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Contributors
Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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ChangMook Sohn, executive director of the State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, today sent his latest economic forecast – for June – to the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. The advisors will meet Friday in Olympia to review the forecast.
Among the highlights:
• Nationwide, what little GDP growth there was in the first quarter (1.3 percent) was more than accounted for by consumer spending which rose at a rate of 3.8 percent.
• Housing starts continued to plunge in the first quarter, falling at a 19.9 percent rate to 1.474 million units. The mortgage rate declined to 6.22 percent in the first quarter from 6.25 percent in the fourth quarter.
• The national forecast shows an even more severe downturn than assumed in the March forecast, but the Washington forecast continues to expect a slowing, but no significant decline. "We believe the underlying trend is close to 50,000 units with higher multi-family activity offsetting much of the decline in the single-family market."
• The Washington aerospace employment forecast is virtually unchanged since March. As of April, the aerospace sector has added 16,600 jobs since the trough in May 2004. The forecast expects another 3,400 new aerospace jobs by mid-2008 when employment is expected to level off at 80,900. This is still 32,200 (28.5 percent) lower than the previous peak in June 1998.
• Excluding software jobs, which tend to skew general results, real personal income will increase 0.9 percent in the second quarter and 4.7 percent in 2007 as a whole. The figure will increase 4.6 percent in 2008. The average annual wage for Washington workers will increase 4.4 percent in 2007 and 3.9 percent in 2008.
To see a copy of the full forecast, visit www.erfc.wa.gov.
There’s a puppy on the East Coast, or maybe in Canada. The owner is a missionary, and about to leave home to do God’s work in Africa. You, a dog lover, can have the puppy for free.
That’s what the online ad says. That’s what you read when you go to the Web site. That’s what you hear when you call the number.
Yes, the puppy is free – but there will be a $400 shipping fee. Please wire the money immediately.
Guess what! There is no puppy. You’re out the $400. So goes one of the latest scams reported by the Better Business Bureau.
Marcella Kallmann, regional BBB public relations and communications manager, said today that this particular scheme “seems to be more prevalent. People get so emotionally involved. They’ve found a dog, and they’ll go to all ends, even if it means paying a little extra. We’re dubbing these the Nigerian Puppy Scams.”
The scammers, she says “are pulling at peoples’ heartstrings from all different directions.”
So beware. If you’re looking for a purebred dog, check the American Kennel Club at www.akc.org. If you’re looking for a new pet, try the Humane Society. If you’re thinking about sending $400 to a stranger, go first to the BBB at www.bbb.org.
