Costco plans to edge up its starting wage to $16 an hour starting next week, CEO W. Craig Jelinek said on Thursday, revealing plans that would propel his company ahead of most of its retail competitors.Read More
Business & Economy
This year marks a milestone for the state’s legal pot industry. For the first time since voters approved recreational pot use nine years ago, the state of Washington is expected to collect more than $1 billion in marijuana sales taxes and fees over the course of its next two-year budget cycle.Read More
A fresh round of federal aid will soon be flowing to Washington businesses and individuals hit hard by the COVID pandemic. On Friday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law a $2.2 billion relief package funded with money approved by Congress in December.Read More
Washington state senators have teed up a mileage-based tax for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles as the first step toward changing how the state pays for road maintenance and other transportation needs. Policymakers expect gas tax revenue to decline long term. Oregon has been experimenting with a per-mile charge for years.Read More
Seattle’s technology billionaires are many things: innovators, visionaries, philanthropists and some less polite descriptors, depending on whom you ask. But thanks to some scrupulous digging by industry journal The Land Report, which tracks land ownership across the country, we now know that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has another feather in his multi hyphenated career Read More
The south-central region of Washington's 8-region area for coronavirus restrictions can immediately reopen. That news came Sunday from the state Department of Health. It means the counties encompassing Walla Walla, the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Ellensburg can advance to Phase 2.Read More
Congressional forecasters are projecting a federal deficit of $2.3 trillion this fiscal year, even without the additional $1.9 trillion in spending that President Biden has proposed.Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says he looks forward to signing a $2.2 billion COVID relief bill in the coming days. The measure cleared the Legislature Wednesday after a bipartisan vote in the state Senate. Read More
After Gov. Jay Inslee extended the moratorium multiple times, most lawmakers, lobbyists and advocates expect March 31 will mark its true end — at least at the state level. Then the question of what will happen to renters without the moratorium’s blunt relief will go from hypothetical to very much real.Read More
WallStreetBets started as an investment forum — and its moderators continue to insist it is just that as the group has now grown to boast nearly 9 million members. But interviews with some of its members and an examination of its threads also show something else — that it's morphed into a movement of sorts, riding a giant wave of unresolved anger from the Great Recession.Read More
A bill that increases the minimum weekly benefit for unemployed workers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and prevents a dramatic increase in unemployment taxes paid by businesses was signed into law Monday by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.Read More
The damage caused by wildfires can be devastating, gutting structures and driving out people who live and work nearby. And researchers say the smoke from the annually recurring blazes also delivers economic damage to areas that were never touched by the flames.Read More
President Biden said on Friday that his plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour is unlikely to happen as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package.Read More
The House quickly approved a budget resolution intended to speed the drafting of President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The Senate approved the same budget resolution early Friday morning. With the Senate evenly divided, Vice President Harris cast the tiebreaking vote.Read More
President Biden and congressional Democrats are pressing ahead on a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, taking the steps in the House and Senate to approve the measure without Republican support.Read More
Idaho Gov. Brad Little says his state will move from Stage 2 to Stage 3 in its coronavirus reopening protocol. Little announced Tuesday that groups of up to 50 may now gather, as long as they take precautions with masks and physical distancing.Read More
Washington billionaires would pay a “wealth tax” under a proposal in the state House that will get a public hearing on Tuesday. The bill is sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Noel Frame, who chairs the House Finance Committee, and would impose a one percent tax on intangible financial property, such as stocks and bonds, futures contracts and publicly traded options. A Read More
A data breach may have exposed the personal information of 1.6 million residents who filed for unemployment last year, as well as other information from state agencies and local governments, Washington state Auditor Pat McCarthy said Monday.Read More
Ten Republican senators on Sunday requested a meeting with President Biden to detail a smaller counterproposal to his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, an alternative they believe could be approved "quickly by Congress with bipartisan support."Read More
Boeing is trying to close the books on a dismal year. The aircraft manufacturer Wednesday reported that the company lost close to $12 billion in 2020, a record loss, as the pandemic depressed demand for new airplanes and the company continued to reel from its 737 Max debacle.Read More
The plan includes $618 million to boost vaccination efforts and contact tracing. It also includes $668 million for school assistance, $365 million to aid renters and landlords and $240 million for grants to businesses.Read More
Even as people continue to splurge on shopping, they cut back on going out to eat and shop. Plus, the earlier-than-usual holiday shopping season meant online shopping as well sales of electronics and appliances dipped in December. Gas stations saw the biggest jump in spending last month, up 6.6%, as people traveled for holiday visits despite health warnings.Read More
President-elect Joe Biden has long pledged he would deliver an aggressive plan to address the raging coronavirus pandemic and the painful recession it spawned.Read More
