Apple growers are enjoying some of the best prices in a decade. Long-time WSU food exports guru Des O'Rourke - now with his own consulting business - outlined some of the changes in the industry in a recent Tri-Cities lecture. Among them:

• The Washington industry contracted after losing key export markets during the Asian financial crisis. It's smaller now - part of the reason that prices are better.
• While there are fewer individual growers, average orchard sizes are getting bigger, the result of the expansion of large grocery store chains. Big chains want big suppliers, O'Rourke said.

OUT AT HANFORD, an apple a day may or may not keep the doctor away, but a company called Iso-Ray is focused on using radiation to drive off cancer.

Doctors have been using Iso-Ray's product - the radioactive isotop cesium-131 - to treat prostate cancer. But recently doctors at a Boston research hospital began using it to treat cancer of the eye as well, opening up a new use - and potential market.

(Not to give too much away, but we'll have more on Iso-Ray in the January issue of Washington CEO.)

THE TRI-CITIES may also be home to the last strong urban housing market in the country. Local real estate pros report that both sales volume and median prices were up YTD through Nov. 1, compared to 2006. That echoes the recently released third-quarter figures from the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, which showed that Benton and Franklin counties were the only ones in the state to show year-over-year gains in existing home sales.

The reasons? Job growth in the Tri-Cities remains steady, and the region is benefitting from having missed the speculation that drove the bubble in other markets. "We're not in an area where investors want to come in and flip properties," said Jeff Losey, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities.

IN SPOKANE - WELL, AIRWAY HEIGHTS - the 600-acre site occupied by Spokane Raceway Park could get auctioned off.

Potential buyers include Spokane County, which has identified it as a potential site for a new jail, and the Kalispel Tribe, which owns a casino on adjacent land. At least two buyers are interested in keeping auto racing on the site, according to the Spokesman-Review.

The track has been in receivership for three years.

FINALLY, IN YAKIMA, a landmark downtown building is changing hands - the Liberty Building at 32 N. Third St. The previous owner had planned to improve the property, but decided to sell in order to focus on another project, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported. The new owners plan to keep the 40,000-square-foot, four-story building leased to office and retail tennants.

The Herald-Republic noted that "the pending sale is the latest in a busy year" for downtown real estate. That includes the sale of the nearby Larson Building and construction of condominiums at the former Bon Marche store across the street from the Liberty Building.