Seattle news

• Where did El Nino go? Heat, dry spell stoke drought worry

  12-02-2016 23:17
  
  SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — Where did El Nino go? Winter has suddenly switched off the rain and flipped on heat up to 95 degrees in California, raising jitters that the strong El Nino might not be the drought-buster the crispy state had hoped. “Forget El Nino, this is El No-no!” YouTube celebrity Hannah Hart tweeted. […]
  
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• I, Anonymous: Force Yourself to Stop Crying

  12-02-2016 23:15 via thestranger.com
  
  STEVEN WEISSMAN
  I was trying to enjoy the new Star Wars movie in IMAX. You were sitting right behind me and started whimper-crying in the most pathetic way. Mind you, this started around the time Han and Leia were reunited, so I couldn't understand what the fuck could be so sad at that point in the film?!? I thought you might simply have been crying tears of joy at seeing the old lovebirds together again—but no. Something much more horrible was amiss, because the sobbing literally didn't
  
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• I Mean No Disrespect to Beyoncé When I Say Missy Elliott Also Released a Good Song on Super Bowl Sunday

  12-02-2016 22:59 via thestranger.com
  
  On any other Sunday, "Pep Rally" would've been a much bigger deal.
  The dust is starting to settle a tiny bit. The first wave of responses to and analyses of the seismic arrival of "Formation"—I especially loved this one, this one, this one, and this one—are giving way to another, more layered and circumspect one.In addition, I'm seeing fewer blog posts from white people stooping to concede that the song and video aren't "FOR ME"—a trope that managed to combine supreme condescen
  
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• Woman’s throat cut in South Lake Union assault; man arrested

  12-02-2016 22:37
  
  A woman was taken to the hospital after her throat was cut during an assault in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Seattle police have arrested a 62-year-old man on investigation of assault.
  
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• Woman’s throat cut in South Lake Union assault

  12-02-2016 22:37
  
  A woman was taken to the hospital after her throat was cut during an assault in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Seattle police have arrested a 62-year-old man on investigation of assault.
  
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• Seattle Aquarium: No Octopus Sex on Valentine's Day

  12-02-2016 22:13 via thestranger.com
  
  *screams* Fotokon/Shutterstock
  Why, Seattle Aquarium? WHYYYYYYYYY???!!!!!!!
  Crosscut:
  The highlight of Octopus Week is usually the “blind date,” in which the aquarists bring two of their octopuses together to mate in front of a large audience. (Really, I could not make this up.) Unfortunately, the octopus copulation has been cancelled this year — not because it was deemed too sordid an affair, but because staffers were worried that this year, one of the animals might get eaten
  
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• Texas 1st state to recommend court ban on bite mark evidence

  12-02-2016 22:07
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has become the first state to call for a ban on allowing bite mark evidence, which legal experts say is likely to reverberate in courtrooms across the U.S. The Texas Forensic Science Commission formally recommended Friday that judges stop accepting bite mark analysis until the technique is supported by better […]
  
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• You're Wrong About That (Valentine's Day Edition)

  12-02-2016 22:03 via thestranger.com
  
  Hi. I'm Francine Colman-Gutierrez. Here are some Valentine's Day things that you are wrong about.
  • Buying her chocolate: You're wrong about that—unless she specifically asked for diabetes.
  • Buying her flowers: Thanks for the dead plants.
  • Buying her lingerie: ...is gross.
  • Buying her sex toys: Does she buy you power tools?
  • Writing her a love song: Ugh. Just please don't.
  • Writing her poetry: NEVER NEVER NEVER OKAY…
  
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• 22 Movies to See in Seattle This Valentine's Day Weekend

  12-02-2016 21:50 via thestranger.com
  
  Vanessa Redgrave in The Devils, part of Witches Brew at SIFF.
  For Valentine's Day, we carefully selected the movies that will make your evening go smoothly and charm your sweetheart. Voilà! Choose the option that best fits your relationship:
  —women are evil witches at SIFF
  —a movie about a really old lady who dates a suicidal 20 year old
  —torture porn à la 1968
  —2 hours of almost classy pimps and coke and Elvis Presley
  —arguments about economics and ab
  
