A decision on whether to increase residential power rates up to 18 percent in Snohomish County has been put off for at least a day. The three-member publicly elected commission that must vote on the increase decided to meet again at 1 p.m. Thursday to consider the matter after discussing it for about an hour on Wednesday without a vote. PUD officials say increases in wholesale power rates, which go into effect Oct. 1, are forcing them to increase rates. The options: increase residential rates 16 to 18 percent or go to a two-tired system, with the first block of power at one rate and any additional power at a high rate, to encourage conservation.
Bothell-based SonoSite Inc. announced the results of four new studies Wednesday on its SonoHeart portable ultrasound device. In two of the studies, investigators concluded that it is an efficient and low-cost screening tool for abdominal aortic aneurysms and left ventricular hypertrophy, the company reported. Two other studies showed it is reliable and potentially useful in the physical exam and in bedside patient management, company officials said. The studies were presented at the 23rd annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology under way in Stockholm, Sweden.
Productivity, a key measure of living standards, rebounded in the second quarter as businesses slashed workers’ hours by the largest amount in a decade. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that productivity – the amount of output per hour of work – rose at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the April-June quarter, after a scant 0.1 percent advance in the first three months of this year.
Employees at an IRS processing center run by Mellon Bank hid thousands of tax returns or put them with papers to be shredded apparently because they couldn’t keep up with the workload, Mellon’s chairman says. At least 40,000 federal tax returns and payments totaling $810 million were either lost or destroyed at the Pittsburgh center, which handled documents sent by taxpayers in New England and parts of New York state.
Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said Wednesday that the yearlong economic slowdown appears to be coming to an end. He predicted the $40 billion in tax rebates will spur stronger growth in coming months. He rejected arguments by some analysts that consumers may thwart the government’s efforts to stimulate demand by saving their refund checks rather than spending them. The Bush administration is counting on the rebate checks and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive credit easing to boost demand and lift the country out of a serious slowdown.
From Herald news services
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