Seattle, Washington Local News | ReportWire publishes the latest breaking U.S. and world news, trending topics and developing stories from around globe.
Seattle-born grunge icons Pearl Jam have announced hometown shows to support their forthcoming new album, Dark Matter. Indie rock outfit Vampire Weekend will stop by Climate Pledge Arena this summer on their Only God Was Above Us tour. Plus, BECU ZooTunes will bring acts including the Roots, Norah Jones, and Violent Femmes to the Woodland Park Zoo this summer. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.
Tickets go on sale at 10 am unless otherwise noted.
Susie Tennant, the record executive and promo representative who helped launch Nirvana’s career and championed countless other bands and artists over the years, passed away in January from frontotemporal dementia. She was 61 years old.
On Friday her friends and family will gather at the Paramount to celebrate her life and love of music, and, in true Susie style, everyone’s invited.
There will be performances from Christy McWilson, Rusty Willoughby & Rachel Flotard, the Fastbacks, Chris & Ella Swenson, and Chris Ballew, and the night will end with a dance party deejayed by Marco Collins.
I’m not being hyperbolic when I say there would be no music scene in Seattle without Susie Tennant. Yes, in the 1990s Susie’s magnetic enthusiasm helped put Nirvana’s Nevermind (and therefore Seattle) on the map, but she also championed the city’s all-ages music scene and built relationships between her peers and colleagues that often fused into sturdy foundations in what could so often feel like an otherwise shaky or cutthroat industry.
Susie also used her platform and connections to help organize vital social movements. Megan Jasper, CEO of Sub Pop, credits Susie for being the “Paul Revere” during the early stages of the Music for Marriage Equality campaign. The campaign raised tons of money and put Washington State’s fight for marriage equality in the national spotlight.
“It would NEVER have happened if Susie hadn’t rallied the troops,” said Jasper. “She was so good at that.”
Ahead of tomorrow’s party, and with the help of Susie’s husband, Christopher Swenson, I gathered up some stories from some of Susie’s friends and colleagues over the years. I hope you’ll read them and feel inspired to put a little of your own Susie magic into the world.
Susie Tennant, happy warrior. LANCE MERCER
There was the infamous Nirvana record release party that Susie threw at Re-bar, that the band got kicked out of for starting a food fight. I catered it, because Susie and I thought it would be funny to cater a Re-bar party (also, we wanted to order a realistic Nevermind cake from Remo Borracchini’s bakery). Somehow the story’s been told that the band started throwing tamales and guacamole, but it was actually grape leaves and green goddess dip. Anyway, once Re-bar’s Steve Wells rightfully ushered everyone out to not risk his liquor license, the party moved to Jeff Ross’s loft downtown and then Susie’s house for the rest of the night for a party for the ages.
The band was suspicious of most of the major label grossness thrust on them, but of course they adored Susie and stayed for hours raiding her closet for dresses to wear and Nelson gold and platinum records to deface.
Susie could party with the wildest of us without a hair falling out of place, but she was a protector as well, like when cops came or people passed out in blackberry brambles, she would somehow handle it and also spearhead brunch the next day. She was an incredible champion of her friends and colleagues, and excelled wildly at her jobs, but more than that was just a boundlessly open and loving person that made everyone around her try to be the same way.
—Nils Bernstein, author and journalist
In spring 1992 I was looking for work, hoping to keep working with music people. I had been laid off from Sub Pop a year earlier and Susie was as busy as she’d ever been with Nirvana’s meteoric rise. I had never written a resume and the thought of doing so was daunting.
Susie took me under her wing. She edited and reshaped my resume, printed multiple copies, and gave me a list of names and numbers to call. I didn’t know most of them but they all took my call.
After many phone calls and a handful of interviews, I got a job as the northwest sales rep for Caroline Records. I was so psyched.
I shared the good news with Susie and thanked her for her help. I made her a batch of chocolate chip cookies and headed over to her apartment. She gave me a hug and asked me what the cookies were for. When I told her that they were a “thank you,” she said, “That’s not necessary. Just do the same thing for somebody else.”
That was Susie. Always helping, always paying it forward, and teaching us to do the same.
—Megan Jasper, CEO of Sub Pop
Susie (second from right) with daughter Ella, husband Christopher Swenson, and son Eli. COURTESY OF Christopher Swenson
Susie was more than a promo person. She loved the artists she worked with and they loved her back. She was an ambassador for the Seattle music scene, she knew everyone and connected so many people. When I first moved to Seattle, it was Susie who introduced me to the scene. She invited me to parties and shows (whether it was her bands playing or not). Because of her, I felt accepted by the scene in a way that just wouldn’t have happened to a California transplant. She and I became very close over the years and I love her to the moon.
What I really loved about Susie is she genuinely LOVED what she did and it showed. When she came to play you some new records, she got up and danced! Not to hype me, but BECAUSE SHE WAS FEELING IT.
One of my favorite things she ever did was when she was promoting Sebadoh’s Bake Sale record for Sub Pop—she held an actual bakesale outside the station entrance with a little table, construction paper with prices, baked goodies, and lemonade while blasting the Sebadoh record on a boombox! So clever.
Her level of enthusiasm was contagious. I can hear her scream my name from across the club and beeline into my arms. I’ll never forget what she did for me then, and the way she made me feel about music.
—Marco Collins, radio DJ
It’s hard to imagine anyone in the history of local promotion people more in sync with their artists and popular with all the music people in their city than Susie Tennant. You’d have to look to Motown, Liverpool, Seoul, or similar points of inception—and find the Mayor. That was Susie Tennant in Seattle during “the grunge era.” Her irrepressible enthusiasm for her bands (actually all bands) was on full blast whether it was a dressing room, radio boardroom, convention center, or her living room. “Whattaya mean you never heard of The Posies?!?!” while giving a friendly shove to a regional sales manager from Uni at the annual distribution conference. It didn’t matter—we were all equals on her team, all fans lucky to be in the profession. Think of all that could have gone wrong as Nirvana made their historic ascent… it was simply not a factor with Susie Tennant at the center of the scene. As Liam Clancy told a young Bob Dylan, “No fear, no envy, no meanness.” Susie Tennant embodied that ethos. We were all invited to her party… and so what if the band destroyed the place?
—John Rosenfelder, music and data analyst, and formerly National College, Metal and Alternative Promotion at Geffen/DGC
One of the things I loved most about Susie was her good cheer. And that ran far deeper than just a sunny disposition. When some adversity came her way, large or small, she didn’t lose her temper or feel defeated, she just shrugged her shoulders and made a little but quietly devastating joke about it, then rolled up her sleeves and dealt with the situation. She was a happy warrior. I’m sure that skill earned her a lot of professional respect, and I know it’s a big reason why so many people loved Susie so much: she was inspiring.
—Michael Azerrad, music journalist and author of Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana and Our Band Could Be Your Life
Susie Tennant. Where to even begin? I was so lucky to meet her, and that would’ve been in 1989 when I invited myself along to a weekend of shows in Victoria and Vancouver, BC with the Young Fresh Fellows. She was also along for the ride. Weird to think we had never met before, but by the end of that weekend, we were best friends. Not too long after that, she asked me to move into her apartment, which became ground zero for all things DGC Records, who she was working for, but especially Nirvana. I think I lived there maybe two years? Within that time the after-show parties that would take place at our apartment were loud, fun, and our downstairs neighbors hated us. Anytime Nirvana played in Seattle they would come over and rage with us well into the night. Kurt running around in one of Susie’s dresses, all of us destroying various items in our place, and just having the time of our lives. Susie was always an eternal ray of sunshine, no matter what the situation. She gave so much to this community and to me, as her really dear friend. I will miss her forever, but thankfully I will always have the memories of those times. I suppose thanks are in order to the Young Fresh Fellows and the universe for bringing us together. I was lucky to meet her.
—Kim Warnick, musician (The Fastbacks, Visqueen)
Susie introduced me to Mick Ronson. The Hunter Ronson Band were playing in a Tacoma venue and Susie organized a caravan of fans to descend upon the gig. Only a few of us even had access to a vehicle so the amount of planning required to make this happen was dizzying. This was pre-internet and pre-cell phone. The gig was absolutely fantastic, but the kicker was seeing Susie’s smiling face pop out from the backstage door as she literally grabbed us by the sleeve and pulled us into the room where I found myself standing next to Mick Ronson. If he had only ever played guitar on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, he’d be my hero. But his playing and arranging on so many classic songs is legendary. We shake hands, a smiling Susie introduces us to one another and a smiling Mr. Ronson turns to the bowl of fruit next to us, picks up a banana, and offers me the ripe snack. I eagerly accepted as I gawked at my hero. A situation that could only happen with Susie around.
