By Kris JohnsonMain Street businesses bore the brunt of the 2019 Washington legislative session.The $52.8 billionoperating budget lawmakers approved in April included more than $1 billion intax increases. Many of the increases hit small and medium-sized employers inthe form of real estate excise taxes and a business and occupation, or...
By Don C. BrunellDon C. BrunellAs we begin 2020 and a new decade, the Boeing Co. faces strong head winds which are major concerns for those of us living in the Pacific Northwest.Thingshave changed in the past year. In my first column of 2019, I wrote that Boeingwas poised to...
By Patrick JonesOne of the startling aspects of the greater Tri-City economy is the juxtaposition of a large agricultural sector with one formerly called the white-collar sector. In the terminology of labor economists, the latter consists of professional and technical services. It, too, looms large in the two counties.Today,we might...
By Beau RuffYour property can be taken from you even though you have ostensibly done nothing wrong. You have paid your bills, you are current on your taxes, and you have exercised customary precautions in the acquisition and ownership of your property. Whether you like it or not, whether it’s...
By Andrew KirkKennewick entrepreneurReid Lunde named his company Kaizen Speed after the Japanese business term forcontinuous improvement. Since 2005, Kaizen Speed has been steadily growing, andin November won a prestigious industry award for Lunde’s new prototype. Fifteen years ago,Lunde was attending Columbia Basin College and started Kaizen Speed in borrowedspace...
By Andy PerdueThe Tri-Cities is philosophically and geographically in the heart of Washington wine country. And when the federal government approves a new American Viticultural Area north of Pasco, where some of the state’s oldest vines were planted nearly a half-century ago, the region’s position in the wine industry will...
Inthe coming decade, investors are betting that hydrogen will become a prominentfuel that can eliminate carbon dioxide discharges from the vehicles it energizes.Accordingto the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the transportation sector hasdominated the growth in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions since 1990, accountingfor 69 percent of the total increase. Itis important...
By Andrew KirkWith a nuclear reservation, national laboratory and cutting-edge agricultural processing in the Tri-Cities’ backyard, Jeff Leskovar expected Mitsubishi’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle Outlander would be well received.“We thought they’d bepopular with Hanford scientists, a high-tech product like this,” he said. “Butwe sell a lot of them to Spokane.”Almost...
By Todd MyersShould Washington state risk 11 years of salmon recovery funding on something scientists believe will do little to increase salmon populations? How about eliminating electricity generation equivalent to every solar panel and wind turbine in Washington state? Essentially,those arguing we need to destroy the Snake River dams suggest...
By Andrew KirkSIGN Fracture Care International ends its 20th year in business with a goal to more than triple the number of patients it serves each year over the next five years. Doctors trained byRichland-based SIGN treat long-bone fractures in 30,000 people per year indozens of developing countries. The nonprofit...
