Seattle news

• The Top Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

  12-03-2019 23:47 via thestranger.com
  The Stranger's critics' picks for the top St. Patrick's Day 2019 events.by Stranger Things To Do StaffIf you plan on celebrating St. Patrick's Day (Sun March 17) out on the town, you have a ton of options. To help ease your decision-making process, we've rounded up the biggest and best ways to experience the holiday, from the shamrock-themed EDM dance party Lucky to the boozy Ballard bus tour St. Pat's Parade O' Pints, and from the St. Patrick's Day Parade to Irish pub celebrations like Mulleady
  
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• Elizabeth Warren, Facebook, and "Outsourced Content Moderation"

  12-03-2019 23:43 via thestranger.com
  
  by Eli SandersPresidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
  By now you've heard the story: Elizabeth Warren wants to break up Big Tech, so her presidential campaign bought ads on Facebook talking about how Facebook is too powerful and should be cut down to size. Then Facebook blocked Warren's ads, making Warren's point for her.This episode, Warren says, is a perfect example of why we should have "a social media marketplace that isn't dominated by a single censor."But it's al
  
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• Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle returns to Portland

  12-03-2019 23:40
  The Seattle-based airline says it was working Tuesday afternoon to get the 76 passengers and four crew members on a different Alaska plane.
  
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• Old Fat Lesbians Bring Joy—and Weed—to Instagram

  12-03-2019 23:09 via thestranger.com
  
  420oldfatlesbians have been on Instagram for less than two weeks but their account is already blowing up.by Katie HerzogThe Green Monster is a face mask they made out of a Sprite bottle. Sue is on the left and Lee is on the right.Image courtesy of 420oldfatlesbians
  Sue and Lee have been on Instagram for less than two weeks but their account is already blowing up. This may have a little to with the name, @420oldfatlesbians (everyone loves lesbians), but probably has more to do with the content.In
  
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• Yellowstone, water district to meet over sewage claims

  12-03-2019 22:59
  GARDINER, Mont. (AP) — Officials from Yellowstone National Park and a Montana water district have scheduled a settlement conference over claims of excessive arsenic from the park’s sewage. The Billings Gazette reports that talks are scheduled for May 9 between the park and the Gardiner-Park County Water and Sewer District with the goal of keeping […]
  
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• Idaho House Speaker: Still short on Medicaid expansion votes

  12-03-2019 22:51
  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Speaker of the House Scott Bedke says he doesn’t have enough votes to pass either a basic Medicaid expansion bill or a Medicaid expansion bill that includes work requirements, and it could be weeks before a compromise is found. Bedke, a Republican from Oakley, made the remarks Tuesday at a […]
  
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• Pickathon Adds Phil Lesh, Karma Rivera, Reptaliens, and More to Its 2019 Lineup

  12-03-2019 22:00 via thestranger.com
  
  by Ciara DolanKarma Rivera Miss Lopez Media
  This morning, Pickathon added several acts to its 2019 lineup, and it's quite a mixed bag. The biggest announcement is that Phil Lesh—the Grateful Dead's now-septuagenarian bass player—and his Terrapin Family Band will headline Thursday at the Mount Hood Stage, and will play again Friday at the Woods Stage. Bringing in a jam band god like Lesh and the Deadhead crowd he draws could slightly alter the flavor of Pickathon this year.
  Additions
  
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• First grizzly bear sighting this year in Yellowstone

  12-03-2019 21:53
  YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park has recorded its first grizzly bear sighting of the year as bears start to come out of hibernation with the pending end of winter. The National Park Service says park visitors observed a large grizzly bear between Canyon Village and Fishing Bridge last Friday. Additionally, grizzly […]
  
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• 107 Stranger (Than Usual) Things To Do in Seattle This Week: March 12-17, 2019

  12-03-2019 21:45 via thestranger.com
  Unusual, offbeat, quirky events you might not otherwise know about.by Stranger Things To Do StaffOur arts critics have already recommended 49 great things to do this week and our music critics have picked the 39 best music shows, but there are still hundreds more events happening. To prevent some of the quirkier and more extraordinary ones from slipping through the cracks, we've compiled them here—from Roos and Brews to Kracklefest 9 - A Night Of Nerd Rock!, and from a live taping of the M
  
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• Straight Boy Takes the Plunger

  12-03-2019 21:30 via thestranger.com
  Savage Love Letter of the Dayby Dan SavageOriginally publshed October 22, 2009.I'm a straight teenage male, but I can't climax unless I am stimulating my anus or rectum. I use various objects like cucumbers. The reason I don't buy a toy is that I live in a very religious household and my parents would disown me if they found a sex toy in my room.
  I take a toilet plunger and wrap the handle with toilet paper and tissues. Then I take a plastic bag and put it over the top. After that, I wrap a rubb
  