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• Since the Cat Partisans Are Out of the Office, Here's a Video of a Cute-Ass Howling Dog

  12-02-2016 21:40 via thestranger.com
  
  Dogs are hereby proclaimed good.
  Like many of you, I was chagrined by the semi-recent shitstorm of cat-related posts in this hallowed chamber, published mainly by my esteemed colleague, Rich Smith. (Who is currently out of the office, possibly loitering outside the Meowtropolitan Cafe, though that is unconfirmed at this time.)
  My objection was not in behalf of journalism, or taste, or other arbitrary measures of decorum, obviously. It's a blog. Get real. (Plus, this is the Stranger; if no one ca
  
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• SeaTac Mayor Invites Bundy Sympathizer from Spokane Valley to Advocate Against Taking Free Money for a Park

  12-02-2016 21:30 via thestranger.com
  
  This is Matt Shea, one of the most extreme conservatives in the Washington State House. Why did the mayor of SeaTac invite him to offer advice on accepting federal money to build a park? washington state house republicans
  Here are some things we know about Washington State Representative Matt Shea:
  • He's a Republican from Spokane Valley.• He believes "there is no difference between Planned Parenthood and what Dr. Josef Mengele did in Germany in the 1940s."
  • He recently made up q
  
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• Brazil minister says no doubt Zika connected to microcephaly

  12-02-2016 21:24
  
  BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s health minister said Friday that authorities were “absolutely sure” that the Zika virus is connected to devastating birth defects and rejected criticism that the government was slow to investigate the surge of cases that set off international alarms. Marcelo Castro made the remarks during an interview with The Associated Press […]
  
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• Seattle wet weather: It’s fit only for rubber ducks

  12-02-2016 20:59
  
  This whimsical scene really quacked us up, despite the wet-weather forecast for Friday, the weekend and into next week.
  
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• Madeleine Cocolas Offers Cinematic Ambient Beauty on Cascadia

  12-02-2016 20:50 via thestranger.com
  
  For her formidable Fifty-Two Weeks project, Australian sound-sculptor Madeleine Cocolas composed and recorded a track a week for a whole year. Drawing from the best cuts, and rounding it out with some new material, her debut album, Cascadia, is a distinctly cinematic, almost synesthetic entry into Seattle's ambient/electronic scene.
  Opening on the throbbing, oceanic synths of "The Sea Beneath Me," the album immediately establishes Cocolas's deftness with atmosphere and pacing, as the bass subtl
  
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• Pot products recalled in Colorado for pesticides, but not in Washington

  12-02-2016 20:04
  
  Washington state has recalled no pot products for unauthorized pesticides. The city of Denver has recalled 19 products in 19 recent weeks. That’s not to say, though, that Washington consumers should be worried.
  
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• Pot products recalled for pesticides in Colorado, but not in Washington

  12-02-2016 20:04
  
  Washington state has recalled no pot products for unauthorized pesticides. The city of Denver has recalled 19 products in 19 recent weeks. That’s not to say, though, that Washington consumers should be worried.
  
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• New City-Sanctioned Homeless Encampment Coming to Othello

  12-02-2016 19:57 via thestranger.com
  
  Like the encampment in Ballard, pictured here, Othello Village would include tiny houses. Kelly O
  A new city-approved tent encampment could soon house up to 100 people in South Seattle near South Othello Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.The camp would be the third to open under a law approved by the city council last year, which allows nonprofit organizations to open encampments on city-owned or private land. The city then helps fund case managers and sanitation services at those camps.Two
  
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• Washingtonians: Don’t forget Lincoln on his birthday

  12-02-2016 19:29
  
  Here’s four local namesakes — and one in Eastern Washington — of President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.
  
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• Do You Want Socialism for You or Socialism for Donald Trump?

  12-02-2016 19:08 via thestranger.com
  
  Wall Street should be called Welfare Street.Skreidzeleu / Shutterstock.com
  There has been a lot of talk about the turmoil in the markets. Some analysts say it's caused by violent swings on the Chinese financial markets and also the long-predicated slowdown of its real economy (you can't grow at 9 percent forever—that kind of growth is an anomaly and not what's normal for capitalism—about 1 percent). Some are blaming the cheap oil for this disturbance, despite the fact it has contribu
  
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• Ski report: Brief snowfall Saturday on higher hills, then more rain

  12-02-2016 19:06
  
  Cold fronts and warm fronts take turns crossing Washington's mountains this holiday weekend.
  
