The Rental Housing Association of Washington is suing Seattle over Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s new move-in ordinances that allow renters in the city to spread out payments such as a security deposit over the course of six months. “The effect of these provisions is that landlords must turn over possession of their rental properties to tenants before they have adequate security and before they have last month’s rent,” lawyer Josh Whited said.

Seattle City Councilmembers edited the proposed soda tax to exclude diet sodas. The tax would still be 1.75 cents per ounce. It passed through the finance committee 5-2 yesterday and is scheduled for a final vote on Monday.

Seattle City Light is short about $133 million after residents’ efficient use of energy has left them with a revenue shortfall.

Homelessness in King County has topped 11,600. Of the people counted, 70% were living in Seattle. The count occurred on January 27 of this year. 48 homeless had died by the end of April, over half of the total in 2016.

The EPA is giving Riverfront Park $600,000 to clean up the “dirty dirt.”  The federal grant will be allocated to the area in three installments of $200,000 – used to reimburse contractors who cleaned the former industrial site of toxins and hard metals.

Hanford is receiving $7.2 million in incentive pay from the Department of Energy because of the work of Bechtel National. “This marks our team’s fourth consecutive year receiving an increased performance score,” project director Peggy McCullough said.

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