Gene Johnson

Stay informed with Gene Johnson’s coverage and analysis for Fortune.

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  • DALLAS, TEXAS – DECEMBER 8, 2018: An Alaska Airlines passenger jet is serviced at a gate on a rainy day at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport which serves the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, metroplex area in Texas. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)Finance

    Off-duty pilot who tried to switch off an airplane’s engine in flight told FBI it was his first time taking psychedelic mushrooms

    By Claire Rush, Gene Johnson, and others
  • Yellowstone River bridge collapseEnvironment

    Train carrying hot asphalt and molten sulfur spills into Montana’s Yellowstone River as bridge collapses, drinking water shut off downstream

    By Matthew Brown, Gene Johnson, and others
  • FILE – George Coble carries a bucket of water to put out a tree still smoldering on his property destroyed by a wildfire on Sept. 12, 2020, in Mill City, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)Environment

    Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway may be on the hook for billions for devastating Oregon wildfires

    By Andrew Selsky, Gene Johnson, and others
  • SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – MAY 01: A man wears a shirt against the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin”, during a protest against the government of Salvadoran President, Nayib Bukele, part of Labor Day, in San Salvador, El Salvador, on May 1, 2023. Salvadoran trade unionists and social organizations protested against the government of Nayib Bukele, due to the salary arrears, the exception regime and other public policies against union workers. On Labor Day, it intends to make visible annually the tireless struggle to enforce the rights of each person in their labor function, and that they prevail before any instance. (Photo by Alex Pena/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Finance

    Seattle startup’s ex-CFO indicted for taking $35 million from his company and losing it in crypto crash

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • River Herber, an employee of Preserve Oregon, a marijuana shop in Salem, Oregon, rolls a joint on Jan. 31, 2023. Along the West Coast, which has dominated U.S. marijuana production from long before legalization, producers are struggling with what many call the failed economics of legal pot…a challenge inherent in regulating a product that remains illegal under federal law. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky)Lifestyle

    Marijuana growers are between a rock and a hard place as they face oversupply and interstate commerce woes: ‘I’m tired of running a failing business’

    By Gene Johnson, Andrew Selsky, and others
  • FILE – Karen McRea feeds frozen fish to Keiko, star of the movie “Free Willy,” in his pen off the coast of Westman Islands, Iceland, on April 22, 1999. An ambitious plan announced last week to return a killer whale, held captive for more than a half-century, to her home waters in Washington’s Puget Sound thrilled those who have long advocated for her to be freed from her tank at the Miami Seaquarium. But it also called to mind the release of Keiko, who failed to adapt to the wild after being returned to his native Iceland and died five years later. (AP Photo/Kristin Gazlay, File)Environment

    An NFL team owner and animal rights groups teamed up to return Lolita the orca to the wild after 50 years in captivity. Now the question is how

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • Gig worker Danielle Alvorado testifies before the Seattle City Council in support of the city providing permanent sick and safe time to most gig workers in the city, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Seattle. The City Council voted unanimously to make it permanent for “on-demand” gig workers on apps like DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart. (Greg Gilbert/The Seattle Times via AP)Finance

    Most gig workers in Seattle are now entitled to paid sick leave under first law of its kind in the U.S.

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • The final Boeing 747 lands at Paine Field following a test flight, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Everett, Wash. Boeing bids farewell to an icon on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, when it delivers the jumbo jet to cargo carrier Atlas Air. Since it debuted in 1969, the 747 has served as a cargo plane, a commercial aircraft capable of carrying nearly 500 passengers, and the Air Force One presidential aircraft, but it has been rendered obsolete by more profitable and fuel-efficient models. (Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP)Finance

    Boeing is delivering its last iconic 747 jumbo jet today, ending the era of a plane that revolutionized travel

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • FILE – The sun dial near the Legislative Building is shown under cloudy skies, March 10, 2022, at the state Capitol in Olympia, Wash. An effort to balance what is considered the nation’s most regressive state tax code comes before the Washington Supreme Court on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in a case that could overturn a prohibition on income taxes that dates to the 1930s. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)Finance

    Washington passed a 7% capital gains tax to balance the nation’s most regressive tax code. The wealthy and business groups fought back

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • the logos of social media applications, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, Signal, Telegram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook are displayed on the screen of an iPhoneTech

    Seattle public schools’ lawsuit against media giants like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook faces uncertain legal road

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 10: US President Joe Biden speaks during an event hosted by the Democratic National Party at the Howard Theatre on November 10, 2022 in Washington, DC. The President and Vice President are speaking after the Democratic Party had a historically successful midterm election, fending off what was predicted to be a Red Wave. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)Politics

    A Trump-appointed judge has issued another legal setback for Biden’s student loan-forgiveness plan

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • FILE – The Facebook logo is seen on a cell phone on Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. A Washington state judge on Wednesday, Oct. 26, fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)Tech

    Meta fined $25 million for failing to reveal the buyers and targets of political ads it ran

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • FILE – In this March 15, 2020 file photo people wait in a line to enter a gun store in Culver City, Calif. The man who shot and killed four people this week at a Tulsa, Okla., hospital bought his AR-style semiautomatic rifle just hours before he began the killing spree. That would not have been possible in Washington and a half dozen other states that have waiting periods of days or even more than a week before people can take possession of such weapons. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)Politics

    When it comes to gun purchases, just 9 states and D.C. have waiting periods. Among those who don’t: the federal government

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • Two volunteers standing at the door of the PlannedPolitics

    U.S. appeals court upholds Trump rules involving abortions

    By Gene Johnson and The Associated Press
  • Wildlife, ranching and oil & gas interests sometimes collide on Wyoming's landPolitics

    Endangered Species Act’s Pending Trump Revamp Faces 16-State Lawsuit

    By Gene Johnson, Matthew Brown, and others