The price of Uber rides increased by approximately 7% nationwide last year. In addition to the rising prices, customers have cited the company’s surge-pricing method — a pricing practice that increases fares during periods of high demand and limited driver availability — as a reason to seek alternative transportation options.

“It’s making people miserable to not know what things cost,” Bilal Baydoun, director of policy and research at Groundwork Collaborative, told NetCredit. “We live in an age where budgeting is really essential to get by amid a really long-term affordability crisis in this country.”

NetCredit compiled the study by recording the average local price estimate of Uber in the 100 most populated cities in the U.S. before calculating the affordability of Uber in each city and state by grabbing the local average price of a 30-minute ride in each city and state as a percentage of the local average hourly wage, per the Bureau of Labor Database.

Fort Worth, Texas, and Indianapolis have the cheapest Uber rides, averaging $28.33 per 30-minute ride, which is half the cost of a 30-minute ride in Seattle. The other cities that round out the list of the top 10 cheapest Uber trips are Tucson, Mesa, Omaha, Miami, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, Houston, and Memphis.

A reason for affordability in Indianapolis is competition. inDrive, a rideshare app where the customer proposes a price, and it’s up to the driver to accept it or counter-bid, has been used throughout the city, giving people searching for a ride more options to find a better deal.

The 10 most expensive cities for an Uber ride are Cheyenne, Reno, New York, San Diego, Baton Rouge, Newark, Anchorage, San Jose, and Portland. Cheyenne, the second-most expensive city for Uber, is still $9, on average, cheaper per 30-minute ride than Seattle.

An Uber ride in Washington, as a state overall, costs 185.6% compared to the hourly median wage. Only Louisiana, Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas, Alabama, Alaska, and West Virginia.

The maximum allowable rent increase for 2026 is 9.683%, according to a from the Department of Commerce Friday.

The cap will be in effect from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

Rent cap for 2026 aligns with House Bill 1217

In May, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed into law landmark , which improves housing stability for tenants subject to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act and the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act by limiting rent increases, as stated on the Washington State Legislature’s .

Therefore, the Department of Commerce is required to publish the percentage for all rental units subject to the .

Two amendments were added to HB 1217 by the Senate, changing the cap from a flat 7% to a choice of whichever is lower between a 7% raise with inflation or a flat 10%. The second amendment exempts single-family homes, which represent approximately 38% of Washington renters.

The bill also bars landlords from raising rents during the first 12 months of a new tenancy. The rent-increase cap for manufactured and mobile homes is set at 5%.

The maximum annual rent increase percentage will be posted each year on the , shortly after the mid-July release of June data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Commerce noted.

Contributing: Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest

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Shane Donovan Moore operated Quantum Donovan LLC, a Washington company that Moore claimed purchased and operated cryptocurrency mining equipment, although the company never purchased such equipment, and operated as a Ponzi scheme.

Seattle crypto mining fraud

Between Jan. 2021 and Oct. 2022, Moore obtained funding from investors through fraudulent promises, claiming in both written and verbal formats that the invested funds would be used to purchase computers for a cryptocurrency mining operation.

Moore told investors that they would receive 1% of their investment daily, which was based on the production of the cryptocurrency mining machines. Moore did not purchase the mining machines; instead, he combined investor funds with his personal accounts and spent the money on himself.

“Mr. Moore used the newness of cryptocurrency to commit an age-old fraud – a Ponzi scheme,” Acting U.S. Attorney Miller stated. “He solicited more than $900,000 from some 40 investors, claiming it would be used for ‘mining cryptocurrency.’ Instead, the money went to support a lavish lifestyle and to pay off the earliest investors to keep the fraud going. He left a path of damaged relationships in his wake.”

Additionally, Moore used some of the funds to purchase cryptocurrency and pay back investors under the guise that his cryptocurrency mining operation even existed. Early investors in Moore’s LLC recruited friends and family to invest in the company, but this led to anger and accusations of fraud when the losses piled up.

“Instead of purchasing cryptocurrency mining equipment, Moore commingled victim-investor funds with his personal accounts and used victim-investor funds to finance his lifestyle and pay his personal living expenses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Wynne wrote to the court. “He used victim-investors’ funds to purchase luggage, travel, clothing, electronics, and pay for a deposit for a luxury apartment. All told, victim-investors suffered a loss of more than $387,000.”

The DOJ noted that many of the investors were people Moore knew from his time playing rugby, and recruited investors from Washington, Oregon, Utah, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

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Maverick Gaming filed for bankruptcy Monday following a 2024 debt restructuring. The decision will shutter the Dragon Tiger Casino in Mountlake Terrace, the Palace Casino in Lakewood, the Silver Dollar in Renton, and the Roman Casino in Seattle.

