Business

U & I Financial Corp, a small community bank in Lynnwood, is one of the first in the nation to get access to special funds from the Small Business Lending Fund – a federal program created to get cash flowing into the hands of small business owners.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The U.S. Department of Energy plans to launch a new investigation into safety culture at Hanford’s waste treatment plant, Deputy Secretary Dan Poneman reported to workers at the plant on Monday.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The number two manager at the U.S. Department of Energy is scheduled to speak to workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation today. The visit comes after criticism of Hanford's safety culture by a federal nuclear safety watchdog.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The cherries are finally ready for harvest in the Northwestern U.S. A cold spring means that this is the latest cherry season anyone can remember. The Northwest News Network’s Anna King has this audio postcard from one of the largest fruit orchards in the world. (Watch the story inside)

U.S. produce is about to get cheaper in Mexico. That includes apples, pears and potatoes from the Northwest.

Mexico has agreed to lift a tariff it added three years ago in retaliation over a dispute with the U.S. Northwest farmers are now working to win back their customers south of the border.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Animal welfare groups in Oregon and Washington are shelving initiative petition drives that could have required egg producers to give hens more spacious cages.

The Humane Society of the United States says it's hatched a surprise national agreement with the egg industry for the treatment of chickens on farms. This comes as a ballot measure drive in Oregon for the 2012 election was getting started.

Some of the biggest names in media and technology converge on Sun Valley, Idaho this week.

They're attending an annual retreat known to produce major industry-shaping business deals – one of those deals likely to be shaped involves Microsoft, Facebook and Skype.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state gets about 4 million cyber attacks a day. But workers there are just now getting back online after a sophisticated attack shut down most Internet services last Friday.