Seattle news

• A first for poll: 55 percent of Americans support Obamacare

  04-04-2017 23:52
  
  A majority of 55 percent of Americans now support the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, according to a new Gallup Poll.  "This is the first time a majority of Americans have approved the health care law," the pollster reported.
  
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• June sentencing set for developer Dargey in EB-5 fraud case

  04-04-2017 23:50
  
  Lobsang Dargey will face no more than 10 years in prison under a deal with prosecutors.
  
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• 4 'unknown objects' found that could be Planet 9

  04-04-2017 23:17
  
  Four objects previously unidentified in our solar system were found in a crowdsourced effort and are now candidates for being the famously missing Planet 9.
  
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• Feminist Dating App Siren Is Shutting Down on Friday

  04-04-2017 23:15 via thestranger.com
  
  by Ana Sofia KnaufSusie Lee, CEO and Founder of Siren, and Design Director Katrina Hess PHOTO BY LANCE MERCER
  Siren, a dating app designed by and for women, is closing its digital doors on April 7. Founder Susie Lee, a Seattle artist, entrepreneur, and Stranger Genius Award Winner, cited financial difficulties as the reason.
  "The efforts of two co-founders alone were not enough to compete with the well-funded companies in this space," Lee wrote in an e-mail. "Unfortunately, this comes at a time
  
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• New hantavirus case suspected; may signify rising risk in King County

  04-04-2017 23:10
  
  If a suspected third case of the rare hantavirus is confirmed in King County, it could signal an elevated risk of the sometimes fatal disease for months to come, according to public-health officials.
  
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• New hantavirus case suspected; it may signify rising risk in King County

  04-04-2017 23:10
  
  If a suspected third case of the rare hantavirus is confirmed in King County, it could signal an elevated risk of the sometimes fatal disease for months to come, according to public-health officials.
  
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• Twin Harbors opens for razor clams on Wednesday after being closed since February

  04-04-2017 22:50
  
  Twin Harbors, closed off and on for most of this past fall and winter, will reopen for coastal razor clam digging on Wednesday as well as possible future dates. Twin Harbors will be open for razor clam digging from Wednesday (April 5) through Sunday (April 9). NOTE: Digging will be allowed at Twin Harbors during […]
  
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• A Decade On Celebrates a Piece of Seattle Sports History and the Endurance of Spirit

  04-04-2017 22:40 via thestranger.com
  by Ana Sofia Knauf
  In 2006, Seattleite Brian Morrison attempted California's Western States Endurance Run, a grueling 100-mile trail run. Although Morrison, a trained ultra runner, took the lead more than halfway through the race, his body began to give out from exertion and he eventually collapsed within sight of the finish line. With help from his pacing team, Morrison was able to get up and cross the finish line, winning the race. The next day, he was disqualified from the run for receiving a
  
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• Seattle police make arrest in January slaying

  04-04-2017 22:26
  
  Seattle police arrested a 36-year-old man Monday for a January slaying in which a man was shot down in Pioneer Square.
  
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• Trump Has Pulled Funding For a UN Organization That Supports Birth Control

  04-04-2017 22:20 via thestranger.com
  
  by Megan Burbank WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY
  Right on the heels of his facetious choice to dedicate the month of April to sexual assault awareness (yeah, right), Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2,864,974 votes, has revoked US funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which provides... birth control.Here's the NY Times:
  The Trump administration informed Congress on Monday that it had terminated United States funding for the United Nations Population Fund, the world&rsq
  
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• Is Cirque du Soleil's Luzia Cursed?

  04-04-2017 21:50 via thestranger.com
  
  by Christopher FrizzelleThe heart-stopping final act in the second half of the show. COURTESY OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
  On opening night of Cirque du Soleil's Luzia, under a 62-foot-tall big top and in front of 2,600 audience members, a performer in the final act fell. "The spell ended abruptly in the double-swing finale when a flying acrobat landed smack on her back and lay motionless, eventually carried off stage," according to Rosemary Ponnekanti of the Tacoma News Tribune.
  Seattle Times critic Mis
  
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• Get Your Free Cone Today at Ben and Jerry's

  04-04-2017 21:50 via thestranger.com
  
  by Leilani Polk alisafarov
  Here's a fun fact for ya: Ben Cohen, one half of the team who started Ben & Jerry's (with childhood friend Jerry Greenfield), has anosmia (no sense of smell), which greatly influences how he perceives flavor. So it's surprising that he went into the business of manufacturing ice cream. He's made the most of his shortcoming, relying on "mouth feel" and texture for his dietary needs, while spurring the inclusion of his company's trademark chunks in their ice cream. H
  
