Local News

Local News
With downtown Seattle just visible in the background, the Wilburton Train Trestle is seen from the air Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 in Bellevue. The trestle is a 102-foot tall abandoned BNSF railway spanning Southeast 8th Street (seen at lower right), and will be turned into a pedestrian and cyclist trail with help from a $7.5 million donation from Amazon. Interstate 405 is seen in the background. 218280 (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
With downtown Bellevue in the background, the Wilburton Train Trestle is seen from the air Monday. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
Amazon

Complicated, ‘breathtaking’ segment of Eastside foot and bike trail to open by 2024

A $7.5 million grant from Amazon will allow King County to complete one of the most complicated parts of a planned 42-mile trail system by 2024, county and company executives announced Monday. Updated

Don't Miss

Mayor Jenny Durkan speaks at a press conference about the City of Seattle purchasing micro-apartment housing with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. 218276
Local Politics

Seattle to help buy three new apartment buildings to house people facing homelessness

King County Sheriff’s detectives are seeking the public’s help to identify a man they believe was struck and injured by the same 15-year-old SeaTac girl charged last week in connection with the July death of a Maple Valley runner.
Crime

Authorities search for second victim they think was struck by 15-year-old driver charged in fatal Maple Valley hit-and-run

Gov. Jay Inslee speaks at a news conference where he announces COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Washington state employees and health-care workers, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021 in Seattle. 217865
Local News

Inslee asks feds for medical staffing help with COVID response

Respiratory therapist Bailey Synhavong begins to put on protective equipment, which will include a face shield, gloves, gown, head cover and mask, before going into a patient’s room in the COVID intensive care unit at UW Medical Center-Montlake, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, in Seattle. King County, where the hospital is located, has been on a downward trend of COVID-19 cases after two-and-a-half straight months of increases. But the current lull could be, and some experts believe will be, upended as more contagious variants of the virus spread throughout United States. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Health

COVID hospitalizations down in Washington, but deaths are on the rise

Times Watchdog

Teresa Alvarado becomes emotional while holding a photo of her son, Keenan Thomas, who died at Walla Walla State Penitentiary in 2019 after being placed with a violent cellmate – against the recommendations of two Department of Correction screeners. When Alvarado spoke to him the night before he died, she said he sounded dedicated to a better life and couldn’t wait to get out. He said he wanted to be there for his children. The next day, Thomas was found dead in his cell. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed last September on behalf of Thomas’ family. Photographed in Pasco, Wash. on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.

Man was killed after Washington state ignored warnings about his cellmate, lawsuit alleges VIEW

Most Read Local Stories

Politics

Queen Anne neighborhood in the foreground with Ballard in the background, seen from the Space Needle on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021.

Seattle’s COVID-19 eviction moratoriums extended into January 2022 by Mayor Jenny Durkan

Project Homeless

Queen Anne neighborhood in the foreground with Ballard in the background, seen from the Space Needle on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021.

Seattle’s COVID-19 eviction moratoriums extended into January 2022 by Mayor Jenny Durkan

About Project Homeless

Project Homeless is a new Seattle Times initiative that explores and explains the region’s complex, troubling problem of homelessness. With strong watchdog reporting and vivid storytelling, Project Homeless seeks to spotlight what is working, and what is not working, in responding to homelessness. We will also feature solutions-oriented reporting from elsewhere in the country.

Transportation

The Wilburton Train Trestle, seen from the air Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 in Bellevue, is a 102-foot tall abandoned BNSF railway spanning Southeast 8th Street (obscured by trees in the background), and will be turned into a pedestrian and cyclist trail with help from a $7.5 million donation from Amazon. 218280

Complicated, ‘breathtaking’ segment of Eastside foot and bike trail to open by 2024

Local News Photography

Chinook, or king salmon, are coming through the fish ladder at the Ballard Locks moving from saltwater to freshwater. As of Thursday more than 11,200 kings have been counted and more than 38,500 sockeyes. Some sockeye are still trickling by and the run of kings is just beyond its peak but can continue until November. Chinook are the largest of the salmon species. The fish ladder viewing room is open and masks are required. LO LInesonly Friday August 27, 2021 218064
Local News

Keeping an eye on the salmon at the Ballard Locks WATCH

Gianni Aiello, Naked Giants bassist,, gets his rock ‘n’ roll kicks in his hightop Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers at Bumbershoot. The band appears this summer at ZooTunes at the Woodland Park Zoo. 216907
Local News

Seattle style: What are your shoes saying about you? VIEW

Early-blooming cherry blossom trees are in full display for cyclists along Lake Washington Boulevard near the entrance to Seattle’s Seward Park Thursday March 18, 2021. 216687
Local News

Cherry blossoms in Seward Park are ready for spring VIEW

Third grader Thorin Schempp CQ gives his former third grade teacher Kimberly Gillingham CQ flowers after school at Echo Lake Elementary School Monday, March 8, 2021. Echo Lake Elementary School decorated the building with banners and balloons welcoming back students for the first day of hybrid, in-person classes. Schempp, who is continuing to attend classes remotely, wanted to send her good wishes and let her know he’s doing well. 216598
Education

Shoreline schools welcome back students in person with hybrid learning model

Education

The coronavirus is surging, but Canada is keeping schools open

Education Lab

Washington teachers take it slow, help kids learn basic social skills during the first weeks of in-person school

Seattle Public Schools working to define what students must do to re-enroll in their current schools

About Education Lab

Education Lab is a Seattle Times project that spotlights promising approaches to some of the most persistent challenges in public education.

