Seattle

Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm is leaving mid-January after a short 16 months on the job, throwing the agency into another search for a leader amid the nation's largest transit expansion program.

An effort by Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to track and refute viral online misinformation about elections has prompted loud objections from the state Republican Party.

The city of Seattle has announced the release of its Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy, which aims to align with the executive order on AI that was signed last week by President Joe Biden.

A recent report argued there was a need for greater data transparency to effectively measure the impact of a King County, Wash., program aimed at helping people experiencing homelessness gain access to housing.

The digital curb management project in Seattle marks one of the city’s first steps toward fully modernizing how curbs are managed, given the widening demands on these spaces by commercial fleets and conventional parking.

This month, the Seattle Department of Transportation debuted a program to test out the electric bike-lane sweeper. At barely 5 feet wide the machine is designed to weave between bollards and curbs.

Plus, Maryland’s governor attends an ACP training session; Seattle has opened applications for its annual digital equity grants; new findings about Internet access; and much more.

The Seattle City Council passed a bill Tuesday that would allow the installation of automated speed cameras on certain roads as part of an attempt by the city to prevent illegal street racing.

Plus, Houston is hiring a broadband director; more governors issue comments on the federal BEAD funding for high-speed Internet; and U.S. senators are fighting for a broadband strategy.

The increasing prevalence of cashless transactions, bolstered by smartphone payment apps, has enabled a growing number of businesses in the Seattle area to stop accepting paper money.

Two Seattle giants — Amazon and Starbucks — have been accused of collecting customers' personal information without first notifying them, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Seattle.

Does your local government need a stance on generative AI? Boston encourages staff’s “responsible experimentation,” Seattle’s interim policy outlines cautions, and King County begins considering what responsible generative AI use might be.

The previous iteration of the Metro Flex on-demand service in King County, Wash., was a mix of three different pilot projects. It has since been reimagined as an easy-to-use transportation alternative for the Seattle metro area.

Megan Clarke, former CIO for the city of Burbank, Calif., took over King County’s IT Department in January. She replaced David Mendel, who was with the county for 17 years before serving as interim CIO.

In an email to families this week, Seattle Public Schools told students to bring laptops and chargers home over winter break in case inclement weather prevents their return to school in January.

Tech-driven counties in California’s Silicon Valley and around Seattle, Wash., and Austin, Texas, boomed as the pandemic raged, according to new economic data released this month by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.

A Lynnwood-based debt-collection company has been sued for compromising the names and the Social Security information of more than 3.7 million individuals in a data breach back in April 2021.

A new report by StreetLight Data underscores how traffic patterns across U.S. downtown areas have been reshaped by the pandemic. Remote work and changes in travel preferences offer new challenges for urban planners and transit agencies.