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• David Byrne to Talk About Music, Politics, and His New Musical at MoPOP April 20

  04-04-2017 21:30 via thestranger.com
  
  by Dave Segal
  The 2017 Pop Conference will begin with Artist Interview: A Conversation with David Byrne on Thurs, April 20 at the Museum of Pop Culture (4-5 pm, at the Sky Church; see ticket info after the jump).The Luaka Bop label owner and former Talking Heads frontman will discuss his new musical with Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love (at Seattle Rep April 7-May 28), which The Stranger's Rich Smith describes as a "critically adored disco musical about the life and times of [former Philippines First
  
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• Judge temporarily blocks Seattle law allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize

  04-04-2017 21:03
  
  Seattle’s first-in-the-nation law letting Uber and Lyft drivers unionize is on hold after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction, in response to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
  
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• Mary Anderson, REI co-founder, passes away at 107

  04-04-2017 20:58
  
  REI membership card #2 is officially retired: co-founder of the outdoor co-op and avid mountaineer Mary Anderson passed away Monday at 107.
  
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• Seattle's Effort to Unionize Uber Drivers Is on Hold

  04-04-2017 20:56 via thestranger.com
  
  by Heidi GrooverUber drivers in Seattle won't be able to unionize—for now. NYCSHOOTER/GETTY
  A federal judge this afternoon put the brakes on Seattle's unprecedented experiment to allow drivers for ride-sharing companies like Uber to unionize.
  United States District Judge Robert S. Lasnik sided with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today, ordering Seattle's Uber unionization law be put on hold until lawsuits challenging its legality are resolved.In his order, Lasnik acknowledges the national im
  
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• Sacre Bleu, the French Love Seattle!

  04-04-2017 20:55 via thestranger.com
  
  by Amber CortesOoh la la! Tacocat as French. MICHAEL LAVINE
  Zut alors! Seattle has been discovered. Madame Figaro, a national French magazine that, according to one France-dwelling Facebook commenter is “in every dentist's office in Paris,” just published a rave review of Seattle’s art and culture scene called “Seattle: The New American Arty Stopover.” “Cool, eco-friendly, rock and high-tech,” the article states, “Seattle is astonishing by its free
  
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• Dow Constantine relentlessly raises $1 million for what appears a cakewalk election

  04-04-2017 20:51
  
  King County Executive Dow Constantine has already raised more than $1 million for this year's reelection race, although no other candidate has filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission.  Still, Constantine is raising money as if facing the fight of his life. 
  
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• In 2013, Central District Activist Omari Tahir-Garrett Also Told a Man to Go Back to Asia

  04-04-2017 20:48 via thestranger.com
  
  by Sydney BrownstoneThe 2013 incident occurred just down the block from the site of Saturday's incident. Charles Mudede
  Another video of upsetting statements by longtime Central District activist Omari Tahir-Garrett has surfaced. This one appeared in the Facebook comments of yesterday's post about Tahir-Garrett telling Uncle Ike's Jewish owner, Ian Eisenberg, to go back to Germany and subject himself to the whims of Nazis.
  In the more recently surfaced video, which dates to 2013, Tahir-Garrett c
  
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• Guess who’s a big Trump fan? Ramtha, as channeled by Democratic donor JZ Knight

  04-04-2017 20:46
  
  The 35,000-year-old warrior Ramtha has come out as a fan of President Trump, despite channeler JZ Knight’s history of big donations to Democrats.
  
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• Othello Station: The Center of the World

  04-04-2017 20:30 via thestranger.com
  
  by Charles Mudede Suzi Pratt
  This story opens The Stranger’s 2017 Guide to Food and Drink (International Edition), which includes recommendations of more than 100 restaurants serving tastes from around the globe. In it, Charles Mudede waxes on the array of restaurants that have sprung up around Othello Light Rail Station, and reflect Seattle's deep international roots
  I'm waiting in Amin International Grocery and Deli for my order of a gyro salad with spaghetti. Somali men are watching CNN
  
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• German spelunker discovers Europe’s first cave fish

  04-04-2017 20:18
  
  BERLIN (AP) — A German man who goes diving underground for a hobby has discovered what scientists say is Europe’s first known cave fish. Spelunker Joachim Kreiselmaier chanced upon the fish in August 2015 while exploring the Danube-Aach cave system in southern Germany. It resembled stone loaches found in nearby rivers, but with smaller eyes, […]
  
