Microsoft on the political hotseat: Advocates urged Microsoft to take bolder action on U.S. political reform, and to permanently stop giving money to legislators who sought to overturn the presidential election, after the leak of a partial transcript of internal comments in which Microsoft President Brad Smith (above) spoke candidly about the company's use of campaign contributions to build beneficial relationships with politicians. Microsoft responded by taking the unusual step of releasing a full transcript with the larger context of Smith's remarks, and promising to announce its decision by Feb. 15. Read the story.
Amazon’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic: The tech giant helped vaccinate 2,400 people on Sunday at its headquarters, partnering with Virginia Mason to host a pop-up clinic. Check out the photos and hear from folks who went through the process.
$1.4M in COVID relief funds: The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is making another sizable donation to aid underserved populations across Washington state in response to the ongoing pandemic. The foundation said new grants to nonprofits are focused mainly on food security and child care needs. Read more.
Techstars Seattle goes virtual, again: Running a remote startup accelerator has actually been beneficial in some ways for Techstars Seattle, which just announced its latest cohort.
New COVID-19 variant confirmed in Washington state: Researchers found the more-transmissible variant in two samples from Snohomish County, north of Seattle. There is uncertainty about its effect on the performance of vaccines, though Moderna on Monday announced that its COVID-19 vaccine “retains neutralizing activity” against new variants.
SpaceX reaches new heights, with help from Seattle company: SpaceX set a record on Sunday for the number of satellites sent into orbit by a single rocket. The Falcon 9 rocket launch also marked the orbital debut of Sherpa-FX, a satellite transfer vehicle made and managed by Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. Read more.
Robert Winglee, 1958-2020: The global aerospace community and students across the Northwest have lost a researcher, mentor and “Rocket Man” who inspired and guided thousands of young people toward careers in the stars. Read more about Robert Winglee, former chairman of UW’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences who led Washington’s NASA Space Grant Consortium.
Thanks for reading, have a great week, and see all our latest headlines below. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, editor@geekwire.com, GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
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