Addressing Washington’s skilled worker gap
With an aging workforce and new jobs appearing weekly across the state, one thing is clear: Washington needs to double down on preparing to fill close to 740,000 skilled job positions by 2021 or risk...
View ArticleTrump tariffs would harm small business
Following President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, U.S. lawmakers and business stakeholders are saying that the levies would have unintended consequences that...
View ArticleLens Video: Promoting free trade for agriculture
Darigold President and CEO Stan Ryan discusses the importance of free trade for the agricultural industry during the 2018 Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT) Trade Summit. The post Lens...
View ArticleWashington agriculture and the Chinese trade war
Washington agricultural businesses and producers need to find a new trade partner, and quick. That is what industry stakeholders are saying in response to China placing tariffs on 128 U.S. products...
View ArticleHow healthy is Washington’s manufacturing industry?
Of recent interest to both state lawmakers and the business community is the health of Washington’s manufacturing industry. Since 2000, the sector has shrunk as part of the state’s overall workforce by...
View ArticleOrganic milk farmers surviving, not thriving
Although market indicators in the 1990s pointed to organic dairy as the next fad, those farmers today are determining how to stay afloat in the midst of an oversupply. Processors are asking organic...
View ArticleDevelopment picks up with Hirst fix
Three months since Governor Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 6091, commonly referred to as the Hirst fix, into law, representatives from the Legislature, the building sector and local government are...
View ArticleLens Video: Washington’s trade future
Lens sat down with Lori Otto Punke, President of the Washington Council on International Trade, to discuss what Washington state industries reliant on global trade are doing to respond to current trade...
View ArticleHead tax “last nail in the coffin”
In the latest development in the controversy surrounding the Seattle City Council’s proposed business tax plan, or “head tax,” Amazon has stopped development in downtown Seattle until the council votes...
View ArticleNational associations join MBT lawsuit
National trade and resource associations and several states are joining Millennium Bulk Terminals’ (MBT) lawsuit against Governor Jay Inslee and his administration for obstructing the company’s...
View ArticleLens Video: Labor weighs in on proposed head tax
Lens attended the Seattle City Council’s Finance and Neighborhoods public hearing and asked Chris McClain, Business Manager for Iron Workers Local Union 86, his opinion on the council’s proposed...
View ArticleHead tax passes despite business outcry
The Seattle City Council has unanimously approved its head tax proposal that will impose a significant penalty on Seattle’s largest businesses in the name of raising money to address homelessness. The...
View ArticleBNSF Railway proposes bridge project to ease congestion
BNSF Railway has proposed to build a second rail line that would run over Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint, Idaho to help prevent congestion on the current one-lane bridge. Proponents of the project say...
View ArticleLens Video: Seattle head tax-not just an Amazon tax
Lens asked Jan Gee, President and CEO of the Washington Food Industry Association (WFIA), her opinion of the Seattle City Council voting unanimously to pass the business head tax proposal and how her...
View ArticleHead tax shows Seattle is “hostile” to business
The Seattle City Council’s unanimous passage of a business head tax sent ripples throughout the business community and economic development organizations who are sounding the alarm that the move...
View ArticleThe new ‘battle for Seattle’
It’s a fight where the battlefields are drawn by political jurisdictions, casualties are measured by lost economic output, and victories are determined by new employers and job creation. In the...
View ArticlePreserving Washington’s prosperity
Eight years since Washington voters overwhelmingly rejected Initiative 1098 that would have created a progressive income tax, state revenue has grown from approximately $29 billion in the 2011-13...
View ArticleWhat’s up with retail downsizing?
Several large retailers are thinking small when it comes to expanding their businesses and promoting sales efficiency, especially within urban neighborhoods. Target has announced that it will build...
View ArticleGrocers embrace new tech to stay afloat
Grocery stores across Washington are stepping up their efforts to modernize and reformat their stores to better highlight what online shopping can never quite satisfy: fresh meats and bread. Also on...
View ArticleGiving local farms a boost
One of the hardest challenges for a small, local farm is spreading awareness of its products and pushing its goods into market. In Woodinville, one nonprofit organization helps bridge the gap that...
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