—Rusty Willoughby, musician (Pure Joy, Flop)
Susie was steeped in a love for music and people that made her radiate from within. It was easy to get addicted to the glow you felt when you stood in her orbit. She was generous with me when I was a young punk kid trying to wiggle my way into Beck’s touring band and she was a Geffen rep here in Seattle. We planned shows together for kids and families at Town Hall and we had a monthly breakfast summit in more recent times at Easy Street Records in West Seattle. (We both always ordered the James Browns with sausage and corn tortillas instead of bread in case you were wondering.) Those meals together were so nourishing both because of the food and the positivity that Susie was so generous with in conversation. We would end up trading too many recommendations to ever actually listen to or watch and we laughed about the old days and all the characters that have passed through our lives. I feel very privileged to have had those times with her and her passing has left a soundless hole in me and in everyone that loved her.
—Chris Ballew, musician (The Presidents of the United States of America, Caspar Babypants)
Susie Tennant was my supervisor at EMP (now MoPop) back in the early 2000s. She’s the one who saw potential in me and helped to have me transferred from the Membership department to the Public Programs department, where I learned to be a talent buyer and to book shows. It’s no exaggeration to say that Susie taught me damn near everything I know about booking bands, working with artists, and navigating the music industry as a woman. It’s not that my other co-workers weren’t important in my path as well, or that they didn’t mentor me, but Susie made TIME for me, always. She was just never too busy to help. In both her work and her personal relationships, she was fearless. She was a straight shooter, but also soft. She saw my first band play and she told me the whole truth about what she saw and heard. She always gave feedback lovingly, but truthfully. But of all the things Susie taught me, the bit that has stuck with me for my whole career (and that I’ve quoted her on many times) was when she said, “You know, Earl, all that matters in any of this at the end of the day are the relationships. Not as the means to the end, but as the actual end.”
—Shelby Earl, musician
Tickets to Friday’s celebration are free but organizers ask that people RSVP here.
The City of Seattle has approved a new plan for Alki Elementary School that includes 15 parking spaces. The published decision states:
“The Director approved the initial parking departure request (for zero on-site vehicular parking stalls) with the conditions listed at the end of this report (May 2023). The Hearing Examiner Decision (August 2023) returned the parking departure request back to the Director for additional study of parking impacts. Upon further review of the proposal, including the additional parking analyses, revised site plan (to include 15 on-site vehicular parking spaces), and all public comment, the Director finds that the departure is appropriate in relation to the character and scale of the area; there is a presence of edges, a right of way, a park and a topographic break which provides a transition in bulk and scale and the departure does not exacerbate or diminish the area character; and the departure will not significantly exacerbate traffic, noise, circulation, parking or impact housing or open space in the area.”
By code the construction would require 48 spaces but the original plan for the remodeled school called for no spaces.
The revised plan shows parking spaces at the lower left.
The decision can still be appealed:
Hearing Examiner Appeals
To appeal to the City’s Hearing Examiner, the appeal MUST be in writing.
Appeals may be filed online at https://www.seattle.gov/hearing-examiner/citations/, or mailed to the City of Seattle Hearing Examiner, P.O. Box 94729, Seattle, WA 98124-4729. (Delivery of appeals filed by any form of USPS mail service may be delayed by several days. Allow extra time if mailing an appeal.)
Appeals must be received prior to 5:00 P.M. of the appeal deadline indicated below and be accompanied by an $85.00 filing fee. The fee may be paid by check payable to the City of Seattle or a credit/debit card (Visa and MasterCard only) payment by telephone at 206-684-0521. (The Hearing Examiner may waive the appeal fee if the person filing the appeal demonstrates that payment would cause financial hardship).
The appeal must identify all the specific Master Use Permit component(s) being appealed, specify exceptions or objections to the decision, and the relief sought. Appeals to the Hearing Examiner must conform in content and form to the Hearing Examiner’s rules governing appeals.
To be assured of a right to have your views heard, you must be party to an appeal. Do not assume that you will have an opportunity to be heard if someone else has filed an appeal from the decision. For information regarding appeals, visit the Hearing Examiner’s website at www.seattle.gov/examiner or call them at (206) 684-05
American Queen Voyages, the paddle-wheeler cruise company sailing ships on the Columbia River, has suspended service and canceled its cruises.
For nearly a decade, the company’s American Empress ship launched from the Port of Vancouver. As part of the cruise package, passengers spent a night at a Vancouver hotel before their journey.
“American Queen Voyages unfortunately has been unable to rebound from the effects of the pandemic,” according to the company’s website. “The overnight cruise industry was especially affected by changes in travel preferences and, as a result, (American Queen Voyages) has become financially unsustainable.”
The cruise line is owned by the Hornblower Group, a San Francisco-based experience and transportation company. Hornblower announced Wednesday it is set to be acquired by an investment firm, Strategic Value Partners.
As part of the sale, Hornblower will sell or wind down American Queen Voyages. Hornblower said in Wednesday’s statement the cruise line is being shut down because it has underperformed.
American Queen Voyages notified the Washington Employment Security Department of its closure, announcing 16 employees would be laid off between its Clarkston and Vancouver locations. About 500 people are being laid off companywide.
The American Empress stopped over not just in Vancouver but at the Port of Camas-Washougal and the Port of Skamania County.
The region’s ports hadn’t been notified officially the cruise line was shutting down.
“It is very disappointing as they have been a great river partner of ours over the years,” said Pat Albaugh, executive director for the Port of Skamania County.
Albaugh and his counterpart at the Port of Camas-Washougal don’t expect the news to significantly impact their ports financially.
“We are saddened to see them shutting down their operations,” said David Ripp, chief executive officer at the Port of Camas-Washougal.
Other cruise ships still operate on the Columbia River, but American Empress was the largest.
“I’m hopeful that this is an isolated incident,” said Cliff Myers at Visit Vancouver WA.
Last year, nine ships cruised the river, including the American Empress. Fares ranged from $2,500 per person to more than $11,000, according to the booking website USA River Cruises.
Myers said he hopes the region’s tourism industry will proceed with smart conversations about the kind of impact that cruise companies can have on the local economy.
“The Vancouver waterfront has been key for bringing (American Queen Voyages’) Columbia River cruise visitors into the city to shop, dine and experience the region,” said Mike Bomar, director of economic development at the Port of Vancouver.
The ports have invested money into infrastructure for cruise ships. The Port of Camas-Washougal completed a $1.4 million breakwater access ramp project in 2022.
Bomar said despite American Queen Voyages’ closure, the port believes interest in Columbia River cruises will continue to grow in the coming years.
“We envision the port and our Terminal 1 location will continue to play a role,” he added.
House and Senate Democratic leaders — who control both chambers — unveiled similar proposals Monday within their supplemental 2023-2025 budgets, which must be reconciled within two and a half weeks.
In the Senate, Ways & Means Committee Chairwoman Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, and Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, said details will have to be hashed out on the sizes of the individual rebates and the income eligibility thresholds. Robinson speculated the rebates would likely be distributed to families in the fall. The Senate version sends out the entire rebate in the fall. The House version splits the rebate between the fall and February.
Hovering over the proposed utility rebate is a public referendum — propelled by concerns about gas prices — to vote on repealing the cap-and-invest program in the November election. But the connection between the state’s new carbon pricing system and Washington’s gas prices is not a straight line.
Last December, Gov. Jay Inslee requested the Legislature to set up a rebate program for lower- and middle-income people to counteract the higher-than-expected gasoline prices resulting from the new program. Inslee’s December request called for a one-time $200 credit on the utility bills of roughly 750,000 low- and moderate-income households. Rep. April Connors, R-Kennewick, introduced a bill similar to Inslee’s request, but it never received a committee hearing.
So Inslee and Democratic leaders are trying to counter the increased costs at the pumps with these utility-bill breaks, arguing that the same people are hardest hit by higher gas prices.
Gas prices and cap-and-invest
Passed in 2021, Washington’s cap-and-invest program went into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Under this program, oil companies and other carbon polluters bid on state allowances on how much carbon pollution they can emit.
Inslee and Democratic legislative leaders have been taking political flak for the state’s high gasoline prices, due in part to oil companies passing their carbon auction costs on to consumers at the pump. Gas prices in the three West Coast states — Washington, Oregon and California — usually are among the highest in the nation for economic and geographic reasons unrelated to the cap-and-invest program. Earlier this year, Nguyen said Washington’s gas prices have been consistently among the top five in the nation since the 1970s.
