VANCOUVER, WA-Year-over-year, the June unemployment rate was the highest since June 1992 and more than a point higher than the 4.3% in June 2000. Slightly more than 10,000 county residents were seeking jobs during the month.

EUGENE, OR-The six-month shutdown, affecting some 600 workers, comes one week after the company requests a property tax waiver for $156 million worth of improvements to the plant, and one month after it was denied a similar tax break.

PORTLAND-The 222,500-sf, mid-rise office project by New York-based Insignia/ESG and Houston-based Transworld Properties is nine months out and in search of its first tenant. Triple-net asking rates are $20 per sf to $22.50 per sf annually.

PORTLAND-Sonna Durdel, the company's current Northwest executive director, is taking a one-year sabbatical beginning this September. Meantime, she is creating a short list of local candidates to take over her job.

BEAVERTON, OR-The Atlanta-based warehouse home improvement retailer has acquired 12.5 acres between Canyon Road and Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, just east of Highway 217. A new 136,000-sf store is planned within the next couple of years.

VANCOUVER, WA-Retail sales totaled $366.7 million in the first three months of the year, a measly 1.4% increase over the $361.7 million rung up in the first quarter of 2000. In 2000, sales were up 8.5% from the year-earlier period.

BEAVERTON, OR-Emeryville-based inServ E-Customer Solutions Inc. signs on for the fully-equipped top floor of a two-story, 80,000-sf office building by the Beaverton Mall. The lease lets previous tenant Bank One off the hook.

LAFAYETTE, CA-Diluted FFO for the second quarter of 2001 was 68 cents per share, 15% higher than the second quarter of 2000. Half-year numbers also are up 15%, and shares of the company are trading at a new 52-week high.