Everett OKs TV franchise for Verizon
Published 9:15 pm Wednesday, July 23, 2008
A franchise for Verizon’s new FiOS TV video service was approved Wednesday by the Everett City Council. Everett is the second community to approve the service, which won a franchise from Lynnwood last week. The company will offer FiOS later this summer. It will include 400 digital channels grouped in topics such as entertainment, sports and news; an array of high-definition channels; and a library of video on demand.
Federal wage increases to $6.55
About 2 million Americans get a raise today as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers. The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year’s boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour. Washington’s workers already get a better deal, a minimum of $8.07 as mandated by the state.
Amazon profits beat expectations
Amazon.com Inc. showed that it wasn’t being hurt by economic weakness and high fuel prices, reporting Wednesday that its second-quarter profits more than doubled and surpassed analyst expectations. The Internet retailer also raised full-year revenue projections. Sales were strong in several sections of Amazon’s massive marketplace. For the quarter that ended June 30, Amazon earned $158 million, or 37 cents per share. Amazon earned $78 million, or 19 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. The company’s revenue climbed 41 percent to $4.06 billion, including a 35 percent leap in North American sales.
Economy packs double whammy
The country slogged through slower economic growth and rising prices during the summer, which affected individuals and businesses alike. The Fed’s newest snapshot of business conditions, released Wednesday, also underscored the challenges confronting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues as they try to get the economy back on track. For now, many economists predict the Fed will probably leave a key interest rate alone when it meets Aug. 5 — given all the economic crosscurrents. Boosting rates to fend off inflation would hurt the fragile economy and the already crippled housing market.
U.S. airfares rise 4.4 percent
Average domestic airfares rose 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier, the government said Wednesday in an analysis that was based on a small sample of itineraries and excluded some high-priced destinations. The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said its first-quarter numbers represented the largest year-to-year increase in average domestic airfares since the second quarter of 2006. Even so, it said, average fares through the first quarter remained 4.6 percent below the January-to-March high set in 2001.
From Herald staff and news services
