Most news reports and editorials that reference the striking Bellevue teachers list salary as the primary motivator for the strike, which is the easy play because it's always about money. Except when it isn't. The striking Bellevue teachers we've talked to (full disclosure: Seattlest's wife is a striking Bellevue teacher) list the current implementation of the centralized curriculum as the primary motivation for the strike. In 2006 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded millions......

We guess Forbes went back to measuring rich folks. It was announced today, courtesy of Forbes' annual billionaires list, that Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. The title now belongs to U.S. financier Warren Buffett, who had a very good year in 2007. He saw his wealth jump from an estimated $52 billion to $62 billion. A $10 billion year in the midst of a recession--wow. Interestingly, Buffett saw......

Jen Graves posted about this on the Slog on Tuesday and we've got a bit of a beef with everyone's beef about it. When the Gates Foundation's new headquarters open across from Seattle Center in 2010, visitors will be able to visit a 15,000 square foot interpretive center dedicated to educating patrons about the work of the Foundation. We're with Jen on this one: we're pretty intrigued by the idea of a museum dedicated......

On Saturday, Frank Hughes of the Tacoma News-Tribune reported that local real estate developer Dave Sabey had offered to buy the Sonics from Clay Bennett and make them the centerpiece of a development he's planning south of Boeing Field. By Sunday, Percy Allen of the Seattle Times had interviewed Clay Bennett, who said "I am a friend of Dave Sabey and I respect him as a businessman ... but there's nothing there." Now, today, Gary......

Last week we posted about the story the Los Angeles Times did on the Gates Foundation and how a lot of the Foundations investments are contrary to the charitable work they do. We refrained from heaping scorn on the Foundation because by that time they had agreed to review its portfolio "to determine whether its holdings were socially responsible" and what a portfolio, by the way: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has some $65.95......

While it's tempting to make fun of the Seattle Times (or the P-I, for that matter) for not getting the story the Los Angeles Times reported this weekend on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the conflicts that exist between the foundation's charitable work and its financial holdings, and while we're somewhat inclined to point out the fact that no one in Seattle is in a position to say boo to the Gates Foundation,......

--Seattle: slightly less drug use than San Francisco, slightly more than Detroit. --Six books we've never heard of are winning awards from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. --The Gates Foundation invests heavily in companies that undermine it's philanthropy says the Seattle Los Angeles Times. --Timothy Burgess wants onto the Seattle City Council and the only thing Seattlest knows about him is that Sound Politics seems to be in favor of him. --Lake City experiences......

When we lived in Los Angeles we worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District, more specifically we worked on grant trying to determine if the state mandated mathematics pacing plan was helping or hurting students. Guess what there Oppenheimer, it was hurting them. Much like in this state (in fact every state shit on by 'No Child Left Behind) in order to graduate students have to pass a standardized test. To pass those tests......

-Damn you, concrete strikers. Damn you. SAM will announce a new Sculpture Park opening date after the holiday weekend. -We may have little idea when it's coming (~Jan 30th), but we now know how much Vista will cost when it gets here (Windows Vista Home Premium, $239). It's available for preorder on Amazon. -Dan Savage is so confident he'll be arrested tomorrow he's packing an overnight bag. -The Fattest: 1: Mississippi*; 2: Alabama; 3:......

We heard a rumor and since rumors are one of our favorite things to propagate (second only to "the species") we're getting off to a good Friday. Unfortunately, while there are potentially lots of good rumors surrounding the Seattle public school district (no school closures, across the board school closures, Gates Foundation bought the district) AND lots of good rumors surrounding Apple (new wireless iPod will get you chicks, Apple recalling those crusty and yellowing......

Last night after an imaginary evening in Ballard, we got ditched by our ride and ended up waiting for the 44 bus to 45th Street which, of course, took forever to come and was nearly full when we finally boarded and dumped our handful of dimes and nickels into the machine. There was only one seat left next to some weird-looking wirey guy so we considered standing in the aisle, but finally laziness won out......

-Some people loved the new Pride for what it was and some people loved it for what it wasn't. And some people weren't that impressed. -The Gates Foundation hit the jackpot courtesy of Warren Buffet. Check out this hot video of bridge partners discussing philanthropy (NSFW!). -If only things were going so well at Bill's day job. EU officials are recommending a daily fine on MS and the vaunted file system that was cut from......

Bill Gates announced today that he's leaving Microsoft to join Robert Scobleizer at Podtech.net where the two will do a call-in style podcast together to air three times a week. It will also include the two of them riffing on the tech news and prank dialing startups ("Hi, this is Bill Gates, I have a billion I'd like to invest in your...olefactorycasts? Ahahahahahaha! Right! Ahahahahaha!"). The two were said to share a moment of sad......

The Global Health department that the UW founded last year with Gates Foundation money has finally settled on some digs. The university leased some of the 1616 Eastlake Ave building that also houses a portion of the Hutch for the Global Heath people who will hopefully get along well with their new roommate: The Molecular Diagnostics Division who will move there from their current location of "all over campus." This is a big win for......

When all of the bubbly started wearing off on the first morning of 2006 we exited the bed, scaldeded off some of the dirt and defeat of 2005 in the shower and sat down with the first pot of coffee of the new year to crack open the laptop and see if the internet was still as we'd left it. Oh All That Is Holy, what bizzaro world have we awoken to?!? The Seattle Weekly's......

Seattle's own Bill Gates was named Time magazine's Man, or "Person," of the Year. Well, he and that wife of his, Melinda, who will share the honor with 'You Too' front man Bono. The magazine chose the three because of their, "charitable work and activism, and not because, "we needed to pick two white people and a foreigner, " like in 1987. The Medina couple's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (selfishly named after themselves) has......

Salon.com is reporting today that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, local philanthropy extrodinaire, has pledged ten million smackaroos to the Discovery Institute since 2000. Wait, you say, the same Discovery Institute tank of thinkers that promotes Intelligent Design? Yes, we tell you, that same Discovery Institute. Say it ain't so, Bill. The money was specifically given to the Cascadia Project to research transportation issues in the area. Seattlest is anxiously awaiting a report from......

Thanks to Mister Snitch for alerting us that Bill Gates is legally changing his name to 'The Gates', after buying all rights to the name from the artist Christo for $30 million. The Gates was knighted last night in a private ceremony (hot!) with the Queen of England. The Redmond PR department has requested that Seattlest refer to the Microsoft founder as "The Gates, Knight Commander of the British Empire" from here forward. In other,......