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Microsoft beats earnings estimate while cutting 60k jobs, Washington prisoners awarded $52M in tuberculosis suit, Montana commission postpones vote on NorthWestern Energy merger, Oregon’s Selco credit union to merge with Numerica, Oregon Medicaid hundreds of millions short.

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SK Hynix, Nvidia and Micron send one clear message to investors with their stocks off the highs (YF)

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Around half of Seattle businesses report that are considering moving or shrinking, blaming a business environment that they say is getting worse and don’t believe it looks like it will get better (KIRO)

“Fifty-six percent of businesses say the business climate has worsened, 61% are pessimistic about the next 12 months, 47% have considered moving jobs out of Seattle, and 72% say Seattle’s taxes, fees, and compliance costs are not competitive.

“Now I understand why people go to Bellevue,” Conley said. “You travel five miles over the water and your minimum wage drops, your insurance drops, your taxes drop and it’s just like, ‘oh I get it.’ I am Seattle ride or die, but it sure does look appealing.”

Conley understands the choices some businesses make when they don’t have the same commitment to the Emerald City as she does, especially by exempting tips from minimum wage at the beginning of this year and by raising the rate again at the start of next.

Mayor Katie Wilson says the automatic increase is important to keep workers afloat in the city.

“That is really important when we’re thinking about what it takes for our lower-wage workers to actually live in this city, right, and we want to create a city where people can afford to live in the communities where they work,” Conley said.

Conley gets it, but points out that wages are rising faster than inflation and the cost of living.

“I support all of that, but you can’t do that in a vacuum because all you’re doing is like, yeah, this person used to be able to have this job, but if the place they’re working can’t afford them anymore, how is this helping?” Conley said.

After more than two years in business, Conley put up a gate in front of her door at 2nd Ave. and Stewart St. to keep her employees safe. She would find half a dozen people huddled in the doorway, sometimes using drugs, sometimes sleeping, other times defecating.

“It became more of a business decision and a safety risk than financial,” Conley said

“We need to do more. So my office and OED are going to be doing a lot of conversations with small businesses moving forward,” Wilson said.”

Federal government sues state over Idaho National Laboratory water rights (IDC)

“Feds claim Idaho lacks authority to regulate federal water rights, state disagrees

The federal government has filed a lawsuit against the state of Idaho, seeking to block the state from curtailing water use at Idaho National Laboratory and from administering federal water rights, court records indicate.

On Sept. 11, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit against the state, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mathew Weaver in U.S. District Court. 

Arguing that the federal government has supremacy over the states, the lawsuit seeks to throw out a water curtailment order that would apply to Idaho National Laboratory and block the department and Weaver from administering any federal water rights in Idaho in the future.

There is also a legal question over whether the case should be heard in federal court or in state court. 

For purposes of the case, water curtailment means shutting off the water completely.

“Through the order, and (Idaho Department of Water Resources’) program of administering water rights, defendants are attempting to directly regulate federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “However, federal installations are shielded by the supremacy clause from direct state regulation, unless Congress has provided clear and unambiguous authorization for such regulation.”

In a response submitted Oct. 16, attorneys for the state of Idaho denied the allegations in the federal government’s lawsuit and countersued the federal government. 

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said the U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory should have to follow the same water laws as any other water user in Idaho. 
“Water is the lifeblood of Idaho, and my office will protect the water rights of Idahoans who depend on it,” Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in a written statement Tuesday. “Our sovereign authority to administer those rights has been established for more than 100 years, and it applies to every water user in this state, including the federal government. The federal government gets no special treatment under Idaho law. We will work with federal agencies to meet their needs, but we will not sacrifice the water rights of Idaho farmers, ranchers, and families to do it.”

In their response to the federal lawsuit, state attorneys wrote that the feds’ lawsuit, “threatens injury to other decreed water rights, and threatens to fundamentally undermine the state’s sovereign authority to allocate and administer Idaho’s waters according to Idaho water law.”

According to court documents, the U.S. Department of Energy holds a water right in the amount of 35,000 acre-feet annually in Idaho. 

An acre-foot is a unit of volume that expresses how much water it would take to cover one acre of land in water that is one foot deep. For comparison, one acre is a little bit smaller than a football field. 

Idaho’s water laws are governed by a seniority-based framework. Simply put, when there is not enough water to go around, the oldest, or senior, water rights have priority over the newer, or junior, water rights. …. “

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