Skip to content

Space Needle Workers to Rally, $10 Toll Possibility & More

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

By Lauren Mang March 18, 2015

spaceneedle_1

Ten dollars can buy you a lot of things. This coffee, yogurt and banana (with tip) that I’m currently enjoying, for one. Ten dollars might also soon buy you a trip down I-405 express lanes. A bit steep, eh? According to King 5 News, The Washington State Transportation Commission will hold its final public meeting and vote tonight on what the toll rates and carpool rules should be. “During peak hours, the toll rates may be as high as $10 per trip. The transportation commission calls this a destination polling model where it would cost more the longer people drive on the interstate.” The lanes are expected to open in the fall.

Affordable housing news: A group of activists and low-cost housing advocates authored a report called “Solutions to Seattle’s Housing Emergency” in the hopes of bringing attention to the housing crisis our city currently faces. Among the ideas in the report, “a proposal calling on the city to issue $500 million in bonds to pay for new low-income housing, changes to zoning regulations to allow more affordable housing, tenant protections and limits on rents in Seattle,” reports MyNorthwest.com. Several councilmembers, including Kshama Sawant, are supporting the group’s suggestions.

After news surfaced recently about the new higher paid seasonal workers coming on board at the Space Needle, longtime employees who receive lower wages were up in arms. Now, along with labor activists, those employees have plans to protest for higher pay outside the Needle at 9:30 a.m. today. 

R.I.P IE: Microsoft announced it will abandon its Internet Explorer brand and instead use a “new name and brand” in Windows 10, reports Geekwire. There is still no word on what the new browser will be called.

 

Follow Us

Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride

Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride

Plan a summer day around these bookshops in Seattle, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Poulsbo.

Independent bookstores tend to be cornerstones of the communities in which they reside, and Seattle is no exception. In addition to helping customers discover their next read, these neighborhood hubs host weekly gatherings and events, like publication release parties, author talks, and book clubs. Many of them have cafés and reading tables that encourage lingering…

Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae

Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

SEATTLE ART FAIR RETURNS  The buzziest event of the summer (well, aside from the World Cup), is returning next week. Now in its 10th edition, the Seattle Art Fair will once again take over the Lumen Field Event Center, packing it to the gills with art from 101 local, national, and international galleries. This year,…

Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison

Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison

Seattle artist Jennifer Leigh Harrison uses layers of paint and abstraction to explore what we carry beneath the surface.

Jennifer Leigh Harrison’s paintings are dense with movement. Color and texture gather into mosaic-like fields, as if they have been fractured and reformed. There are places in the work where a frenetic buzz seems trapped between the canvas and the first layer of paint. That energy runs through Patterns of Belonging, her current exhibition at…

ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart

ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart

The Federal Way-raised singer talks hometown memories, Ivar’s clam chowder, and how it feels to perform in the place he grew up.

Long before he was performing in sold-out arenas around the world and representing brands like Prada, ENHYPEN’s Jay called the Puget Sound region home. Born Jay Park (not to be confused with the other famous K-pop star of the same name, who is also from Seattle) in Seattle and raised in nearby Federal Way before…