Hart Hodges

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Eat meat? Prepare to pay up

Food costs have outpaced other staple items during the past year, climbing 1.4% according to the consumer price index released Wednesday. But meat prices -- which include beef, poultry, eggs and fish – rose 2.9%.

2013-10-31
Report says Bellingham ranks high in income growth

Bellingham has landed on a list that says residents had some of the fastest growing incomes in the nation - but that doesn't mean local residents are suddenly wealthy.

NerdWallet, a financial information website, recently released a list of cities with the fastest growing incomes…

2013-10-28
Regional chambers say that the practice of "expedited removal" hurts cross-border business

For Canadian residents wanting to visit the U.S., the threat of “expedited removal” – an on-the-spot decision by a border agent to ban someone from the U.S. for five years or more – is a major deterrent to doing business in America.

At least that’s the opinion expressed in a court brief…

2013-10-17
WWU talk will cover water-resource management

Hart Hodges, director of Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research, will present a talk on water-resource management on Thursday, Oct. 3, as part of the WWU Huxley College of the Environment’s speaker series.
Hodges’ talk, titled “Issues in Water Resource…

2013-10-03
Hart Hodges to discuss water resource management Oct. 3 2013-10-01
Canadian border guards waive duty fees at peak times

It turns out Canadian shoppers can sometimes get even better-than-expected savings by shopping in the U.S. if they time it right at the border crossing.

In-depth articles published earlier this month in the Vancouver Sun and other Canadian newspapers indicate that for the past 13 years,…

2013-08-08
Cross-border shopping craze hampering B.C. retail growth

A new report indicates the increased number of British Columbians shopping in Northwest Washington is dampening retail growth in the province.

The Business Council of British Columbia estimates that B.C. residents spent $1 billion to $1.6 billion in retail while on short-term cross-border…

2013-06-10
Flat wages raises questions for economic growth in Whatcom County

After a brief boost last spring, Whatcom County wages in the third quarter of 2012 dropped back to levels equal to the previous year.

The average weekly wage in Whatcom County was $758 between July and September, down from $777 in the previous quarter, according to data from the U.S.…

2013-05-06
Advocates renew call for living wages on Bellingham waterfront

Environmentalists and labor leaders say they expect to keep on pressing for specific language in waterfront development plans to ensure that the estimated thousands of new jobs there are "living wage."

At a Thursday, March 28, public hearing before the…

2013-04-02
Southbound border traffic into Whatcom hits 15-year high

Southbound border traffic into Whatcom County has returned to levels last seen before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Last year 15.4 million people crossed the Canada/U.S. border into Whatcom County, an 8.5 percent increase compared to 2011. It's the highest annual total since…

2013-01-29
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