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• Oregon Senate OKs requiring Holocaust education in schools

  12-03-2019 20:47
  SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure requiring schools to teach students about the Holocaust and other acts of genocide. Senators voted 27-0 on Tuesday to include the Holocaust as part of the statewide social studies curriculum. A recent poll found that two-thirds of American millennials surveyed could not identify what […]
  
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• RIP, Superstar Wrecking Crew Session Drummer Hal Blaine, Who Played on 150 Top 10 Songs

  12-03-2019 20:30 via thestranger.com
  
  RIP, Wrecking Crew member Hal Blaine, perhaps the busiest and most commercially successful session drummer of all time (he played on 40 #1 singles).by Dave SegalVintage Hal Blaine in session Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
  Hal Blaine, the impeccable timekeeper on 40 No. 1 singles and on 150 Top 10 songs and thousands more for many of the biggest names in music history as a member of the unparalleled LA studio collective the Wrecking Crew, died Monday of natural causes at age 90. It's safe to say t
  
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• Blue Cross insurers in N Carolina, Oregon to mix leadership

  12-03-2019 20:26
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Two Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers on both U.S. coasts will invest jointly in high-cost management technology and share insights into improving health care in a long-term agreement that will leave the companies as separate entities. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Portland, Oregon-based Cambia Health Solutions said Tuesday […]
  
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• TV celebrities and coaches charged in college bribery scheme

  12-03-2019 20:12
  Wealthy parents bribed college coaches and insiders at testing centers to get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, federal prosecutors said, calling it the biggest college-admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Justice Department.
  
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• Truck that triggered I-90 shutdown carried defused bombs from Navy munitions depot in Jefferson County

  12-03-2019 19:58
  Bomb shipment arrived safely Monday for maintenance in Indiana
  
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• UnitedHealthcare will expand a drug discount program aimed at lowering consumer costs

  12-03-2019 19:56
  Pharmaceutical companies and insurers have come under scrutiny by the Trump administration and members of Congress, and have struggled to show that they are doing something to address high drug prices.
  
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• No, Lester, It's Not Okay to Leave the Toilet Seat Up

  12-03-2019 19:40 via thestranger.com
  
  by Katie HerzogGoddammit LesterNG
  There are a lot of good things about working at The Stranger. For one, I can do basically whatever I want with very little oversight. One day I can review the new taco place up the street and the next I can interview City Council candidates and the next I can write 10,000 words on how I'd (hypothetically) assassinate the President if given a wind machine, an invisibility cloak, and a giant fly swatter. We also get free hot water. There is, however, one serious d
  
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• Trump signs major public lands, conservation bill into law

  12-03-2019 19:35
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a wide-ranging public lands bill Tuesday that creates five new national monuments and expands several national parks. The new law also adds 1.3 million acres of new wilderness and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports conservation and outdoor recreation projects nationwide. It’s the largest […]
  
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• Trump signs major public lands, conservation bill

  12-03-2019 19:35
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed a wide-ranging public lands bill that creates five new national monuments and expands several national parks. The legislation enacted Tuesday also permanently adds 1.3 million acres of new wilderness and reauthorizes the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports conservation and outdoor recreation projects nationwide. It’s […]
  
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• Researchers find hammerhead shark ‘nursery’ off Galapagos Island

  12-03-2019 19:19
  QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Researchers in Ecuador say they have discovered a “nursery” of hammerhead sharks off the coast of the Galapagos Islands, a find that may help them track and protect the endangered predators. The head of the project, Eduardo Espinosa, said the group had found 20 hammerheads in the area along Santa Cruz […]
  
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• 2,200 quarantined over mumps outbreak at immigration centers

  12-03-2019 19:16
  PHOENIX (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities say more than 2,200 people exposed to a mumps outbreak in at least two detention facilities have been quarantined. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday that the 25-day quarantine began March 7 at facilities in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, and Aurora, Colorado. A spokesman says 236 detainees have had confirmed […]
  
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• DNA testing helps police confirm Ted Bundy killed missing Utah teen

  12-03-2019 19:11
  Police said Monday that DNA testing on a bone confirms it belonged to Debra Kent, who disappeared in 1974. The serial killer, before he was executed in 1989, told police where to find the girl's body.
  
