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Local area makes Amazon’s top 20 list for new headquarters

By Jeff Clabaugh

WASHINGTON — Amazon narrowed down the list of nearly 240 submissions for cities and jurisdictions that want to land its second North American headquarters, and the Washington region makes the cut.

Amazon narrowed the list to 20 locations, including Montgomery County, Maryland, Northern Virginia and the District.

All three move to what Amazon calls the next phase of the selection process.

Amazon said it will work with each of the candidate locations in the coming months to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans as well as benefit its employees and the local community.

Amazon said it will make its final decision before the end of 2018,  and begin to occupy its first 500,000 to 1 million square feet of office space by late-2019.

Amazon’s second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, will be a complete headquarters for Amazon, not a satellite office.

It has said it plans to invest more than $5 billion and grow this second headquarters to accommodate as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.

Construction and ongoing operations could create tens of thousands of additional jobs in the chosen location’s surrounding community.

“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon Public Policy.

“Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”

The District pitched a total of four locations that it thinks would fit Amazon’s needs: Anacostia Riverfront, Capitol Hill East, Shaw-Howard University and NoMa-Union Station.

Prince George’s County, Baltimore, Richmond and Hampton Roads all made proposals but did not make the final list.

Here are the 20 communities that make Amazon’s list of potential candidates:

  • Atlanta
  • Austin
  • Boston-Chicago
  • Columbus, Ohio.
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Indianapolis
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Montgomery County, Maryland
  • Nashville
  • Newark
  • New York City
  • Northern Virginia
  • Pittsburgh
  • Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Toronto
  • Washington, D.C.

 

Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids

By The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms. “We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content. Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
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