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• In Seattle Opera's Must-See, Immersive Show, The Combat, Muslims and Christians Make Love and War

  04-04-2017 20:15 via thestranger.com
  
  by Rebecca BrownThomas Segen as Tancredi, the Romeo figure in this star-crossed (and super-relevant!) tale of woe.Philip NewtonUshers were standing on Terry Avenue to show the crowd where we needed to go. They directed us into a big box building, as tall as an IKEA warehouse and about as picturesque: cement walls, endless shelves of pallets, bare blaring lights along a cement floor. It wasn’t cold, but it seemed like it ought to be. I kept on my coat and headed for the bar.We were inside t
  
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• Reused rocket back in port after satellite launch by SpaceX

  04-04-2017 20:01
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX’s first reused rocket is back in port, five days after launching a satellite. The singed 15-story booster returned atop a barge to Florida’s Port Canaveral on Tuesday. It was the second flight for the Falcon 9’s first-stage core — and a first for SpaceX. Both times, the leftover booster […]
  
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• Gonzaga Lost, 71-65, the Game Wasn't Pretty, and There Was Lots of Crying at the End

  04-04-2017 19:53 via thestranger.com
  
  by Daudi AbeNigel Williams-Goss (No. 5) of the Gonzaga Bulldogs shoots against Isaiah Hicks (No. 4) of the North Carolina Tar Heels in the second half of last night's 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four National Championship game.Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
  This year’s Final Four, played at University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona, featured two Northwest schools against the Carolinas, North and South, in the semi-finals. The University of Oregon, which reached the very first Final Four h
  
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• Whatever, Bertha. The Most Satisfying Destruction of Seattle Concrete Already Happened, Seventeen Years Ago.

  04-04-2017 19:30 via thestranger.com
  
  by Eli SandersMarch 26, 2000. Seattle Municipal Archives
  Hiding your big, concrete-crushing moment behind a haze of gray dust is super amateur, Bertha. Here's how you do it: [ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
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• What happens to Bertha after digging is done? We’ve got answers

  04-04-2017 19:27
  
  We’ve got the answers to your Bertha-related questions as the drill emerges from the end of the Highway 99 tunnel in South Lake Union. Fun fact: Garden snails travel at 10 times the average speed of the tunnel-boring machine.
  
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• Letter to the Editor: The Real Story Behind the MAGA Hat-Wearing Star of a Police Reports Illustrated

  04-04-2017 19:00 via thestranger.com
  
  by Leilani Polk Callan Berry
  About six weeks ago, a reader wrote in to give us the details behind Police Reports Illustrated: Red Hat Leads to Assault, which originally ran in January. She and her lover are friends with the report's ostensible star, who had on a Make America Great Again hat when he stopped to watch a protest in Capitol Hill, and got punched in the face for his headwear, repeatedly. (A frame from the comic is included above.) Her story is pretty funny, and we thought we'd share i
  
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• Tunnel machine Bertha breaks into daylight

  04-04-2017 18:27
  
  Tunnel machine Bertha has broken into daylight as the giant drill chewed through the side of the disassembly vault at South Lake Union Tuesday.
  
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• Sense of history builds as tunnel machine Bertha inches toward daylight

  04-04-2017 18:27
  
  As tunnel machine Bertha moves forward, the difficult Highway 99 tube under downtown Seattle is gathering an aura of history. The machine is expected to reach daylight at midday.
  
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• Let's All Watch Bertha Birth Together

  04-04-2017 18:27 via thestranger.com
  
  by Sydney BrownstoneBertha is crowning. Again. On the Lord's Day of April 4, 2017, in Vladimir Putin's United States of Ketchup Steaks, the $80 million tunnel boring machine is expected to finally breach its glorious end-pit.The Washington Department of Transportation will conveniently provide a live stream. We're told we should tune into Berthacam at 8 am. Grab a coffee and be ready to watch with us:UPDATE, 10:15: There's a lot of dust.
  UPDATE, 11:20:Pieces are audibly falling but visibility re
  
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• Bertha’s breakthrough just ‘halftime’ for tunnel project

  04-04-2017 18:27
  
  The world’s largest tunnel drill spent Tuesday morning kicking up dust and grinding into daylight. Workers and politicians celebrated, but a lot of work remains before motorists drive the double-deck, four-lane tunnel, says a project administrator.
  