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• Oregon governor pushes for prepaid mail-in ballots

  12-03-2019 18:59
  SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Gov. Kate Brown is pressing Oregon lawmakers to pass a measure paying for prepaid postage on mail-in ballots, a move she says would boost voter turnout in a state that boasts one of the highest electoral participation rates in the country. “While Oregon’s vote by mail system is one of the […]
  
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• Family Calls for Investigation After a King County Jail Inmate Died a Preventable Death

  12-03-2019 18:32 via thestranger.com
  
  The staff at a King County jail thought Derek Hutchinson was faking it when he asked for medical help, a day later he was dead. Now his family is calling for an investigation.by Lester BlackJennifer McSherry wants to know why her partner of 15 years died a preventable death after being booked into King County jail. Lester Black
  Derek Hutchinson knew something was wrong while he was sitting in a King County jail 18 months ago. He had such intense abdominal pain that he couldn’t eat and he c
  
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• Idaho Senate approves Medicaid expansion budget

  12-03-2019 18:08
  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Senate overwhelmingly approved the proposed 2020 budget for Medicaid expansion in a 31-3 vote on Monday. The measure now moves on to the House. The Lewiston Tribune reports the Senate vote means the voter-mandated Medicaid expansion has passed its first major legislative hurdle, but the vote is expected to […]
  
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• NIH cancer chief to serve as acting FDA commissioner

  12-03-2019 18:07
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the National Cancer Institute will temporarily take charge of the Food and Drug Administration next month after the departure of its current chief. The appointment Tuesday of Dr. Ned Sharpless comes a week after Scott Gottlieb unexpectedly announced his resignation. Sharpless currently heads the National Institutes of Health’s cancer […]
  
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• Senator tours Florida teen detention camp he wants shut down

  12-03-2019 18:04
  MIAMI (AP) — A Democratic senator from Oregon advocating against migrant youth detention camps says he toured a Florida facility and found children are being held there for too long in a restrictive environment. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said late Monday that he talked to three boys who also confirmed reports that employees told teenagers […]
  
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• Seattle Has a Strip Club Monopoly and It's Bad for Our Exotic Dancers

  12-03-2019 16:55 via thestranger.com
  
  A grassroots bill created to improve the working conditions of exotic dancers has made its way successfully through the House and, as of last week, is on its way to the Senate.by Nathalie GrahamLet's get some panic buttons in here, ladies! Igor Sinkov/Getty Images
  Amber didn’t feel safe in the VIP rooms. They’re dark, there’s loud music playing, and they’re walled off for privacy. If something were to happen—she shuddered to think about a man sexually assaulting her
  
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• Helicopter lifts 3 men off ice floe drifting off Nome

  12-03-2019 16:50
  NOME, Alaska (AP) — Three men were rescued from an ice floe that broke loose from shore ice outside Nome. Alaska State Troopers say 43-year-old John Culp Jr., 33-year-old James Gibson and 45-year-old Phillip Rode were plucked off the ice by helicopter. Their hometowns were not immediately available. Troopers just before 6:30 p.m. Sunday took […]
  
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• Slog AM: Italy Bans Unvaccinated Kids, Washington Culverts Really Suck, World's Oldest Woman is 116

  12-03-2019 16:33 via thestranger.com
  
  by Timothy KenneyWhat the hell is a culvert? Glad you asked.MEL-NIK/GETTY
  The most expensive problem you’ve never heard of: Culverts are those little pipes that go beneath roadways to lets streams continue flowing without harming the integrity of the road, but Washington’s culverts are trash. They’re especially terrible for Chinook salmon who have no way of getting past the structures to continue upstream to spawning grounds. The Washington State Legislature is on the hook to f
  
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• Snow restocks the Oregon Cascades

  12-03-2019 16:01
  EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s snowpack — the amount of snow held by the mountains — was below normal in early February, but a round of winter storms now has it above normal for much of the state, including the Willamette River Basin. The Register-Guard reports a dramatic turnaround in weather, from warm and dry […]
  
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• Trump’s cuts to Medicare hospital payments trigger an outcry

  12-03-2019 15:48
  The president's budget proposal to Congress calls for $845 billion in spending reductions to Medicare over 10 years, mainly by cutting payments to hospitals and other service providers. "Devastating" was the reaction of a major hospital association chief.
  
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• Outcry over Trump’s cuts to Medicare hospital payments

  12-03-2019 15:48
  WASHINGTON (AP) — As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Trump later went back on his Medicaid promise, and now he’s being criticized for steep Medicare payment cuts proposed in his new budget. The budget calls for $845 billion in spending reductions to Medicare over 10 years, […]
  
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• The worst distracted driving in Washington isn’t happening in Seattle, according to a new study

  12-03-2019 15:11
  A recent study looked at the cities in Washington with the most distracted-driving crashes per capita. A separate study named Washington one of the strictest states in the nation when it comes to traffic tickets.
  
