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WHAT HAPPENS IN GLENDALE… Tohono O’Odham Nation and State of Arizona settle casino litigation. The agreement settles “their dispute regarding the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley,” and kicks open the door to “Vegas style” gaming such as slot machines, house-banked poker, and blackjack. Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Edward D. Manuel and Gov. Doug Ducey both weigh in on the agreement and the economic opportunities that it could bring — in The Glendale Star. http://bit.ly/2q0Rn9n
LAZY OK – Marana approves controversial rezoning for 178-home development. “[The council’s 4-2 vote] rezones the [‘historic Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch’] to allow for a subdivision with four times the density allowed under previous zoning… Most of about 50 members of the public who spoke at the meeting were opposed to the rezoning… Read more about the issue, including the public comments to the town council in” today’s Arizona Daily Star. http://bit.ly/2pY07Oz
Redfin CEO: Record-low housing inventory is ‘freaking us out.’ CNBC reports that supply “fell about 7 percent… in March, compared with a year ago,” and that “homebuilders are still putting up 18 percent fewer [single-family] homes than the 25-year average.” In the words of Redfin CEO Glen Kelman, inventory has “never declined faster than it did last month.” No wonder he’s freaked out! Meanwhile, here’s the view from Valley real estate consultant Jim Belfiore: “Resale inventory is so low in many parts of the Metro Phoenix Area that buyers — even those only previously considering existing, resales homes — are now solely considering new homes for their purchase.” http://bit.ly/2qvYg6f
Homebuilders are targeting millennials — but it will hit their margins. “The largest generation is finally starting to buy houses. The trouble is, there aren’t enough houses for sale to feed their appetite, at least not enough they can afford. Enter the nation’s recovering homebuilders. They may want to play to this great big audience, but doing that will hurt their bottom lines.” CNBC http://bit.ly/2rvHKBq
Housing crisis causes legislative avalanche: 130 bills proposed in Sacramento. “Home prices keep rising to shocking levels around the Bay Area… The legislative avalanche — bills to mitigate affordability concerns, boost housing production and protect tenants — demonstrates that the ‘crisis has reached its head.’” — The Mercury News. Hey, what about the crazy free-market idea of reducing this crisis by freeing up vast swaths of land that long ago were deemed off limits through what was essentially bureaucratic fiat? Find out if California lawmakers have proposed anything like that in their “legislative avalanche”–> http://bit.ly/2pXo8oY
Household debt just surpassed the record level reached during the 2008 financial crisis, but mortgage debt down. “Household debt… rose $149 billion compared with the last quarter of 2016… Reaching the peak [of $12.7 trillion] raises questions about whether the backdrop exists again for another financial meltdown. But the data show the current structure of debt is substantially different from 2008.” CNBC. http://bit.ly/2pPx0kk
As a supplement to the Dealmaker, we thought you might enjoy these articles!
Organization fights to revive Ajo’s economy after decades of recession. “Ajo, Arizona, once nearly a ghost town, is in the hands of a single nonprofit seeking to save the economy by getting residents back into school and the workforce.” Cronkite News looks at what International Sonoran Desert Alliance is doing to “pick up the slack where the economy has fallen.” And in the hopes that this nonprofit’s efforts prove fruitful, we present to you a possible future (silly wordplay) headline: “Ajo no longer sleepy thanks to Sonoran.” http://bit.ly/2rvJD0i
Arizona and 5 other states hoping to revamp Medicaid in the Trump era.Governing examines what six governors (including Gov. Ducey) are trying to do “to make their own changes to the health-care system” — proposals that “could drastically change the structure of Medicaid in their states and have national implications.” http://bit.ly/2qxDdAy
Arizona commission improperly slashes workplace safety penalties, feds say. “Last year, [an Arizona Star] investigation found the Industrial Commission… routinely reduces those penalties and reclassifies violations, often without clear justification.” Now, OSHA has found the same “practice of arbitrarily reducing employers’ penalties for safety violations.” Case in point? One man, who is pictured in this report, “suffered burns over 42 percent of his body after a workplace accident. His employer’s penalty was cut from $69,300 to $25,300.” http://bit.ly/2riWtCt
How to protect yourself from ransomware attacks; Lauren Reynolds, Rose Law Group litigator focusing on cybersecurity, shares some ‘proactive steps.’ “In a recent ransomware attack, cybercriminals hijacked hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, locking up data and threatening to destroy it if a ransom was not paid…. What can businesses and individuals do to protect themselves from ransomware?” The New York Times has “some tips from security experts,” while Lauren Reynolds lays out these “proactive steps”: (1) Installing updates as they become available, or setting up automatic updates (2) Backing up your files on an external storage device (3) Ensuring you know the source of any document or link you receive prior to opening it (4) Providing appropriate training to all computer users on your network — whether that be employees, roommates, or family members. http://bit.ly/2pQ49ML
Are you ready for artificial intelligence to change your business? What’s going on in my market? How will prices “change over time”? What about my customers? My products? My cash flow? Information for all of this — and much more — can be “teased out of massive amounts of data… by computer algorithms that are faster, more accurate, and not swayed by preconceived notions.” This report in AzBigMedia looks at what “your business [can] do to take advantage of the [AI] possibilities.” http://bit.ly/2pPJng6
GOT SILK? – Dairy queens get water beds, country tunes and backscratchers. “Cows are coddled by farmers to try to boost milk output: ‘they can’t get stressed…’ a happy cow is a cash cow.” Such talk about ‘stressed-out’ cows got us wondering if, in homage to a currently popular song, any of the bovines mentioned in this WSJ piece are nicknamed “Blurryface.” Meanwhile, our online search for a prior instance of such coddling found this rather apt Mother Goose nursery rhyme: “Cushy cow, bonny, let down thy milk / And I will give thee a gown of silk / A gown of silk and a silver tee / If thou wilt let down thy milk to me.” http://bit.ly/2pY2rop
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