Soaring sales prices for homes here might be a welcome trend for some in the real estate market, but for first-time buyers and those with lower incomes, they mean dwindling housing options.Spokanes reputation as an affordable place to buy a a

A key to combating rising health-care costs and demands for care from an increasingly unhealthy work force might be as simple as something your mother always told youfor example, eat your vegetables. At least, health plans and employers here are

As the job market tightens and qualified candidates in some fields become harder to find, many employers say they increasingly are using employee benefits as recruiting tools. Human-resources professionals here say that oftentimes, they offer

F&M Bank, of Spokane Valley, put its profits back on a growth track last year, recovering from a dip in 2004 that had ended a run of seven straight years of record earnings.The bank posted net income of $3.2 million for 2005, up 23 percent the

Production Finance International LLC, a Spokane-based trade financing company, says its been growing steadily as demand for import-related loans to U.S. businesses increases, and that its focusing on strengthening its western U.S. 13-year-old a

Bankers here expect solid loan demand during 2006, which Sterling Financial Corp. is particularly glad about.At the end of the third quarter last year, Spokane-based Sterling warned investors that loan balances were growing more slowly than and

Rahco Ag Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Spokane-based Rahco International Inc., has developed a new leveling system thats designed to be used with John Deere combines and is intended to appeal to Midwest farmers. Richard Hanson, president of is

Gonzaga University is developing a new strategic plan that it hopes will guide its growth through the next six years.The plan, called Vision 2012, will include goals for enrollment, academics, and student life, among other areas, says Thayne of

Washington Trust Bank, of Spokane, has posted record earnings for 2005, a year in which its assets nearly crested the $3 billion mark for the first time in its 103-year history. The bank had net income of $38.7 million last year, up 32 percent

In the latest in a series of territorial disputes between the city of Spokane and Spokane County, the city says it plans to challenge a decision the county commissioners made recently regarding land just north of Spokane and on the West Plains that