For five weeks each fall, Gary Greene steps out of his office at Mission Support Alliance and into another world — one with few suits and ties, and far more enthusiastic energy than an office building offers. Greene, MSA’s manager of technical security, looks forward to his weekly forays into the netherworlds of the area’s …
Read More »Daily deals: Read the fine print before buying
Jan2012
Savvy shoppers looking to snatch up bargains on a dinner at a new restaurant, a manicure or a massage can spend a lot of time browsing daily deal sites. Although the sites provide opportunities to try new business offerings at a discounted price, shoppers should read the deal’s fine print and understand the terms of …
Read More »Former assessor helps make property tax issues easy to understand
Jan2012
By Elena Olmstead for TCAJoB When property owners receive the annual postcard from the county assessor’s office detailing the property value and their property taxes for the year, many homeowners pay the bill without questioning the numbers. But former Spokane County Assessor Ralph Baker is hoping to change that. Baker, who left office on Jan. …
Read More »Kennewick realtor makes smooth transition from coach to referee
Jan2012
By Veronica Sandate Craker Windermere Real Estate Agent Greg Tripp spent years coaching kids with the Tri-City Amateur Hockey Association. It was while coaching that the retired police captain became frustrated with the referees. “I thought, ‘Boy these officials are terrible,” Tripp said. “They don’t make the calls I believe they should be making — …
Read More »Reflecting on a decade of business news
Jan2012
By Melanie Schmitt “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” -Babe Ruth Most people wouldn’t question Babe Ruth’s wisdom on the topic of baseball, but I …
Read More »Entrepreneur of the year to speak at Women in Business Conference
Jan2012
Lee Rhodes, the founder of glassybaby, and Entrepreneur magazine’s 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year, will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural Tri-Cities Women in Business Conference. The event, hosted by the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, is 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 24 at TRAC in Pasco. The conference will provide entrepreneurs, professionals …
Read More »Area levy committees say good schools translate to good business
Jan2012
Area school districts are asking for a whole lot more than an apple on Valentine’s Day. Kennewick, Pasco and Richland school district voters will be asked to renew the districts’ maintenance and operations tax levies in the Feb. 14 election. The operations levy is not a new tax. It replaces the current levy, which expires …
Read More »Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar named exclusive caterer
Jan2012
Terra Blanca Winery in Benton City has solidified a deal with Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar in Kennewick, making the new bistro its exclusive caterer. “Since we opened the new building and event facility on Red Mountain in 2006, the winery has worked with a variety of restaurants and caterers,” said Keith Pilgrim, Terra Blanca’s …
Read More »Local attorney debuts as a novelist
Jan2012
By Elsie Puig for TCAJoB Big cities offer the kind of seedy underground and perils of modern city culture where stories of crime, corruption and greed take place. But according to Larry Ziegler, local criminal defense attorney-turned-author, so do small towns. So when he wrote his debut novel, Motion to Intervene, in 1995 he decided …
Read More »Potential pitfalls in IRS amnesty for misclassified workers
Jan2012
If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. And that could be the case with the Internal Revenue Service’s September announcement of a new program to offer partial amnesty for employers that reclassify workers currently misclassified as independent contractors as employees. Under the new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program, the IRS will …
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