Throughout Friday, on this page, we’ll be posting updates from Seattle Times journalists and others on the pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world.

The Seattle Department of Transportation closed the West Seattle Bridge March 23 because of accelerating shear cracks in the central span.

While this year’s Mother’s Day weekend promises warm weather, Seattle officials are restricting hours in city parks out of fears that large crowds hoping to enjoy the sun could further spread the novel coronavirus. A recent report shows the COVID-19 transmission rate in Western Washington may be steadily increasing, suggesting that the number of virus cases […]

A white-naped crane that briefly escaped from the Woodland Park Zoo was returned to its open-air exhibit Wednesday afternoon, according to a statement from the zoo. The crane traveled a short distance down North 55th Street around 4 p.m. and entered a sunken garage near Greenwood Avenue North, where animal keepers caught it, the statement […]

Gerald Ford was president. It was 1976. A mysterious new strain of swine flu turned up, and Ford raced to come up with a response. Every American, he said, would be vaccinated. Here's how that turned out.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida deputies arrested a man who had been living out his quarantine on a shuttered Disney World island, telling authorities it felt like a “tropical paradise.” Orange County Sheriff’s deputies found Richard McGuire on Disney’s Discovery Island on Thursday. He said he’d been there since Monday or Tuesday and had planned […]

Think of it as a cross between a lizard and an eel — at the scale of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

NEW YORK — Danny Lin cruised his white sports car down Broadway, the bright lights of Times Square gleaming off his sharply detailed Audi R8. He looped through the tourist hot spot again and again, navigating around Corvettes, Mercedes, Mustangs and BMWs — a parade of high-priced vehicles gathered for a rare photo-op. “I never […]

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — A Utah Highway Patrol trooper got a pint-sized surprise when he pulled over a 5-year-old driver who was swerving so badly he thought the driver needed medical attention. Trooper Rick Morgan said Adrian Zamarripa, who turns 6 next month, did not respond to his lights but pulled over when he hit […]

In the mountains of rural Japan, “murder hornets” are known for more than their aggression and excruciating sting. They are seen as a pleasant snack and an invigorating ingredient in drinks.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The woman attacked and killed by an alligator in a gated community along the South Carolina coast was visiting the homeowner to do her nails and was trying to touch the animal when it grabbed her, authorities said. After briefly getting away from the alligator Friday, the woman stood in waist deep […]

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — A Utah Highway Patrol trooper got a pint-sized surprise when he pulled over a 5-year-old driver who was swerving so badly he thought the driver needed medical attention. Trooper Rick Morgan said Adrian Zamarripa, who turns 6 next month, did not respond to his lights but pulled over when he hit […]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court held Day Three of arguments by telephone with the audio available live to audiences around the world. The higher profile case of the two heard by the justices on Wednesday dealt with Trump administration rules that would allow more employers who cite a religious or moral objection to opt out […]

"When COVID-19 struck, all of the local shops ran out of flour very quickly," said a museum employee. "We had a stock of good-quality milling wheat and the means and skills to grind it into flour, so we thought we could help."

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — For patrons at a Montana tiki bar that has a back wall of a window into a motel swimming pool, it’s typical to see mermaids in the water five nights a week. So as the owner of the O’Haire Motor Inn and the Sip ‘n Dip Lounge in Great Falls began […]

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — For patrons at a Montana tiki bar that has a back wall of a window into a motel swimming pool, it’s typical to see mermaids in the water five nights a week. So as the owner of the O’Haire Motor Inn and the Sip ‘n Dip Lounge in Great Falls […]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Three teenage McDonald’s employees in Oklahoma City suffered gunshot wounds when a customer opened fire because she was angry that the restaurant’s dining area was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, police said Thursday. Gloricia Woody, 32, was in custody after the Wednesday night shooting on four counts of assault and […]

By all accounts, 2020 has been, to put it mildly, a weird year. This week alone has already seen a 5-year-old boy from Utah attempt a solo drive to California on a mission to buy a Lamborghini, a llama named Winter emerge as a potential key player in the race for a treatment targeting the […]

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii authorities are cracking down on rogue tourists who are visiting beaches, riding personal watercraft, shopping and generally flouting strict requirements that they quarantine for 14 days after arriving. A newlywed California couple left their Waikiki hotel room repeatedly, despite being warned by hotel staff, and were arrested. Others have been arrested […]

Using materials available on site for a moon base or other construction would reduce the need to launch supplies from Earth.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that he and his girlfriend have named their newborn boy X Æ A-12. But that might cross the line with state of California, which has limits on what parents can name their children.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian advertising company is pitching a novel if morbid solution to shortages of hospital beds and coffins during the coronavirus pandemic: combine them. ABC Displays has created a cardboard bed with metal railings that designers say can double as a casket if a patient dies. Company manager Rodolfo Gómez said […]

In addition to selling some of their excess, airlines have put donation programs in place.