Last summer, for the first time, Washington posted the nation’s highest average gasoline price — $4.89 per gallon of regular compared to a national average of $3.54 per gallon, according to AAA. Six months after cap-and-invest went into effect, Washington’s average gas price was $1.35 above the national average.
However, in June 2022, six months before the cap-and-invest program went into effect, Washington’s average gas price, $5.55 per gallon, was its highest ever (though not the highest in the nation), according to AAA. It topped the national average of $4.85 per gallon by 70 cents.
Today, Washington’s average price for regular is $3.91 per gallon, compared to the national average of $3.27 — a 64-cent difference, lower than the 70-cent difference posted prior to the cap-and-invest program taking effect. Washington now has the nation’s fourth-highest average gas prices, behind Hawaii, California and Nevada.
The bottom line is that the cap-and-invest program is just one factor among many that increase and shrink Washington gasoline prices.
Rebate politics and the election
At a Tuesday media availability, GOP leaders criticized the timing of the proposed utility rebate, characterizing it as a November election ploy by the Democrats. Republicans say Democrats plan to combat the ballot measure to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, which includes the cap-and-invest system, by warning that there’s no guarantee that future rebates will occur if voters choose to dump the new program.
“Let’s be candid on how much $200 will help. … It’s not much. … It’s a little like electioneering,” said Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia. House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, called the fall timing of the rebate “really suspicious.”
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, responded to that criticism: “I wonder how Rep. Stokesbary will pay for [the rebates] if we revoke the Climate Commitment Act.” The proposed rebates would come out of cap-and-invest revenue.
Democratic leaders also replied to a Republican criticism of Senate Transportation Chairman Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, who has said repealing the cap-and-invest program will hurt the state’s transportation budget. GOP leaders maintain the transportation budget is independent of the cap-and-invest program, although members of both parties have recommended spending some Climate Commitment Act revenue on transportation projects.
Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, D-Spokane, said the cap-and-invest program pays for some transportation expenses — for example, free transit for people under 18. The money for these projects would have to come from another source, Billig said.
Liias agreed that Climate Commitment Act money is paying for a major portion of the supplemental transportation budget that the Legislature is currently working on. In another example, cap-and-invest revenue would make up any potential shortfalls to pay for converting up to three existing diesel ferries into more efficient hybrid diesel/electric vessels. The state has the funds to convert two, but without cap-and-invest money it might struggle to convert a third, Liias said.
Other changes to the Climate Commitment Act
The state government raised roughly $1.8 billion during the first year of carbon auctions in 2023, and the Inslee administration is forecasting the program will raise another $941 million in the first half of 2024. For the “invest” part of the new program, the Legislature is allocating those dollars toward clean-energy development and programs that mitigate the impact of climate change, particularly on disadvantaged communities. This session the Legislature took two approaches to shrink auction prices, which would theoretically result in lower gas prices.
Senate Bill 6052 would have created a new Washington agency to watchdog the state’s oil industry. That proposal died in the Senate Ways & Means Committee in early February because of the estimated $30 million expense of setting up the cybersecurity that would be required to collect data. Since this is not a budget session, lawmakers only tweak the 2023-2025 budget, and that $30 million is considered more than a tweak. Nguyen said he expects the money will be available in the 2025 budget session, and the bill is expected to be revived next year.
This watchdog agency has been a major plank in Gov. Jay Inslee’s push to fight climate change. Inslee and Democratic leaders are concerned that the oil industry is taking advantage of the news around the year-old cap-and-invest program to unnecessarily increase gas prices.
“We knew a proposal like this would be a heavy lift for a short session, especially with the expense of setting up new state infrastructure for this,” said Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk in an email. He adds, however, that even though gas prices have dropped to almost their lowest in two years, consumers will continue to experience dramatic price swings. “As we make the transition to clean fuels, transparency into oil pricing will only become more important for protecting consumers,” Faulk said.
Jessica Spiegel, vice president for the northwest region of the Western States Petroleum Association, which represents four of Washington’s five oil refineries, notes in an email: “Until the close of this session, no proposal is truly dead. However, there are legitimate concerns about the structure, scope and costs of the new state agency SB 6052 would have created. Once we move beyond this issue, the focus can be on the important work of reforming Washington’s cap-and-trade program.”
Modeled after a new California office, the proposed agency would collect a massive amount of financial and industrial data from various branches of Washington’s oil industry, including its five refineries and a complex supply chain.
The proposed agency would have subpoena power, and would confidentially refer suspected violations of state law to the Washington Attorney General’s Office. It would report its observations and conclusions to the governor’s office, other state agencies and the Legislature.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed Senate Bill 6058 on Feb. 12 on a vote of 29 to 20 along party lines, which would link Washington’s cap-and-invest system with California’s and Quebec’s in an attempt to lower share prices and potentially shrink Washington gas prices. The proposal drew no opposition, but collected several requests for technical tweaks.
Washington’s quarterly settlement prices in 2023 — $48.50 to $63.03 per allowance, which represents one metric ton of emissions — were much higher than the state had predicted in 2021. By comparison, California’s settlement auction prices began in 2012 at $10 per allowance, reaching slightly above $36 in 2023.
Nguyen, the bill’s sponsor, said joining the larger California-Quebec market would shrink and stabilize auction prices in Washington, although the earliest this collaboration could happen is 2025. He hoped this larger market would be a model that encourages other states to get involved in similar programs. So far, California and Washington have the nation’s only full-fledged cap-and-trade carbon emissions programs, though New England has a limited program for some utilities. New York is considering joining the group.
The biggest potential change related to connecting Washington’s program to California’s and Quebec’s is that it would allow a single bidder in a quarterly auction to obtain up to 25 percent of the allowances for sale. Currently, the limit for any bidder in a quarterly auction is 10 percent. However, the allowance limit for any single corporation in a calendar year would still be 10 percent of the total allowances offered.
For the first time ever, Seattle Opera is presenting a mainstage production of a work by a Black composer. With a score that blends elements of jazz and swing into traditional opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Feb. 24 – March 9) traces the civil rights leader’s life from his childhood in Lansing, Mich., to his assassination in Harlem.
The opera was the first composed by Anthony Davis, who has since created seven more — including The Central Park Five, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. But when X was first performed in 1985, biographical operas — much less operas about Black figures in recent history — were not commonly seen on stages.
X went largely unperformed for decades, until a collaboration of several opera companies brought it back to life with a grand restaging that premiered at the Detroit Opera in 2022, appeared at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera in 2023 and now takes the Seattle Opera stage.
In addition to exploring the cultural and historical significance of Malcolm X, the piece reflects a vital shift in contemporary opera: an effort to bring diverse and important real-world stories to the stage.
As soprano Leah Hawkins told Crosscut Now when we went behind the scenes during a rehearsal of X, “I don’t want [it to be] a ‘special event’ that we’re doing this Black show. It should be normal. We should see Black stories, we should see Asian stories, we should see Hispanic stories … It should be normal.”
Watch the full interview and rehearsal footage in this episode. Plus, we take a look back at 50 years of the Boldt Decision, and legislators consider a financial safety net for striking WA workers.
LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Another arrest has been made in connection with a burglary ring whose victims have been mostly Indian-Americans.
The Lynwood Police Department, working with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, arrested a 23-year-old man for several counts of residential burglary and theft. Law enforcement believes he and others connected to him are involved in numerous residential burglaries from Snohomish to Thurston County.
According to LPD, the 23-year-old’s arrest is the eighth one in the past six months of Central and South American nationals who’ve been operating an organized crime ring, stealing cash and jewelry. Evidence detectives have uncovered suggest the victims are being targeted at local Asian and Indian businesses. The burglars find their mark at those establishments, figure out where they live, and break in when the victims aren’t home.
“People are really scared because many houses have been burgled,” Guru Venkataraman, a Veda Temple Board Member, said. “I haven’t heard about anybody being injured yet, but people are very, very scared.”
Venkatraman said burglars targeting homes to steal gold and silver jewelry are taking things money can’t replace.
“There’s intrinsic value,” he said. “The fact you lost your mother’s ring or your father’s necklace, that kind of stuff, it hurts people more than what it’s really worth.”
People at several Hindu Temples told KING 5 the burglaries had frightened them, changing how they go about their daily lives. Many have installed security systems to make it harder to break into their homes.
Venkatraman said even the jewelry you may see someone wearing to come to the temple, or the stones on their statues in the temple, are fake. It’s another way, he said, people are trying to keep themselves safe.
