsons former store in a

As Focus 21 leaders discuss the future of the private economic-development organization, its two beneficiaries here are adjusting their operations to reflect current or potential reductions in the contributions they receive from the group. For

A Colfax, Wash., businessman is heading a new company that hopes to bring a $90 million strawboard and ethanol plant to the farming community 60 miles south of Spokane. The businessman, Gary Young, says the new company, Colfax-based Columbia Ag

The pleasantly mixed smells that permeate Michlitch Co.s building near downtown Spokane are difficult to distinguish, but leave little doubt as to what the business does.Theres a teasing hint of garlic, perhaps a bit of nutmeg and basil, and

A proposal by Spokane City Councilman Steve Eugster to move City Hall temporarily to the vacant former Costco Wholesale Corp. store east of downtown has put a public spotlight on the cavernous warehouse structure.Commercial real estate agents to