Jake Ellison

Dear HUD Colleagues,

Today is one of the more difficult days of my time with you.  I want to let you know that at the end of July I am retiring from public service and heading back home to my family in Seattle.

As rewarding as my two years at HUD have been professionally, they have been equally challenging to my family. Living more than 2,000 miles from those I love most is a burden I no longer wish to endure. While there is joy and relief in my decision to go home, it is with a heavy heart I say goodbye to all of you.

Partly sunny. High near 63. Your forecast is here.

Making headlines around the Northwest:

• Tension in Vancouver as Canucks go to Game 7
• 'Planking' gives way to 'facedowns' (videos)
• Off the wire: Plea in torture case, hotel death, more
• Seattle Library looking for a few good gardeners
• Seattle one of the most-photographed places on Earth

The Seattle Department of Transportation writes in its blog that sure enough, a number of on-street parking pay stations “recently experienced some technical problems.”

SDOT says a cell tower lost signal strength intermittently and that caused all the trouble.

In an interview with the UK's Daily Mail, Bill Gates talked family, friends and global health. The world’s second-richest man was striking in his normalcy, sharing how he is teased by his kids, works too much and isn’t worried about a personal legacy.

"Legacy," he told the Dail Mail, "is a stupid thing! I don’t want a legacy. If people look and see that childhood deaths dropped from nine million a year to four million because of our investment, then wow!”

The city of Seattle's revamped Shoreline Master Plan would limit the number of people living on boats to 25 percent of slips in any marina. The boating website Three Sheets Northwest reports the proposed regulation would dramatically reduce the number of liveaboards and place new requirements on the marinas they call home.

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization – Major public and private donors achieved a milestone in global health today by committing funding to immunize more than 250 million of the world’s poorest children against life-threatening diseases by 2015 and prevent more than four million premature deaths.

Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Chance of precipitation is 60%. More gloomy news about the week's weather here.

Making headlines around the Northwest:

• Gas prices fall again in Washington
• Off the wire: Climber rescued, arrest in torture case
• Trouble brewing in Spokane over 'Sovereigns'
• Last hope for restoring the pygmy rabbit
• Dysfunction: Is Bellevue the next Seattle?

Bummer: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Forecast here.

Making headlines around the Northwest:

• UW may raise tuition by 20 percent
• Offbeat news: Elephant insemination, 'mink' not weasel
• IRS give 7,000 Wash. charities the boot
• Best job perk: paid exotic travel

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. Forecast here.

Making headlines around the Northwest:

• UW graduation is Saturday and traffic will be tough
• Tacoma celebrates 100 years of roses
• Offbeat news: Geese on the interstate, dead weasel attack
• Gregoire ramps up efforts to keep Boeing line

UW graduates will be happy, drivers should avoid the area

Some 40,000 people are expected Husky Stadium Saturday for the annual day of graduation at the University of Washington. Seattle Department of Transportation is expecting heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic surrounding the stadium between noon and 6 p.m. as well as congestion on I-5 and SR-520.

Business banning together to influence elections in Washington is nothing new, but this group may not be the usual suspects with the usual politics.

The newly formed group, the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE), announced in a press release today that it is poised to take action in the upcoming Seattle elections with more than 40 companies already supporting it. The PAC members, it said, represent sectors that include restaurants, retail, manufacturing, construction, tourism and recreation, real estate, finance, professional services, transportation and life sciences.