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Good afternoon from the KUOW Newsroom. This is Seattle Now. I'm Patricia Murphy, with a roundup of today's top stories.

It's Wednesday, August 13th.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is pushing new legislation to curb predatory home buying offers.

Joshua McNichols has more.

Many Seattle homeowners get flooded with letters from people offering to buy their houses. Sometimes the offers are fair, other times they verge on predatory. They can victimize elderly and financially

stressed people who don't know what their home is really worth. Today, a key city council committee

heard about a proposed new law that would force buyers to pay for an independent appraisal,

if asked, let sellers cancel the deal within 10 days, and authorized city fines of up to $10,000.

Councilmember Rob Saka asked if the fines would be high enough.

How are we confident it's enough to provide a sufficient deterrent effect for repeat and flagrant violators.

The mayor's office answered, we think it is, but we'll get back to you. Washington State already

has a similar law, but Seattle's proposed version would be stricter. Joshua McNichols, KOWW News.

State auditors have found the Washington Commerce Department gave out $10.7 million in grant money without proper oversight.

The audit says the nonprofit equity and education center was given most of that grant in advance, rather than reimbursing the organization for expenditures as required.

Most of the grant did not have proper documentation showing what it paid for.

That's according to auditor, Sadie Armiho.

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