By Kris JohnsonIn December, Washington employers and manufacturers had a number of items on their holiday wish list. The reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, were at the top.It looks like wishes do come true.When Association of Washington Business members...
Advanced technology helps architectsbetter communicate with clients By Natasha NellisThe flood of technology over the past 10 years has changed the day-to-day operations of Inland Northwest architecture firms, and up-and-coming technology advances have the potential to change the industry even more, experts say.A growing industry ofdesign and building information modeling...
By LoAnn AyersCensus 2020 is unlike any of the 23 that came before it. For the first time, in addition to mail or phone, people will be able to respond online from any device. The U.S. Constitution requires this once-a-decade snapshot of how many people live in each community. A...
Steve AshbyCourtesy Andrea Starr, Pacific Northwest National LaboratorySelecting2019’s highlights for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a bit likechoosing just one family photo for the holiday card among the dozens of importantevents and exciting adventures of the year.Theseeight exemplify how researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy lab areadvancing scientific discovery...
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...
