Boro Software
Everett's Boro Software argues AI magnifies both good and bad development practice while human decision-making stays the bottleneck: workers hit cognitive limits faster in AI-assisted workflows, and whether that ends in burnout depends on management giving them room to think.
KNKX
A civic assembly of 29 randomly selected Snohomish County residents met over three spring weekends at WSU Everett to work out how county government should use AI, producing 35 recommendations on transparency, accountability, privacy, environmental impact, and human oversight. County councilmembers say they will consider adopting the recommendations into law.
Lynnwood Times
Snohomish County Council member Nate Nehring explains the council's unanimous June 24 vote to pause data center development in unincorporated Snohomish County for six months, extendable to twelve, while the county writes a permanent policy.
HeraldNet
The Snohomish County Council voted unanimously for an emergency moratorium pausing new data center development in unincorporated Snohomish County for six months while it writes a permanent policy. The ordinance requires a public hearing within 60 days and can be renewed for another six months.
UW Bothell News
UW Bothell's School of Business adds graduate AI coursework and an undergraduate Business Analytics and AI concentration in fall 2026, building on a quarterly AI speaker series running since fall 2025. Dean Sophie Leroy is weaving AI through the curriculum.
The Daily Herald
The Daily Herald's editorial board argues Snohomish County should keep data centers away from its water supply during a drought that left state snowpack at 53 percent of median in April. It cites Skagit County's June 1 moratorium on new data centers, a proposed Seattle moratorium, and Arlington's Project Cascade, a roughly 1.2 million-square-foot facility Amazon confirmed as a delivery-support project requesting 9.5 megawatts and about 44,000 gallons of water a day.
425 Business
Everett-based Helion raised a $465 million Series G round led by Thrive Capital, bringing total invested capital to $1.5 billion at a $15.5 billion valuation. The money goes to commercial deployment and manufacturing capacity as the company builds its first fusion power plant, Orion, in Malaga in Central Washington, targeted for 2028.
The Daily Herald
Snohomish County PUD fielded eight large-load service inquiries in 2025, double its previous average of about four a year, with requests ranging from 3.5 to 150 megawatts; none so far are data centers. The utility generates about 6 percent of the power its customers use, buys the rest from the Bonneville Power Administration, and requires developers to pay infrastructure costs upfront under its growth-pays-for-growth model.
Lynnwood Times
Everett-based Zap Energy named Zabrina Johal, formerly of AtkinsRéalis and General Atomics, its CEO as the company combines near-term compact modular fission with its long-term fusion work. Cofounder Benj Conway moves to President.
The Daily Herald
The Daily Herald's editorial board backs Snohomish County's plan to convene a civic assembly of about 40 randomly selected residents over three weekends in April and May 2026 to draft recommendations on county government's use of AI. The county council voted 3-1 in July 2025 to use the process; invitation letters go out to residents in late February.
Snohomish County Tribune
SNO911 answers Snohomish County's non-emergency line with Ava, an AI assistant built by Seattle firm Aurelian that handled more than 180,000 calls in its first 12 months, including 2,500 in 48 hours during the November 2024 windstorm. A second tool, Cora, now assists 911 dispatchers in real time with location lookup and agency procedures.
Lynnwood Times
IonQ opened a 105,000-square-foot quantum computing manufacturing facility in Bothell on February 15, 2024, the first dedicated plant of its kind in the United States, with 80 employees and a commitment to invest $1 billion in the Seattle area over ten years. Sen. Maria Cantwell told the opening the region is becoming the 'Quantum Valley' of the United States.
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