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Orca Death, Bertha Delayed Again & More News

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

By Lauren Mang December 5, 2014

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Earthquake news: Scientists are worried it’s a little too quiet out there where the Cascadia earthquake fault zone, which normally generates signs of grinding and slipping, lies. You know, typical earth-moving noises. Now, scientists are asking for more instruments that could better detect signs a giant 9.0 earthquake is headed our way.

When will Bertha, our SR 99 tunnel boring maching, start drilling again? Not in March as previously estimated. The project is delayed again and is expected to resume in April 2015.

Orca death: Sadly, an 18-year-old female Orca whale was found dead in British Columbia. She was a member of the J pod and was named “Rhapsody.” The West Seattle Blog has all the details here.

Bellevue prides itself on how racially diverse it is. And it’s definitely more diverse than Seattle, with its minority population of 42 percent. (Seattle’s is 34 percent.) However, The Seattle Times reports Bellevue’s city government workforce, boards and commissions are predominately white and male. To help fix the problem, the city is looking to adopt The Bellevue Diversity Initiative, which “makes 60 recommendations, from providing more translation and interpretation services to closing the schools’ achievement gap for minorities and English language learners.”

Expect more downtown construction cranes soon: Developer Urban Visions has secured financing for its planned 39-story tower at the corner of Second Avenue and Pike Street, The Puget Sound Business Journal reports. The luxury apartment tower will take the place of what is currently a surface parking lot.

 

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