Voting access is dismal throughout the South: In a new report released by Center for American Progress today, the authors look at voter accessibility in all 50 states. To determine this, they divide “the question of how to rate the health of our democracies in the states into three categories: Accessibility of the ballot; how representative government is; and whether undue influence is being sufficiently curbed.” It’s safe to say, the south didn’t fare well – at all. Just look at this map: Paul Allen unveils sustainable seafood program for restaurants: The Microsoft co-founder has created a “Smart Catch” program to better monitor restaurants’ use of seafood. It should be thought of much like the Heart Foundation Tick you find on many grocery products. Under Allen’s program, restaurants would only get the Smart Catch approval if 90 percent of the fish they serve is sustainable. It’s a high bar, but it is one worth setting. In order to determine a restaurant’s level of sustainability, Smart Catch will use “Monterey Bay Aquarium and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) data to rate the percentage of sustainable items on the menu, rather than the volume served.” Median home prices of King County surge: According to the Seattle Times, King County single-family houses shot up 10.3 percent in the last year , making the new median price over $500,000. These staggering figures may lead one to believe Seattle is in the midst of a bubble, but that may not be the case. “I wouldn’t say we’re in a bubble,” said Alan Pope, a real-estate appraiser in Redmond. “I would say the balloon is growing, and I can’t tell when it’s going to stop.” For the sake of the area, let’s hope the balloon is big. And the drastic increases in home prices isn’t just limited to King County. The median price of single-family homes in Snohomish County increased six percent over the … Continue reading Daily Clips: July 7th, 2015