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Iran threatened the US West Coast, former Starbucks CEO trades Seattle for Miami, Amazon owned Zoox to start robo taxi rides, Dolly Parton led program brought 4M books to Oregonians, Alterra Skiing CEO likely out, Amazon AI engineers repeatedly break AWS, Snoqualmie pass closed due to snowfall, 400M barrels of oil released to ease Iran war conflict driven oil issues.
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PNW Market Look
As of market close 3.11.26
February CPI inflation was unchanged, at 2.4%, in-line with expectations of 2.4%.
Core CPI inflation was 2.5%, in-line with expectations of 2.5%
Salesforce targeting $25B bond raise
Netflix to pay $600M for Ben Affleck’s AI company
Headline Roundup
OSU Robotics Professor Jonathan Hurst Helped Create a $2.5 Billion Company That Makes Humanoid Robots With AI Intelligence (WW)
Portland Community College faculty and staff will go on strike (OPB)
Port of Everett's waterfront ‘restaurant row' comes to life (DJC)
(WA) Auto dealership sells for $8M (DCJ)
(OR) Construction costs rise sharply, Skanska reports (DJC)
Developer abandons plans for Burnside apartments, extending Portland’s construction drought (ORLive)
Phil and Penny Knight gave $866M last year, moving up the ranks of top philanthropists (ORLive)
US’s biggest memory-chip maker, Boise’s Micron, booms as never before in AI rush (IDS)
Portland tech group PDXWIT is back in a revised form (PBJ)
Oregon Community Foundation distributes $7M to arts groups amid federal funding cuts (PBJ)
IEA announces record 400-million-barrel release of oil to address Iran war supply disruption (Ground)
Trump’s Iran war is estimated to cost in the billions already, with no end in sight (DM)
Affordability, AI, public lands: Western Montana congressional democrats debate in Butte (Missoulian)
Prospective buyer backs out of nearly $7.9 million sale of contested West Linn field (Koin)
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Community Highlight
Oscars 2026: ‘Train Dreams’ was filmed in WA. Here’s where (ST)
Rip’s Spotlight
An Oregon Health Insurer Outsourced Its Work to Silicon Valley. The Transition Has Not Gone Well. (WW)
“the real trouble began when patients took the cards to get treatment, according to patients and health care providers who spoke with WW or filed public complaints with Oregon’s Public Employees’ Benefits Board.
Long-standing in-network care was suddenly, and incorrectly, classified as “out of network,” and care subsequently denied or delayed. Member ID numbers were altered, confounding providers and their billing teams, among others. Hourslong wait times ensued as the aggrieved parties sought answers. And for providers, payments came only after delays, if at all.
“I want to acknowledge this is not the way we wanted to start with this transition,” Providence Health Plan’s $2 million-a-year president Donald Antonucci earlier this year told PEBB, which self-funds and manages health benefits for state employees and their families, including, according to the Oregon Health Authority, about 87,000 people through the Providence Health Plan.”
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