Published October 2005

Business Briefs

EdCC awarded research grant
aimed at recruiting women
Edmonds Community College received a $499,784, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to research ways to recruit women to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is one of few research-based grants awarded to two-year institutions by the National Science Foundation.

Previous national studies have shown that in order to meet the needs of the U.S. labor force it will be critical to attract women to these fields. EdCC will provide the results of its research to the National Science Foundation to assist a variety of projects aimed at recruiting women to science and math careers across the nation.

One example already in place is EdCC’s Sprite Project, started in 2003 with the Edmonds School District and the University of Washington, Bothell. The project develops high school girls’ interest in learning math and physics by incorporating lessons into the study of computer animation.

For more information, contact Mel Cossette, co-principle investigator and director for materials science at EdCC, by calling 425-640-1376 or sending e-mail to mel.cossette@edcc.edu.

‘Green’ company continues
product expansion
Green for Good, a Seattle-based online retailer for eco-friendly products that has an office in Edmonds, has signed agreements with Drugstore.com and Only Natural Pet Store to provide natural health and beauty products as well as pet food and related products through Green for Good’s online store. These retailers join 35 others in the rapidly growing Green for Good network of affiliate merchants who so far offer more than 1,700 organic, green and eco-friendly products on the site.

Green for Good donates at least 10 percent of after-tax profits to community-based, nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to improving the environment and the world.

For more information, contact David Kaufer, president and chief executive of Green for Good, 425-275-8814 or at david@greenforgood.com, or go online to www.greenforgood.com.

American Laser Centers
acquires Lynnwood company
American Laser Centers in September announced its acquisition of Lynnwood-based Advanced Laser Clinics, doubling its number of treatment centers and expanding to 31 states nationwide.

As a result of this acquisition, Michigan-based American Laser Centers will offer services to its customers from more than 100 physician-supervised locations. Prior to the transaction, American Laser Centers, with 2004 revenue totaling $29 million, operated 52 locations in 17 states. The acquisition is expected to boost American Laser Centers’ revenue to $60 million by the end of this year.

Frontier Financial buying
Seattle-based NorthStar
Frontier Financial Corp., the Everett-based parent company of Frontier Bank, is buying NorthStar Financial Co. of Seattle in a stock deal worth about $48.2 million.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006, Frontier officials said, providing it is approved by regulators and NorthStar shareholders. However, NorthStar’s directors, top officers and biggest shareholders — who hold nearly 53 percent of the bank’s shares — already have approved the deal.

NorthStar operates two full-service bank branches in Seattle’s Ballard and Fremont neighborhoods, as well as a home-loan center in Puyallup. It was founded in 1994 as Fremont First National Bank.

The deal will expand Frontier’s network of 40 branches in Western Washington and will give the bank four branches in Seattle. Frontier already has branches in downtown Seattle and the Lake City neighborhood.

Best Western Cambridge Inn
to host the Silvertips
For the second year in a row, the Best Western Cambridge Inn in south Everett has been chosen as the host hotel for the Everett Silvertips and the Western Hockey League.

In August, the 76-room hotel at the intersection of Everett Mall Way and Evergreen Way housed those trying out for the 2005-06 Silvertips season as well as many of their families, hotel officials said.

Over Labor Day weekend, the hotel hosted some of the teams participating in the pre-season tournament along with their families and fans.

Boeing, Machinists reach agreement
The Boeing Co. in late September reached a tentative contract agreement with its striking Machinists union workers, after a weekend bargaining session in Washington, D.C.

Union members were expected to vote on the three-year pact Sept. 29, and were expected to be back on the job as soon as Sept. 30.

Union leaders were recommending that members accept the contract.

The 18,000-plus members of International Association of Machinists had been on strike since Sept. 2, after 86 percent of them voted to reject Boeing’s contract offer.

Under the new proposal, Boeing agreed to a further increase in pension benefits, and kept health-care programs and costs the same as they were under the previous contract, union officials said.

Boeing will offer pension payments of $70 a month per year of service — or $2,100 a month for workers after 30 years — up from the $60 it pays now and the $66 it offered in its original contract.

Boeing also agreed to keep offering health-care benefits to retirees. It had proposed doing away with that benefit for workers hired in the future.

Pensions and health care were the union’s top two issues going into negotiations.

On pocketbook issues, the company agreed to give workers 8 percent signing bonuses — $4,760 for the average Machinist making $59,500 a year — plus payments of $3,000 in both the second and third years of the contract. Workers also will continue to get cost-of-living wage increases linked to inflation rates.

Had the strike continued, analysts had estimated the strike would cost Boeing between $70 million and $90 million a month in lost revenue.

United Way sets $10 million goal
for fund-raising campaign
United Way of Snohomish County set a goal of $10 million to be raised in this year’s Community Caring Campaign, which runs through November in local workplaces.

The $10 million will be invested in helping kids enter school ready to learn and children and teens succeed in life; in helping families afford the basic essentials of housing, food and health care and live independently; and in helping the community become better connected and supported, United Way officials said.

This year, it is crucial that United Way reach its fund-raising goal, said Carl Zapora, United Way of Snohomish County president. Annual gifts to United Way ensure that help will be there for those who rely on the nonprofit organization every day.

County’s employment growth rate
a sizzling 6.5 percent
Snohomish County’s employment market is the fastest growing in the state, government officials said in September.

Donna Thompson of the state Employment Security Department said the added jobs mean county employment is growing at a rate of 6.5 percent; that compares with the statewide average of 3.1 percent.

In August alone, the county added 1,400 jobs. Boeing and other aerospace companies hired an additional 200 people. The hot housing market helped add 300 people in construction work. The professional and business sector added another 300 people, as did bars and restaurants. Other leisure businesses added 100.

The county’s jobless rate dropped only two-tenths of a percentage point in August to 4.6 percent. Statewide, unemployment rose two-tenths of a percentage point, to 5.8 percent in August from 5.6 percent in July.

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