The aid, delivered in two separate packages over the course of the year, went to a wide variety of people in agriculture, including corn and soybean farmers, cattle ranchers, and fruit and vegetable producers. The $46 billion in direct government payments to farmers in 2020 broke the previous annual record by about $10 billion, even after accounting for inflation.Read More
Shaquille O'Neal's got a SPAC. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan's got a SPAC. Famed investor Bill Ackman launched a $4 billion SPAC. And a 25-year-old became the youngest self-made billionaire thanks to — you guessed it — a SPAC. So what is a SPAC? A "special purpose acquisition company" is a way for a company to go public without all the paperwork of a traditional IPO, or Read More
President Trump on Sunday night signed a massive coronavirus relief and spending package, relenting on a measure he had called a "disgrace" days earlier. The legislation, which combines $900 billion in COVID-19 aid with government funding through September 2021, was passed by large majorities in both houses of Congress on Dec. 21 — only to see Trump blindside legislators Read More
The coronavirus pandemic drove many people to recognize gig work as "essential" for the first time, but the crisis also revealed the stark disparities between jobs that come with security and benefits and gig work, which does not.Read More
With millions of Americans waiting for desperately needed economic aid, a massive relief package remains in limbo as President Trump weighs whether to sign it into law.Read More
The Senate acted swiftly Monday night, in a 91-7 vote, to approve more than $900 billion for coronavirus assistance, shortly after the House of Representatives passed the package. The aid comes after months of partisan sniping over what elements should be in a relief measure that virtually all lawmakers on Capitol Hill argued was long overdue.Read More
Congress plans to pass on Monday a bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill after intense negotiations over its final details. Leaders of both parties are lauding the agreement, claiming victory for provisions they were able to get in — and keep out. The measure includes up to a $600 relief check for many Americans as well as an assortment of aid for small businesses Read More
After months of partisan squabbling, congressional leaders have reached agreement on a nearly $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. "At long last, we have the bipartisan breakthrough the country has needed," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Sunday evening.Read More
With lawmakers facing a mounting year-end to-do list, a deal on a new coronavirus relief package continues to be elusive for Congress.Read More
Terence Jackson Jr., 34, runs Luxury Strike Bowling, a rentable, private mobile bowling alley that offers a unique entertainment alternative to Zoom parties as the city remains on lockdown. Read More
Two-thirds of Americans say the federal government has not done enough to ease the economic hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll.Read More
The state and federal officials say Facebook's acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram violated competition laws and served to stifle rivals by giving the social network an unfair advantage.Read More
U.S. employers added just 245,000 jobs last month as the runaway pandemic continued to weigh on hiring. The unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.9% in October.Read More
You can add a new term to your lexicon: "Zoom towns." These are scenic places experiencing a surge of house hunters. Booming demand comes from workers freed by the pandemic to work from home long term.Read More
Just two weeks ago, U.S. regulators cleared Boeing's 737 Max to fly following the deadly crashes of two of the planes in 2018 and 2019. Now Boeing is reporting an order for 75 of the aircraft.Read More
A loosely assembled group of House and Senate lawmakers released a legislative framework they hope can break the months-long impasse between party leaders and the White House on pandemic relief.Read More
Earlier this year, Yakima County was among the worst-hit places for COVID-19 in Washington and the West Coast. It and the Tri-Cities region were among the last counties to open for indoor bar and restaurant service. Now, with another statewide closure, some restaurant operators are pushing back and refusing to close. Read More
Disease transmission is skyrocketing, Washington State Health Officer Kathy Lofy said in a news release Monday. Meanwhile, a four-week shutdown on indoor service at restaurants and bars prompted by an alarming statewide spike in COVID-19 cases is expected to cost the industry some $800 million.Read More
Washington Republicans say the Legislature should immediately meet in special session to address the economic fallout from Gov. Jay Inslee’s latest Covid-19 orders – and even consider tapping the state’s “rainy day” fund.Read More
The auto industry was devastated this spring by coronavirus shutdowns. But the recovery has been much faster and stronger than anyone anticipated as demand for new trucks and SUVs continues.Read More
Ahmad Ghabboun, 31, and his wife, who was laid off from the beauty department of Nordstrom’s, relied on their combined unemployment benefits to cover their $1,800 rent, the $200 monthly payment on Ghabboun’s car, and various bills, not to mention the costs of preparing for their first child: Ghabboun’s wife was six months pregnant when he received the alert claiming he Read More
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, the organizations said that during a two-year investigation they documented the effect of Redfin’s “minimum price policy,” which requires homes to be listed for certain prices to reap the benefits of Redfin’s services.Read More
The Small Business Administration had to quickly disburse coronavirus relief loans. But some of that may have been handed out to fraudsters, an agency report says.Read More
Boeing started the year with about 160,000 employees around the world, but in the memo to employees, Calhoun said "we anticipate a workforce of about 130,000 employees by the end of 2021."Read More
The antitrust lawsuit against Google is the most significant action the federal government has taken against a technology company in two decades. Google calls the lawsuit "deeply flawed."Read More
Many unemployed Americans have been tapping into their savings to pay bills. But those savings are going fast, and hopes for a new round of pandemic relief before the election are fading.Read More
The employees' alleged actions were outside of their work responsibilities and do not involve Wells Fargo's customers, the company said. The bank says it's cooperating with law enforcement. Read More
