Report: Washington dubbed top state to be an educator during 2020, two trends reveal why downtown Seattle will eventually rebound, and more from this week’s Seattle in the Spotlight.

Report: Washington Dubbed Top State to be An Educator During 2020

Puget Sound Business Journal | Deena Zaidi | October 8

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2020/10/08/washington-state-named-as-the-best-place-i.html

“Washington state ranked as the best state for teachers, according to a recent report by WalletHub. The report compared 50 states (and D.C.) in the U.S. based on key indicators of teacher friendly environments. WalletHub noted that teachers in some states are more fairly paid and better protected in the current pandemic than in others. The data considered for the report considered factors such as teachers’ income growth potential, student-teacher ratio and whether the state has a digital learning plan.”

Two Trends Reveal Why Downtown Seattle Will Eventually Rebound

KUOW | Joshua McNichols | October 6

https://www.kuow.org/stories/two-trends-reveal-why-downtown-seattle-will-eventually-rebound

“It wasn’t long ago, that you could stand at the Space Needle observation deck and count more construction cranes than just about any other American city. The office towers they started building before the pandemic are still being finished now. But it’s unclear: Do we even need all that space, now? Two trends, hoteling and subleasing, may help us answer that question.”

Video Shows Transformation of Seattle Tech Hub’s Surface Streets – and an Old Tunnel is Finally Filled

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | October 6

https://www.geekwire.com/2020/video-shows-transformation-seattle-tech-hubs-surface-streets-old-tunnel-finally-filled/

“Seattle’s South Lake Union tech hub might not be as bustling as it would normally be, pre-pandemic, but when traffic and workers return to the neighborhood in force eventually, getting around will look much different. The Washington State Department of Transportation shared a new video and photos showing the progress on work related to the SR 99 tunnel and the surface streets impacted by that huge undertaking. Construction crews have reached milestones at both ends of the old Battery Street Tunnel, WSDOT said in a new blog post on Tuesday. The tunnel once carried SR 99 between Aurora Avenue North and the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but it was decommissioned after the new tunnel opened in February 2019.”