Washington State Senate OKs Education-Funding Plan

Seattle Times | The Associated Press | February 1

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/washington-state-senate-oks-education-funding-plan/

“The Senate has narrowly approved an education funding plan that seeks to replace local school levies with a statewide uniform rate earmarked for schools. The chamber passed the Republican proposal on a 25-24 vote, with no Democrat — except one who caucuses with Republicans to give them their majority — voting in favor of it. The measure now heads to the Democratic-controlled House, where it will be negotiated as both sides continue to work toward a compromise.”

 

LGBT Economic Summit Comes to Seattle Soon

Puget Sound Business Journal | Gregg Lamm | February 2

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/02/02/lgbt-economic-summit-seattle-gsba.html

“The Greater Seattle Business Association will host an economic summit in March, drawing business and community leaders from the Western U.S. and British Columbia to discuss economic factors and government policies that affect LGBT businesses and communities. The March 16 event will be presented by the Western Business Alliance, and it will include business and community leaders from Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and British Columbia. Panelists and keynote speakers will focus on leveraging the power of LGBT businesses, and they also will discuss the impacts of government policy, including under President Donald Trump’s administration.”

 

Seattle Area’s Best Elementary Schools 2017

Seattle PI | Lynsi Burton | February 1

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Seattle-area-s-best-elementary-schools-2017-10901760.php

“If you want the very best public elementary schools in the Seattle area, you’ve got to head to the Eastside. That’s the takeaway from school-ranking site Niche’s list of the top 25 elementary schools in the Seattle metro area. Niche’s ranking is based on academics, teacher performance, school diversity and survey results on overall school life…Cruising through the list in the gallery, the rankings may seem a little out of order based on their grades, but academic performance is weighted as 50 percent of each school’s overall assessment.”

 

Seattle Chugs Along as America’s Hottest Home Market Despite Slowing a Bit

Seattle Times | Mike Rosenberg | January 31

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-chugs-along-as-americas-hottest-home-market-despite-slowing-a-bit/

“Seattle’s home-price increases keep surging ahead of the rest of the nation even as the local housing market is showing a clear trend of slowing a bit. Across Greater Seattle, the typical single-family house cost 10.4 percent more in November than a year ago, the biggest increase of any metro area in the country, according to the Case-Shiller home-price index released Tuesday. It’s the third straight month that the Seattle area led the nation as the hottest housing market after a nine-year stretch without being on top.”

University of Washington’s CoMotion Innovation Hub Opens Spokane Location

GeekWire | Taylor Soper | January 31

http://www.geekwire.com/2017/university-washingtons-comotion-innovation-hub-opens-spokane-location/

“CoMotion is growing its presence across the state of Washington. The University of Washington’s ‘collaborative innovation hub’ is expanding to eastern Washington with a new CoMotion Labs space in Spokane. CoMotion helps startups through education and access to experts and funding sources. Originally started as the Center for Commercialization (C4C) at the UW’s main Seattle campus, the program evolved a few years ago from a department that mainly helped commercialize ideas born at the university — it has helped spin out 126 startups over the past decade, and 21 in fiscal 2016 — to what it now describes as a ‘collaborative innovation hub dedicated to expanding the societal impact of the UW community.’”