Lawmakers oppose Amazon’s iRobot deal | MacKenzie Scott reportedly files for divorce

Lawmakers oppose Amazon’s iRobot deal: Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who represents the Seattle company's home district, asked FTC chair Lina Khan to oppose Amazon’s proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of the Roomba robotic vacuum maker. Read more.

MacKenzie Scott reportedly files for divorce: The billionaire Seattle philanthropist and author is reportedly ending her marriage to teacher Dan Jewett after less than two years, according to The New York Times. Scott was previously married to Jeff Bezos for 25 years. Read more. 

Amazon boosting front-line worker pay: Facing an unprecedented push by labor unions inside its vast fulfillment network, the company says it will spend an additional $1 billion over the next year to increase average starting pay to $19 per hour.

Picture this AI-powered ultrasound tool: Redmond, Wash.-based startup EchoNous has raised $57 million to further develop a bedside system that can image the heart and other regions of the body.

AI helps Alaska shave flight minutes and fuel: A Google-backed startup has helped the Seattle airline shave an average of 2.7 minutes per flight so far this year, saving 6,866 metric tons of carbon dioxide — here’s how. 

Regulatory limbo: Drone industry leaders speaking at a Senate subcommittee meeting urged lawmakers to establish rules sooner than later to help boost businesses. Read more. 

AWS inks deal with Seattle startup: The cloud giant is licensing open source technology developed by Intentionet, a small company founded in 2017 and led by a University of Washington computer science professor. 

Fire up the VCR: The Seattle Mariners are getting very close to ending a 21-year playoff drought. What did the country look like the last time the M’s played in the postseason? There were a lot of Blockbuster video stores.

GeekWire launches new recruiting business: Expanding on our tradition of connecting members of the Pacific Northwest tech community in a variety of ways, we’re introducing GeekWork, to help developers and engineers find fulfilling technical roles, and to help companies hire and retain top talent. Meet the managing director and learn more.

Thanks for reading and have a great day. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper taylor@geekwire.com, GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.