Kathy Jackson was at Life Care Center in Kirkland, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., on Friday. By Sunday she was sick. But the public health system still didn't seem interested in testing her.

As Trump bashes our governor and the streets of Seattle get emptier, it's starting to seem like we're being cut off a bit from America — if not blamed for the outbreak altogether. "It feels like we're going it alone," says one relative of a resident at Life Care Center in Kirkland.

Bernie Sanders was widely expected in recent months to win our Democratic primary, just as he had steamrolled the Democratic caucuses here against mainstream favorite Hillary Clinton four years ago. But in early returns in Washington's presidential nominating contest Tuesday, he was in a dead heat with the more moderate Joe Biden.

From 'quarantinis' to sex, what are the rules of the coronavirus avoidance strategy known as social distancing? A Seattle 'Infection Preventionist' answers our etiquette questions, via Danny Westneat.

When the longtime owner of the tiny Leschi Market along Lake Washington came down with COVID-19, the coronavirus hit home for generations of his patrons and fans.

Steve Shulman, longtime grocer and community figure at Leschi Market along Lake Washington in Seattle, died Wednesday night from the effects of COVID-19, his family says. “We all mourn the passing of this generous man who has been a pillar of the Leschi community and beyond for many years,” his nephew Yousef Shulman, co-owner of […]

Suddenly everybody's a fan of big government, now that a crisis has hit. But we're not ready for this one -- precisely because of the decades-long movement arguing that government needs to be slashed and burned.

School leaders in Seattle have said our district is too big and diverse to transition to online learning in the face of coronavirus, writes columnist Danny Westneat. Yet they're trying exactly that in … Los Angeles?

The news that Seattle and King County have put up 1,900 emergency shelter beds for the homeless in the last three weeks makes you wonder: Why didn't they do that when they declared a homelessness emergency four years ago? It's one of the many issues being suddenly cast in a new light by the pandemic.

Washington voters turned out to the polls in nation-leading fashion in March. The reason we were able to do that — even as we were an epicenter of coronavirus — is because we don't actually turn out. We vote from home. The president made clear this week he doesn't like the idea to expand this way of voting, because too many people might vote.

Farm field workers, many undocumented, have now been categorized by the Department of Homeland Security as "essential critical infrastructure workers" during the pandemic.

A teriyaki joint shuttered by the government's social distancing order asked for help with the rent from two landlords. The responses could hardly have been more different.

The $500 million a year "Amazon tax" before the Seattle City Council would also likely hit some firms in the health sector that are working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

James Thompson was considered "a goner" when he got COVID-19 last month. But he's here to tell that if he can face down the virus at age 96, and come out the other side, then we can too.

The Seattle School District has decided to give all A's to high-schoolers who do a modicum of work during the pandemic shutdown. But the happy plan is a Band-Aid over its own sloppy performance, writes columnist Danny Westneat.

Recent protests against stay-at-home orders are political theater and a distraction from the real problem facing us — which is that government is failing to ramp up enough testing. The virus isn’t much chastened by guns or bellicose threats, but it can be hunted down relentlessly and isolated, by science. Why aren't we doing it?

Our feel-good story here of how everybody came together, Democrats and Republicans, to let scientists take the lead in fighting the coronavirus is now starting to give way to some anti-science crackpottery.

Research shows women respond to pandemics much differently than men. Some recent polling suggests this may be widening the gender gap in politics, to the point that the old red versus blue divide is becoming more of a masculine party and a feminine one.

Seattle's Michael Flor, one of the earliest coronavirus patients, was at one point considered so far gone his family bid him their final goodbyes. Yet he was discharged from Swedish Hospital on Tuesday after fighting off COVID-19 for two months, including almost a month on a ventilator, writes Danny Westneat.

In the middle of a pandemic, the subject of the public's health never came up during a 90-minute GOP candidates for governor forum. It's like a metaphor for the alternate realities of our politics — and also why the GOP may be in more trouble than usual in the local elections this year.

How will the shuttering of the NCAA Tournament impact the multi-million payouts to the schools and conferences? We don’t have a clear answer yet.

After the cancellation of the spring and winter championships tournaments stemming from concerns over the novel coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA will grant an extra year of eligibility to athletes who participate in spring sports, the organization announced Friday.

Ten years ago Wednesday, the 11th-seeded Huskies played in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16, a stage they have not returned to since. The run was fueled by Quincy Pondexter, who looks back on the season as the greatest year of his life.

Mike Hopkins and the Washington Huskies secured a commitment from Wichita State guard Erik Stevenson, who is transferring after two seasons and returning home.

The Pac-12 is facing a revenue hit of at least $1 million per school from the cancellation of its men’s basketball tournament and March Madness, although the full extent of the damage won’t be known for weeks.

On Wednesday, Stewart announced he's leaving Washington and entering the NBA draft where he's expected to be selected in the first round.