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• E.T. Russian and the Value and Labor of Art

  12-02-2016 18:35 via thestranger.com
  
  At last night's Chat Room at Northwest Film Forum on the subjects of value and labor, I was prepared to dislike the artist E.T. Russian. It was not the artist's fault. There were many technical difficulties, causing great delays, and these delays were filled in with games such as the Wheel of Fortune for an artist's life ("get invited to a prestigious residency and told you have to pay all expenses," etc), and when it is 9 pm on a school night and I have come to hear smart people discuss intere
  
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• Police Reports Illustrated: Two Women in Belltown Start Fighting Over $20, Then One Pulls Out a Knife

  12-02-2016 18:28 via thestranger.com
  
  Callan Berry[ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
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• Driver admits to reaching 140 mph before I-5 crash

  12-02-2016 17:48
  
  The driver had a broken collarbone and possibly broken ankle, and the other driver suffered facial lacerations and was not conscious at the accident site in Clark County, the State Patrol said.
  
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• The Morning News: ACLU Sues Tacoma Police, Man Attacks Four People on a Bus, and a Mountlake Terrace Woman Is Missing

  12-02-2016 17:31 via thestranger.com
  
  The police department in Tacoma is being sued by the ACLU over surveillance practices. Tacoma/Shutterstock
  Tacoma Police Are Being Sued Over Surveillance Technology: "By over-riding local cell phone towers, stingrays are capable of capturing voice conversations, emails and text messages from devices up to half a mile away."
  Last Night in Everett: "A terrified woman says she thought she was about to die late Thursday when a hit-and-run driver plowed into her car and sent it crashing into a natura
  
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• To Stop All This Conservative Bullshit, Democrats Have to Take Back the State Senate

  12-02-2016 17:30 via thestranger.com
  
  Steve Litzow and Steve O’Ban
  Jay Inslee stood before a group of reporters wearing an orange tie and a scowl. "Folks," the Democratic governor said on the morning of February 8, "the Senate Republicans are out of control."
  Inslee's statement—and nearly 30 minutes of even more thinly veiled rage—came after weeks of Republicans pushing extreme legislation and the last minute firing of Inslee's transportation director by Republican legislators. Republicans in Olympia have tried to
  
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• Tribal-grave robber sells artifacts for $20, gets jail time in Oregon

  12-02-2016 17:02
  
  Klamath Tribal leaders say the stolen artifacts from Native American burial sites could be thousands of years old.
  
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• Everett teen sentenced for shooting boy over color of his shorts

  12-02-2016 16:53
  
  An Everett teenager has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for shooting and injuring a brother and sister because the boy was wearing shorts in a rival gang’s color. KCPQ-TV reports that the teen was sentenced Thursday in connection to the Sept. 3 shooting. He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and was […]
  
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• Feds plan major announcement about California island foxes

  12-02-2016 11:44
  
  VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — Native foxes on islands off the California coast were once on the brink of extinction. But after decades of effort to save them, the island fox is now thriving, officials say. Federal wildlife officials may even be ready to remove the bushy-tailed, housecat-sized animal from the endangered species list. The U.S. […]
  
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• Scientists stop calling out to comet lander as hope fades

  12-02-2016 11:15
  
  BERLIN (AP) — European scientists said Friday that they have stopped sending commands to the Philae space probe, which became the first to touch down on a comet more than a year ago. The German Aerospace Center, or DLR, said it last made contact with the lander July 9, but efforts since then have failed. […]
  
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• Eastern Washington activist hosted live-streamed talks with occupiers

  12-02-2016 06:57
  
  Gavin Seim, a conservative activist from Eastern Washington, took a high-profile role on the last day of the Oregon refuge occupation as he hosted live-streamed talks with four remaining holdouts.
  
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• ACLU chapter sues Tacoma police for surveillance records

  12-02-2016 06:50
  
  Devices known as cell-site simulators can sweep up the cell phone communications of people nearby even if they aren't the target of a criminal investigation.
  