Health

Doctor cleared of COVID-19 vaccine theft sues Harris County

A doctor who was fired after Harris County public health officials accused him of stealing vials of COVID-19 vaccine to administer to family and friends is suing the county for discrimination

Times Watchdog

A still from a video shows former Tukwila police officer Nick Hogan used an unsanctioned takedown against Alvin Walker in 2011, breaking Walker’s elbow. Hogan was fired after multiple investigations found he violated department policy, and later pleaded guilty to violating a suspect’s civil rights, but he retained his state certification.

Fired, but still a cop: How Washington state’s decertification process leaves troubled officers with their guns

More Special Reports

A photograph of stepfather Sean Rowe and mother Carmen Rowe is taken in downtown Seattle Monday, Dec. 12, 2016. Their son Andrew Westling, 19, died while in the Nisqually Jail earlier this year. They described Westling as friendly and that he loved music, horses and fishing.
Times Watchdog

Fatal confines? A teen’s troubling death in Nisqually tribal jail

Monday, October 31, 2016. Hundreds of untested Rape Kits fill a freezer isle in the Seattle Police Departments evidence room (kits kept at 5 degrees).
Crime

Rape-kit backlog grows at state crime lab — despite new money WATCH

Tom Wales, assistant U.S. Attorney and president of the gun-control group Washington CeaseFire, was the apparent victim of an execution-style slaying Thursday night in his Queen Anne home. The gunman shot Wales through a basement window, hitting the prosecutor in the neck and side. Thomas Wales
Crime

Unsolved slaying of Seattle prosecutor 16 years ago today has ‘hallmarks of a hit’

Special Report

‘My God, that’s Kimberly!’: Scientist solves perplexing mystery of identity thief Lori Ruff

Data

Queen Anne apartments seen from the Space Needle on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021.

60,000 Seattle-area renters are behind on rent as eviction moratoriums near expiration | FYI Guy

Crime

FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, left, and Ethan Nordean, right with megaphone, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington. A federal judge has ordered Biggs and Nordean, two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group, to be arrested and jailed while awaiting trial on charges they planned and coordinated an attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The two had been free since their March 10 indictment, but U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly concluded April 19, that the two men are dangerous and won’t abide by release conditions. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Lawyer for Auburn-area Proud Boy focuses on whether U.S. Capitol riot disrupted an ‘official proceeding’

Shielded by the Law

Nearly impossible to charge police for wrongful killings in Washington

Seattle Sketcher

Even on a hot summer day, these golfers are up for some clubbing

Check out eye-popping exotics every week at Redmond Town Center car show

Seattle’s Uptown got a new name, but a historic landmark shines on

The return of ‘Alki Fridays’ coed volleyball brings energy back to the beach

Eastside

The Wilburton Train Trestle, seen from the air Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 in Bellevue, is a 102-foot tall abandoned BNSF railway spanning Southeast 8th Street (obscured by trees in the background), and will be turned into a pedestrian and cyclist trail with help from a $7.5 million donation from Amazon. 218280

Complicated, ‘breathtaking’ segment of Eastside foot and bike trail to open by 2024

Environment

Juvenile snow crab , like these shown here, were scarce in the 2021 survey conducted by NOAA Fisheries in the Bering Sea. The numbers of males were down more than 96 percent compared to three years earlier, and the numbers of females were down by a stunning more than 99 percent.

Valuable crab populations are in a ‘very scary’ decline in warming Bering Sea VIEW

Weather

See the latest weather news and forecasts

Science

Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest unscathed by wildfire

The ancient massive trees of Sequoia National Park’s famed Giant Forest are unscathed even though a wildfire has been burning near them in California’s Sierra Nevada for nearly two weeks VIEW

Earthquakes

Get ready to rumble: A guide to quake preparedness

Northwest Wanderings

Professional drummer Chris Anderson is into the beat he’s providing at First Avenue and Pike Street across from the Pike Place Market, busking for five hours. Northwest Wanderings Friday July 16, 2021 217681

Busker brings A-list drumming pedigree to Pike Place Market WATCH

Gianni Aiello, Naked Giants bassist,, gets his rock ‘n’ roll kicks in his hightop Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers at Bumbershoot. The band appears this summer at ZooTunes at the Woodland Park Zoo. 216907

Seattle style: What are your shoes saying about you? VIEW

Allison Stein uses an aerial hammock for a vigorous exercise routine at the old gas works. This strong, stretchy fabric is also used by yoga practitioners. says the views are great and “it’s significantly more fun than accounting.” Northwest Wanderings, Gas Works Park Saturday March 6, 2021 216512

This popular Seattle landmark grew from polluted dirt VIEW

Dirt bikers Tyler Hedberg, left, Kody Clark and Blake Trimble prepare for their final run on the course in Carnation at the winter Tour de Farm. Wanderings_Mud_Run Saturday January 2, 2021 216045

Tour de Farm: a playground for muddy buddies on wheels in Carnation VIEW