Business

A deal is near for Times Co. real estate

Can real estate agents save the Seattle Times Co. from bankers? The company this week was said to be very close to finding buyers for four-plus acres of land in the South Lake Union neighborhood — deals that would bring in badly needed cash to keep the newspaper company in good standing with lenders.

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Sausage Links, cheap shot edition

The folks at Horse's Ass report that while state Attorney General Rob McKenna has already filed suit against the Building Industry Association of Washington for multiple campaign finance violations, new evidence suggests that Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi may have "actively solicited funds" on behalf of the BIAW. If it's true it would be a deadly blow to Rossi's campaign. While the big papers haven't yet caught on, I guarantee you'll be reading about "buildergate" tomorrow. ...

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Obama and McCain each gained something in the debate

Friday night's televised debate between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama drew a big viewing audience and restarted a presidential campaign which had been interrupted by the still unresolved White House-Congressional effort to craft a financial bailout package. I call the debate a draw, with McCain able to change the subject from his role in bailout discussions and Obama getting a bonus 40 minutes of economic-policy discussion before having to move to McCain's foreign-policy turf.

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The WaMu sale: worst possible way for Seattle

The loss of Washington Mutual is a very big, very bad deal for the Seattle region. Its scope is just beginning to sink in. Large, locally run public companies are a major civic asset, as they attract talent, develop leaders by testing them on local charitable boards, and have a real stake in the broader prosperity of a region that is their home. Consider another point. If another bank had bought WaMu in an orderly way, rather than the sudden swoop of FDIC and the shotgun marriage to JPMorgan Chase, the acquirer would have negotiated with WaMu's board and made promises about reaching out to the community and made pledges of support to such causes as ArtsFund and United Way. There would be more reason to be humane in the elimination of jobs. There would be an effort to buy local love, spreading contributions around.

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It's Friday and it might be black

With the financial bailout package still undefined and House Republicans, in particular, opposed to the present draft, financial markets almost certainly will fall during the day. How far they fall, and for how long, will depend on White House-congressional progress toward a package which can pass and President Bush can sign. WaMu's failure Thursday was no surprise. Many, including myself, had predicted it for weeks. But few in Seattle were prepared for the reality of it when it came. Other weak institutions could follow. Things to watch:

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Sausage Links, weak sister edition

Is the Gregoire candidacy growing weak? Not surprisingly, that's what local conservative pundit Eric Earling thinks. But you know things aren't going well for the Democratic governor when someone at the Stranger says Gregoire is running a "lackluster, defensive campaign." ...

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WaMu: Death without dignity

The other night, a woman announced to the dinner table that she'd been into her branch of Washington Mutual and that everything seemed normal. It was as if she'd taken a stroll outside the gates of Baghdad's Green Zone and hadn't heard gunfire. That constitutes the good news, I suppose, for the Seattle-based bank which is in so much trouble. Unlike some other banks, WaMu is still kicking and apparent calm, instead of panic, in its bank lobbies is about all it can ask.

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A newspaper truckers strike is apparently averted

Looks like The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won't face a Teamsters strike after all. Teamsters Local 174, which represents 74 drivers who haul the newspapers to Puget Sound distribution centers, had threatened to walk out in October over a contract dispute that includes Seattle Times Co. plans to outsource the drivers' jobs to outside contractor Penske Logistics.

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Sausage Links, skeptical journalists' edition

"Journalists, start your skepticism." That was the tagline from a letter to Romenesko yesterday from David Cay Johnston, a former New York Times writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on tax policy. It's worth a read. Johnston cautions reporters not to "assume that Congress must act instantly, as so many news stories state as if it was an immutable fact," nor to accept "what gullible Congressional leaders, most of them up before the voters in a few weeks, say after being given a closed-door meeting on supposed horrors." ...

