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Nike ordered to pay over $7M in gender discrimination lawsuit, Washington state lawsuit cases reach record $600M in payouts, Alaska Airlines sticks with international expansion plans despite higher fuel costs.

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PNW Market Look

As of market close 7.22.26

Tesla misses on earnings despite revenue beat (Ground)
Alphabet earnings takeaways: Q2 revenue beats, GOOGL stock sinks on 2026 capex hike (CNBC)
Oil prices rise after Rubio says Iran is not serious about a deal (CNBC)

Headline Roundup

Jury finds Nike discriminated against former employee due to her gender (OPB)
Amazon poised to buy empty new five-level warehouse in Chicago (DJC)
First parcels secured for new Everett AquaSox stadium/event center (DJC)
Public Bus From Bend to Redmond Municipal Airport in the Works (TSW)
Seattle approves higher electricity rates for new data centers (KUOW)
Little Shell housing project gets approval from Great Falls officials (MTFP)
Nampa library supporters rally against nearly $200,000 in proposed cuts (IDP)
‘This is how growth pays for itself’: Tamarack eyes new taxing district to fund residential development (VL)
Idaho just turned on a massive new solar farm. Meta has first dibs (IDS)
WA state lawsuit costs reach a record $614 million (ST)
Washington credit union acquires Oregon bank (PBJ)
House GOP advances $95 billion plan to fund Iran war and SAVE America Act (Ground)
The FDA Is Investigating a New Cyclospora Outbreak, but Hasn’t Identified a Source (WSJ)
Oregon, Washington at risk of losing federal SNAP funds, new data shows: What to know (KOIN)
Lodge at St. Edward secures partner for $40 million wellness expansion (PBJ)
Panattoni closes $174.5 million sale after pulling property off the market a year ago (PBJ)
Alaska Airlines holds firm on international expansion as fuel costs surge (PBJ)

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Community Highlight

Judge blocks Kalshi in WA, ruling the platform likely ran 'illegal gambling operation' (KUOW)

“A King County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction Monday to block Washingtonians from accessing the online prediction market platform Kalshi, saying the company likely violates state law against online gambling.

Online prediction markets, which also include PredictIt and PolyMarket, allow anyone to bet on whether something will happen in categories that range from elections and sports to culture, crypto, and "mentions." On Tuesday, that last category on Kalshi included betting whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would say "Venezuela" during an appearance before the Senate Committee on Appropriations (57% of bettors thought he would).

"Based on the declarations and exhibits presented, the state has demonstrated a well-grounded fear of immediate invasion of consumers’ legal rights," the injunction said. "Kalshi has willfully ignored a Washington State Gambling Commission notice stating that offering event-based contracts is not authorized in Washington state."

Kalshi and other prediction markets say they do not fall under Washington state's jurisdiction. They are licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that oversees derivative markets, to trade in so-called "events contracts."

"States don't have jurisdiction to regulate prediction markets," Jacki McGavick, a spokesperson for Kalshi, said to KUOW via email. "We're disappointed to see Washington state continue wasting taxpayer dollars."

Rip’s Spotlight

OpenAI’s new model went rogue and hacked another company. Why it matters. (WAPO)

Here's my rephrase without cybersecurity jargon: (JeffLadish)

"Our AI model tried really hard to hack out of its sandbox, a computer with no internet access, in order to find the answer to a test problem it had been given. To do this, it found previously unknown software bugs that allowed it to reach an OpenAI computer it wasn't supposed to be able to access. Then it started hacking other computers on OpenAI's networks until it found one that had Internet access.

After gaining Internet access, the AI model thought about where it could find the answers to the test question and figured the AI platform Hugging Face might have the data it was looking for. It then found ways to hack Hugging Face to steal the information it could use to cheat the test. The AI model used several hacking techniques together, including using a stolen password and finding several totally new security bugs in Hugging Face's computers, allowing the AI model to take control of those computers."