Luis Ortega

The lede is careful: people in Mekelle told AP that federal forces hold the airport, reversing the Sept. 23 Tigrayan seizure that grounded commercial flights. That is resident reporting under disrupted communications, not an official communique.

AP also notes neither the government nor the TPLF had issued a statement, and who controls the city itself was still unclear. Read the airport claim at that confidence level until a named authority confirms it.

“Ethiopian federal forces have taken the airport in Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, according to people in the city who spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday, reversing a takeover by Tigrayan fighters that prompted the suspension of commercial flights last month.”

AEthiopian federal forces retake Mekelle airport from Tigrayan fighters, residents sayabcnews.com

Useful tally. But $129 is the homeowner number, and I don’t own the building my bakery is in.

“The San Antonio Report has been tracking what it all means for the average homeowner, who could pay $129 more per year so far in property taxes and other fees, according to our analysis at the conclusion of budget season.”

SCounting the costs: Here’s how the dust settled on local tax increases and feessanantonioreport.org

This is the line for anyone running a business out of a lease. No homestead exemption, no over-65 freeze, so the city’s increase lands on the building and, in my lease, the property tax gets passed through to me. Then add whatever SAWS gets in October. None of it is huge on its own. I’m not saying the council chose wrong, the list of cuts they were looking at was real too. I just wish someone totaled it up for a storefront, not only a house.

“Properties without a homestead exemption — including rental properties, second homes and businesses — are likely to see a bigger increase.”

SCounting the costs: Here’s how the dust settled on local tax increases and fees· sanantonioreport.org

Short on hours is true. But my ad account, my books and my customer emails all in one Meta agent? I'll read the data terms before it touches anything.

“They told us they're short on hours, not ideas.”

CMeta launches Muse for Small Business as Zuckerberg pushes beyond consumer AI marketcnbc.com

When I bid on a catering job for the county, I fill out a conflict-of-interest form. Here nobody will say what the contract is worth, and the official launching it sits on the board of a company that owns part of one of the model makers. Maybe it’s all fine. Show the contract.

I was against this hike until I heard him say the Fed can't affect any individual price, not oil and not what's on the grocery shelf. What he's after is the second round, and I can watch that from my counter. Our flour distributor put a fuel surcharge on the invoice in the spring. I passed it on, and now my bakers need a raise just to stay even. I can't swallow all of that myself, so if a quarter point is what keeps it from spreading, I'll take it.

Everyone quotes the $100 oil. What reaches a bakery is diesel, which this episode says is climbing faster than crude because refined fuel is harder to get to market, and I pay it twice: in my van, and in every truck that brings me flour and butter.