News
Seattle’s Democracy Vouchers Aim To Increase Civic Participation. Will They Work?
Seattle’s unique Democracy Voucher Program was designed to increase the number and diversity of local candidates. Is it doing the job?
This article appears in print in the July 2019 issue. Click here to subscribe. This year’s Seattle City Council races have produced a bumper crop of candidates—56 people running for seven council seats. Of those, more than 40 have signed up to participate in the city’s audacious experiment in campaign funding: democracy vouchers, a unique form of public…
Seattle Nonprofit Aims To Clean up Homeless Encampments Rather Than Sweep Them Away
Facing Homelessness, a local nonprofit behind the BLOCK Project, finds a new avenue for its advocacy
I’m standing next to a freeway overpass, chatting with a couple dozen strangers about what brought us here this Sunday morning. As we mill about, Rex Hohlbein, the head of the nonprofit group Facing Homelessness, beams and hugs each new arrival. A pile of garbage bags, a dozen hardware-store grabbers, two boxes of latex gloves,…
The Latest Battle Over the Showbox
Attorneys for the city of Seattle and the owners of the music venue will face off in court on June 21
This Friday, June 21, attorneys for the city of Seattle and the owners of the Showbox building will face off in King County Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi’s courtroom in the latest battle over the fate of the downtown music venue. Last month, the Seattle City Council extended a temporary expansion of the Pike Place…
This Week Then: Looking Back on the Seattle SuperSonics
Plus: This week's nautical anniversaries
This story was originally published at HistoryLink.org. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter. Champion Team Forty years ago this week, on June 1, 1979, the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Washington Bullets 97-93 in Washington, D.C., and brought home the team’s first (and only) NBA championship. It was the city’s first major professional-sports trophy since the Seattle Metropolitans hockey…
Tech Addiction Is on the Rise in Seattle and Beyond
When a Seattle boy couldn’t stop playing video games, his parents came to a hard truth: Their son was addicted. And he’s not alone. In our tech-focused city—and the nation—more people are seeking help for this condition. But there’s no easy fix.
This article appears in print in the June 2019 issue and is produced in collaboration with Crosscut. Click here to subscribe. * The names of the family members have been changed to protect their privacy. Laura and Dave Johnson* had always known that their older son, Eric, was different than other kids. Diagnosed with severe ADHD at a…
This Week Then: Giving a Hoot About Northern Spotted Owls
Plus: Honoring Washington state residents who lost their lives in combat
This story was originally published at HistoryLink.org. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter. Giving a Hoot On May 23, 1991, U.S. District Court Judge William Dwyer blocked timber sales in national forests to protect the northern spotted owl, after the National Audubon Society and the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund challenged the U.S. Forest Service’s 1986 Forest Management…
This Week Then: How Seattle’s UW Campus Took Shape
Plus: Shelton, Blaine and Hoquiam turn 129
This story was originally published at HistoryLink.org. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter. Campus Sights In 1895 the University of Washington moved from downtown Seattle to its present location, which at the time was heavily forested and undeveloped. The campus took root on the northern portion of the property, but as the university grew its regents sought ways…
King County Program Aims to Help Students’ Mental Health
More and more students are stressed, depressed and even suicidal. Can a new King County program make a difference?
This article appears in print in the May 2019 issue. Click here to subscribe. It’s a small but alarming statistic. Among kids ages 10–24, suicide is the second-leading cause of death in King County. “We used to have a kid that we needed to hospitalize for suicidality at Seattle Children’s, maybe one kid every three months,” says David Downing,…
This Week Then: I-5 Turns 50
The new freeway helped boost the development of Washington cities along its route
This story was originally published at HistoryLink.org. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter. Interstate 5 Fifty years ago this week, on May 14, 1969, the final segment of Interstate 5 in Washington opened for traffic between Marysville and Everett, allowing motorists to travel without interruption from the Canadian border to the California state line. The new freeway also…
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