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4:22 PM Wed, Jul 01, 2009 | Permalink
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I first pitched the story about covering someone hoping to use the state's new Death with Dignity law to my editors a few months ago. I thought it was an important story.
Washington is only the second state to pass such a law and it means so much more than the political ads and sound bites we saw during last year's election.
I approached someone from the public relations arm of the group that pushed for passage of the law in Novemb...
2:56 PM Mon, Jun 29, 2009 | Permalink
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It takes some doing to find the small Pierce County town of Wilkeson. It is on the way to the northwest entrance of Mount Rainier National Park, but a washout has kept it closed for a few years. But long before Rainier brought travelers through Wilkeson, two industries kept the town bustling: quarries and coal mining. Today, sandstone and other rocks are still mined, although coal hasn't come out of the ground here in more than 30 years. But i...
9:04 PM Fri, Jun 19, 2009 | Permalink
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"Sunday's just about here," the clerk behind the counter shouted as I walked into my neighborhood convenience store.
"What's Sunday?" I asked.
"Are you kidding me?" he poked. "It's Father's Day!"
I hadn't forgotten, but my brain just didn't make the connection as I stood at the cash register that day. I don't think my husband would buy that excuse. But it's the truth.
Still, it got me to thinking. Do dads get di...
2:27 PM Wed, Jun 17, 2009 | Permalink
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City A: A trace of rain in June
City B: 5.32-inches of June precipitation, and rain on 12 out of 16 days
If you guessed City A is Seattle and City B is New York, then you get a prize. Seattle, today is your day of reckoning - when nearly a month of rainless days could culminate in a spring record. If the official Sea-Tac rain gauge goes wanting today, then it will be the 29th straight such day with no measurea...
5:13 PM Mon, Jun 15, 2009 | Permalink
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In the movies, a bank is robbed, the teller pushes a button and magic happens. Police race to the scene, catch the bad guy and recover the cash.
It might have worked that way (on occasion) 40 years ago when banks were few and their alarms were wired to police departments. But according to the FBI, there are now 80,000 bank branches in the U.S. If alarms went straight to the police, that's all officers would do.
And since most alarm...
3:27 PM Thu, Jun 11, 2009 | Permalink
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San Juan Island residents with a long memory might see something they haven't seen in 40 years. It's been that long since bluebirds flew around the islands and other parts of the Puget Sound region. But shrinking tracts of their preferred habitat -- meadows sprinkled with garry oak trees -- basically led to their demise.
...
4:42 PM Fri, Jun 05, 2009 | Permalink
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I am a worrier. It's what I do and I'm really good at it. That's why I recently checked out 15 children's books on personal safety to prepare my kids for their first trip away from my eagle eyes this summer. The topics range from bicycle safety, to >> Continue reading: Worry Wart
5:41 PM Wed, Jun 03, 2009 | Permalink
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What do 90° in Seattle, a heat index of 100° in Boston and a heat index of 105° in Chicago have in common?
They all trigger a heat advisory issuance by the National Weather Service, like we had in Western Washington today. (Sea-Tac set a record high of 89°.)
So why the lack of consistency? It has to do with what people are acclimated to in different parts of the country. When it comes to heat, apparently we're weather wimps here in...
6:53 AM Wed, Jun 03, 2009 | Permalink
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This will never be a problem for my 9 year old daughter. I will never have to resort to sneaking extra calories into her meals. No one will ever have to call her twice to the dinner table; a little "gift" she inherited from me.
But my six year old son on the other hand... ugh. He eats what he's told, but never has "seconds." And he's tiny.
...
5:14 PM Mon, Jun 01, 2009 | Permalink
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Today a national bird protection group called for cat protection groups to give up a popular birth control method.
Trap, neuter, and release, or TNR, is a favorite strategy because it prevents millions of unwanted kitten births and allows fixed cats to live out their days in the wild.
But the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) group says when those cats are released, they eat millions of song birds nationwide.
Both sides have so...
5:08 PM Thu, May 28, 2009 | Permalink
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The building gives nothing away. But inside a stark metal structure in Everett, volunteers are re-creating beautiful things and rediscovering their younger days.
The Museum of Flight Restoration Center at Paine Field is where old airplanes go to be reborn. Birds 50, 60, even 70 years old land here, often after years of neglect. They come from the military, airlines or private owners who don't want them anymore. This is where they'll be ...
11:16 AM Thu, May 28, 2009 | Permalink
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It's 7 a.m., and I timidly offer my 2-year-old daughter a bowl of oatmeal.
"I don't like that!" she yells, swatting the bowl, sending it flying through the air and onto the floor. I rush to grab a towel to clean it up, while lamely telling her that was not a nice thing to do.
