de

Saturday Memo: Thunder and more showers…ride to end cancer…Ken Griffey Jr.


That was loud. Unstable air mass triggered a lightning and thunder show over many parts of Puget Sound last night. And there’s a chance today for more flash showers, especially near the Cascade foothills. A whole lot of bikers with a cause. The  weekend-long ride Obliteride continues today through Sunday. Hundreds of bicyclists will be riding 25, […]




de

Area before Oso landslide hit


[do action=”custom_iframe” url=”https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m12!1m3!1d4817.01329563402!2d-121.84475178011013!3d48.27989084960848!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!5e1!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1395604021176″ width=”600″ height=”500″ scrolling=””/] This is a Google Earth view of the area along SR 530 before the mudslide came down late Saturday morning. The view is looking north. The slide moved from the forested area north of the Stillaquamish River,  crossed the river and into the developed area all the way to […]




de

Readers share photos of spring


On March 20, the day spring officially arrived, NOAA published its April-to-June forecast. For Western Washington, it’s looking pretty good, people. Think warmer and drier weather. Here’s what NOAA said: “For precipitation, odds favor drier-than-normal conditions for the Alaska panhandle, western Washington and Oregon. …”  And  temps will be  “warmer-than-normal” for western Washington. Sure, we’ll […]




de

Seattle Public Schools names interim superintendent


The Seattle School Board this afternoon unanimously appointed longtime local educator Larry Nyland as interim superintendent. Nyland, 66, had previously spent nine years as superintendent of the Marysville School District. In 2007, he was named Superintendent of the Year by the Washington School Administrators Association. He left Marysville in 2013 and spent the past year as […]




de

Mars Hill: The rise and fall of a Seattle church and its charismatic leader


After 18 years of explosive growth, officials at Mars Hill Church in Seattle said that financial pressures are forcing staff cuts and elimination of some branches. The announcement follows Pastor Mark Driscoll's decision to step away from the pulpit for six weeks.




de

Steeled courage from state lawmakers needed for steelhead habitat


A last legislative push is needed to save Nisqually River’s storied steelhead run.




de

Stop the legal blame game, and fix Seattle’s deadly Aurora Bridge


Seattle and Washington state are fighting each other in court in an attempt to limit their respective liability for their years of dithering over who should fix the safety of the Aurora Bridge.




de

Sea-Tac’s $192M in federal coronavirus relief won’t be enough to cover losses, officials say


Plummeting passenger traffic and flight cancellations will cost Seattle-Tacoma International Airport an estimated $251 million by the end of 2020.




de

With few passengers, Delta gets FAA approval to carry cargo in cabin


ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines says it is the first U.S. carrier to get federal clearance to carry cargo in its overhead bins, as it repurposes passenger planes amid a steep decline in travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Atlanta-based Delta said it has received Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the overhead bin space […]




de

Southwest posts 1st quarterly loss in almost a decade


DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines posted its first quarterly loss in nearly a decade and said Tuesday that the downturn in air travel that began in late February shows no signs of letting up. The airline said trip cancellations have pulled back from a peak in March but remain at levels that Southwest has never […]




de

Trump says he won’t extend social distancing guidelines


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday the federal government will not be extending its coronavirus social distancing guidelines once they expire Thursday, and his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, predicted that by July the country will be “really rocking again.” To underscore his confidence, Trump said he plans to resume out-of-state travel after […]




de

Boeing rules out federal aid after raising $25 billion of bonds


The planemaker won't seek additional funding through the capital markets or U.S. government aid at this time, according to a company statement late Thursday after the debt sale.




de

Boeing’s company debt now larger than New Zealand’s after huge bond sale


Boeing has raised $25 billion in a massive debt sale, allowing it to avoid tapping a $17 billion coronavirus bailout fund meant to shore up businesses critical to national security.




de

Boeing’s ‘monster’ debt offering is a double-edged sword


Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard captioned sections of his report “the good," "the bad" and "the ugly.”




