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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Entrepreneurial Spirit Booming in Washington

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Wednesday, November 25, 2015   

WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Small shops and restaurants around the state are looking for a good crowd for "Small Business Saturday," a day when people are urged to spend their money at local merchants instead of national chains.

In Walla Walla, it's the first holiday season of self-employment for Karie Brodhun, who left a 25-year career at a big department-store chain to open her own hand-crafted gift and home-decor shop.

"It's a little scary, you know. There's just one of me," she said. "But I think I just really believe if you do what you love, and you stick to what you love and try not to be everything to everybody, you'll be successful."

Brodhun's shop, called Two Birds, is in the city's airport business district and has been open since June. She used her own savings to start the business, although the trend for many entrepreneurs is online crowdfunding.

Maury Forman, who heads the entrepreneurship programs for the Washington Department of Commerce, said rural communities are realizing they don't always have to compete for companies from out-of-state to come to town, when there are plenty of people with home-grown ideas. He described a state-sponsored funding source.

"Fund Local is a no-interest, crowd-sourced, micro-enterprise loan program," he said. "So, if you want to borrow between $5,000 and $50,000, run a crowd-sourced campaign. If the community supports it, you have money to grow. That, I think, is becoming the biggest trend right now in starting businesses."

Forman said 7 percent of new jobs are created by startups, and 92 percent are from small businesses that have been around for less than five years. Global Entrepreneurship Week was last week, but in Washington, there are so many community events that it was expanded to the entire month.

Heidi Wells, marketing director for the College Place Public School District in Walla Walla, said more than 200 people showed up to hear students, from grade school to college, pitch their business ideas.

"They did great, and they were brave," she said, "and I hope that it inspires other kids - and just anyone in the community - to come up with an idea and go for it, and not be afraid."

In all, more than 120 Global Entrepreneurship events are taking place this month statewide.

Information about Fund Local is online at choosewashingtonstate.com/fund-local.


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