This whole situation is almost comical. My sweet baby has turned into a terror, and we (her parents) have become almost like abused servants, just trying ...
5:05 PM Sun, May 24, 2009 | Permalink
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It's a combination that will either make your mouth water with anticipation, or recoil with repugnance. I, for one, am salivating. And apparently, so are many of you. The marriage of two favorite food groups -- vodka and bacon -- is a dream come true for people who would rather spend their time mixing a cocktail than slaving over a hot stove when it comes to breakfast. ...
4:03 PM Fri, May 22, 2009 | Permalink
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Federal Fish and Wildlife agents are investigating whether a cow found dead near Twisp is the first victim of the state's newly established wolf pack.
The so-called Lookout Mountain pack moved into Okanogan County several months ago and was first picked up by motion-activated cameras mounted in the woods.
Since then biologists managed to capture and radio-tag two members of the pack which is believed the first to live in Washington...
9:03 PM Thu, May 21, 2009 | Permalink
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It's a question I ask my children a gazillion times a day. "Did you wash your hands?" That's usually followed by, "Did you wash your hands with soap?" As they begrudgingly saunter back to the bathroom to do this seemingly difficult task I wonder, why is it so hard to get kids to follow this simple rule? ...
4:25 PM Wed, May 20, 2009 | Permalink
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Bert Webber tried unsuccessfully to make this same pitch in 1990. Back then, very few people were familiar with the term "Salish." He hopes there is better luck this time.
Webber and his wife believe that if these cross boundary waters were united by an overarching name, people might be better able to unite and deal with international issues of conservation and habitat restoration of the common ecosystem.
The o...
5:23 PM Tue, May 19, 2009 | Permalink
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High-tech projects are never easy and that has certainly been the case with SPD's move from a paper system to electronic reporting.
It makes sense to put reports into the computer. It can help detectives investigate crimes by pulling up other incidents involving the same suspect. It can help police identify crime patterns, track statistics and better allocate resources.
Computer reports mean it's easier to share information with ot...
9:10 AM Tue, May 19, 2009 | Permalink
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A lot of kids are having trouble learning handwriting these days, and it's really no mystery why: Their parents have trouble, too. So many of us rely on computers and text messaging these days, good handwriting is becoming something of a lost art.
But if your child struggles with it in school, the reality is -- SCHOOL will be a struggle for them.
...
10:37 AM Fri, May 15, 2009 | Permalink
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Few forecasts this time of year give me more heartburn than when an anticipated beautiful weekend begins to appear less benevolent. You never want to build up good weather expectations to a rain-weary public and then pull the proverbial rug out from under them. This weekend's forecast is a good example.
All week it looked as if the weekend would shape up warm and dry. But on Thursday, some computer models started hinting that clou...
9:10 PM Mon, May 11, 2009 | Permalink
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They say Mount Rainier makes its own weather, so when the Northwest's highest peak allows the sun to shine on it, you take advantage.
With that in mind, a big group of us planned a Mother's Day hike to Camp Muir (some relation, so I am told). It's a base camp at about 10,000 feet with a few bunk houses where people rest before they make an assault on the 14,411-foot summit. But this would just be a day hike, roughly 9 miles round-trip.
5:22 PM Mon, May 11, 2009 | Permalink
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This just in from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: blue whales are back.
What is believed to be the largest creature to ever exist on this planet was teetering on the edge of extinction 20 years ago. A whaling ban was credited for a rebound in their population, but the giant mammals abandoned a traditional migratory route up the Pacific from their California breeding grounds.
NOAA now reports the whales have app...
2:55 PM Fri, May 08, 2009 | Permalink
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Let me first be honest with you- I was not around in 1977.
The Frost-Nixon buzz had long since fizzled by the time I was old enough to read about Richard Nixon in my elementary school history books. ...
4:48 AM Fri, May 08, 2009 | Permalink
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It's the start of another camping season, and ours is a camping family. It started with my Dad in an unusual way.
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1:32 PM Tue, May 05, 2009 | Permalink
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Pharmacies CAN do something about the crime wave that's sweeping across the state. I say that with confidence, because they've done it before.
In 2005 Washington state pharmacies were in the national spotlight. That year there were 48 pharmacy burglaries in the state of Washington - more than any other state in the union, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Thieves would often break into the pharmacies at night and clean ou...
8:03 PM Mon, May 04, 2009 | Permalink
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Just two days after the Mariners hosted "Turn Back the Clock Night" at Safeco, the weather is following suit. You won't get a vintage Seattle Rainiers hat, but you need to hang on to whatever hat you are wearing or else it will get blown off.
A vigorous area of low pressure arcing northward toward Vancouver Island is packing a windy punch to western Washington. Before it's all over, we could see gusts near 60mph along the coast, and gus...
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