Local Business

Washington View: To keep Social Security alive, we must look at benefits

As Congress continues to struggle with our nation’s massive $15 trillion debt, another looming crisis has slipped off the radar screen: Social Security.

Despite 4Q loss, Barrett nearly doubles yearly profit

Barrett Business Services Inc. on Monday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $93,000, or 1 cent per diluted share. That compares with a profit of $3.1 million, or 31 cents per diluted share, during the fourth quarter of 2010.

Papa Murphy's saw dough rise by 10 percent in 2011

Convenience-focused consumers helped Vancouver-based Papa Murphy's International draw a larger slice of the multibillion-dollar pizza industry pie in 2011, according to a statement issued Monday.

Study predicts eventual caregiver shortage in Washington

Turnover, growing senior population will take toll over next 20 years, it says

Home care worker Rick Spromberg, 29, can’t make ends meet on a wage of $10.41 per hour, so the 29-year-old Longview resident recently started a carpet-cleaning business to help pay his bills. He juggles the business with the tasks of caring for a 40-something-year-old man with disabilities, including grocery shopping, running other errands and helping his client bathe.

Number of local SBA loans drops

But their value more than doubles from previous year

Lenders issued fewer Small Business Administration-backed loans in Clark County during the last quarter of 2011 than during the same period in 2010 or 2009, according to SBA’s Oregon Division, based in Portland.

New day dawns for Salmon Creek Days Inn

Couple purchased hotel, will upgrade it, reopen in April

New owners of the Days Inn & Suites in the Salmon Creek neighborhood are upgrading the hotel from top to bottom to better compete in the area’s lodging industry.

Real estate roundup

Recent commercial real estate transactions as reported by area brokerage firms.

Vancouver building permits

Building permits more than $25,000 issued by the city of Vancouver.

Clark County employers weigh pros, cons of E-Verify

They wonder if program will protect them, or leave them hard pressed to fill worker ranks

After a day picking cherries on his 180-acre Vancouver farm, Bill Zimmerman’s 20 or so workers leave with dirt-coated fingernails, sweat-stained clothes and aches and pains from being on their feet all day.

Clark County business briefs

People in business

Firms, workers like amenities of Vancouver’s downtown

But Columbia River Crossing project clouds future

Employees of Gravitate enter their downtown Vancouver workplace through a side-street door and climb wooden stairs to their second-floor loft space.

Clark County at Work: Trail Tech Inc.

Trail Tech designs and manufacturers high-performance digital meters such as speedometers and voltmeters. It also makes high-intensity discharge and light-emitting diode lighting, plus electrical systems for motorcycles and off-road vehicles.

Liquid Gold offers taste of Northwest brews

Orchards business boasts variety of Northwest beers by the bottle — or bring your own and fill it up

Peter Wallace has an easy, if somewhat unusual, explanation for why he started a new gourmet beer business in Orchards.

Settlement may bring relief to stressed homeowners

Portion of $25 billion from mortgage giants could help Clark County residents

Clark County homeowners who are sinking under a high mortgage payment or owe more for their house than it’s worth could be thrown a lifeline as part of a $25 billion national settlement.

Financial relief may help Clark County underwater homeowners, foreclosure victims

Attorney general to explain benefits of national settlement

Clark County homeowners who are underwater, owing more for their house than it's worth, could be thrown a lifeline within the next six to nine months as part of a $25 billion national settlement.