The incident happened at the Park 16 Apartments on 16th Ave. S. In the video capturing the incident, you can see several weapons being used, and at least one person is hurt.
FEDERAL WAY, Wash – Federal Way Police are investigating after a massive brawl broke out in an apartment parking lot sometime this month. The fight was caught on camera.
The incident happened at the Park 16 Apartments on 16th Ave. S. In the video capturing the incident, you can see several weapons being used, and at least one person is hurt.
Residents say there have been several fights over the last several weeks. However, they say the recently captured cell phone video shows one of the more disturbing attacks.
They hope that police or apartment managers can do something to put a stop to the fights, so more people aren’t seriously hurt.
“The video is definitely crazy,” said a resident who didn’t want his identity revealed for privacy reasons.
The video is shocking to see and has gotten the attention of Federal Way Police. The department told FOX 13 that they have looked into the altercation, and the video, which shows an explosive fight.
“I didn’t see all of that happening,” said the resident. “I came and saw the aftermath. I saw all the police. I didn’t see all of that happening. That’s crazy.”
Looking at the video, the fight appears to start between two people, punching and kicking. One young man is seen holding something shiny in his hand.
Others jump in, while a man in a white shirt and another person reach into a car, one pulling out a black baton, or stick, while the other grabs a small bat. They both eventually start swinging.
The fight then escalates and more than 20 can be seen running into the fray.
At least four batons or bat-like weapons can be seen in the hands of people swinging them at others in the crowd. At one point, the man in the white shirt wrestles with a group to hang onto his bat, while another man with a different bat is disarmed by someone, who then starts swinging it himself.
Residents say police detained several people following the fight.
“Everybody was just by the bushes, in shock,” said the resident. “Handcuffs over there. There was a bunch of people.”
Federal Way Police responded to questions about the video by saying;
“Officers responded to a fight at the Park 16 Apartments and found one of the subjects involved in the fight sustained non-life threatening stab wounds. The stabbing suspect was identified by patrol officers and the case was referred to FWPD detectives for filing of charges. FWPD is working with apartment management in order to prevent any more of these conflicts.”
“I’m usually on the inside,” said the resident.
He says he tries to steer clear of what’s happening outside.
“The police are over here a lot,” he said.
FOX 13 reached out to the Park 16 Apartment office for comment. We are waiting to hear back.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Two tech CEOs scrambling to produce more of the sophisticated chips needed for artificial intelligence met for a brainstorming session Wednesday while the booming market’s early leader reported another quarter of eye-popping growth.
The on-stage conversation between Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman unfolded in a San Jose, California, convention center a few hours after Nvidia disclosed its revenue for the November-January period nearly quadrupled from the previous year.
Intel, a Silicon Valley pioneer that has been struggling in recent years, laid out its plans for catching up to Nvidia during a daylong conference. Gelsinger kicked things off with a opening speech outlining how he envisions the feverish demand for AI-equipped chips revitalizing his company in a surge he dubbed the “Siliconomy.”
“It’s just magic the way these tiny chips are enabling the modern economic cycle we are in today,” Gelsinger said.
OpenAI, a San Francisco startup backed by Microsoft, has become one of technology’s brightest stars since unleashing its most popular AI innovation, ChatGPT, in late 2022. Altman is now eager to push the envelope even further while competing against Google and other companies such as Anthropic and Inflection AI. But the next leaps he wants to make will take far more processing power than what’s currently available.
The imbalance between supply and the voracious appetite for AI chips explains why Altman is keenly interested in securing more money to help expand the industry’s manufacturing capacity. During his talk with Gelsinger, he dodged a question about whether he is trying to raise as much as $7 trillion — more the combined market value of Microsoft and Apple — as was recently reported by The Wall Street Journal.
“The kernel of truth is we think the world is going to need a lot more (chips for) AI compute,” Altman said. “That is going to require a global investment in a lot of stuff beyond what we are thinking of. We are not in a place where we have numbers yet.”
Altman emphasized the importance of accelerating the AI momentum of the past year to advance a technology that he maintains will lead to a better future for humanity, although he acknowledged there will be downsides along the way.
“We are heading to a world where more content is going to be generated by AI than content generated by humans,” Altman said. “This is not going to be only a good story, but it’s going to be a net good story.”
Perhaps no company is benefiting more from the AI gold rush now than Nvidia. The 31-year-old chipmaker has catapulted to the technological forefront because of its head start in making the graphics processing units, or GPUs, required to fuel popular AI products such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini chatbot.
Over the past year, Nvidia has been a stunning streak of growth that has created more than $1.3 trillion in shareholder wealth in less than 14 months. That has turned it into the fifth most valuable U.S. publicly traded company behind only Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet Inc.
Intel, in contrast, has been trying to convince investors that Gelsinger has the Santa Clara, California, company on a comeback trail three years after he was hired as CEO.
Since his arrival, Gelsinger already has pushed the company into the business of making chips for other firms and has committed $20 billion to building new factories in Ohio as part of its expansion into running so-called “foundries” for third parties.
During Wednesday’s conference, Gelsinger predicted that by 2030 Intel would be overseeing the world’s second largest foundry business, presumably behind the current leader, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TMSC, largely by meeting the demand for AI chips.
“There’s sort of a space race going on,” Gelsinger told reporters Wednesday after delivering the conference’s keynote speech. “The overall demand (for AI chips) appears to be insatiable for several years into the future.”
Gelsinger’s turnaround efforts haven’t impressed investors so far. Intel’s stock price has fallen by 30% under his reign while Nvidia’s shares have increased by roughly fivefold during the same span.
Intel also is angling for a chunk of the $52 billion that the U.S. Commerce Department plans to spread around in an effort to increase the country’s manufacturing capacity in the $527 billion market for processors, based on last year’s worldwide sales.
Less than $2 billion of the funds available under the 2022 CHIPs and Science Act has been awarded so far, but Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, in a video appearance at Wednesday’s conference, promised “a steady drumbeat” of announcements about more money being distributed.
Raimondo also told Gelsinger that she emerged from recent discussions with Altman and other executives leading the AI movement having a difficult time processing how big the market could become.
“The volume of chips they say they need is mind-boggling,” she said.
On Wednesday, King County Prosecutors announced their decision not to bring charges against Seattle Police Officer Kevin Dave, who struck and killed 23-year-old college student Jaahnavi Kandula while she crossed in a crosswalk in January 2023. Dave remained on duty with the department, and the administrative investigation into his conduct paused while prosecutors reviewed whether he should face criminal charges. The Office of Police Accountability must now complete its investigation into whether Dave violated any department policies when he hit Kandula, and whether his actions amounted to a fireable offense.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) brought in an outside firm, ACES, Inc., to review the case materials involving Dave’s hitting of Kandula, which reviewed the Seattle Police Department’s investigation. The ACES report found nothing wrong with SPD Detective Brett Shoenberg’s investigation, which said that the case did not did not turn up enough evidence for prosecutors to prove felony charges against Dave beyond a reasonable doubt. Amy Freedheim, head of the KCPAO’s Felony Traffic Unit, said that to prove a charge of vehicular homicide the office would need to show that Dave “consciously” drove with “reckless disregard for the safety of others.”
Dave hit Kandula on January 23, 2023 as she crossed in a crosswalk at the intersection of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street in South Lake Union. The impact caused her to fall unconscious, and responders took her to Harborview Medical Center, where she later died. Dave hit Kandula while traveling at about 63 miles per hour, and in the seconds before Dave saw her, his speeds reached up to 74 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone. SPD’s investigative report shows Dave attempting to brake a second before hitting her. Investigators determined that had Dave driven at a speed of 50 miles per hour, he could have avoided hitting her. After hitting Kandula, Dave called for emergency services and began CPR.
In a statement released to the public after Kandula’s death, SPD Chief Adrian Diaz said that Dave was heading to a Priority 1 overdose call at the time. Investigative reports show that a man called 911 to say he’d taken too much cocaine. The apartment where the man called from was about an eight-minute drive from the West Precinct. The KCPAO said Wednesday that SPD dispatch told Dave that the man was on the phone with 911 and waiting outside to speak with police, somewhat undercutting the seriousness of the call.
Prior to the collision, Dave had his patrol car’s emergency lights activated, but he did not have his police sirens continuously running. When approaching intersections and red lights he “chirped” his sirens, meaning he turned them on for a couple seconds, according to the memo from the KCPAO. Less than a second before he hit Kandula, Dave chirped his sirens again.
