Extended unemployment benefits are going away for 60,000 Washington residents. A federal program put in place to help jobless workers weather the recession expires at the end of the year.
Utility regulators are on the verge of ending the automatic delivery of White Pages phone books to Washington households. Legislation to do the same in Oregon hasn't gone anywhere.
Washington state saw a nice drop in unemployment during October. New numbers released Thursday show the state jobless rate fell to 8.2 percent. That's down three-tenths of a point from the prior month.
Telecommunications giant Sprint is poised to take a controlling interest in Washington-based wireless provider Clearwire. Clearwire's high-speed wireless data connections cover 80 major markets nationally, including a dozen in the Northwest.
Washington’s jobless rate dropped just slightly in September. State economists Wednesday pegged unemployment at 8.5 percent. That erases a small uptick in August.
New data released Tuesday by the Oregon Employment Department show the state's unemployment rate held steady in September, coming in at a seasonally adjusted 8.7 percent. Economists blame the results on weaker than expected seasonal job growth.
