Washington

Battle Ground Public Schools hopes the third time will be the charm for school construction funding, as the school board voted 4-1 Wednesday to again put a bond measure before district voters.

The enormous electricity demands required to create bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have mining operations flocking to cheap hydroelectricity in parts of rural Washington.

Voters sided with school officials trying to keep up with growth in north Spokane and agreed gave the Mead School District another $114 million for a new middle school, elementary school and football stadium.

It's disappointment again for Battle Ground Public Schools, Wash., where not enough voters supported a $224.9 million school bond.

In King County alone, 16 school districts are asking voters in this month's special election to approve levy measures that would generate more than $1billion in revenue over four years, starting in 2019.

Olympia School District and Yelm Community Schools both have measures on the Feb. 13 ballot.

Evergreen Public Schools officials cited aging facilities and a growing population among the chief concerns driving this year's school facilities funding measure.

Many state lawmakers say Washington needs more mental health facilities to unclog backups for psychiatric services.

Walla Walla Public Schools' Community Task Force has again launched an online survey to gather public opinion of the two school bond options.

Voters are being asked to approve construction bonds that would create a new high school in the Central Valley School District and provide more classrooms to keep up with growth north of Spokane in Mead.

Two bond issues return to Pullman ballots in a special election scheduled Feb. 13.

Fitch Ratings expects the Puget Sound region could see continued economic growth for two years.

As Pullman toasts to a new year, city officials still have one major item to cross off their to-do list: securing passage of a pair of major bonds totaling more than $12 million.

Forty hours of analysis, 18 committee members, 16 months of 14 meetings and 13 separate studies were boiled down into a 90-minute presentation on current Walla Walla school building needs Tuesday night.

The Clarkston School District won't ask voters to reconsider its recently failed construction bond in February.

Pullman City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to rerun two bonds from the Nov. 7 ballot in a special election in February.

An Ascension and Providence St. Joseph merger would surpass for-profit HCA Healthcare.

S&P analysts assigned a negative outlook to Mason County, Wash. in addition to a one-notch downgrade.

Voters in the Ridgefield School District passed a $78 million bond in February, and district officials are already gearing up for its next anticipated bond vote, most likely coming in February 2019.

As Evergreen Public Schools ramps up to ask voters for hundreds of millions of dollars for school construction dollars, a district-commissioned survey shows its voters overwhelmingly support the effort.