“This decision follows the Washington Gaming Commissioners’ choice to shut down the centralized surveillance petition, which was intended to support Washington Cardrooms,” Maverick Gaming stated on its . “In the decision considerations, the gaming board compared Washington cardroom casinos (15 tables) to mega casinos that attract higher volumes of traffic, impacting our operations. The lack of centralized and advanced surveillance technology, in contrast to what is available in larger establishments, has further hindered our ability to compete effectively.”

Maverick Gaming owns 27 properties in Colorado, Nevada, and Washington, including 21 casinos in the Evergreen state. The company cited high rent, rising costs, and a decline in customers as reasons for its bankruptcy. Maverick Gaming believes it experienced a decrease in foot traffic following rounds of tech layoffs.

According to Bloomberg, Maverick filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas, listing total liabilities and assets in the range of $100 million to $500 million, according to .

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Ryan Hoolahan, the Chief Financial Officer of , explained the impacts the new will have on its business and customers amid the commodity’s positive performance in recent years, on “The John Curley Show” on ����Xվ Newsradio.

10% gold and silver tax in WA

“The reason you’re on today, Ryan, is not a happy story,” Curley said. “The folks at the capitol in Olympia, they’re always looking for money, and they figured out that when people buy gold, they can tax it.”

While sales tax currently applies to most purchases in Washington, gold and silver coins and bars have been excluded from these taxes.

“Gold has been the greatest hedge against inflation as people wonder, what’s the value of the dollar if you keep printing more of it?” Curley said. “I need something with security, and people look at gold, silver, and precious metals because that’s the place to put the money.”

The current price of one gold ounce as of July 11 is $3,372.60, a 44.12% price increase since one year ago, according to .

“This hasn’t been the first time there’s been an attempt to bundle [a gold tax] on these bills,” Hoolahan said. “In the past, we’ve had more notice and been able to combat it by way of testifying in Olympia, but this one caught me by surprise.”

The new bullion sales tax rate is likely to be the standard sales tax rate, which is currently 6.5% at the state level and an additional 2-3% at the city level, according to BRC.

Gold and silver sales tax’s effect on Bellevue Rare Coins

“It’ll definitely hurt our business,” Hoolahan said. “We’ve tried to always put gold in our customers’ hands at the most efficient cost possible. It’s not a major profit center for us, selling bullion to our customers.”

The current price of one silver ounce as of July 11 is $38.78, a 33.12% price increase year-to-date (YTD), according to .

“Say somebody wants to invest in collectible coins, they’ll be in Bellevue at over a 10% charge,” Hoolahan said. “Obviously, any investment with a 10% surcharge out of the gate is not an investment; it’s nothing I feel good about steering my customers into.”

Including a 10% sales tax on one ounce of gold priced at $3,300, the sales tax on a single ounce of gold would reach roughly $300.

“It’d be like if I handed you a $100 bill, but before I hand it to you, the state would come in and whack it 10%, now you’re getting less value for the exchange,” Curley said. “In the State of Washington, they need to have their fingers on it.”

The Washington Legislature is currently in the midst of an estimated $15 billion budget shortfall over the next four years, and will resort to implementing new taxes to fill the gap.

“What I’m afraid of is that the representatives said, ‘Look how much money we can collect through this taxation,'” Hoolahan said. “Our sales have fallen off a cliff as for individual investors buying gold, which is fine. It’s back to kind of where it normally is, but if they’re taking a snapshot of 2022 and presenting it, saying, ‘We could tax this,’ it’s misleading and short-sighted.”

Hoolahan referenced the recent gold price surge in the last few years, which resulted in a single ounce of gold increasing from roughly $1,800 in early January 2022 to gold’s peak of $3,448 in June 2025, according to APMEX.

“Should I go to Oregon? Should I go to Idaho to save 10%?” Curley asked.

“Honestly, I’m not going to mislead my customers, I’d suggest that that’s going to be the only way to buy physical metal,” Hoolahan said. “We’re going in the opposite direction of many other states in our country; it’s a real shame.”

Listen to the full conversation below.

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Cryptocurrencies are known for their extreme volatility, which was the case on Friday when Bitcoin increased nearly $3,000 within five minutes, according to .

Bitcoin surges to new all-time high

BTC is up 105.7% on its year-to-date (YTD) measurement, which is the current price of an asset compared to the price exactly one year earlier. BTC grew from $57,341 on July 11, 2024, to its current price of nearly $119,000.

In a smaller time frame, the price of BTC over the past week has grown by 9.83%, with Bitcoin’s price per coin listed at $107,483 on July 4.

Additionally, Bitcoin’s market capitalization currently sits at $2.34 trillion. An asset’s market capitalization, or market cap, represents the total market value of the asset’s circulating supply. The current price of BTC ( multiplied by the number of coins on the market, 19.89 million) totals its $2.34 trillion market cap.

BTC currently represents roughly 66% of the entire cryptocurrency market cap, which spans more than 37 million unique cryptocurrency coins.

In terms of Bitcoin’s trading volume over the last 24 hours, a total of $122.76 billion in BTC was traded on July 11, which revealed an 88.5% higher trade activity than the previous day.

