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Tim Eyman is running for governor. (Ted S. Warren / The Associated Press)

Local Politics

Spendy dinners and $79 haircuts: Tim Eyman isn’t living like someone who’s bankrupt, AG says

Attorney General Bob Ferguson implies in court documents that Eyman's pending divorce may be a ruse, and says his spending, including thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment, is "wildly inappropriate for someone who is in bankruptcy."

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Local Politics

What the plastic bag ban would mean for Seattle, the pulp and paper industry

As the Kaleetan ferry from Bremerton prepares to leave Colman dock and head back to Bremerton, the Puyallup ferry from Bainbridge Island (at left) waits to pull in to the slip. During construction on the Colman dock, ferries share one slip where they load and unload cars and passengers shot Thursday, January 16, 2020. Ferry ridership declined last year. One reason is all the disruption at Colman Dock as it is being rebuilt. 212695

Traffic Lab

Washington State Ferries ridership drops in 2019 from snow, construction and other ferry options VIEW

Expensive residences at the northeast end of the Aurora Bridge are juxtaposed with the homeless encampment below, estimated by a tent resident to number about twenty people.

Snow in the city
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Project Homeless

As smaller Washington cities grapple with homelessness, Republicans take up the issue in the state Legislature

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, speaks with from left, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., as they arrive for a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, on a reintroduction of a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) DCAH124

Nation & World Politics

Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal endorses Bernie Sanders for president

Times Watchdog

Earlier this decade, Washington had the third-highest rate in the nation of adults with a mental illness, and the second-highest rate for those whose illness interfered with major life activities. At the same time, a government survey ranked Washington’s inpatient psychiatric bed capacity almost last in the nation.This gap between need and specialized care has led to more patients waiting in facilities that aren’t equipped to treat them, and left nearly a quarter of adults with mental illness unable to get the help they needed.Yet one source of mental-health care has expanded rapidly: private psychiatric hospitals.State payments to five private psychiatric hospitals nearly tripled over five years, totaling almost $67 million in 2018.Seven such hospitals have been built or expanded in Washington since 2012. And when three more come online, they will have added more than 850 inpatient beds. All but one of the facilities are for-profit.Until 2012, state regulators hadn’t approved a new psychiatric hospital in years. What changed?As legal pressure mounted on Washington state to add psychiatric treatment beds, the expansion of Medicaid coverage and mental-health benefits created a potentially lucrative opportunity for health care companies.When all the approved psychiatric hospitals open, there will be almost three times as many beds in such facilities as there are in the psychiatric wings of medical hospitals.On paper, this expansion looks like a salve for Washington’s mental-health crisis.

Investigative reporter Daniel Gilbert uncovers problems at private psychiatric hospitals

Politics

No longer a motoring paradise, busy Bellevue prepares to absorb 40,000 more jobs. Shot Thursday, November 21, 2019.

The Bellevue Transit Center is located at 10850 NE 6th Street, looking west.
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5 of the Seattle area’s most changed neighborhoods: We crunched the data on population, income, jobs | FYI Guy

Project Homeless

Typical bedroom in one of the cottages at Thunderbird Treatment Center, a 65-bed inpatient substance use disorder treatment facility serving Native Americans in Seattle, shot Friday, December 27, 2019.

Thunderbird Treatment Center, after 22 years, will shutter its doors this February. The Seattle Indian Health Board, which operates the facility, hopes to use the sale of the land to fund a bigger, better facility, but in the short-term that means a critical resource for urban Natives and low-income whites in Seattle will be cut. SIHB will expand outpatient care to make up some of the difference.

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This South Seattle treatment center has been helping Native people beat substance use disorders for more than 30 years. So why is it closing? WATCH

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

Tuesday traffic mess in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood: Section of Dexter Avenue North closed for 15 hours due to downed wires

Local News Photography

Six-stories down, a tour group explores the large lock, or chamber drained for maintenance and repairs.

Ref to more photos online

Tour of the Ballard (Large) Lock.
It?s a century-old, empty and will be getting upgrades, repairs.

Friday Oct 25, 2019
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Local News

Walking inside the empty Ballard Locks makes you feel small VIEW

With help from two of her chambelanes, honored escorts, Dulce Ramos practices the lift, part of a choreographed dance performed later in the evening during her Quinceanera celebration of her 15th birthday. The lift reveals checked sneakers to be exchanged for high heels signifying transition to womanhood.

REF to more photos online

Northwest Wanderings on the
Quinceanera of Dulce Ramos, the day before her 15th birthday.
Traditional Mexican celebration,
Marysville, WA on Saturday Oct 12, 2019 211806

Local News

Dad had a secret plan for teen daughter’s quinceañera party in Marysville VIEW

Marie-Eve Logan carries her cat Puck with daughter Madison Logan, 8, and Jackson Logan, 6, in Batman costumes at the Halloween Pet Parade and costume contest at Volunteer Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle Sunday October 20, 2019. 211861

Local News

Putting on the dog — and cat — at the Halloween Pet Parade VIEW

Native Americans and others watch as a huge group of Native Americans march along 5th Avenue through downtown Seattle from Westlake Park to Seattle City Hall Monday, October 14, 2019, to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
The event will include an opening blessing, a proclamation, speeches, a light lunch and Native cultural dance and song performances. 211809

Local News

Native Americans march through downtown Seattle to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day VIEW

Education

Seattle School Board will vote Wednesday on a plan to transform Washington Middle. Here’s a refresher.

The decision regarding a single school has attracted heightened scrutiny because it would eventually phase out Washington's Highly Capable Cohort classes.

Education Lab

Last year, Washington lawmakers made college free for some. This year, they want to make it more accessible.

Washington may mandate ‘comprehensive’ sex education for all public schools. What does that mean, and other FAQs.

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

Science Says: What to know about the viral outbreak in China

Health authorities are closely watching an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a new virus that originated in China. Governments are stepping up surveillance of airline passengers from central China and taking other steps to try to control the outbreak. Here's what you should know about the illness: WHAT IS THE NEW VIRUS? Scientists have...