The KCPAO’s Freedheim acknowledged that some could argue that Dave’s speed, plus his decision not to continuously run his sirens might have amounted to negligence, but that negligent driving does not amount to felony criminal charges under Washington State law.
Freedheim also pointed out that two schools of thought exist when it comes to sirens, and some police officers prefer to chirp sirens as a way to call attention to the emergency vehicle. She added that a defense attorney might argue that Kandula had headphones in, making it harder for her to hear the police siren’s chirp. Freedheim also pointed out that video footage showed her safely in a non-travel lane of the crosswalk when she noticed Dave’s patrol car, and she appears to make a split-second decision to run across the street. Under Washington State Law, a defense attorney could argue that her decision to run across the street caused the accident, Freedheim said. However, in the SPD investigation the detective noted that Kandula likely did not have enough time to properly analyze whether she was in the path of the car and how fast it was traveling.
King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion met with several members of Kandula’s family Wednesday to inform them of the office’s decision, and she plans to schedule a follow-up meeting to speak with Kandula’s mother, who lives in India. Manion released a statement calling Kandula’s death “heartbreaking.”
She also stressed that her decision has nothing to do with the “appalling and deeply troubling” comments made by Seattle police union vice president Daniel Auderer. Body camera footage captured Auderer laughing about Kandula’s death after he responded to the scene of the crash. Earlier this year, the OPA recommended that Diaz fire Auderer for his comments.
With Manion’s office declining to prosecute, SPD can refer the case to City Attorney Ann Davison’s office for misdemeanor charges. SPD did not immediately respond to a question about whether they planned to ask Davison to review the case. Manion’s decision also restarted the clock on the OPA investigation, which will determine whether Dave faces any discipline from the department.
Dave joined the department in 2019 and received a hiring bonus. He previously had his Arizona driver’s license suspended in 2018 for unpaid traffic fines and failure to appear in court, according to reporting from DivestSPD. He previously worked for the Tucson Police Department for about a year and a half in 2013, but he left for unknown reasons.
Community activists have called for SPD to fire Dave for his actions leading to Kandula’s death, and they’ve also called for criminal charges to be brought against him. In response to Manion’s decision, the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said it plans to hold a protest at 6 pm Friday outside the West Precinct.
(FILM) Teen movies really hit their stride once the youngins started hanging out in malls in the early ’80s. Suddenly, teens were more visible, and with that visibility came more complex and rebellious young roles on screen. Local filmmaker Jeremy Cropf will chat about some of the most enduring teen films of the last 40-odd years in this series, which includes screenings of Jennifer’s Body, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and more alongside hybrid lectures on teen representation with themes corresponding to high school grades (“Freshman Year: The Invention of the Teenager” [February 21], “Sophomore Year: Dark Comedy and Social Satire” [February 28], and so on). Show up if you’re into Euphoria. (SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St, 7 pm, $16.50) LINDSAY COSTELLO
(MUSIC) Through a prodigious work ethic and extraordinary talent, Shabaka Hutchings has become perhaps the face—and lungs—of the UK’s 21st-century jazz renaissance. The London multi-instrumentalist established his rep as a saxophonist for disciplined yet freewheeling groups such as Sons of Kemet, the Comet Is Coming, London Brew, and Shabaka and the Ancestors. The last 15 years have proven Hutchings’s stylistic versatility and predilection for sacralizing Black musical history while psychedelicizing it into the future, as well as his prowess on clarinet, quena, shakuhachi, and the Brazilian pífano flute. It’s the latter three instruments that this André 3000 collaborator mainly deploys as a solo artist. On 2022’s Afrikan Culture, Shabaka delves into much chiller, introspective realms, augmented by tinkling bells—an underrated timbre. Titles such as “The dimension of subtle awareness” exemplify the beguiling moods Hutchings conjures here. With a new album on the horizon, Shabaka is likely to debut some previously unheard gems, as well. (Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave, 8 pm, $40-$55) DAVE SEGAL
(MUSIC) Celebrate the Thin White Duke’s “golden years” with the Seattle Symphony, which will perform a unique interpretation of David Bowie’s emotionally intense final album, Blackstar. The lyrics will be sung by actor/writer/director John Cameron Mitchell, who is best known for creating the cult-classic film and Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. If you’ve seen his cover of “Moonage Daydream” in the TV adaptation of Lindy West’s Shrill, then you probably saw this coming. (Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 8 pm, $55-$140) AUDREY VANN
See Once More Just For You at Seattle Public Theater through February 25. COURTESY OF SEATTLE PUBLIC THEATER
(THEATER) If you’ve ever wondered what that building by the Green Lake swimming area is, it’s a playhouse. And if you’re wondering if you should see a show there and when, the answer is most definitely yes, and right now, before the current production closes. Once More, Just for You is a world premiere play about time travel and the very human desire to change the past and do right by those we love, and who love us. I managed to snag tickets to opening night and laughed harder than I’ve laughed at any recent performance (except maybe Petite Mort at Pacific Northwest Ballet, which was innuendo-laden and full of cacti), though the humor here is more about the awkwardness and earnestness of being human. The production is refreshingly sincere, bringing someone in the row behind me to tears during one of the more touching monologues. (Seattle Public Theater, 7312 W Green Lake Dr N, various showtimes through Feb 25, $10-$100) SHANNON LUBETICH
(COMEDY) Alfred Kainga is a Zimbabwe-born comedian based in Dallas. I’m a Zimbabwean-born writer based in Seattle. But the reason why I will not miss Kainga’s show at the Crocodile is, one, he really is funny, and, two, he draws directly from a stream of humor that is incomparable, the national humor of Zimbabwe. We are a very funny people. I kid you not. We know how to laugh. Indeed, my own sense of humor is, by Zimbabwe’s national standards, at best fourth-rate. Kainga is much closer to the top, close to that region that leaves you completely in stitches. And it’s great to see his star rising (he made a lot of buzz with his performance on Kevin Hart’s Hart of the City). There is a good reason why Doris Lessing called her book about Zimbabwe African Laughter. (Here-After, 2505 First Ave, 7 pm, $25) CHARLES MUDEDE
(MUSIC) Clementine Creevy began writing the latest Cherry Glazerr record, I Don’t Want You Anymore, at home during the pandemic, so the outline for many of the songs came to fruition on the computer. As a result, several tracks feel more expansive and experimental than the band’s previous full-throated rock efforts. “Bad Habit” is a guitarless moody and glitchy dance track that would be at home on the Euphoria soundtrack, maybe playing during one of Kat’s cam-girl sessions, and eerie jazz trumpet surprisingly haunts “Golden.” But a Cherry Glazerr record isn’t a Cherry Glazerr record without a few emotive guitar onslaughts, and those are well represented in tracks like “Ready for You” and “Soft Like a Flower,” which sounds like an ode to the late-90s grunge-tinted radio rock in the best way possible. It’s cathartic, but a slower burn than 2019’s Stuffed & Ready. Feeling some complicated feelings? Turn it on, get comfortable in a dark room, and let its buzzing rage clear the fog from your head like a Sonicare toothbrush for your love-drunk brain. (Neumos, 925 E Pike St, 7 pm, $25-$30, all ages) MEGAN SELING
See Joy Harjo at Town Hall Tuesday, February 27. Shawn Miller
(BOOKS) With 10 poetry collections, two memoirs, and several plays and children’s books under her belt (not to mention four albums—yep, she’s also an accomplished saxophonist), three-time Poet Laureate of the United States Joy Harjo (a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation) will head to Seattle after winning Yale’s 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry. She’ll chat with self-described “punk-ass sick neurospicy indigiqueer” Arianne True, an alum of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 7:30 pm, $10-$35) LINDSAY COSTELLO
The U.S. Coast Guard is embarking on one of its most unique missions yet in Puget Sound: a pilot program to alert vessels of whale sightings.
SEATTLE — Photographer Matt McDonald had lived on Puget Sound for years, but had never seen a whale, so he was elated when he spotted a giant marine mammal just off Seattle’s waterfront one evening.
The excitement was short-lived. As McDonald tracked the whale in his camera’s viewfinder, a state ferry that dwarfed the animal came into the frame. The next morning he saw on the news that the humpback whale had died in the collision he witnessed.
“I still remember the moment of when they crossed paths and my heart just sinking like, ‘Oh my God, the ferry just ran over the whale,’” he recalled of the 2019 encounter. “I wish there was something I could have done.”
Now, five years later, there is.
The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a pilot program to alert ships of whale sightings in Washington state’s Salish Sea. The goal of the agency’s “cetacean desk ” is to keep the marine mammals safe from boat strikes and reduce noise in the highly transited inland seawaters.