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• The Morning News: Breakthrough Expected Today for Seattle Boring Machine Bertha, An Intro to Mayoral Candidate Nikkita Oliver

  04-04-2017 17:54 via thestranger.com
  
  by Ana Sofia KnaufThe $80 million baby is coming. WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
  It's a Boring Machine! Bertha is being birthed today after tunneling a whole two miles underneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct after years of delays and shutdowns. The Washington State Department of Transportation was live-streaming the machine's breakthrough, but the site's servers appear to be down at the moment. KOMO has a live feed going here.But Don't Get Too Excited. The Construction Nightmare Isn't
  
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• NASA spacecraft halfway between Pluto and next smaller stop

  04-04-2017 17:36
  
  NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is now halfway between Pluto and its next much, much smaller stop. New Horizons — which reached the milestone this week — is bound for an even more remote object called 2014 MU69.
  
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• Pramila Jayapal and Bernie Sanders Announce Bill to Make College Tuition-Free

  04-04-2017 17:17 via thestranger.com
  
  by Ana Sofia KnaufFree higher ed, anyone? NATE GOWDY
  On Monday, Washington State Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Vermont Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders introduced the College for All Act, a bill to make public universities and colleges tuition-free for "working families" with the aim of reducing student debt. Sens. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposed the bill in the Senate on Monday, while Reps. Jayapal and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) plan to introduce a bill
  
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• 1st Brexit: Study shows Britain’s original split from Europe

  04-04-2017 17:08
  
  BERLIN (AP) — It was a literal Brexit — Britain’s geographical separation from mainland Europe — which newly published research reveals to have been caused by a period of slow erosion, then a cataclysmic split. Using unprecedented undersea measurements, scientists have reconstructed the geological process that carved the strait separating Britain from the European mainland, […]
  
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• Bernie Sanders, Pramila Jayapal introduce bill to make college free for many

  04-04-2017 16:25
  
  Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have introduced a bill that would make college free for many families.
  
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• Central District Activist Tells Jewish Uncle Ike's Owner to "Go Back to Germany" So Nazis Can "Get" Him Again

  04-04-2017 16:05 via thestranger.com
  
  by Sydney BrownstoneA protest at Uncle Ike's in April of 2016. The Stranger
  The conflicts between Uncle Ike's owner Ian Eisenberg and his Central District neighbors are no secret. Eisenberg's flashy 23rd and Union pot shop has become symbolic of gentrification and resentment on a street corner where neighborhood drug dealers once sold their product at risk of arrest.Eisenberg's controversial business and his relationships with his neighbors—including a local church—make up one dimens
  
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• #BerthaCam: Watch the giant boring machine at the end of Highway 99 tunnel

  04-04-2017 15:41
  
  Giant tunnel-drill machine Bertha broke into daylight shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday after years of delays. We covered the scene live.
  
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• #BerthaCam: Watch giant boring machine emerge at end of Highway 99 tunnel

  04-04-2017 15:41
  
  Giant tunnel-drill machine Bertha is expected to break out into daylight after years of delays. Watch Bertha emerge here.
  
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• Mayor Ed Murray Thinks Democrats Are Too Preoccupied with "Purity Tests"

  04-04-2017 15:36 via thestranger.com
  
  by Heidi GrooverMood. City of Seattle
  Mayor Ed Murray appeared on Politico's Off Message podcast this week and, surprising no one, he shared some thoughts about infighting in the Democratic Party.Asked about the direction of the party, the Democratic state legislator-turned-mayor complains that "on the national level, at times, I feel like we are becoming like the Tea Party on the far right, that we have purity tests."Murray worries that failing to "allow for a diversity of opinions among progre
  
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• Distracted-driving patrols hit the streets in early April

  04-04-2017 15:30
  
  Police departments across Washington state are adding patrols to crack down on distracted driving in the first two weeks of April.
  
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• Distracted-driving patrols hit the streets across Washington state

  04-04-2017 15:30
  
  Police departments across Washington state are adding patrols to crack down on distracted driving in the first two weeks of April.
  
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• With $800,000 raised, cost won’t keep any Washington student from taking IB, AP exams

  04-04-2017 15:00
  
  An estimated 15,000 students will take exams for free thanks to a funding initiative.
  
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• Longtime sister-city friendships feel a sudden chill

  04-04-2017 15:00
  
  As we mark 50 years of Sister Cities International, the program is feeling the impact of President Donald Trump’s words and actions.
  
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• Inventor of World Wide Web wins computing’s ‘Nobel Prize’

  04-04-2017 13:03
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Most people who search on Google, share on Facebook and shop on Amazon have never heard of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. But they might not be doing any of those things had he not invented the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee, 61, is this year’s recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing’s version […]
  
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