Bitcoin investors breakdown

Each purchase of Bitcoin, or any cryptocurrency, gets recorded on the blockchain, which is a distributed ledger used for enhanced security, transaction confirmations, and can also be used to track wallet activity.

provided data by using Bitcoin’s blockchain to find the current U.S. dollar (USD) amount of BTC that traders had in their wallets. Of note, each address is identified by a randomly generated series of alphanumeric characters, and personal information is not displayed on the ledger.

As of July 11, the percentage of Bitcoin holders that have between $0 and $1,000 was listed as 76.43%. Bitcoin wallets with $1,000 to $100,000 stood at 21.55%. Lastly, Bitcoin investors with more than $100,000 of Bitcoin in their wallets represented 2.02% of Bitcoin’s total holders.

How long are investors holding Bitcoin?

CoinMarketCap provided three separate categories for the timespan that Bitcoin investors had held their digital assets.

75.86% of Bitcoin addresses were listed as “Holders,” which represents long-term investors who have held onto their BTC for one year or longer.

Bitcoin addresses labeled as “Cruisers” represented 19.96% of the data, indicating BTC holders who held their coins for a period of one month to one year.

The final category listed was “Traders,” which were 4.18% of Bitcoin wallet holdings, a figure that revealed investors who held their BTC for a very short time, typically less than one month.

Other notable cryptocurrency price increases

Other popular high market cap cryptocurrencies shared in Bitcoin’s success over the past few days, including Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and Solana (SOL).

ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with more than $361 billion, increased by roughly 19.05% in the last week, currently at $2,962 per coin as of this reporting.

XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, nearly $163 billion, had more than a 22% price increase per coin in the last seven days, currently priced at $2.72 per coin.

SOL, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with $87 billion, increased by more than 10% in the last week, currently at roughly $162 per coin.

The price of Bitcoin is known for being a rising tide that lifts all boats, oftentimes bringing shared success among a vast majority of cryptocurrencies, in response to BTC’s price action, whether it increases or decreases.

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The store closed Sunday after just three years of operation. The 125 laid-off employees can transfer to other Amazon Fresh stores, the tech giant confirmed.

“Certain store locations work better than others, and after an assessment of our offering, we’ve decided to close our Amazon Fresh store in Federal Way,” Amazon spokesperson Griffin Buch said in a prepared statement.

With this closure, only three Amazon Fresh stores are left in the Puget Sound area, according to . There are two stores in Seattle and one in Bellevue.

“We remain committed to making grocery shopping easier, faster, and more affordable, and will continue to refine our portfolio of stores as we learn which locations and features resonate most with customers,” Buch added.

This closure coincides with the closure of another store. Last week, Amazon shuttered a Whole Foods location in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood after seven years.

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The current silver ounce spot price is listed at $36.28 as of June 20, nearly a 25% increase since the start of 2025 (YTD), according to .

Silver ounce spot price surges

Over the last month, the silver spot price has increased by roughly $3, representing a 9% rise. Additionally, over the last three months, a 13.56% increase occurred, bumping up the price for one silver ounce by $4.30, APMEX stated.

“Silver is a precious metal with a finite supply. Its limited supply and many uses across industries, from healthcare to automotive to energy, mean it will always be in demand,” APMEX wrote.

Stepping further away, the five-year silver timeline shown by APMEX listed the commodity more than doubled in price, a 102% increase since Jan. 1, 2020, when the spot price was $17.92 per ounce.

APMEX stated that since 1990, the lowest price silver had reached was $3.55 per ounce in 1991; however, the silver ounce spot price reached more than $48 in 2011.

“Advocates of silver point to the 1980 spike in prices as a sign of what silver prices can reach, especially in a scarcity environment, and point out that $49.45 in 1980 would be the equivalent of $184.64 in 2023 due to inflation,” APMEX stated. “This puts a theoretical upper limit on the spot price of silver.”

Gold-to-silver ratio

The established a fixed gold-to-silver ratio of 15:1, meaning 15 silver ounces would equal one ounce of gold.

Although the Act had been amended multiple times since 1792, and President Richard Nixon in an attempt to combat inflation, the fixed ratio of 15:1 was subject to fluctuation over time.

The spot price for an ounce of gold is $3,384 as of June 20, and the current gold-to-silver ratio is 93.63, requiring nearly 94 ounces of silver to equal one ounce of gold, according to APMEX.

Calculating the gold-to-silver ratio requires dividing the current spot price of gold by the current spot price of silver.

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The average gas price per gallon in Washington is $1.21 higher than the national average as of June 20, according to .

WA gas prices lead the pack

“You are literally the only state that is above where it was one year ago,” Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for , said regarding Washington’s fuel prices.

As of June 20, Washington held the third-highest price per gallon of gas in the country, behind only California and Hawaii.

