Seattle-area ports make bid for $500M to boost zero-emissions tech

Seattle-area seaports are making a push to add more zero-carbon technologies to maritime operations — and they’re going after $500 million in federal funding to support the effort. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, along with The Northwest Seaport Alliance, would use the money to adopt cleaner sources of energy, install infrastructure to plug ships into the grid, and ditch diesel-powered trucks, among other initiatives. Read more. 

T-Mobile gobbles up more fiber: The Bellevue, Wash.-based wireless company will absorb broadband internet provider Metronet’s 2 million customers as part of a $4.9 billion investment in a new joint venture with KKR. It’s part of T-Mobile’s plan to build out its fiber internet service without making significant capital expenditures of its own. Read more.

Seattle-area healthcare company Kestra Medical Technologies raised $196 million to accelerate commercialization of its cardiac monitoring tech. Read more.

Seattle smart light switch technology startup Deako Lighting raised $3.4 million to fuel product expansion and meet growing demand among homebuilders. Read more.

The University of Washington has been awarded $50 million by the National Science Foundation to lead a new center dedicated to U.S. research security. Read more.

Delta Airlines’ struggle in recovering from the CrowdStrike disaster reveals the pitfalls of not having a truly workable “Plan B” in an age of increasingly vulnerable technology. Read the analysis by Red Tape Chronicles author Bob Sullivan. 

Hot Links:

• CrowdStrike blamed a bug in test software for its outage last week and is reportedly offering gift cards as an apology. (The Verge; TechCrunch)

• Microsoft announced AI partnerships with Lumen Technologies and academic medical systems. (Microsoft; Fierce Healthcare)