Business & Economy

Business & Economy

Julia Garcia started the nonprofit Jewels Helping Hands, which began by operating mobile shower units to serve Spokane's growing homeless population. CREDIT: Kirk Siegler/NPR

To Address Homelessness, Spokane Is Starting To Put Relationships Before Punishments

There’s a growing consensus that a more punitive approach hasn’t worked for Spokane. Nationwide, the homeless population is rising. In many communities, it can feel like an intractable problem. Yet cities like Spokane are starting to show some incremental progress with some prevention programs. Continue Reading To Address Homelessness, Spokane Is Starting To Put Relationships Before Punishments

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Amy Skillings of Oysterville, Washington, wheels the day's shucked oysters into a large cooler to await pickup. The oysters will be flown quickly across the country and to China.

Ah, Shuck: Oysters, Cherries, Other Northwest Ag Products Back Up As Coronavirus Quarantines Trade

Right now, all sorts of products aren’t reaching the U.S. because of the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China. Reciprocally, many U.S. agricultural and forestry products aren’t shipping back into China and other Pacific Rim countries. Global trade watchers say backed-up trade is building up on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Continue Reading Ah, Shuck: Oysters, Cherries, Other Northwest Ag Products Back Up As Coronavirus Quarantines Trade

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Larry McMillan drives a combine as he harvests barley Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, near Moscow, Idaho. The region's warm and dry weather has provided optimal conditions for the continued harvest season. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

What Is The Toll Of Trade Wars On U.S. Agriculture?

The recently signed Phase 1 U.S.-China deal promises some relief. Details remain unclear, but the United States government’s interpretation of this deal is that China will purchase $40 billion of agricultural goods in 2020. Some analysts have questioned how realistic those estimates are, given that the highest level of farm products the United States has ever exported to China was $26 billion in 2012, although one Chinese agricultural consultancy company says this can be achieved. Continue Reading What Is The Toll Of Trade Wars On U.S. Agriculture?

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Plastic tubing strings like fairy nets through the University of Washington's Pack Forest in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. Eventually it will carry bigleaf maple tree sap to make syrup.

Bigleaf Maple Syrup Flows As Profits Drip From A Once-Maligned Northwest Tree

The bigleaf maple has a broad canopy and is native to the West Coast. It grows from San Diego, California all the way north to British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. But the West Coast timber industry is largely set up to harvest Douglas fir. The tree, with its broad-shading canopy, is often eradicated so more Douglas fir will grow. Continue Reading Bigleaf Maple Syrup Flows As Profits Drip From A Once-Maligned Northwest Tree

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