Closures and disruptions in California’s gasoline refineries may be to blame, as modern West Coast refineries have a ripple effect on local markets, which include Washington, The Center Square stated.

“Washington’s really been impacted by some events that have been kind of out of your state,” De Haan told The Center Square. “Refinery issues are probably why you’re higher than a year ago.”

Two major refineries in California are scheduled for closure: the Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles, which is set to close by October, and Valero, which will close its refinery by April 2026. Additionally, a fire at the Martinez Refining Company in California in February led to a noticeable 21-cent increase in Washington gas prices.

Another variable involved in rising gas prices is the heightened tensions in the Middle East, as Israel and Iran engage in aerial attacks.

Washington’s new gas tax, scheduled for July 1, would also increase the price per gallon by six cents, with a three-cent increase for diesel fuel per gallon.

Washington Counties’ gas prices

AAA detailed each county that contributed to Washington’s third-place ranking of highest gas prices, as of June 20.

The worst counties to buy a gallon of gas in Washington:

• San Juan, $5.399
• Wahkiakum, $4.749
• Pacific, $4.747
• King, $4.693
• Jefferson, $4.656

Each county’s average gas price included regular, mid-grade, premium, and diesel.

The highest statewide average cost per gallon of gas in Washington history was $5.56 on June 16, 2022, according to AAA.

Lowest WA county gas prices

The best counties to buy a gallon of gas in Washington:

• Asotin, $3.778
• Spokane, $3.977
• Pend Oreille, $4.000
• Ferry, $4.065
• Stevens, $4.114

Washington had an average of $4.42 per gallon of gas, and the AAA national average was $3.21.

The statistics provided are updated daily by AAA and are subject to change.

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reported that nine of the 10 biggest counties in the state saw gains in both categories. Benton County had the biggest year-over-year spike in employment at 2%.

Meanwhile, King County experienced the largest increase in wages, with a 13% rise in weekly pay. On average, King County workers made $2,671 in the fourth quarter of 2024. Snohomish County came in second at $1,568. Only King and Snohomish counties had average weekly wages above the national average of $1,507.

Two counties also failed to top $1,000 in average weekly pay. Workers in Okanogan County took home $957, while the average weekly wage was $884 in Wahkiakum.

Read more of Aaron Granillo’s stories here.

compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key categories: economic activity, economic health, and innovation potential.

“And the news is good for Washington. It cracked the top three,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo told ����Xվ Newsradio. “Only behind Massachusetts and Utah, and just ahead of California.”

Lupo pointed out Washington has been at the forefront of new technology, noting the state has the highest number of invention patents per capita.

In the WalletHub analysis, Washington also had the second-highest share of jobs in high-tech industries and the second-highest share of ‘STEM’ professionals, or workers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Lupo said those jobs are drawing people from around the world.

“New immigrants to Washington are the seventh-most educated in the country,” Lupo said.

Unemployed and underemployed rates in WA

The prospect of getting a great job attracts new residents and keeps many of those born or raised in Washington from leaving. However, finding a good job can be challenging.

“Washington has an above-average unemployment rate of 4.3% and an extremely high, now this is key, underemployment rate,” Lupo said.

Nine percent of Washingtonians are underemployed, meaning they’re working in a job that doesn’t adequately utilize their skills or experience. A notable example is a person with a college degree who works as a waiter or delivery driver.

Utah, which has an unemployment rate of 3.1%, edged out Washington for second place on the list. Utah also has a strong median income compared to its relatively low cost of living.

Massachusetts ranked No. 1. Lupo noted that the state not only invests heavily in industry, but also in academics. Washington has a few dozen public and private universities. Massachusetts has more than 100.

Why does having a strong state economy matter?

“The stronger your economy, the more tax dollars come into the state, which means better infrastructure, better quality of life for all the residents,” Lupo said.

Read more of Heather Bosch’s stories here.

The cost of gas hasn’t been this low in the U.S. since 2021. As of Friday, the national average gas price is $3.20, according to . Over the past two years, national gas prices averaged around $3.61 for Memorial Day weekend, while 2022 had average gas prices north of $4.50.

“If you adjust for inflation and rising wages, Americans are actually going to spend the least amount filling up this Memorial Day since 2003, excluding COVID,” GasBuddy wrote in a release. “Prices are forecast to average $3.02 per gallon over the summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day, with a sub-$3 per gallon national average possible on some days, especially toward the latter half of the summer.”

What about WA’s gas prices?

While not increasing, Washington failed to see much of a drop in gas prices statewide. Gas has actually jumped up slightly to $4.40, compared to $4.29 a month ago. Still, gas has fallen year-over-year by 17.9 cents.

Washington only trails California ($4.87) and Hawaii ($4.49) in average gas prices. Oregon ($3.99), Nevada ($3.93), Alaska ($3.64), Illinois ($3.44), Arizona ($3.37), Idaho ($3.32), and Pennsylvania ($3.31) round out the top 10.