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Microsoft: Loving its buses more and Sound Transit less

Now, we all know Microsoft was a big – like $200,000 big – supporter of Sound Transit's 2007 measure to expand light rail around Puget Sound. But as Mike Lindblom at The Seattle Times reported on Monday, the Redmond tech giant only plans to give $10,000 to the supporters of Proposition 1, this year's Sound Transit measure. Sorry, Sound Transit. You are out of luck.

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Sausage Links, abandon ship edition

Liberal bloggers gotta love this. Some of the elite conservative pundits are growing skeptical about the McCain campaign's performance in the past weeks. Others are jumping ship altogether. The latest to leave the GOP stable is Washington Post columnist George Will, who says the Republican presidential candidate "is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high." Last week, the editorial board at the traditionally conservative The Wall Street Journal wrote that "McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does," adding that the Arizona senator was acting "un-presidential."

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Sausage Links, budget deficit edition

David Goldstein at Horse's Ass wrote over the weekend – post gubernatorial debate – that "there is no state budget deficit," prompting me to wonder what the hell he was talking about. I thought, "Did I miss something?" As Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire said in Saturday's gubernatorial debate, the state is currently generating a surplus. But it has been widely reported – even by Horse's Ass blogger Josh Feit – that the state faces a projected $3.2 billion deficit in the coming years. Gregoire even told The Seattle Times on Friday that she expects a deficit next year. So what gives? The folks at Washington Policy Center Blog put it another way:

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The latest from news outlets and blogs around the Northwest and beyond, chosen by Crosscut editors.

How Bellevue's Clearwire became the darling of telecom

The contest to acquire Clearwire heated up a notch Monday, when Sprint sued Dish said its offer to buy Clearwire shares violated Sprint's rights as a shareholder and Delaware law. Dish has said its offer was lawful and on Monday said it was considering its options. Clearwire said it doesn't comment on litigation.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Illegal ride-share cars take over Seattle

While prided for their convenience, the increasing presence and usage of unlicensed — and therefore illegal — for-hire chauffeurs associated with companies such as Lyft is making life even more challenging for legitimate Seattle taxi drivers.

SEATTLE TIMES

Weyerhaeuser makes big buy of NW timber lands

The company is increasing its holdings in Washington and Oregon by a one-third. It also announced Sunday that Doyle Simmons will be its new CEO.

NEW YORK TIMES

The growing national menace of digital billboards

"Around 2005, the first appeared. By 2008, there were 1,800. Last year there were 3,600, and this year the number is likely to be close to 5,000. The industry (about 250 independent contractors) is licking its chops."

SEATTLE TIMES

What makes Costco click? Cheap prices, happy employees

"Despite the sagging economy and challenges to the industry, Costco pays its hourly workers an average of $20.89 an hour, not including overtime (vs. the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour). By comparison, Walmart said its average wage for full-time employees in the U.S. is $12.67 an hour, according to a letter it sent in April to activist Ralph Nader. Eighty-eight percent of Costco employees have company-sponsored health insurance; Walmart says that “more than half” of its do."

BUSINESSWEEK

Run away and join the circus? Summer job sagas

"Every summer job is a gamble; you never know whom you’ll encounter, or how your job will play out in memory."

THE NEW YORKER

Timothy Egan: Here comes Big Pot

"Even Patrick Dempsey, who plays the McDreamy character in television’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and who is trying to finalize a purchase of the Seattle coffee chain Tully’s, has talked of expanding from one drug to another in a big way. “There’s a business model there,” he told Bon Appétit. “You could present it in a beautiful, elegant way: a Michelin-starred coffee shop where you can get marijuana.”

NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms, companies deny knowledge

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post.

WASHINGTON POST

Intellectual Ventures gives its side of story to 'This American Life'

The radio show accuses IV of using shell companies as it pursues patent lawsuits. The local company replies, and see if you can follow the twists and turns.

GEEKWIRE

REI changes return policy to one year

The Kent-based company hasn't had a time limit on returns. After noticing customers were "renting" their purchases and then returning them years later, the company switched to a one-year return policy. 

SEATTLE TIMES
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