INB president, CEO stepping down in June

Randy Fewel, the longtime president and CEO of Inland Northwest Bank, will step down from those positions at the end of June.

His successor will be Russell A. Lee, who has led two community banks in Western Washington.

Fewel will stay on as president and CEO of the bank’s parent company, Northwest Bancorporation, for another year, according to a news release. He has led INB since 2001, growing the bank’s assets from $180 million to more than $440 million.

Lee was president and chief operating officer at Skagit Bank in Burlington, Washington, and president and COO of Peoples Bank in Bellingham.

Said Fewel of his successor, “Russ is a high energy guy who is a huge believer in the community bank business model. He brings to the job just the right skill set to help us achieve our long-term goal of remaining independent through growth and profitability.”

INB has seven branches in Spokane County and four in Kootenai County.

Falling freight demand leads to BNSF furloughs

BISMARCK, N.D. – BNSF Railway Corp. said it’s planning employee furloughs because of slipping freight shipping demand across its rail network.

The company said Wednesday in a statement that it hopes to call back employees “as soon as business needs change.”

The railroad would not say how many employees were being furloughed, only that they are “at different locations across our network.”

BNSF is based in Fort Worth, Texas, and is part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Nebraska.

The railroad is the biggest player in North Dakota’s oil patch, hauling most of the more than 1.1 million barrels moved out of the region daily.

Orbitz shareholders OK purchase by Expedia

NEW YORK – Orbitz’s shareholders have approved a takeover by rival Expedia, Orbitz said Wednesday.

A vote was taken Wednesday at the online travel company’s annual stockholder meeting in Chicago. More than 99 percent of the votes favored the acquisition, Orbitz said.

In February, Expedia said it would buy Orbitz in a deal worth about $1.3 billion. The companies still need regulatory approval for the deal to close. In March, the U.S. Department of Justice requested documents from Orbitz and Expedia in order to review the acquisition. The companies did not say when they expect the deal to close.

The two companies own several websites that allow travelers to book airline tickets, hotel rooms or car rentals. Chicago-based Orbitz Worldwide Inc. owns HotelClub.com, Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com. Expedia Inc., based in Bellevue, Washington, owns Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Hotwire.com.

Cruise line reverses ban on food in rooms

MIAMI – Don’t mess with doggie bags.

That’s the message Norwegian Cruise Line got after making a new rule recently that banned passengers from toting food back to their rooms from restaurants.

“In truth, we simply didn’t understand how important it was for so many of our guests to have the option to enjoy meals at their convenience in their stateroom,” Andy Stuart, president and chief operating officer of the Miami-based cruise line, wrote in an announcement this week.

In the statement, Stuart wrote the prohibition came about after a “leadership team ship inspection” found dirty trays, plates and glasses in hallways.