Mississippi ($2.66), Louisiana ($2.71), Alabama ($2.74), Tennessee ($2.77), Texas ($2.78), Arkansas ($2.80), South Carolina ($2.81), Oklahoma ($2.81), Kentucky ($2.85), and Missouri ($2.87) are the 10 cheapest states for gas.

Supply and demand are playing a role in this year’s lower pump prices as crude oil supply is currently surpassing demand,” stated.

Memorial Day weekend is one of the biggest travel weekends of the year, with AAA expecting nearly 40 million people to travel by car over Memorial Day weekend this year, an increase of 3% compared to last year.

“While we’re forecasting the lowest summer gas prices in years, economic jitters are slightly dampening optimism — but we still expect a robust travel season, with millions of Americans hitting the road, many for extended trips,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, added.

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Factoring in inflation, this donation gives the Gates Foundation an additional $200 billion over the next two decades to help complete its large-reaching goals: Curing preventable diseases and helping the impoverished. Donating about 99% of his personal wealth will double the speed of the work the foundation is committed to, which factors into Gates’ next part of his plan—to shutter the foundation’s doors in 20 years after the foundation spends the $200 billion and completes its work.

“It’s an incredible group,” Gates told regarding the Gates Foundation. “And I want to say to them, you are fully funded for the next 20 years. Our resources are nowhere near enough to achieve what everybody should want the world to do.”

In his interview, Gates cited that just one human disease has ever been fully eradicated from the earth—smallpox in 1980. With this type of funding and support over the next two decades, Gates believes the solutions to “probably four or five” other afflictions could have cures. The foundation has already made substantial progress on eliminating polio and malaria, while also reducing the number of deaths caused by tuberculosis and AIDS by approximately 90%.

The Gates Foundation has also made significant improvements to education and technology for American students with low-income backgrounds.

Founded in Seattle in 2000 by then-husband and wife Bill and Melinda Gates, the foundation is set to close in 2045. Initially, the foundation was supposed to exist for 25 years after Bill and Melinda’s deaths. Melinda French Gates stepped down as co-chair in 2024 and created her own foundation.

In total, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stated it has paid $77.6 billion in grants since its inception, as of the end of 2023.

“I believe Bill is making an excellent decision,” Warren Buffett told Fortune in an email. “Bill is a ‘learner,’ and it shows in the evolution of the foundation. A good bit of his time involves travel for very long distances to work on very unglamorous projects that have the objective of changing the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Bill truly walks the walk.”

Buffett has been the Gates Foundation’s second-largest donor, donating more than $40 billion in total.

Gates’ motivations

Gates cited that he is worried about “drastic cutbacks” in foreign aid contributions from the U.S., other wealthy countries, and some of the foundation’s partners to poorer countries where the foundation operates.

In his second term, President Donald Trump’s administration shut down USAID, the agency that dispenses international aid, while simultaneously withdrawing from the World Health Organization. Other countries have followed suit. The U.K. has reduced its international assistance by 40%, France by 37%, and the Netherlands by 30%.

“Unless the rich countries stay generous,” Gates told Fortune, “the progress is going to stop—and may even go into reverse.”

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According to a financial results report released earlier this week, Microsoft spent approximately $1 billion less on AI in the first three months of 2025 than it did in the previous quarter. Still, Microsoft invested $21.4 billion into AI over the past three months.

Microsoft was on pace to spend more than $85 billion on AI during the current fiscal year, before slightly pulling back.

This is a departure from Microsoft’s practices when ChatGPT’s chatbot first dropped in 2022. According to , Microsoft pivoted to building AI data centers so aggressively, one industry analyst called it “the largest infrastructure build-out that humanity has ever seen.”

Demand for cloud and artificial intelligence still remains strong, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed on an investors call.

Microsoft’s first quarter results were strong across the board. Sales surpassed $70 billion, up 13% from the same period a year earlier, while profits rose to $25.8 billion, up 18%, according to The New York Times. Microsoft’s stock price increased more than 8% in after-hours trading.

A study by the (IPS) found that the “millionaire class” grew by 38.6% in Massachusetts despite a wealth take and 46.9% in Washington despite a capital gains tax. Their wealth grew by more than $580 billion in current dollars in Massachusetts and $748 billion in Washington state between 2022 and 2024.

This financial growth happened despite Washington having a capital gains tax while Massachusetts was operating under a progressive taxation on million-dollar incomes.

“Both Massachusetts and Washington serve as critical test studies on the actual impact of fairly taxing the rich,” IPS researcher Omar Ocampo said in a prepared statement. “Taxing high-income individuals at a higher rate is not disruptive and did not cause a mass exodus of millionaires.”

Washington saw more millionaires

According to the IPS study, Washington’s “millionaire class” expanded from 463,000 in 2022 to more than 681,000 by 2024. The number of residents with a net worth of over $50 million increased from 2,060 to 2,939, a 42.6% increase.

