Business

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, file photo, shoppers shop in a Toys R Us store on Black Friday in Miami. Toys R Us, the pioneering big box toy retailer, announced late Monday, Sept. 18, 2017 it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while continuing with normal business operations.

Toys R Us joins bankruptcy list as Amazon exerts influence

Toys R Us joins list of retailers in bankruptcy as Amazon exerts influence.

The turkey bagel sandwich at Bagel Brothers was a customer favorite. The bakery and deli will close this weekend after more than two decades in business.

Bagel Brothers in Olympia to close

The bakery and deli on Cooper Point Road Southwest also supplied items to local coffee shops, grocery stores and schools.

Business

Puget Sound Energy settlement paves way to close older units at coal-fired power plant

Puget Sound Energy, the largest owner of the Colstrip Power Plant in Montana, says it will financially recover the costs of operating two newer units at the coal-fired power plant by 2027.

The 2017 Washington state best bagger competition is set for Sept. 20 at the Washington State Fair.

Business

3 from Thurston County to put their grocery sack packing to the test

Three people from Thurston County will compete in the Washington state best bagger competition, which is set for 2 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Washington State Fair.

Shoppers enter a Nordstrom store in Indianapolis.

Business

Nordstrom family reportedly close to finding a buyout partner

Nordstrom family members are close to choosing private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners to help fund a buyout of the Seattle-based fashion retailer that bears their name, CNBC reported Tuesday.

Local

Florida resident gets top job at United Way of Thurston County

The United Way of Thurston County has a new executive director: Chris Wells.

Business

Apple: Our new iPhone X will cost at least $999. Internet: We still want it.

Apple’s iPhone X has sparked debate on Twitter about whether people will shell out for its high price.

Kmart is rebranding its apparel for “plus sized” women to something more celebratory: “Fabulously Sized.”

Business

Struggling Kmart has a new plan: change ‘plus sized’ to ‘Fabulously Sized’

Kmart is rebranding its apparel for “plus sized” women to something more celebratory: “Fabulously Sized.” Kmart’s new “I Can” ad celebrates women of all shapes and sizes and marks the expansion of its signature brands to larger sizes such as 1X and 5X.

FILE - In this May 9, 2013, file photo a Nordstrom sign is seen at a shopping mall in Brea, Calif. Nordstrom announced Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, that it will open a concept store in Los Angeles next month that doesn't have any inventory on site.

Business

Nordstrom is opening concept store that has no inventory

Nordstrom is opening up a store that doesn't have any inventory.

Business

Iowa hospital announces layoffs, staff hour reductions

An eastern Iowa hospital has announced layoffs and staff hour reductions that will affect 65 employees.

Business

Moody's: Egypt economy still recovering from 2011 uprising

An international credit rating agency says Egypt's economy has started to improve but has yet to recover from the 2011 uprising and the years of unrest that followed.

Business

OECD thinks eurozone will grow as much as US this year

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has upgraded its economic growth forecasts for the 19-country eurozone following a run of upbeat news.

Business

UEFA president wants lawmakers to help make soccer fairer

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has challenged European lawmakers to help make the business of soccer fairer.

Business

Former insurance broker sentenced to prison for $1.8M scheme

A former insurance broker in Long Island who pleaded guilty to grand larceny and fraud has been sentenced to serve three to nine years in prison.

Business

UIS to conduct first responder training with state agency

The University of Illinois Springfield is scheduled to train more than 20 first responders on ways to protect children and families.

Guardia Civil officers stand guard at the entrance of the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. The Catalan regional government says that a top official in the management of the region's economic affairs has been arrested as a crackdown intensifies on preparations for a secession vote that Spanish authorities have suspended.

Business

Reports: 12 Catalan officials arrested over secession vote

News reports says Spanish police have arrested 12 people in raids on offices of the regional government of Catalonia as a crackdown intensifies on the region's preparations for a secession vote that Spain says is illegal.

Protesters block a street next to private postal service company Unipost during a protest against a search for propaganda supporting Catalonia's independence referendum in Terrassa, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The Spanish government has vowed to stop the planned Oct. 1 vote that it calls illegal. But Catalonia's leaders have pushed ahead even after Spain's Constitutional Court suspended the law passed by Catalonia's regional parliament that convoked the referendum.

Business

The Latest: Spain takes control of Catalan govt spending

The Catalan regional government says that a top official in the management of the region's economic affairs has been arrested as a crackdown intensifies on preparations for a secession vote that Spanish authorities have suspended.

FILE - A Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017 file photo of Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, during a press conference in London. The British economy is likely to grow more slowly than its peers in the Group of Seven until the middle of next year largely because of uncertainties related to the country's exit from the European Union, the Bank of England governor said Monday, Sept. 18, 2017.

Business

Strong UK retail sales reinforces rate hike predictions

Retail sales in Britain rose strongly during August, easing concerns about the scale of the inflation-led consumer slowdown.

A currency trader watches computer monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. Asian stock markets were little changed on Wednesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's announcement of the result of its meeting.

Business

Global stocks flat as investors await Fed meeting results

Global stock markets are little changed as investors take to the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement of the results of its meeting.

Business

Greece oil spill: 2 crew of cleanup vessel arrested

Greek authorities say they have arrested the captain and chief mechanic of a tanker ship that was being used to pump oil from a sunken vessel whose cargo has polluted the coastline of Athens.