Seattle City Light will be bumping up rates by 2.3 percent, due to an increase in wholesale costs. Just back in April, the mayor promised no new rate increases in 2009; as City Light's long-term budget woes increased earlier this month, Nickels's $40K bonus to Jorge Carrasco, the director of City Light, became yet another embarrassment to the mayor. The new rate increase takes effect Oct. 1. more ›

So we've been reading in the Seattle Times that Governor Gregoire thinks a 28 percent tuition hike over two years is firm but fair, the editorial board seconds the motion (Ryan Blethen is a Cougar, we note in passing), and the UW's Mark Emmert praises this kind of "flexibility" on tuition because the UW is currently "one of the best bargains in the country." The actual tuition price would shoot up between $1,300-$2,000 over two years, though there's the usual promise of financial aid to defray, etc. We want to point out two things: 1) student loans don't make things less expensive, they make them more expensive, and 2) it's awesome that the primary stakeholders here, the students, are being circumvented in this discussion. more ›

On Sunday, February 1, regular Metro fares will increase by 25 cents. Their handy fare revisions chart [pdf] goes into more detail: kids, senior citizens, or disabled riders won't have to pay any more than previously to ride the bus, but regular riders will soon be paying $2 for the pleasure of riding in peak season and $2.50 for peak two-zone rides. Off-peak regular fare will be $1.75 for one- or two-zone rides. Metro blames "a weak economy, record fuel prices in mid-2008 and falling sales tax revenues" for their budget woes, and notes that the fare revision will help them maintain their current system rather than to increase route coverage or frequency. Guess that means fewer quarters in our bank account to spend on jalapeno poppers. more ›

Washingon "state ranks 12th in the nation--up from 27th last year--in average monthly growth in bankruptcy filings from 2007 to 2008, reported AACER, a bankruptcy data and management firm." So says the Seattle Times, noting that bankruptcy filings are up 40% compared to last year. The story is worth a full read because it details how the more stringent bankruptcy regulations, which the Bush administration enacted in 2005, has resulted mainly in people taking more debt into bankruptcy court. And Robert Lawless coins what could be the best epitaph for both the reforms and the Bush presidency: "not a very good match with reality." more ›

So there's an article about bus fares over on Crosscut--by the Cascadia Center for Regional Development's Matt Rosenberg--that suggests raising the one-zone peak bus fare to $3.50, an amount to make even the most evangelical of bus riders clutch their wallet. (We throw in "evangelical" because the Cascadia Center is a division of the intelligent-designing Discovery Institute.) But it could be a very good idea, we think, against our skinflint judgment. more ›