Mar 31, 2020

Buchalter

Bradley Hoff joined the Seattle office of Buchalter as chair of the law firm's insurance coverage practice group. Hoff comes from the law firm of Foster Garvey and has 25 years of experience representing insurance policyholders, including litigating and negotiating the resolution of disputes arising under third-party policies. He also has litigated many first-party policies and counsels clients in risk management.

Port of Seattle

The Port of Seattle's 2019 Diversity in Contracting Annual Report showed that 15.3% of port contract spending last year went to women- and minority-owned firms. The port commission in 2018 adopted a new diversity in contracting policy to address contracting disparities. The program's five-year goal is to triple the number of disadvantaged firms doing business with the port and increase spending on WMBE contracts to 15%.

USW local 7150

The United Steelworkers extended its labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies for one year. The agreement covers over 1,300 employees at Allegheny's specialty and standard rolled products businesses across the U.S., including members of USW Local 7150 working in the company's Albany, Oregon, plant.

Mar 27, 2020

Nordstrom

Seattle retailer Nordstrom has taken several measures to strengthen its financial position in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. They include: suspending its quarterly cash dividend; drawing down $800 million on its revolving line of credit; reducing over $500 million in operating expenses, capital expenditures and working capital; and suspending share repurchases. The company will also will start to furlough a portion of its corporate employees starting April 5 for six weeks. Nordstrom on March 16 temporarily closed its stores; it's extending the closures for at least one week, through April 5.

Delta Dental of Washington

In Seattle, Delta Dental of Washington pledged $10 million in financial assistance to its in-network dentists following orders by the state to halt all non-emergency dental procedures for two months in order to reserve equipment for COVID-19 health care workers. The funding consists of grants and advance payments for care. Grants are up to $15,000 and advances of up to $25,000 are available per practice. Delta Dental is a dental benefit provider covering nearly 3 million people in Washington state and the U.S.

Mar 26, 2020

State of Washington

Bono

Gov. Jay Inslee named retired Navy Vice Adm. Raquel C. Bono as state director for COVID-19 Health System Response Management. Bono is a senior fellow with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and prior to that was CEO and director for the Defense Health Agency. In her new role, Bono is advising the governor and state agencies on actions needed to address the capacity and strain across the health care system.

HomeStreet

Seattle-based HomeStreet Inc., the parent company of HomeStreet Bank, suspended its stock repurchase program. As of last week, the bank had repurchased 335,360 shares at a cost of about $7.9 million. The program had authorization to buy up to $25 million in stock. HomeStreet said it's preserving capital to protect against potential credit losses and provide more lending support as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It could reinstate the remainder of the stock buyback program as circumstances warrant.

NuriFlex

Bellevue-based NuriFlex entered into an agreement with Miami-based seriesOne Securities to raise up to $40 million in a private placement offering from potential investors. The company plans to issue up to 50 million shares of its Class A common stock as part of the deal. NuriFlex will use the proceeds for working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures. The deal is subject to market conditions and other factors. NuriFlex uses telecommunications to supply advanced metering infrastructure and other services to the utilities industry.