Mayor Mike McGinn chose the site this month without knowing it was contaminated, even though a city consultant reported those findings more than a year ago.
Sodo site selected for homeless is found to be contaminated, Seattle Times Newspaper
The Nissan Leaf, an electric car aimed at attracting environmentally conscious motorists, will get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, based on government testing.
Nissan Motor Corp. said Monday the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel efficiency window sticker, which provides information about the car's energy use, would estimate the electric car will achieve the equivalent of 106 mpg in city driving and 92 mpg on the highway.
EPA's tests estimate the Leaf can travel 73 miles on a fully charged battery and will cost $561 a year in electricity. Nissan has said the Leaf can travel 100 miles on a full charge, based on tests used by California regulators.
Nissan and General Motors Co. are both releasing electric cars within weeks in the auto industry's most prominent attempt at mass-producing vehicles that shift away from petroleum. The Leaf does not have a gas engine and must be recharged once its battery is depleted.
Business & Technology | Nissan Leaf runs equivalent of 99 miles per gallon
| Seattle Times Newspaper
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown says Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, has been recommended by the caucus Committee on Committees to become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful jobs in the Legislature.
The full caucus will take up the recommendation in December. If approved, Murray would replace to Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, who is in line to become the president pro tempore of the Senate.
Politics Northwest | New leadership for several state Senate committees | Seattle Times Newspaper
"Should we get out of the business of those things that we never heard a word in four public meetings or on a website with thousands of hits?" she asked. "Should we be funding it?"
When asked for an example, Gregoire said, "As hard-hitting as this may sound to people I very much respect, we heard nothing about the arts. If you put that into print I bet I'll hear something."
State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, isn't sold on the idea of cuts to the arts. "One of the things we know is the arts is a major jobs generator," he said. "There are 8,000 related art jobs in my legislative district alone. We have to be careful, if we're going to cut programs, that we don't create the anti-stimulus budget."
The state spends about $6 million every two years on the arts. While that might not sound like much money compared with the overall state budget, "We can't afford anything right now," Gregoire said. "Every time I get a call, I get 'Well, it will only cost X.' It's every call. I get this from legislators. I tell every single one of them ... I don't have X."
Local News | State budget likely to go from bad to much worse | Seattle Times Newspaper
An ambitious plan to turn Bellevue's Bel-Red neighborhood into a bustling, urban center with a downtown Kirkland-style heart has run into an obstacle — a $100 million shortfall in the city's capital budget. . . .
The current budget proposal from City Manager Steve Sarkozy includes work on roads critical to Bel-Red, such as $32 million in design work for the future Northeast 15th Street, but excludes more peripheral projects, like the $2 million expansion of Northeast Second Street, which would help funnel traffic out of downtown.
The city must keep moving quickly enough to keep the confidence of investors like Wright Runstad, which has partnered with the city for the Bel-Red neighborhood. The Seattle developer bought the 16-block swath once occupied by Safeway's distribution center.
The city's ambitions for the area center on Wright Runstad's plans to build more than 3 million square feet of office space, 1,000 residences and parks in a style similar to Kirkland's downtown and roughly as big as Seattle's Pioneer Square. Sound Transit also is planning a light-rail station on the site.
Greg Johnson, president of Wright Runstad, said the company sees recovery in the apartment market and is moving forward with planning and development for multifamily buildings on the site, with the goal of having buildings open by 2013 or 2014, he said.
"There couldn't be a better time to do public-private [projects] because of the bidding environment," he said.
The city has committed to design work for Bel-Red and has tried to position itself for some projects for federal grants, both of which are important, Johnson said.
Bellevue has a reputation as forward-thinking and reliable when it comes to making public policy.
"We don't want them to slow down any more than they have," Johnson said. "They're debating whether they want to keep pace on projects or shift priorities. We're advocating keep the same priorities and at least commit projects to keep pace on design."
Bellevue budget shortfall amid Bel-Red revamp, Seattle Times Newspaper
Why in the world is the University of Washington about to spend $250 million for a new football stadium?
"I'm here looking out at this $500 million football stadium, that we've already built, and which sits empty most of the time," McHugh said the other day. "Can't we think about all this a little differently?"
McHugh was at the helm of his Pioneer Square bar, F.X. McRory's. It's across the street from the Seahawks' football palace, Qwest Field.
For the past year, McHugh has been buttonholing anyone who comes by about his idea to have the Huskies play all their home games at Qwest.
. . .
"The UW is raising tuition, they're restricting local enrollment, they're closing themselves off from the community," McHugh says. "What if they took that $250 million for the stadium and used it for scholarships instead?"
Danny Westneat | Husky fan questions UW's 'Qwest' for a new $250 million stadium | Seattle Times Newspaper
Self-proclaimed tea party leader Michele Bachmann's bid for a top Republican post in the House received a cool reaction Thursday from Speaker-to-be John Boehner, an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners in Tuesday's elections.
"Constitutional conservatives deserve a loud and clear voice in leadership!" Bachmann, R-Minn., who founded the Tea Party Caucus, said in a one-paragraph Facebook announcement that she is running for GOP conference chairman.
House Republican leaders don't disagree. But that doesn't mean they want the hyperbolic Bachmann being a spokeswoman for the new majority during the 2012 election cycle.
Boehner, aware of the role tea partiers played in making him the next House speaker, is endorsing no one. His lieutenants are lining up behind Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, leaving no doubt that Hensarling - and not Bachmann - is the leadership favorite to chair the GOP conference.
"There are few who have done as much for the Republican team as Jeb," the expected House majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, said in a statement.
National Politics | Bachmann bid for GOP leadership gets cool reaction
| Seattle Times Newspaper
• Three-term incumbent Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, was leading her challenger, Republican Tony Moore, by just more than 2 percentage points in the 30th District in Southwest King County.
• Incumbent Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue, was leading his Republican challenger, Gregg Bennett, by just more than 1 percentage point in the 48th District, which includes parts of Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland, along with Medina and Clyde Hill.
• Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, was leading Republican challenger Dave Schmidt by 93 votes in Snohomish County's 44th District, which includes Mill Creek, Snohomish, Lake Stevens and parts of Marysville.
To gain a one-vote majority in the Senate, Republicans may need to take all three of those and hang onto other races in which they lead. Democrats made gains in all three of those races in Wednesday's count.
Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, acknowledged his party could lose three or four Senate seats but said he was encouraged that Democrats gained votes Wednesday in some close races.
"It's a good trend," he said. "It continues to appear that we're bucking the national trend."
3 races in King, Snohomish counties could help Dems keep control of Senate, Seattle Times Newspaper