The capital gains tax raised $1.2 billion from 2022-2024.

“A wealth tax that targets ultra-high net worth individuals—those with $50 million or more—puts a minor constraint on their rate of accumulation, but has the potential to raise significant revenues that can be used to support broad healthcare, economic, and educational programs that benefit all state residents,” IPS stated.

What a ‘wealth tax’ could create in revenue if increased again

IPS even claimed that if the wealth tax increased by another 2% for individuals with a net worth of more than $50 million, it could generate $8.2 billion for the state. Similarly, it would hypothetically raise $7.4 billion in Massachusetts, $21.9 billion in New York, and $700 million in Rhode Island.

“This new analysis confirms that when the rich pay their fair share of taxes, we all benefit—including the wealthy,” Amber Wallin, the executive director of the State Revenue Alliance, said in a press release for IPS. “For years, we’ve had so-called experts claim that higher taxes will mean that wealthy people flee—it’s never been true, but these results show how wrong they were.”

This study comes after one of Washington’s most famous billionaires, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and executive chairman, moved from Washington to Indian Creek Village—an exclusive area in Miami, Florida. also known as “Billionaire Bunker,” famous for its celebrity residents including Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. He allegedly saved nearly $1 billion in just one year in taxes after calling Florida his primary residence instead of Washington.

Washington lawmakers just passed a massive $77.9 billion operating budget for the next two years, and it’s now on Governor Bob Ferguson’s desk to sign and pass. Ferguson previously warned the legislature he wouldn’t pass a budget plan that relies too much on taxes. The current budget proposal includes roughly $7 million in cuts and $9 million in new taxes.

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AT&T, the third-largest telecommunications company, occupied an approximate 73,000 square-foot space in the Redmond Town Center, located at 7277 164th Ave. NE.

It is unknown if AT&T plans to relocate locally, as of the reporting. ����Xվ Newsradio and MyNorthwest have reached out to AT&T for comment.

Simultaneously, according to the CBRE report, AT&T has shrunk its staff significantly over the last five years. Once contracting 247,800 employees in 2019, AT&T reduced its staff to 140,990 by 2024.

The departure of major companies from Seattle

This departure coincides with a lot of tech companies readjusting their workspaces. Google announced it was shuttering its four-building campus in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood last month, transitioning its employees to its South Lake Union offices, while Salesforce shrank its office space in Bellevue by roughly 20%.

Warner Bros. Discovery decided to move its Seattle-based staff to a smaller office in Bellevue. Disney renewed its Seattle lease, located within the Fourth & Madison Tower, earlier this year, but not without reducing the space needed from 170,000 square feet to 121,600—an approximate 28% reduction.

Last week, the streaming giant Netflix moved in the opposite direction, acquiring office space for its employees in the Madison Centre in Seattle.

According to The Puget Sound Business Journal, T-Mobile has let go of or offered to sublease entire buildings along the I-90 corridor near its Bellevue headquarters. Verizon took up T-Mobile’s offer, ditching a 71,000-square-foot office space in an Eastgate building for a 32,682-square-foot space it subleased from T-Mobile.

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The entertainment conglomerate renewed its lease, located within the Fourth & Madison Tower, earlier this year, but not without reducing the space needed from 170,000 square feet to 121,600—an approximate 28% reduction.

According to , the Seattle office is dedicated to the technology sector for the Disney Corporation. Disney has occupied office space in Seattle since 1998.

The departure of major companies from Seattle

This office shuffling coincides with a lot of tech companies readjusting their workspaces. Google announced it was shuttering its four-building campus in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood last month, transitioning its employees to its South Lake Union offices, while Salesforce shrank its office space in Bellevue by roughly 20%.

Warner Bros. Discovery decided to move its Seattle-based staff to a smaller office in Bellevue.

Last week, the streaming giant Netflix moved in the opposite direction, acquiring office space for its employees in the Madison Centre in Seattle.

MyNorthwest and ����Xվ Newsradio have reached out to Disney for comment.

That’s what a group of Western Washington business and industry leaders is claiming. Flanked by Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, the group provided details on the impacts of the tariffs.

“Our brand is known for patented safe sleep products,” Jeff Damir, the COO of Seattle-based , told ����Xվ Newsradio.

Damir said most of what they sell is made in China (outside of a small line of “Made in USA” products) where they have long-standing relationships with factories. The products manufactured in China are now subject to the changing tariffs.

“Last month, we brought in a container—a container with a value of about $200,000—and we had to pay an extra $20,000 to bring that in,” he explained. “This month, we’re bringing in another container. That container will cost us an extra $40,000 because the China tariffs went from 10% to 20%.”

Now? Swaddle Designs has a container of products to be shipped to the U.S. currently sitting in China. That container would cost them $300,000 in extra tariffs alone, given the 145% tariff increase.

They’re keeping it in China, hoping the tariffs will come down.

Can companies pivot to making products locally in the U.S.?

