Paseo Reopens, Female NFL Fans Growing in Seattle & More News

Paseo is back! New owner Ryan Santwire quietly reopened the doors of the original Fremont location yesterday for fear of the kitchen becoming overrun. Nonetheless, the legendary sandwich shop that closed suddenly last November amid allegations of unfair pay and other poor treatment for workers had 50 customers in the first half hour. The menu, suppliers and many members of the staff are exactly the same. No word yet on the progress of the lawsuit that was underway two months ago.

It’s official: Seattle will not add another sports team named after a bird. There were reports that Seattle investor Chris Hansen was interested in bringing the Atlanta Hawks basketball team to Seattle, but the Hawks will stay put in the south. NBA basketball fans will have to keep waiting for the right team to earn us a new arena here, which Hansen plans to erect if he can obtain another franchise.

Speaking of Hawks, for the first time ever, the majority of Seattle-area women now follow pro football, according to a recent study by Scarborough Research. Certainly spurred by our triumph last January, 650,000 new NFL fans have emerged in our city in the last two years, two thirds of which are women. For male and female devotees alike, there are plenty of local activities today and tomorrow to gear up for this weekend’s NFC Divisional Playoff game–and anticipate Marshawn Lynch’s next strategy with the media.

Microsoft announced yesterday that it will give families of public school students in Maryland free access to Office 365, Geekwire reports. The offering is part of a more substantial collaboration by Microsoft and Maryland’s public schools striving to connect students with technology.

Is our cheap gas set to dry up? Republican Senator Doug Ericksen, chairman of the Washington Senate Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Committee, believes Governor Jay Inslee wants to raise gasoline prices to further his environmental plans. “For his policies to be successful,” Eriksen told Crosscut, “he needs high costs at the pump. He definitely wants gas prices at $4 a gallon.”