Business

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Within the plans to increase fares, cars shorter than 14 feet will be charged a lower fare on Washington ferries and bike riders won't need an annual permit under changes approved by the state Transportation Commission.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The state of Washington is getting ready to accept bids from private companies to take over the distribution of liquor. One question: how to evaluate the financial promises the bidders make.

This was a key topic Tuesday as state leaders met in advance of the formal bid process that’s about to get underway.

It’s been almost 30 years but JC Penny is making a comeback. The Seattle Times reports the clothing-store chain is planning to set up shop just one block from where the original store once stood.

Latino workers struggling with issues of fair wages, harassment and safety in the workplace are getting help this week from an unlikely source. The Mexican government is sponsoring workshops in Seattle and other cities to help those workers understand their rights.

It’s years behind schedule and over budget but Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is now approved to carry passengers.

Federal Aviation Administration officials gave their official seal of approval amid swelling music, a flag parade, and a fly over by Airplane Number 2.

The latest polling of Washington voters shows that optimism has taken “nose dive” to an all-time low.

Voters surveyed in The Elway Poll – an independent, nonpartisan analysis of public opinion – were less likely to think things were “getting better” than at any time since the survey began in 1991.

The architect of the survey, Stuart Elway, said people may be openly entertaining the idea that America has entered a “malaise” or “a new normal” of long-term high unemployment, weak spending and, simply, a plain old bummer of an economy like the one Japan suffered for more than a decade.

Cooler temperatures this year have given Washington’s wheat famers a boost. The cool wet spring combined with good ripening conditions in July and August have increased yields here. At the same time, severe drought has diminished the harvest in the nation’s Plain states. 

As a result, Washington is expected to surpass Texas and Oklahoma in winter-wheat production this year, making it second only to Kansas.   

At the news of Steve Job's departure from Apple's top job, Mark Anderson – KPLU's "The Digital Future" commentator and CEO of Strategic News Service, the first subscription-based newsletter on the Internet – told his subscribers to sell sell sell.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. says Steve Jobs resigning as CEO, effective immediately.