The program, which began official operations in December, comes at a time when visits by humpback whales and sea mammal-hunting orcas increase as their populations rebound.
Fed by the Pacific Ocean, the Salish Sea is a maze of islands and canals that make up the inland waters between Washington state and British Columbia, including Puget Sound. Two groups of orcas — one that preys on salmon and the other on sea mammals — as well as baleen whales have cruised these waters since time immemorial and are now often visible from Seattle’s shoreline.
But these waters are now also home to major American and Canadian ports, and nearly 300,000 vessels crisscrossed the area in 2023, from commercial container ships to cruise ships to ferries, according to the Coast Guard. That doesn’t include private crafts.
The new whale desk reduces the risk of collisions by combining sightings by mariners and civilians on whale-watching apps and data from underwater listening devices into an integrated system that will send out alerts to commercial vessels and regional ferries through a mobile app. The alerts will not go out to private or recreational boats.
“We’re focusing on empowering the ship operators with the situational awareness … so they’re able to slow down preemptively, perhaps give a little bit of a wider berth to an area with a recently reported whale,” said Lt. Commander Margaret Woodbridge, who is managing the whale desk.
The Salish Sea is an “incredible area that has a lot of a rich diversity of whale species here,” Woodbridge added. “And also a lot of economic activity on the waterways. And so we’re really trying to help both thrive.”
People who spot whales can download one of twoapps that will feed into the Coast Guard’s Puget Sound Vessel Traffic Service. Mariners can use radio frequencies and a phone tip line when they spot whales. Participation in the program is voluntary for ships.
The whale desk is modeled to match the Canadian Coast Guard’s “ Marine Mammal Desk.” Both American and Canadian desks are built on the backbone of the Whale Report Alert System (WRAS), a program developed by Canada-based Ocean Wise, that incorporates sightings from the individuals apps and other sources, such as a private tracking information used by whale watching boats.
The Salish Sea’s four-year pilot program, initially prompted for the wellbeing of endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, is the culmination of years of work by wildlife advocates, the maritime industry and state and federal agencies. It was created after U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell sponsored it in the 2022 Coast Guard Authorization Act.
“It’s really a bit of a watershed moment,” Kevin Bartoy, who has been chief sustainability officer for Washington state ferries for about a decade, said of the alert system.
“The amount of sightings now that we get on any given day is incredible. We can know essentially where a whale is at any time.”
The collision between the humpback whale and the ferry was shocking for Bartoy, but it underlined the need for a widely-used and available alert system. He said the ferry system had already joined WRAS but it wasn’t widely used in Washington then. The day of the 2019 collision there had been only one alert of a whale in the area, he said.
Now the more integrated network has resulted in an exponential increase of sightings. Woodbridge, of the Coast Guard, said reports spiked by 585% when comparing December 2022 and December 2023 when the desk launched and now that WRAS has sightings from the apps.
But work is not done. The whale desk is currently mostly based on what people can see, leaving spotting the animals at night and in inclement weather much harder.
Bartoy said studies are underway in Canada and Washington to start testing land-basedthermal cameras that could potentially spot whales at night by seeking their warmth in the waters as well as a more robust underwater listening — or hydrophone — system to pick up whale songs.
John Calambokidis, senior biologist at the Cascadia Research Collective, said baleen whales, like humpbacks, are especially susceptible to ship collisions at night because they spend twice as much time near the surface then.
Another way to keep whales safe is to adjust shipping lanes where possible, said Calambokidis. Through tagging, biologists know where humpback whale routinely congregate, but shifting shipping lanes is not currently being widely discussed, he said.
Late last year, a young humpback whale visited the waters off Seattle for several days and its visit provided an excellent example of what can happen when ship operators work together, said Jeff Hogan, formerly of the Soundwatch Boater Education Program.
Hogan shadowed the humpback as it breached, and ferries and other boaters adjusted their routes in real time to steer clear of the young whale, he said.
“The fact that the Coast Guard is watching elevates everyone’s behavior,” Hogan said. “It sets a standard of responsibility.”
A quick internet search revealed that while stealthing is addressed in two states, California and Maine, Washington laws provide no legal remedies. Berry said that’s when she got to work.
House Bill 1958, prime-sponsored by Berry, would create a civil cause of action for the nonconsensual removal or tampering with sexually protective devices like condoms and dental dams, as well as for misleading someone about the use of such protection. The bill proposes monetary damages of $5,000 per violation, as well as the reimbursement of costs and “reasonable” attorney’s fees for the prevailing party.
A 2017 research article published in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law sparked a national conversation on stealthing, describing the offense as “rape-adjacent.” The authors say stealthing transforms consensual sexual encounters into nonconsensual ones by violating the mutual understanding that a condom or other device would be used.
The consequences can be severe, including unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infection (STI) exposure, and emotional trauma.
Mina Hashemi, a stealthing survivor who testified at a House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee hearing on Jan. 10, told legislators how, despite the privilege of having access to reproductive healthcare, the experience was distressing.
“In the weeks that followed I experienced deep anxiety about unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections,” Mina said. “We must close the loophole on assault.”
Berry said many of the survivors she has spoken to, including her friend, often feel gaslit by sexual partners and confused about whether what happened to them was sexual assault.
“I think it’s this kind of quiet issue that a lot of people don’t talk about,” Berry said, “and once you learn more about it, you’re like, ‘Wait, that happened to me, oh, I was stealthed, that was an intentional act.’”
Proponents say HB 1958 would validate the experiences of survivors by reaffirming that stealthing is sexual assault, and considered to be under Washington law.
The bill notably does not make stealthing a criminal offense, instead allowing survivors to obtain monetary damages. Berry said it was an easy choice to draft the bill this way after speaking to survivors and learning that this route felt more meaningful to them – especially considering the costs for stealthing survivors, such as therapy, Plan B emergency contraception and STI testing.
“That was more fulfilling for people than having the person get charged with a crime and maybe go to jail for a period of time,” Berry said.
Although Berry said the bill has immense support, some legislators have concerns. Some argue the bill should include contraceptives like intrauterine devices (IUDs) and hormonal birth control pills, arguing that men could be stealthed by partners who ceased use of these methods without their knowledge.
“If a woman goes into a relationship and tells the man that they have an IUD … what happens if they remove it three months later and they want to get pregnant and a man doesn’t want to?” Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Gig Harbor, said during the Feb. 7 House floor debate. “I am all for protecting women, but we have to protect men too.”
Berry feels these devices don’t fall under the bill’s definition of a sexually protective device as they don’t offer the same kind of protection as condoms and dental dams, which guard against both pregnancy and STIs.
The prime sponsor also has concerns that including these methods of birth control in the bill’s language could inadvertently be used by sexual partners accused of stealthing to flip the switch on survivors.
“There was a real concern about revictimizing the victim … by saying ‘Well, yeah, I took the condom off, but you weren’t on birth control,’ and it’s like, that has nothing to do with … the agreement we had before we had sex, which was that you would be wearing a condom,” Berry said.
Some legislators have also questioned how intentionality in stealthing cases could be proven in court, expressing concern that the process could become a he said/she said situation.
“I think that when we pass laws, we need to be careful that they are enforceable and not ambiguous, and I think that what this may create … is a morass of he said/she said and things that we can’t prove in court,” Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen, R-Puyallup, said during the Feb. 7 House floor debate.
Elizabeth Hendrin, an attorney with the Sexual Violence Law Center, a Seattle nonprofit that provides free legal advice and representation, said that in addition to a survivor’s testimony, there are a variety of ways intentionality could be proven in stealthing cases, such as text messages, social media posts, or photos or videos.
Berry said survivor testimony is accepted as a valid form of evidence under Washington sexual assault laws, and this bill is simply following the same case law.
“In rape cases, the same argument happens, so does that mean we shouldn’t have laws banning rape in our state because it’s a he said/she said situation?” Berry said.
Despite disagreement from some legislators about the scope and enforceability of the bill, HB 1958 passed out of the House on Feb. 7 with bipartisan approval, and is now moving through the Senate.
“We need to pass this bill to send a very strong message that this activity is absolutely against the law in Washington state, and should you choose to partake in this activity, you will be held to account,” Berry said.
People marched to demand greater accountability from law enforcement across the country, including in Seattle, where protesters occupied several blocks of Capitol Hill for weeks.
In this episode of Crosscut Reports, host Maleeha Syed speaks with Cabahug about how the people she interviewed remember this moment in Seattle’s history – and how they continue to channel their activism four years later.
