Week in Review: Amazon, Sound Transit, and cannabis

Bill Radke discusses the week’s news with Seattle Times' Jonathan Martin, PubliCola’s Erica Barnett, and Puget Sound Business Journal’s Alex Halverson.

This week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees it's “past the time to disagree and commit” to coming back to the office. If you don't, he said, "it's probably not going to work out for you at Amazon.”

RELATED: Amazon CEO says ‘it’s probably not going to work out’ for employees who defy return-to-office policy

The company told employees in February they had to be in the office at least three days a week. Tens of thousands of workers protested, some refused. Jassy said this week that one of the company's principles is "Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit," and everybody gets a chance to speak up.

Will enough Amazon employees either return to the office or leave the company for the rest of Seattle to notice?

The last 24-hour pharmacy in Seattle is going away. The Bartell Drugs on Lower Queen Anne is about to close. The pharmacy generally saw customers until at least 2 a.m., and then again starting at 5 a.m.

Why do Bartell stores keep closing?

T-Mobile is laying off 5,000 of its 71,000 employees. Four hundred of those layoffs are happening in Bellevue. The company said that the layoffs were the result of the rising cost of acquiring and retaining customers.

Is this just about T-Mobile or is this a bigger deal?

RELATED: T-Mobile plans 5,000 layoffs, 3 years after pitching Sprint merger as job-creator

A King County hotel shelter program collapsed earlier this year. This program was run by the Lived Experience Coalition — people with direct experience being homeless. An independent consultant has just produced a draft report on the program. It says the Lived Experience Coalition was in over its head when it accepted $1 million in federal funding to run its first shelter program.

What does the Lived Experience Coalition say?

RELATED: A failed hotel shelter program left nearly 300 people scrambling for housing. Who’s to blame?

Marijuana has been legal in Washington for a decade. But the federal government still classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no medical purpose, even though Washington state sells medical marijuana. Schedule 1 drugs also have a high potential for abuse, and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence. Other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.

The federal government is considering changing it. What changes must be made?

RELATED: Cannabis: You can buy it, so why can’t you grow it?

Sound Transit has decided to start running the Eastside line without waiting for it to connect to Seattle. There are huge construction delays with getting it across Lake Washington. So, they plan to run it between Redmond and South Bellevue starting in March.

Meanwhile, Sound Transit is evaluating where to place new light rail stations coming to South Lake Union, and potentially the Chinatown International District, Pioneer Square, or SoDo.

What are the best arguments for the different proposals?