As for manufacturing products here? Damir told ����Xվ Newsradio it’s not practical or cost-effective.

“There’s just no way that we could ever bring production back,” Damir said.

What about businesses that already make their products in the U.S. with home-grown ingredients?

“I buy most of my ingredients locally, and I haven’t thought that I would be all that impacted,” said Molly Neitzel, the CEO of , a small Seattle-based chain. “What I didn’t think about until my CFO came to me is spoons.”

Molly Moon’s buys compostable spoons from a manufacturer in China, but under the current tariffs?

“The current structure will cost us about $240,000 this year,” Neitzel said. “That’s almost half of my total anticipated profit for 2025.”

A fractured relationship with Canada

It’s not just U.S. tariffs on imports causing challenges. Chris Stone, the deputy director of the , which represents more than 1,000 family-owned wineries and 400-plus farmers, said the tariffs have drawn retaliation.

“The best example would be Canada, our No. 1 export market, which literally evaporated,” Stone said. “Disappeared overnight.”

In response to the U.S. tariffs, Canada has banned U.S. alcohol sales—a loss of $10-12 million in business. Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell pointed out that she helped promote American wines in Canada.

“I want you to know that I helped get British Columbia to put more Washington wine on their shelves,” Cantwell said.

She and Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley have introduced the Trade Review Act, which they said would return most of the control over tariffs to Congress.

President Trump insists his tariffs will boost manufacturing in the U.S., give the U.S. leverage to reduce tariffs that other countries place on American products they import, and force countries to stop fentanyl from entering the U.S.

Heather Bosch is an award-winning for ����Xվ Newsradio.

F21 OpCo, which runs Forever 21 stores, said late Sunday that it will wind down the business in the U.S. under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while determining if it can continue as a business with a partner, or if it will sell some or all of its assets.

“While we have evaluated all options to best position the company for the future, we have been unable to find a sustainable path forward, given competition from foreign fast fashion companies, which have been able to take advantage of the de minimis exemption to undercut our brand on pricing and margin,” Chief Financial Officer Brad Sell said in a statement.

�ճ���� lets shipments headed to U.S. businesses and consumers valued at less than $800 to enter the country tax free and duty free.

Forever 21 stores in the U.S. will hold liquidation sales and the website will continue to run while operations wind down. The retailer’s locations outside of the U.S. are run by other licensees and are not included in the bankruptcy filing. International store locations and websites will continue operating as normal.

Authentic Brands Group owns the international intellectual property associated with the Forever 21 brand and may license the brand to other operators, F21OpCo said.

Jarrod Weber, Global President, Lifestyle at Authentic Brands Group, said the restructuring lets Forever 21 “accelerate the modernization of the brand’s distribution model, setting it up to compete and lead in fast fashion for decades to come. We’re building a direct creation-to-shelf model that moves faster.”

He added that, “We are receiving lots of interest from strong brand operators and digital experts who share our vision and are ready to take the brand to the next level.”

Forever 21 first filed for  in 2019. The following year, it was acquired by a  of parties including Authentic Brands Group and mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners. In early January, Forever 21’s parent company, Sparc Group, merged with JCPenney to form Catalyst Brands, a new entity that also includes brands like Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand, and Nautica.

Forever 21 joins a slew of other retailers that have filed for Chapter 11 or are liquidating in recent months as retailers face a slowdown in consumer spending and are navigating rising operating costs amid inflationary pressures. They include fabric and crafts retailer �����Ի���. In February, Outdoor apparel seller  which has operated stores for surfer and skater-inspired labels like Quiksilver, Billabong and Volcom, filed for bankruptcy — and said it plans to shutter its locations across the U.S.

From Jan. 1 through March 14, U.S. retailers have so far announced 3,735 store closures, according to Coresight Research’s weekly tracker.

Forever 21 had been battling a host of macroeconomic challenges as well as its own issues.

Forever 21 was founded in 1984 and, along with other fast-fashion chains like H&M and Zara, rode a wave of popularity among young customers in the mid-1990s. Their popularity grew during the Great Recession, when shoppers were seeking bargains. But Forever 21 went on an aggressive expansion just as shoppers were moving more online. Critics have said that Forever 21 was too slow to embraice online shopping.

The company also faced stiff competition from the likes of Shein and Temu, which churn out trendy items that are cheaper than what Forever 21 offers. For example, Forever 21 sells T-shirts for around $10. Temu has them for $5.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a statement that part of the problem now is that Forever 21’s stores are too big for its current needs and it’s in malls with not enough foot traffic.

“Forever 21 was always a retailer living on borrowed time. Over recent years it has been hit with dual headwinds from a weak apparel market and stiff competition from cheap Chinese marketplaces,” he said. “Both things have eroded its standing and depleted its market share.”

Here in Washington, the Weights and Measures program under the Department of Agriculture monitors that. Their job as inspectors is to check the accuracy, safety, and quality of each gas pump across the state.