Mount Rainier to test out timed reservation system
Mount Rainier National Park will be testing out a timed entry system for visitors starting in the spring.
ASHFORD, Wash. – Timed entry reservations are being introduced at Mount Rainier National Park this spring in an effort to cut down on wait times, congestion and to better preserve the park’s ecosystem.
Guests are able to reserve spots for the Paradise Corridor starting at 7 a.m. on Feb. 21. The next booking blocks are on April 1 and May 1.
You can still enter the park without a timed entry reservation– you just need a park pass or need to pay the entry fee.
Starting at the end of May, timed entry reservations will be required at the Paradise Corridor and the Sunrise Corridor from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Each corridor will require a separate reservation.
“We have a huge influx of people coming out to Mt. Rainier for the first time,” said Mount Rainier National Park spokesperson, Kevin Bacher. “It’s not so much that we have a problem of too many visitors, it’s that we have too many visitors all at once.”
Bacher explained that the new system is not set in stone. They are trying it out as a pilot program.
“A lot of this is a test to see what works well for us, but we’ve learned a lot from other national parks that have been through this,” said Bacher.
Timed entry reservations are good for a single day, per vehicle, and are required in addition to an entrance fee or park pass.
Reservations at Paradise Corridor are required from May 24 through Sept. 2. Ones at Sunrise start July 3 and run through Sept. 2. You don’t need a timed reservation if you have a service reservation (like staying at park lodging or camping or having a special use wilderness permit).
“So, the idea of this is trying to spread visitation out throughout the day instead of concentrating it in the middle of the day,” explained Bacher. “There’s a lot of productive time after 3 o’clock. The evenings are beautiful at Mt. Rainier National Park and of course, in summertime, the sun doesn’t set until 9 p.m.”
A portion of timed entry reservations will be available 90 days or approximately three months in advance in blocks.
Last spring, a 200+ page draft of a Corridor Draft Management Plan and environmental assessment. One of the proposed plans involved a timed entry reservation system.
WHAT DO FORMER PARK RANGERS THINK OF IT?
Retired Park Ranger Bill Wade offered his two cents on the pivot to reservations. Wade worked at Mount Rainier from 1967 to 1970.
“I think there’s probably going to be a fair amount of disappointment,” said Wade. “When people either from other countries or even, you know, in this country don’t have access to the ways to make reservations or don’t know about it and they arrive there.”
This is a first for Mount Rainier National Park, but not a first for the park service. Similar time-based reservation systems are already in the works at other popular parks.
“The timed entry at Arches– there was a lot of initial negative response from businesses in Moab and the same was true in Rocky Mountain when they did some of that there,” remarked Wade.
According to Wade, those gateway community businesses changed their tune once they experienced the benefits of the new program.
“I think overall it’s been positive,” said Wade. “It does tend to create happier visitors and it doesn’t impact the businesses very much.”
Wade believes the limitations on Mount Rainier visits could impact other national parks in our region like North Cascades and Olympic.
“I think that they will see a little bit of spinoff from limitations in Mount Rainier,” predicted Wade. “I’m sure there are places in Olympic that are starting to feel crowded and it might not be very long before they have to institute some limitations as well.”
HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday after technology shares led Wall Street broadly lower on Tuesday, with investors waiting for chipmaker Nvidia’s quarterly earnings report.
The report, which will come out later in the day, will put stock markets in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan on alert as these three regions contributed over 45% of Nvidia’s revenues in the third quarter.
U.S. futures fell while oil prices gained.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost nearly 0.2% to 38,300.00.
Japan’s exports rose by a remarkable 11.9% in January from a year earlier, driven by strong demand for chip-making machinery in China and solid gains in exports to the United States and Europe, according to data released Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.4% to 16,642.00, driven by gains in its Tech Index, which advanced 3.6%. The Shanghai Composite rose nearly 2.0% to 2,979.30.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.7% to 7,608.40 despite data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing the country’s wage index increased by 4.2% compared to the same period a year before, marking the highest recorded annual increase since early 2009.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.2% to 2,652.62.
On Tuesday Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 4,975.51. It is coming off only its second losing week in the last 16. The losses pushed the benchmark index further below the record it set last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, to 38,563.80. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%, to 15,630.78.
Technology stocks, especially chip makers, were the biggest drag on the market. Nvidia slumped 4.4%. It’s still the S&P 500’s biggest gainer so far this year, rising about 40%.
The market fell last week after several pieces of economic data signaled that inflation remains stubbornly high. That stalled a rally that began in late October, based on hopes inflation will cool enough to allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
“The narrative that drove us to these levels is very much being called into question,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
At this point, Wall Street is now looking for its first rate cut to come in June, months later than earlier anticipated. Investors have to wait until next week for another key update on inflation. That’s when the government will release its monthly report on personal consumption and expenses, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.
“The key question to answer now is whether inflation is bottoming out, and if it is, does it go sideways or back up,” Samana said.
Investors have a relatively light week of economic news. Data on home sales will be reported on Thursday. The housing market remains tight as demand for homes continues to outpace supply. Mortgage rates remain high, though they have been easing from their most recent peak in late October, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage hit 7.79%.
More than 80% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported their latest results. Analysts polled by FactSet expect overall earnings growth of about 3.3% for the fourth quarter and are forecast earnings growth of about 3.6% for the current quarter.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude added 13 cents to $77.17 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 15 cents to $82.49 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 150.09 Japanese yen from 150.01 yen. The euro cost $1.0814, up from $1.0807.
In his third State of the City Address, Mayor Bruce Harrell said he wanted to go back to the “basics” while still “innovating.” However, given the next moves he said he plans to make, he seems most interested in doing the bare minimum and regressing to please the conservative forces that got him and his new city council elected.
One Seattle Comp Plan
In perhaps the highlight of his remarks on Tuesday, Harrell announced he would unveil his “One Seattle”-branded comprehensive plan, a document the council will use to help shape Seattle’s growth over the next decade.
Very cool, however, very late. The City promised the draft in April 2023 but kept kicking it down the road until now, much to the chagrin of housing advocates.
Beyond saying he’d release the plan in a couple weeks, Harrell didn’t say much in his remarks. He promised his plan would bring “missing middle housing” to every neighborhood. That’s not his idea, of course. The state now requires Seattle to legalize fourplexes and sixplexes in most neighborhoods, whether the Mayor likes it or not.
On the housing front, he also said he will soon transmit legislation to the council related to office conversions. That idea may qualify as innovation if you ignore the fact that urbanists have long debated and bemoaned the policy’s significant limitations.
Levy To Move
In the arena of transportation, Harrell teased the Levy To Move Seattle, which the City must try to renew this year. Again, bare minimum. The Levy To Move Seattle, a nine-year, $930 million levy that funds about one-third of the City’s transportation budget will dry up in December.
Harrell said his plan will emphasize the “basics,” but the basics he outlined seemed to favor car infrastructure. For cars, he promised specifics such as repaved roads, filled potholes, and repaired bridges. For pedestrians and cyclists, he promised “dialogue” about sidewalks, transit, and safety in general. We will see if this rhetoric becomes reality in the coming weeks, when he unveils his levy proposal, which transit advocates want him to triple.
The Deficit
In the last moments of his speech, Harrell finally addressed the quarter-billion-dollar budget deficit that he and the council will have to deal with during this year’s budget process.
In 2022, fans of robust social services saw a glimmer of hope when he and former Council Member Teresa Mosqueda launched a work group to recommend new forms of progressive revenue to fill the gap that threatened critical City programs. After much delay, the task force came up with nine ideas that they did not explicitly recommend because some of the business-aligned members were salty about their failure to totally obstruct their own work. Mosqueda and the previous council failed to pass any of the not-explicitly-recommended recommendations, despite seriously considering a local expansion to the State’s capital gains tax. Instead, they left the budget deficit in the hands of a more business-friendly council that seems eager to appease their corporate donors’ wishes for austerity.
In his speech, Harrell rejected the term “austerity,” but he appeared to promote an all-cuts budget in alliance with big business, corporate landlords, and other monied, conservative power players that got him elected. He added that new revenue would not fix the deficit and argued that the City should “hit reset, revise our budgeting practices,” and “double-down on the programs, projects, and policies that are effective and making the most difference for the people of Seattle.”
Such an approach will require a “system-wide analysis of every dollar spent,” Harrell said. I asked his office how that differs from his past budgeting processes and I will update if I get a response.
I also asked his office to clarify whether Harrell supports any new progressive revenue and, if he does not support new revenue, then to say where he would cut. They did not respond.