de

2 arrested in slaying of Michigan guard over face mask order


FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Two men were arrested Friday in the fatal shooting of a security guard who demanded a woman wear a mask while shopping at a store. Genesee County authorities said Ramonyea Bishop, 23, was taken into custody at an apartment in Bay City. His alleged accomplice, Larry Teague, 44, was arrested Thursday […]




de

US awards border wall contract in Texas to begin in 2021


HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. government has awarded a $275 million border wall contract for construction that would begin in South Texas in January, at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term if he is re-elected. Caddell Construction Company, based in Montgomery, Alabama, won the contract to build 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) of barriers […]




de

Idled help the isolated: Med students aid homebound seniors


CINCINNATI (AP) — Aspiring doctors in Cincinnati whose studies were interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak have morphed their mission into taking care of people who are especially vulnerable to the pandemic’s dangers. University of Cincinnati medical students started a “COVID-19 match” program modeled on one that began in Louisville, Kentucky, and is also being replicated […]




de

Georgia man’s death raises echoes of US racial terror legacy


BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead. The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing comparisons to […]




de

Snohomish County will not pay for sheriff’s legal defense in recall effort over his refusal to enforce state’s stay-home order during pandemic


Prosecutor Adam Cornell likened the decision by Sheriff Adam Fortney to publicly question and refuse to enforce the stay-home order "to yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater."




de

Little Richard, flamboyant rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, dead at 87


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Little Richard, one of the chief architects of rock ‘n’ roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday after battling bone cancer. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated […]




de

NY’s Cuomo criticized over highest nursing home death toll


NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has won bipartisan praise for rallying supplies for his ravaged hospitals and helping slow the coronavirus, is coming under increasing criticism for not bringing that same level of commitment to a problem that has so far stymied him: nursing homes. In part-lecture, part-cheerleading briefings that […]




de

Small tribes seal borders, push testing to keep out virus


PICURIS PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — On a dusty plaza in a Native American village that dates back nearly a millennium, a steady trickle of vehicles inched through a pop-up coronavirus testing site. From the bed of a pickup truck and backseats of cars, wide-eyed children stared from behind hand-sewn masks and then sobbed as testing […]




de

Married couple, 85 and 86, die in Delaware cemetery shooting


BEAR, Del. (AP) — A married couple from Maryland ages 85 and 86 were the victims of a deadly shooting at a veterans cemetery in Delaware. Delaware State Police on Friday night identified the victims of the shooting as an 86-year-old man and 85-year-old woman from Elkton, Maryland. The two were at Delaware Veterans Memorial […]




de

Jagger, Quincy Jones react to the death of Little Richard


Reaction to the death of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard, who died Saturday at 87. — “I’m so saddened to hear about the passing of Little Richard, he was the biggest inspiration of my early teens and his music still has the same raw electric energy when you play it now as it did […]




de

NO RETURN: The final voyage of the crab boat Destination


The Seattle-based Destination went down without a mayday call two years ago this week, stunning a Bering Sea crabbing industry that appeared to have left its deadly legacy behind. A former crewman is haunted by what may have gone wrong in the sinking that killed his brother and five others.




de

For the crew of the Destination, crab fishing on the Bering Sea took ‘a serious emotional toll’


Growing up in Alaska, two brothers understood the grueling work, risks and rewards of fishing on the Bering Sea. Read Chapter 3 of No Return: The final voyage of the Destination.




de

As an exhausted Destination crew hurries, an ice storm bears down


Crew member Kai Hamik was already worn down from nearly a month at sea, but the Destination had to hurry to harvest the lucrative snow crab. And icy weather was on the way. Read Chapter 5 of No Return: The final voyage of the Destination.




de

What happened? Tracking the last minutes of the doomed Destination


At 6:13 a.m., the Destination’s emergency beacon sent out a distress signal. At 6:14, the transponder quit transmitting. The boat was sinking to the bottom of the Bering Sea. Read Chapter 7 of No Return: The final voyage of the Destination.




de

‘I always thought our boat was safe’: Former Destination crew member speaks his mind


The Destination is finally discovered lying on its side at the bottom of the Bering Sea. In federal hearings a month later, Dylan Hatfield, who’d lost so much when the crab boat went down, gets to speak his mind. Read the final chapter of No Return: The final voyage of the Destination.





de

Behind the Public Crisis, Private Toll investigation: A multitude of interviews, thousands of pages of records


This project began with a surprising discovery. After years of chronic shortages of mental-health care options in Washington state, for-profit companies were competing to build new psychiatric hospitals, and state regulators had approved a major expansion of inpatient beds. How would these new hospitals, geared to make money, serve people who arrive there at their […]




de

Lives Remembered: Meet some of the people Washington state has lost to the coronavirus pandemic


We often hear about the impact of the pandemic in terms of numbers: This many cases, that many deaths. But each data point represents a human life whose loss is felt by countless other people. If we are to truly understand the toll this virus is taking, their stories need to be front and center.