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• Las Vegas lawmaker plays role in ending Oregon standoff

  12-02-2016 05:52
  
  Meet Michele Fiore, the gun-toting politician who negotiated the Oregon holdouts’ surrender.
  
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• Scientists, including Hanford team, confirm Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves

  12-02-2016 05:25
  
  LIGO Hanford’s staff of scientists, engineers and technicians are searching for gravitational waves from violent, astronomical events such as collisions between black holes or exploding stars.
  
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• Ready, set, tap: Dance at EMP part of Black History Month events

  12-02-2016 05:04
  
  Friday evening, EMP Museum hosts a dance exhibition and discussion about the power of dance in urban communities, featuring the students of Northwest Tap Connection.
  
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• UW regents vote to demolish old reactor building listed as historic

  12-02-2016 04:21
  
  The University of Washington has approved plans to tear down a building on campus that once housed a nuclear reactor, and replace it with a new computer-science center.
  
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• UW Regents hear scientist argue against experiments on animals

  12-02-2016 03:11
  
  In order to satisfy a judge’s order, the University of Washington Board of Regents was required to listen to a national expert about the use of animals in medical and drug research.
  
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• Liveslogging Bernie and Hillary's Thoroughly Polite PBS Dust-Up

  12-02-2016 03:00 via thestranger.com
  Oh, good, another Democratic debate, because there's certainly many depths still left unplumbed when it comes to Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Why are we having another one of these? Well, tonight's is hosted by PBS, so presumably the questions are going to be about the order of the alphabet and counting to twelve. (Bernie has some particularly revolutionary ideas about both.)
  You can watch the livestream embedded above, or alternately, you can watch a livestream of celebrated furry artis
  
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• Holmes tells City Council to ‘get this right’ and wait on police-reform plan

  12-02-2016 02:59
  
  In a letter citing his role as Seattle’s chief legal officer, City Attorney Pete Holmes wrote that U.S. District Judge James Robart has raised important questions and underscored the need for lasting reform.
  
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• State Legislators Who Want to Protect Young Girls Are Looking at the Wrong Demographic

  12-02-2016 02:25 via thestranger.com
  
  An example of a straight, white cisgender man, Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla), is pictured above. WALEG
  This week, Washington State legislators are expressing concern that "sexual predators" would pretend to be transgender just so they can abuse cis women and cis girls in sex-segregated bathrooms."Many people have a legitimate concern that sex predators are going to abuse the HRC rule in order to get into bathrooms and locker rooms where they can see, film, or hurt young girls," Sen. Mike Hewi
  
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• 16 Black History Month Celebrations in Seattle

  12-02-2016 02:23 via thestranger.com
  
  Charles Parrish's new art show opens on Sunday. Kelly O
  February is Black History Month, and there are so many performances, film screenings, art shows, and other events happening in Seattle that we've collected them all in our Black History Month calendar, which will be updated as new events are announced. Read on for a taste of them—including events at the EMP and MOHAI this weekend.
  FEB 12
  1. Northwest Tap Connection
  Northwest Tap Connection youth performers headline at this dance event
  
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• Police searching for man who attacked woman on Capitol Hill

  12-02-2016 01:34
  
  The man, believed to be in his 40s, apparently grabbed a woman and tried to get her into his truck as she walked home on Feb. 2.
  
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• Alternate sites considered for embattled giant telescope

  12-02-2016 01:04
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — A group building one of the world’s largest telescopes wants to start construction no later than April 2018— even if that means it will have to build the telescope somewhere other than Hawaii. The Thirty Meter Telescope board decided last week to start identifying alternate sites in case the telescope can’t be […]
  
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• Vinyl Gives Us Sex, Drugs, and the 1970s Record Biz

  12-02-2016 01:01 via thestranger.com
  
  The world of Mad Men ended in 1970, but it's not hard to imagine what the show would've looked like had it kept going. Vinyl doubles down on that premise by changing the ad pitchmen to record company execs—which means more sex, more drugs, and more rock 'n' roll.
  HBO's new show—from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, writer Rich Cohen, and Boardwalk Empire's Terence Winter—is set in New York City in 1973, although flashbacks to the 1960s dot the narrative, sketching Richie Finestra
  
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