Harrell’s lack of answers on budget issues leaves his constituents to wonder how he will fund the programs he bragged about and promised to beef up in his speech, such as the CARE Team, the heat pump rebate program, CiviForm, and, most importantly, his plan to hire 1,400 cops out of thin air. He changed the application from paper to digital, so that should do it!
Though the city has 7,600 units of new housing in the permitting and construction pipeline for the greater Downtown area, Harrell acknowledged Tuesday that addressing the housing affordability crisis will involve building new housing across Seattle.
Harrell promised that within two weeks, the city would release a draft of a Comprehensive Plan update, which will direct where that housing will go and how densely it can be built. The draft was supposed to be released in 2023, but the Office of Planning and Community Development hasdelayed it several times.
On homelessness, Harrell used his address to once again implore other King County cities and towns to contribute more to addressing the crisis. Harrell has long expressed skepticismof Seattle’s outsized role in funding the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
“This year, we will drive needed changes to improve oversight and accountability and foster stronger regional collaboration and solutions,” Harrell said. “A regional approach means that there is permanent supportive housing and services in every community in our region –- not just in Seattle.”
Transportation
In November, the City of Seattle will ask voters to renew theMove Seattle Levy, a major funder of city transportation infrastructure projects. On Tuesday, Harrell said he wants to use renewed funds to focus on basics like street repaving, pothole filling and bridge maintenance, while also funding street tree planting, electrification and bike and pedestrian safety projects.
Budget shortfall
One of the mayor’s biggest challenges in the coming year will be Seattle’s projected $250 million budget shortfall. On the campaign trail and in their first weeks in office, the new City Councilmembers called for a deep budget audit as they begin to tackle the shortfall. On Tuesday, Harrell seemed to co-sign that plan.
“This is a chance to hit reset, to revise our budgeting practices, and to double down on the programs, projects, and policies that are effective and making the most difference for the people of Seattle. … Our pace of spending requires a systemwide analysis of every expense stream and line of business, as well as a granular analysis of dollars spent.”
As a first step for addressing the budget shortfall, Harrell imposeda hiring freeze in January for the City of Seattle, with exceptions for public safety positions. At the time, he said that his administration was still considering all options for the deficit, including “the potential for new or adjusted revenue sources.”
In his speech Tuesday, however, Harrell said new revenue isn’t the answer to Seattle’s budget woes. “The fact is that passing a new or expanded tax will not address the fundamental issues needed to close this gap in the long run.”
The boys allegedly attempted a second carjacking before leading police on a chase on Feb. 13.
SEATTLE — The 12-year-old and 13-year-old boys charged for allegedly stealing a car at gunpoint, and attempting to steal a second before leading Seattle police on a chase, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
The 12-year-old faces charges of first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, first-degree attempted robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree due to his age.
The 13-year-old faces charges of first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, attempting to elude police, first-degree attempted robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm due to his age.
Court records indicate the two are brothers.
A judge granted the 12-year-old be released on home electronic monitoring but is not allowed to have contact with his brother. The judge denied release for the 13-year-old.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, police officers were in the area of Aurora Avenue North and North 88th Street near the Greenwood neighborhood for reports of two boys walking around with a handgun when they were sent to a nearby carjacking.
A woman said she had just arrived home near North 85th Street and Aurora Avenue North when she was approached by the suspects who tapped on her windows, pointed a gun at her and told her to get out.
One of the suspects fired a shot into the air, she told police – a shell casing was later found at the scene.
The two boys drove off in her Subaru Outback.
Officers were sent to the 12200 block of Phinney Avenue North in the Bitter Lake neighborhood around 9:30 p.m. after a man reported an attempted carjacking at gunpoint.
Richard Galliher, the man who the boys attempted to carjack, previously told KING 5 the teens tried to take his car as well an hour after the first time but were unsuccessful.
“He’s tapping his pistol on the window, asking for the car. I realized that there’s also another person on the driver’s side of the car with a pistol,” Galliher said, adding that he held his ground. He said the suspects gave him an upset look after he didn’t hand over any belongings and they fired a gunshot into the air.
Shortly after, Seattle police located the Subaru near North 125th Street and Aurora Avenue North. A pursuit was authorized and the King County Sheriff’s Office support helicopter assisted.
Police officers tried to stop the suspects near Wallingford Avenue North and North 82nd Street, but they fled on state Route 99.
The pursuit ended at Seventh Avenue North and Thomas Street.
The boys tried to run and tossed guns during a foot pursuit, according to Seattle police. They were arrested and both guns were found.
We are tracking what has been a whirlwind of an election cycle already in 2023 and 2024. FOX 13’s Nikki Torres talks about what’s next in this election.
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington state’s 2024 Presidential Primary Election takes place on Tuesday, March 12 and features three Democratic and five Republican candidates.
Washington’s Presidential Primary was created in 1989 to have voters participate more in the process of electing the President of the United States (POTUS).
How does the Presidential Primary work in Washington state?
The Presidential Primary is the only election in Washington that requires voters to mark and sign party declarations written by the major political parties. Your ballot is divided into two sides: Democratic Party (blue) and Republican Party (red). You must vote for one candidate from the political party you marked on your envelope. If you vote both sides of the ballot, or the opposite side of the ballot, your vote will not count.
In the November General Election, you do not need to declare a party and you can choose any candidate. Washington has 12 Electoral College votes, the 13th most of any state.
Back in January, the Washington Secretary of State announced candidate lists were complete. The state Democratic Party submitted three candidate names: Joseph R. Biden Jr., Dean Phillips, and Marianne Williamson. The Washington State Republican Party submitted five candidate names for the Presidential Primary: Donald J. Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie.
While some candidates have dropped out of the race, their names will still appear on the printed ballots.
When do I receive my ballot? When is it due?
Registered voters will receive a ballot in the mail after Feb. 23. Voters need to return their ballots in an official ballot dropbox or make sure the ballot is postmarked by 8:00 p.m. on March 12.
This year’s Presidential Primary will take place one week after Super Tuesday when 14 states hold primary elections.
The Democratic Party will select its nominee at the 2024 Democratic National Convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. Washington has 111 delegates.
The Republican Party’s convention takes place July 15-18 in Milwaukee. Washington will have an estimated 43 delegates.
To find out exactly what’s on your ballot and get a customized voter guide, go to VoteWA.gov.
Below you will find important information on voting in Washington state, including how to register to vote, the vote by mail process, and key dates you need to know:
January 9 – Deadline for each major political party to submit their final list of candidates to be printed on their side of the ballot. Once the names are submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State, changes cannot be made (RCW29A.56.031). The same candidates will appear in the printed Voters’ Pamphlet and online Voters’ Guide.
January 27 – Military and overseas ballots and Voters’ Pamphlets are mailed.
February 14 thru 23 –Voters’ Pamphlets are mailed to every household.
February 23 – Start of 18-day voting period (through Election Day). Ballots are mailed to every registered voter and voting centers are open with Accessible Voting Units (AVUs). Voters must mark one party box and sign the declaration on the return envelope.
March 4 – Deadline for online and by mail registration and address updates. Mailed registrations must be received by an elections official by this date, not postmarked by this date.
March 12 – Presidential Primary
Last day to register or update in person at a county elections office.
Mailed ballots must have a March 12 postmark to count.
Ballot boxes and voting centers close at 8:00 p.m.
After 8:00 p.m., counties begin transmission of results to the Secretary of State.
March 29 – Last day for Secretary of State to certify Presidential Primary results.
July, August – The major political parties hold conventions to officially nominate their candidates for U.S. President. The 2024 Democratic National Convention is August 19-22, 2024, and the Republican National Convention is July 15-18, 2024.
How do I register to vote?
The Secretary of State allows you to register to vote online here. If you don’t have a Washington state driver’s license or ID card, you’ll have to register in person or by mail.
If you need to check your voter registration information, you can click here and verify your personal information, including your address.
Your ballot materials are mailed to the address where you’re registered to vote. Be sure to sign your return envelope. Then drop your ballot at an official drop box or return by mail. No stamp is needed.
This map includes statewide locations of ballot drop boxes and voting centers for the current election. View all available locations, or drill down by selecting a specific county and location type.
This map includes statewide locations of ballot drop boxes and voting centers for the current election. View all available locations, or drill down by selecting a specific county and location type.
For more details on your county locations contact your local elections office, or for a personalized list sign in to VoteWA.gov.
Drop Box and Voting Center Locations – Elections & Voting – WA Secretary of State
For more details on your county locations, contact your local elections office, or for a personalized list sign in to VoteWA.gov.