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• ‘AK-47 bandit’ pleads guilty to Nebraska bank robbery

  12-03-2019 15:08
  The Montana man, who carried an assault rifle, also is accused in a 2012 robbery in North Bend.
  
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• With Columbia Street ramp gone, viaduct demolition turns to the double-deck mainline

  12-03-2019 14:00
  Contractors finished tearing out the one-lane Columbia Street onramp last week, clearing a path to start chomping all six highway lanes Wednesday.
  
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• ‘What next? Biblical plagues?’ Blizzard killed 1,850 cows, and Yakima Valley farmers are reeling

  12-03-2019 14:00
  Farmers in the Yakima Valley are still assessing the damage after a snow- and windstorm a month ago left 1,850 dairy cows dead in the span of a few hours. Hundreds more cows suffered frostbite, threatening their milk production and health.
  
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• Emotional, financial toll mounts after blizzard kills 1,850 dairy cows in Yakima Valley

  12-03-2019 14:00
  Farmers in the Yakima Valley are still assessing the damage after a snow- and windstorm a month ago left 1,850 dairy cows dead in the span of a few hours. Hundreds more cows suffered frostbite, threatening their milk production and health.
  
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• Bill tracker: From car tab to bus-only lanes, which transportation proposals still have a shot in Olympia?

  12-03-2019 14:00
  Below is a list of the bills Traffic Lab is tracking in the final weeks of the legislative session, which is set to end April 28. We’ll be updating the list periodically as things change.
  
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• Behind the Byline: Meet news researcher Miyoko Wolf

  12-03-2019 14:00
  In our 13th edition of Behind the Byline, our interview series helping you get to know the journalists who bring you the news, we talk to news researcher Miyoko Wolf about how the world of journalism has changed over the years and the importance of fact-checking.
  
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• Alaska, Norwegian mushers battle for Iditarod lead

  12-03-2019 13:45
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaskan and a Norwegian are running neck-and-neck in the world’s most famous sled dog race. GPS trackers show Pete Kaiser, of Bethel, Alaska, and defending Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Joar Ulsom, of Norway, are within a mile of each other as the mushers near the finish line in […]
  
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• Alaska musher first to checkpoint 77 miles from finish

  12-03-2019 13:45
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska musher is leading the world’s most famous sled dog race just miles from the finish. Pete Kaiser, from Bethel, Alaska, was the first musher to arrive at the checkpoint Tuesday in White Mountain. All mushers must take a mandatory eight-hour break at White Mountain before making the final 77-mile […]
  
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• US communities reach out to homeless as liver disease surges

  12-03-2019 13:04
  WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — This industrial city in central Massachusetts has had many nicknames through the years, including “the Heart of the Commonwealth” and “Wormtown.” Among them was this less-known medical moniker: “Hepatitisville.” Worcester has endured several outbreaks of the liver-battering disease, including one that sidelined 90 members of a college football team in 1969. […]
  
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• Species by the dozen moved north during marine heatwaves

  12-03-2019 11:05
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dozens of species of sea slugs, jellyfish and other marine life from toastier southern waters migrated into the Northern California region over an unusually long two-year period of severe heatwaves, says a new scientific report. The 67 species identified in the report include a carnivorous sea slug that preys on other […]
  
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• California water agencies fight over multistate drought plan

  12-03-2019 07:07
  PHOENIX (AP) — A major Southern California water agency is trying to push the state through a final hurdle in joining a larger plan to preserve a key river in the U.S. West that serves 40 million people. Most of the seven states that get water from the Colorado River have signed off on plans […]
  
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• California agencies dispute Colorado River drought plan

  12-03-2019 07:07
  PHOENIX (AP) — A major Southern California water agency is trying to push the state through a final hurdle in joining a larger plan to preserve a key river in the U.S. West that serves 40 million people. Most of the seven states that get water from the Colorado River have signed off on plans […]
  
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• Alaska considers selling historic museum to save money

  12-03-2019 05:13
  SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A state government official says a historic museum and library in southeast Alaska may be sold at the direction of Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports that the Sheldon Jackson Museum and adjacent Stratton Library building in Sitka are under consideration for sale or transfer. The state director of […]
  
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• Alaska utility expects higher than usual rates to continue

  12-03-2019 05:07
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska utility says Juneau-area residents will likely continue paying more than usual for electricity because of low water levels. The Juneau Empire reports dry conditions in southeast Alaska over the last year have caused the Alaska Electric Light & Power to temporarily increase rates. The utility’s main source of power […]
  
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