Picture this: You’re midway through your shift at your second job, working nights at a lotto cafe. A customer is winning some money and he asks you to choose your tip from the two tickets in his hands. You choose one — and a minute later find out its a loser. The one he kept, though, is suddenly worth $80,000.

That’s what happened to Alma Rodriguez, a Redmond resident who works at Ashley’s Lotto Cafe next to Grocery Outlet. A Redmond man was the lucky winner, and he tipped Alma $100 for her lucky (for him) choice.

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That $80,000 won’t go very far anymore to buy a house in the Hub City. According to reporter Suzanne Roig, median home prices in the city jumped from $373,000 in February 2021 to $520,000 just a year later. And with interest prices rising too, new homebuyers are going to see a significant jump in their monthly mortgage payments.

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Despite the rising cost of buying a home and choosing the wrong lottery ticket, there’s lots of cool stuff happening in Redmond. If you’re one of those new homeowners, or someone who has been here for generations, its always a good time to learn your local history. Take this tour to learn about some of Redmond’s most fascinating women. The “Ladies, Legacies and Landmarks” quest will quiz participants on everyone from Princess Helen August Victoria Beatrice Bruckner von Gathan (now that’s a mouthful!) to a woman who kept a monkey in the basement of the Redmond Hotel. It also raises money for a good cause, so kick in some dollars and have fun doing it.

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This week’s edition of the Spokesman includes more stories — everything from an update on city council getting serious about homelessness to Ridgeview softball swinging for the fences.

Thanks, as always, for subscribing to the paper. If you have any feedback on our transition to mail delivery, email me at ttrainor@redmondspokesman.com.