OLYMPIA — Last week the Insurance, Financial Service and Consumer Protection Committee passed a bill that would add another $100 million to the existing $100 million authorized in the Linked Deposit program.
"Small businesses face many challenges today," said Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle), who vice-chairs the Finance Committee and is the prime sponsor of the Linked Deposit Program House Bill 1512.

Dr. Warren Buck, chancellor emeritus of the University of Washington's Bothell campus, has been elected to the board of directors for Pacific Science Center.
"We are pleased to add Dr. Buck, an outstanding individual, to our already high-caliber board," said Bryce Seidl, president and CEO of Pacific Science Center. "His insights will be enormously valuable as we pursue a long-range plan to enhance our visitor experiences at Pacific Science Center."

There will be several free community readings as part of the Rainier Valley Youth Theatre's Ninth Annual Young Playwrights Festival that runs March 9-10 at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center.
The festival features readings by professional actors and advanced student actors of plays written by students from four South Seattle schools.

Sound View Home Inspector James Beck talks with a prospective homebuyer at the Homeownership 101 Seminar and Vendor Fair on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Garfield Community Center. Presented by the Seattle Urban League Young Professionals and Garfield Community Center, the seminar provided potential homebuyers with information on obtaining a mortgage, finding the right home and other important information.

The Spitfire, located at 2219 Fourth Ave. in Belltown, is a non-traditional, sleek, sports bar with 17 large plasma-screen TVs for those sports junkies. But, at the same time, the restaurant offers a trendy, chic, modern feel with decorative, colorful art and leather bar stools. Spitfire is a great place for tequila lovers and has 21 different house-recipe margaritas to choose from – take our advice and try the mango....

Carrie Holiday sings along during the musical selection portion of the The Portland Chapter, National Council of Negro Women's 17th annual prayer breakfast, "Walking the Bethlehem Road," on Saturday, Feb. 17. Eva Miles, note pictured, sang the musical selection.

For years, children of the Portsmouth and Columbia Villa neighborhoods had no club to call their own.
The opening of the Regence Boys and Girls Club will change that.
Built on the south side of the New Columbia development at 4430 N. Trenton St., the club will serve the estimated 1,200 children living in the immediate neighborhood, as well as hundreds from the surrounding area.
On Friday, Feb. 15, the club's founders celebrated the halfway point of construction.
You could still hear circular saws and smell freshly cut drywall in the air Friday, but the construction wasn't the only excitement. Representatives from Regence BlueCross/BlueShield presented an oversized, ceremonial check for $500,000 — the largest contribution in the company's history — to the Boys and Girls Club during Friday's celebration.
"(This community) is a vision where lots of people from different backgrounds can come and raise their families," said Steve Rudman, executive director of the Housing Authority of Portland, whose agency coordinated construction and design efforts.

On a storefront that was once covered in nothing but tobacco advertising signs, one sign now stands apart from the rest.
"Tobacco kills an estimated 45,000 African Americans every year," reads a sign on the front of the Going Street Market.
The sign symbolizes the goals of the African American Tobacco Prevention and Education Network, which is canvassing storeowners throughout Portland in the hopes that many will replace tobacco advertisements with tobacco warnings.

Two months after converting the Little Chapel of the Chimes into the Chapel Pub, the McMenamin brothers have agreed to purchase another north Portland icon.
The restaurateurs signed an agreement with the North Portland nonprofit group Ethos Music Center this week to buy the Masonic Temple, at 5308 N. Commercial Ave., next to the Chapel Pub.