de

How major US stock indexes fared Friday


Stocks closed with broad gains Friday, brushing off a record-breaking report of job losses, as investors reckoned that the very worst of the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic may be passing. Employers cut 20.5 million jobs last month, a record high but less than what the market expected. Technology and financial stocks were […]




de

Inslee: Retail stores can do curbside pickup, 5 counties on faster track to reopen amid coronavirus


Phase two is expected to begin for most areas on June 1, provided public-health data still looks favorable.




de

House Democrats ask 5 companies to return coronavirus aid


WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic-led subcommittee overseeing federal coronavirus aid is demanding that five companies return loans the panel says should have gone to smaller businesses. The subcommittee led by Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., sent letters Friday to the companies as its first official action. The House voted last month to create the panel over […]




de

Some people miss travel so much they’re ordering airplane food delivered to their homes


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




de

Pike Place Market’s Hmong flower farmers adapt during the coronavirus pandemic


“My parents have been through worse,” one farmer said. “We'll get through this.”




de

NFL renews Thursday night streaming deal with Amazon


Amazon Prime Video and Twitch also will have exclusive streaming rights to one additional regular-season game in 2020.




de

Amazon prepares first earnings report from coronavirus era, as pandemic accelerates retail trends in its favor


The company’s first-quarter earnings report will provide a view of how the pandemic has accelerated trends already working in its favor, and the extent to which coronavirus restrictions on businesses and consumers have boosted Amazon’s sales.




de

Seattle City Council hears details on plan to borrow money for coronavirus relief from big business tax


The tax on companies with annual payrolls over $7 million would apply to gig-economy companies, such as Uber. But franchises, such as McDonald's, could avoid the 1.3% payroll tax.




de

‘The hardest time we’ve ever faced’: Amazon revenue surges, but coronavirus costs may wipe out operating profit


The company's first-quarter sales rose 26% year over year to $75.5 billion. But expenses related to Amazon’s pandemic response weighed on the bottom line in the three-month period ended March 31.




de

Amazon, Instacart workers launch May Day strike to protest treatment during the coronavirus pandemic


The onset of the coronavirus and the subsequent classification of many of these workers as "essential" have heightened some existing tensions. Workers have accused companies of being slow to provide protective gear and implement precautions, something that may put them in danger.




de

Whole Foods to provide face masks for shoppers to prevent spread of coronavirus in stores


Amazon-owned Whole Foods will provide grocery shoppers with free single-use masks at all its stores beginning this week, in keeping with the chain's "request" that all shoppers wear masks.




de

Amazon vice president, a distinguished engineer, resigns to protest firing of employee activists


Tim Bray described the firings as “evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison.”




de

Amazon engineering elites engage in rare public debate over company’s coronavirus safety response, worker treatment


The public back-and-forth about a controversial, high-profile topic is unusual for a company that has lately enforced policies limiting what employees can say publicly without authorization, and for the seniority of those involved.




de

2% of Puget Sound households received grocery delivery last year, before coronavirus changed shopping


The most popular online grocery category was packaged foods such as breakfast cereal and pasta; followed by toiletries, personal care products and diapers; household cleaners and paper products; and frozen food.




de

7 soothing ways to let your garden and its familiar chores nurture you, and your community — this spring, especially


GARDENING IS A restorative act grounded in natural rhythms and constancy. Thank goodness! I’m not a doctor or a mental health expert. I’m a gardener. But I know from years of plotting and planting the many ways my garden tends me as I care for it. So, I thought I’d share a little unsolicited but […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

de

Jefferson school days echo in the May memories of its West Seattle students


IN OUR CORONAVIRAL days of school closures and social distancing, and with May Day here, this week’s “Then” image might be poignant. It depicts 130 people posing for a group photo at West Seattle’s Jefferson Elementary School on Saturday, June 1, 1985, just 17 days before it fell victim to the wrecking ball. As editor […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

de

‘Cultivated’ makes a compelling case for the natural power of a beautifully arranged garden in a vase


CHRISTIN GEALL IS a Victoria-based gardener who arranges flowers, and a floral designer who grows much of what she uses in her designs. She also is the author of “Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style,” a gorgeous new book from Princeton Architectural Press. “Flowers shape my years now,” she writes. “They are both calendar and […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

de

Nobody’s playing in person these days — but there’s a whole new dimension of fun and friendship in videoconference game nights 


BEFORE CERTAIN CURRENT events upended all of our lives, a few friends and I had a goal: more old-fashioned game nights, involving old-school boards, mysterious card decks and little plastic figures. There’s something wholesome and cheering about gathering around a table and jointly figuring out the rules of some new game. And you can mix […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine