Satya Nadella sent an email to Microsoft employees last night saying he supports equal pay for men and women. Credit: Courtesy of Microsoft
Satya Nadella sent an email to Microsoft employees last night saying he supports equal pay for men and women.
  • Courtesy of Microsoft
  • Satya Nadella sent an e-mail to Microsoft employees last night saying he supports equal pay for men and women.

Satya Nadella Says Women Should Ask for Raises if They “Deserve” It: Following his statement yesterday at a conference celebrating women in computing that women shouldn’t ask for raises and instead should just have faith that the system will reward them, and that doing so would equate to “good karma,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent an e-mail to his employees yesterday evening trying to clarify retract his comment:

Toward the end of the interview, Maria asked me what advice I would offer women who are not comfortable asking for pay raises. I answered that question completely wrong. Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.

As Paul Constant noted yesterday, women continue to be paid much less than men, and Microsoft’s workforce is overwhelmingly male. “How will telling women to stop asking for raises allow them to climb the ladder to pay equity?” he asked. Here were some more reactions on Twitter to Nadella’s “karma” comment:

Auditor Criticizes State Parks Department on Accounting Practices: Among the disturbing findings, reports the Seattle Times, the department does not have written procedures to ensure the proper tracking of Discover Passes that are printed or distributed, does not maintain a daily log of the number of Discover Passes sold, does not reconcile the number of passes sold to deposit slips, has no controls to ensure funds collected through boxes were deposited, had only one person collecting cash from boxes at park locations, and did not consistently make deposits in a timely manner. Also unsettling, the department spent more than $1 million on fuel, including $660,000 on fuel cards, between July 2012 and July 2013, although there are no policies or procedures on the use of the fuel cards.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant is being singled out by Italian American activists for her role in proclaiming Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day.
  • Alex Garland
  • Council Member Kshama Sawant is being singled out by Italian American activists for her role in proclaiming Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day.

Italian Americans Vow to Create PAC in Retaliation for Indigenous People’s Day: Local Italian Americans are elevating their fight for Columbus Day, vowing to create a political action committee to strike back at council members who voted to designate the day as Indigenous People’s Day, reports the Seattle Times.

UW Plans to Renovate Residence Halls, Raise Rent: The Seattle Times reports that the university’s plans to tear down and rebuild McCarty and Haggett Halls over the next five years would eliminate some of the cheapest housing options for students.

Missing Hiker Survived on Mushrooms and Tree Bark: A 21-year-old hiker from Seattle and her two dogs were found yesterday after being lost since Monday. Paula Reuter was found near Snoqualmie Pass by a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, reports Q13 Fox News. Police said Reuter survived on tree bark and mushrooms and fed her dogs beef jerky.

The tentative deal between the airline and its flight attendants ends more than two years of contract talks.
  • Chris Parypa Photography/Shutterstock
  • The tentative deal between the airline and its flight attendants ends more than two years of contract talks.

Alaska Airlines Reach Tentative Deal with Flight Attendants Union: The terms weren’t disclosed, but the tentative agreement on a new five-year contract will affect 3,300 employees if it’s ratified by union members in December, reports the Seattle Times.

State Seeks Your Input on Housing Needs: The Washington State Department of Commerce is asking state residents to weigh in on how it should spend $8.3 million in federal funds to maintain affordable housing. Fill out the 11-question online survey here.

Washington weed retailers were forced to start from scratch.
  • Kelly O
  • Washington weed retailers were forced to start from scratch.

Why Washington’s Recreational Weed Scene Sucks: Slate explains why Colorado has tons of legal weed and Washington does not.

More Protests Expected in St. Louis: Another black teenager killed by police on Wednesday in the south St. Louis neighborhood of Shaw is spurring protests this weekend in St. Louis and Ferguson, where teenager Michael Brown was killed by police in August. The New York Times reports that at least 6,000 people have signed up to participate in this weekend’s events.

Maybe Bey should read the news?

The Future of News Sounds Like… Beyoncé: A Houston news radio station announced it was laying off all 47 of its employees and was switching formats to air only Beyoncé songs, reports ABC13.

Kathleen Richards is the former managing editor of The Stranger. Prior to joining The Stranger, she was the co-editor of the East Bay Express in Oakland, Calif., where she also wrote award-winning stories...