Gas pumps are not their only task. They also check grocery store scales, highway weigh-stations, and any other commercial use scale in the state.

����Xվ 7 found most gas stations in the Puget Sound area aren’t checked regularly due to a “shortage of pump inspectors,” according to Weights and Measures program manager, Tahis McQueen.

“Because we are short-staffed, we have not been able to make those inspections in that timely 18-month time frame,” McQueen said.

There are 1,055 gas stations across King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. Those stations are supposed to be inspected every two years or less, per state law.

����Xվ 7 requested the gas station inspection reports for 2023-2024. ����Xվ 7 received 75 reports.

Out of those 75 reports, 26 of them showed the pumps had an issue with useability and fill accuracy.

Summed up, only 7% of the county’s gas stations have been inspected in the past two years and 1/3 of the ones that have been inspected failed.

It’s easy to spot when a pump has been last inspected. Each pump at every station should have a sticker on it that has a hole-punched month and year.

����Xվ 7 found many pumps across the three Puget Sound counties that had no sticker at all.

According to the reports, many stations have not been recently inspected. If the sticker date goes back more than a few years, it’s possible what’s on this screen doesn’t match what’s going into your tank. Pump errors are possible due to lack of accountability with few inspections happening.

Here in Western Washington, we know every penny matters when it comes to buying a full tank.

“If they’re above or below the zero marker, we have a tolerance of six cubic inches in either direction,” McQueen said.

Six cubic inches comes out to be a little less than half a cup of gas.

Reports show some pumps are giving up to two whole cups less than what the customer paid for.

At the same time, other gas stations are giving more gas than paid for.

Either way, what’s in your tank doesn’t match what’s coming out of your wallet.

75 stations were inspected from 2023-2024. 26 of them failed the test due to calibration accuracy requirements. Out of the 26, 14 stations were giving gas away, benefitting the consumer, while 12 of them were not giving people what they paid for.

McQueen told ����Xվ 7 the gas station operators are likely not doing this on purpose.

“It’s usually a problem with the actual meter it’s not tampering or anything like that,” McQueen said.

But on the chance your favorite gas station fails an inspection, there are checks and balances.

“If there’s a problem with the accuracy of the meter, they will write the station up telling them what the issue was as far as accuracy goes and give them 30 days to get that fixed,” McQueen said.

After that deadline, the state is then required to go back to that station and make sure the issue was resolved.

Below is a list of each gas station that was inspected from 2023-2024 in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. This information was given to ����Xվ 7 via a request to the Washington Weights and Measures Department. ����Xվ 7 asked them for all reports from those two years in those three counties.

If the gas station had an issue with a pump, the inspector flagged the problem and often issues the station a fine and a charge to fix the problem within a month. The statistics below represent inspection results from specific days in 2023-2024, they do not represent if the gas station currently has a calibration or system issue.

 Passed: Chevron, 11122 Steele Street S, Lakewood, WA, 98499

Passed: 76, 2601 N Stevens St, Tacoma, WA, 98407

Passed: Safeway, 11501 Canyon Rd E, Puyallup, WA, 98373

Passed: Chevron, 1772 S 72nd St, Tacoma, WA, 98408

Passed: Safeway, 2735 N Pearl St, Tacoma, WA, 98407

Passed: Shell, 801 S Hill Park Dr, Puyallup, WA, 98373

Passed: 76, 8817 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA, 98444

Passed: ARCO, 401 Ellingson Rd, Pacific, WA, 98047

Passed: Chevron, 2626 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA, 98004

Passed: Shell, 24821 NE Redmond Fall City Rd, Redmond, WA, 98053

Passed: 7/11, 22422 83rd Ave, Kent, WA, 98032

Passed: Pacific Pride, 22429 SE 231 St, Maple Valley, WA, 98038

Passed: ARCO, 1537 Duvall Ave NE, Renton, WA, 98059

Passed: Chevron, 601 Stevens Pass Hwy, Sultan, WA, 98294

Passed: Chevron, 502 W Stanley St, Granite Falls, WA, 98252

Abnormal: Chevron, 19923 International Blvd, SeaTac, WA, 98188

Abnormal: Shell, 24821 NE Redmond Fall City Rd, Redmond, WA, 98053

Abnormal: ARCO, 13055 NE 70th Pl, Kirkland, WA, 98033

Abnormal: Garry’s on Pearl, 4601 N Pearl St, Tacoma, WA, 98407

Abnormal: Chevron, 6701 6th Ave, Tacoma, WA, 98406

Abnormal: Fred Meyer, 33702 21st Ave SE, Federal Way, WA, 98023

Abnormal: 76, 719 91st Ave NE, Lake Stevens, WA, 98258

Abnormal: Shell, 6410 State Route 92, Lake Stevens, WA, 98258

Abnormal: Shell, 6410 State Route 92, Lake Stevens, WA, 98258