Bertha stayed in the news…and trapped underground

• This is the best single-article summary of the current situation as of Monday.
• In Pioneer Square, several cracks appeared & a water main was damaged.
• WSDOT says the area is safe; some Councilmembers aren't convinced.
• With WSDOT's blessing, digging of the rescue shaft resumed on Wednesday.
• This week's top Bertha-related editorials: pro-tunnel & anti-tunnel.

Governor Inslee announced his proposed budget

• Its most controversial components are cap-and-trade & a capital gains tax.
• Additional revenue is needed to pay for court-mandated public K-12 costs.
• Republicans & Democrats in the state legislature will unveil their budgets in March.

SPD's body camera pilot moved forward

• The initial 6-month pilot starts this weekend with 12 officers on Capitol Hill. 
• The Stranger takes a look at SPD's body camera rules for officers.
• The activist who almost shuttered the program talks to Seattle Weekly.

The Seattle Housing Authority decided not to raise its rents

• SHA is a public agency that provides long-term low-income rental housing.
• They'd proposed dramatic rent increases for current tenants.
• In the face of near-universal opposition, they dropped that plan Wednesday. 

Pot watch: 2014

• The Stranger dives deep on the Mayor's proposed medical marijuana regulations.
• A state legislator wants to address the issue by merging the medical & recreational markets.
• Meanwhile, a new–and legal–recreational shop plans to open on Capitol Hill.

2. King County will be rolling out a new restaurant grading system next year.

3. A Third Place Books will replace Seward Park's Columbia City-bound PCC.

4. BMW's DriveNow is looking to join the Seattle car-sharing scene next year.

5. Paseo will be back, with a new owner but the same employees & recipes.

About that 1.2-inch soil settlement under the viaduct…

• Fallout from Bertha's rescue efforts looks more serious than it did last week.
• The City Council was upset with WSDOT for withholding the news.
• Seattle Bike Blog: scrap the project!; DSA: stay the course!.

Next on the progressive checklist: a municipal bank?

• The bank would hold the City's deposits and make low-interest loans. 
• It could finance infrastructure & policy initiatives and small business loans. 
• A state legislator has proposed a similar model for holding marijuana funds.

The interim superintendent will now be…just the superintendent

• As expected, the School Board voted to give Larry Nyland the permanent job.
• Community members were upset at the lack of a full public process.
• Board members said the District couldn't take more turmoil at the top.

Washington's first charter school is off to a rocky start

• First Place Scholars is a K-5 school that serves primarily homeless students. 
• It was the first charter school to open under a law passed by voters in 2012.
• It was found to be out of compliance on over a dozen different points.
• Its principal and half its board members have resigned; its future is unclear.

Trouble in paradise for legal marijuana retailers

• The feds are taxing the State taxes paid by Seattle's first recreational shop. 
• The City is also cracking down on medical marijuana delivery services.

According to Zillow, rents in Seattle have increased 21% over the last 5 years, while average income has only increased 10.5%, making us the 8th most expensive rental market in America. The average Seattle renter spends just over 30% of his income on rent, as opposed to the average homeowner, who spends just over 15% on her mortgage.

Curbed Seattle crunched the purchase numbers and determined that being able to afford a median-priced $359,900 home with a 20% down payment would require an annual salary of $75,098, vs. Seattle's $65,677 median household income. The median single-family home price in Seattle is $543,500, though…which by my back-of-the-envelope math would require an income of $113,398, or nearly twice Seattle's median, using Curbed's methodology.

2. Paseo's assets and name were sold at auction to the highest bidder.

3. A new study suggests that gentrification isn't Seattle's true problem; poverty is.

4. The Stranger has a good primer on body cameras in Seattle here..

5. …and tips from a former car thief on how to avoid having your car broken into here.

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More police accountability protests

• Seattleites demonstrated daily in solidarity with Mike Brown and Eric Garner.
• Several protests disrupted the Black Friday shopping weekend downtown.
• The Stranger has an in-depth interview with one of the lead organizers here.

Meet the new superintendent, same as the old superintendent

• The School Board's search for a new head of the district usually takes months.
• The Board announced a plan to skip that process the night before Thanksgiving.
• Parents are upset; the final vote is this Wednesday, 12/10.

Jesse Jackson was in town to talk about diversity in tech

• His visit was part of a campaign to get tech companies to release diversity stats.
• That campaign got Amazon to release their diversity numbers in October.
• GeekWire interviewed him about the initiative while he was here.

Seattle-Tacoma Seaport Alliance: coming soon to a regional economy near you

• The two Ports have historically been in competition with each other.
• A new interlocal agreement will allow them to effectively operate as one entity.
• The move comes amid stronger competition from other North American ports. 

More trouble under Pioneer Square

• 5-story drilling rig Bertha ground to a halt under Pioneer Square last December. 
• A year later, the rescue effort is causing soil settlement under the viaduct near the dig site.
• Bertha was supposed to be moving again by March; that now looks unlikely.

2. I-594's stricter gun sale background checks took effect.

3. We're poised to get a new national park and more wilderness protection this week.

4. The Harvard Exit theater is closing in January.

5. The fate of the Woodland Park Zoo's elephants is still in limbo.