A Seattle-Portland Hyperloop Route is Among 11 High-Speed Transport Proposals

Puget Sound Business Journal | Annlee Ellingson (L.A. Biz) | April 6

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/04/06/seattle-portland-hyperloop-route-series-of-tubes.html

“A 173-mile Hyperloop route between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, is among 11 projects pitched during meetings with policy makers in Washington, D.C. Thursday. Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One also announced that it has finalized tube installation on its 1,650-foot-long DevLoop in the Las Vegas desert. The plan is to levitate silent, electric-powered pods through low-pressure tubes. Hyperloop One wants to start moving freight by 2020 and passengers by 2021. So far Hyperloop One’s activities around building a commercial high-speed tube transportation system have focused on a track connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.”

 

Seattle’s Median Home Price Record: $700,000, Double 5 Years Ago

Seattle TImes | Mike Rosenberg | April 6

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-home-prices-hit-700000-for-first-time-after-doubling-in-five-years/

“King, Snohomish and Pierce counties all set records for home prices last month, ushering in the busy spring season with one of the biggest monthly price hikes in years for the nation’s hottest housing market. King County’s median single-family home hit a new high of nearly $600,000 in March — about double the prices seen at the bottom of the housing bust five years ago, according to monthly figures released Thursday. Prices jumped more than 7 percent from just a month before, the second-biggest increase in the last three years. In Seattle, the median price for a house hit $700,000 for the first time. Prices in the city have also doubled in the last five years, and have climbed $60,000 in the last year.”

 

UW Ranked 9th among World Universities, New Report Says

KING | Nick Turner | April 5

http://www.king5.com/news/education/uw-ranked-ninth-among-world-universities-for-academic-disciplines-new-report-says/428947764

“The University of Washington was ranked among the ten best universities in the world in the Center for World University Rankings inaugural report released Monday. With 45 top-ten rated academic disciplines, UW ranked nine out of ten of the best universities across the globe. Eight of the ten universities, including UW, are in the United States. Harvard University claimed first place with 112 top-ten ranked academic disciplines.”

 

Olympia, Bellevue High on List of 100 Best Cities to Live

Puget Sound Business Journal | Patti Payne | April 4

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/04/04/olympia-and-bellevue-high-on-list-of-100-best.html

“Livability.com, an independent U.S. research organization, is out with its fourth annual list of the most livable small-to-mid-sized American cities. Five Washington cities made the list: Olympia came in at No. 4; Bellevue was No. 6; Renton ranked No. 51, followed by Richland at No.78, while Edmonds made the list at No. 96. There was a lot of competition just to get on this top 100 list as researchers studied more than 2,000 cities with populations between 20,000 and 350,000 people, using data points such as affordability, housing, infrastructure, amenities and recreation, education and health care.”

 

Watch Bertha, the World’s Largest Tunnel Boring Machine, Emerge from Beneath Seattle

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | April 4

http://www.geekwire.com/2017/live-video-watch-bertha-worlds-largest-tunnel-boring-machine-emerge-beneath-downtown-seattle/

“From the dark depths beneath Seattle, Bertha the SR 99 tunnel machine headed out of the muck and into daylight on Tuesday, completing a final push in a years-long effort to create space for a new highway beneath the city…As the morning wore on Tuesday, giant chunks of concrete laced with rebar began to fall to the floor of the receiving pit, which was flooded with a mixture of muddy water and the solution used to lubricate the giant cutterhead. Loud cracks and grinding noises pierced the air just blocks from the Space Needle as Bertha slowly inched forward and the cutterhead became visible.”

 

Washington State’s Lauded Community-College System is 50 Years Old Today

Seattle Times | Katherine Long | April 3

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/washington-states-lauded-community-college-system-is-50-years-old-today/

“Dan Evans, who as governor helped pass legislation to create a unified state community-college system 50 years ago, says the law helped Washington develop one of the best networks of two-year colleges in the country…National education experts often cite Washington’s community colleges as among the strongest systems in the country. In 2013, Walla Walla Community College won the Aspen Institute Prize for Excellence in community colleges, and this year, Pierce College won the Leah Meyer Austin Award for making significant changes to the way it approaches education. About half of the state’s high-school graduates enroll in a community college after high school.”