SUQUAMISH — Fans of 1950s hot rod culture and memorabilia won’t want to miss Rockit Roost’s fifth annual Kustom Kulture Festival, a celebration of iconic Americana that will be held for the first time at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort on June 1.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. for a full day of outdoor fun featuring performances by 10 rockabilly bands, a Pinup Pageant, a classic car show, vendor booths, a kids’ zone, food and a beer garden. At 9 p.m. the party moves to the casino’s Beach Rock Lounge for live performances by Levi Dexter and Deke Dickerson. read more »
WASHINGTON — Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook strongly defended the company’s tax practices at a Senate hearing on May 21 highlighting the technology giant’s use of Irish subsidiaries to shelter billions of dollars in income from U.S. taxes.
“We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar,” Cook told the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“We not only comply with the laws but we comply with the spirit of the laws,” he said. “We don’t depend on tax gimmicks.”
Cook said the tax code “has not kept up with the digital age” and restricts the free movement of capital in comparison with the codes of other countries. He called for a “dramatic simplification of the corporate tax code,” including lower tax rates and a “reasonable tax on foreign earnings.” read more »
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the SBA Veteran Pledge Initiative, a commitment by its top national, regional and community lenders to collectively increase their lending activity to veterans by 5 percent per year for the next five years.
Oftentimes, veterans face challenges in raising capital or have trouble receiving a conventional loan. With the support of SBA’s top 20 national lending partners, and approximately 100 additional regional and community lending partners across the United States, SBA expects to assist an additional 2,000 veterans in obtaining loans to start or expand small businesses by increasing lending by $475 million over the next five years. This equals a 5 percent increase above historic veteran lending activity by the SBA. read more »
WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Retail Federation urged retailers this week to reject a settlement with major credit card companies over alleged fee-fixing, ahead of a court deadline next week.
Visa, MasterCard and other card companies agreed in July to settle a lawsuit brought by retailers that claimed card issuers conspired to fix the fees they charge stores for accepting credit cards.
The National Retail Federation, representing more than 9,000 retailers across the country, has rejected the settlement, in part, because it includes a provision barring retailers from filing future lawsuits over swipe fees. Retailers have also argued that the $7.2 billion settlement was far less than what retailers deserved and might have won at trial.
Visa called the settlement a “fair and reasonable compromise.” read more »
Olympic Cinemas has joined the “Digital Cinema” age with the installation of four all-new digital cinema and Dolby Surround systems at the theater located at 1520 NE Riddell Road, in the Redwood Plaza Shopping Center in East Bremerton.
With the introduction of this state-of-the-art equipment, the theater will no longer present traditional “film” movies. All presentations will now be via NEC projectors that are essentially large computer/projectors coupled with new sound processors.
Digital cinema is being introduced in movie theaters around the world and features a clear, brighter image without many of the issues of film, which in the past included scratches, fading and occasional film breaks and jams in older 35mm projectors. read more »
Kitsap Bank was recently recognized by the Puget Sound Business Journal as a 2013 Corporate Philanthropist.
“Kitsap Bank is honored to be recognized for such a prestigious award,” said Anthony George, the bank’s president and chief 0perating officer. “Over the past five years, we have had the privilege in contributing $1.25 million to nonprofit organizations in the communities we serve, and in 2013, we will be donating over $300,000 to over 100 nonprofit organizations. In addition, our employees have volunteered over 5,200 hours in our communities over the past year.”
The recognition, which is part of the Business Journal’s Corporate Citizenship Awards, honors businesses that “do well by doing good.” Since 2008, the Business Journal has been publishing the Corporate Citizenship: Business of Giving special report, in which PSBJ researcher Bonnie Graves surveys area companies about their cash contributions to area nonprofits. read more »
The Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council, along with Kit-Net Broadband Group and NoaNet (Northwest Open Access Network), will present the Kit-Net TechFest, a free daylong event for public agency IT staff, on May 31 in Bremerton.
Topics on the agenda include:
The event will run from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Olympic Educational Service District Training Facility, 105 National Ave. North in Bremerton.
For more information, call 360-479-0993. Anyone planning to attend is asked to RSVP by email to myrna [at] kitsapregionalcouncil [dot] org or by calling 360-377-4900.
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Even as Apple became the nation’s most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and surprised experts, a congressional investigation has found.
Some of these subsidiaries had no employees and were largely run by top officials from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., according to congressional investigators. But by officially locating them in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless — exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world. read more »
A civic activist in Bremerton filed near the end of last week’s filing period to run against Mayor Patty Lent, who is seeking re-election to another four-year-term.
Todd Best, a Navy veteran known locally for organizing a “Cut the Fat” campaign focused on city government a couple years ago, filed late in the afternoon on May 17, the final day of the filing period.
The only state legislative race in Kitsap County this year will be in District 26 where, as expected, Rep. Jan Angel of Port Orchard filed in the Senate race to oppose Sen. Nathan Schlicher, a Gig Harbor physician who was appointed earlier this year to the seat vacated by Derek Kilmer when he was elected to Congress. The winner in the race will serve the final year of the state Senate term to which Kilmer was elected in 2010. read more »
