The Level of No Return
One of many perks of being an REI co-op member is the shop’s beneficiant return coverage. When you don’t like a water bottle, or a jacket, or a pair of mountaineering boots, you could have twelve months to convey it again—or no less than most of you do. The retailer not too long ago despatched discover out to a small fraction of its members (lower than 0.02 %) who, REI says, abused the corporate’s generosity, returning the overwhelming majority of their purchases, usually after having used them. The message? No extra returns for you.
He Walked in Magnificence
Lord Byron, a Capitol Hill cat who grew to become web well-known after its homeowners created a web site the place residents might doc seeing him across the neighborhood, has died. He was a beloved cat who, boasting an AirTag tracker on his collar as he wandered his area, endeared himself to locals, usually frolicked in random companies, and accrued 1000’s of admirers on Fb. Might he relaxation in peace.
We Received Him This Time
An outbuilding in rural North Carolina. An outdated parachute that matches the outline. A household with a long time of suspicion. Might these be the clues that lastly lead investigators to substantiate the id of iconic hijacker D. B. Cooper? The kids of Richard Floyd McCoy II consider so, and declare their late father, who pulled off the same heist in Utah 5 months after Cooper jumped out of that airplane in 1971, was the person America has spent a long time in search of. In fact, the FBI doesn’t appear suppose so.…
Mergers and Acquisitions
We’re used to listening to about grocery chains and telecom corporations merging—not establishments of upper studying. However that’s precisely what’s occurring as Cornish School of the Arts and Seattle College introduced a plan to meld right into a single establishment. The smushing collectively comes at a time when non-public universities throughout the nation are scuffling with low enrollment and monetary duress. That is most likely a greater match than, say, Bastyr and Seattle Pacific Universities can be, however nonetheless bizarre.
Winter 2024
Hen Watching
When the Storm chosen Sue Hen with the primary decide of the 2002 WNBA draft, expectations have been excessive. Twenty years later, Hen retired as a five-time gold medalist, four-time league champion, and the form of Seattle icon youngsters and adults admire equally. Now, she’s additionally the form of icon who will get positioned underneath the tree as a Christmas present. The “Barbie Sue Hen Inspiring Girls™ Doll” options Hen rocking not Storm colours, however a pink, white, and blue jersey together with her iconic quantity 10, and features a little basketball, too.
Your Pleasant Neighborhood Kinkajou
Drivers stopping for a breather at a relaxation space close to Yakima on Interstate 82 have been handled to a uncommon sight not too long ago—a small, raccoon-like creature with sharp enamel, a protracted tail, and massive spherical eyes clinging to a signpost. The animal turned out to be a kinkajou—a tropical rainforest mammal whose habitat stretches from Mexico to Brazil. The way it ended up in an arid valley in Central Washington stays a thriller. However it was rescued by the Division of Fish and Wildlife and despatched to the Level Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma for care.
Tower Time
For a very long time, probably the most iconic constructing in Seattle wasn’t the House Needle—it was the Smith Tower, as soon as the tallest constructing on the West Coast, with its pyramid pointing as much as the sky. Since its building in 1914, the skyscraper has lived many lives. For twenty years, it was owned by native restaurateur Ivar Haglund, then by Samis—the inspiration left behind by the eccentric Pioneer Sq. landlord Sam Israel. Now it has been bought by a gaggle of traders led by holding firm GT Capital. No phrase but on what they’ve deliberate for the penthouse.
Fall 2024
Twice Is Good
We’ve been enjoying baseball or some type of it for greater than 150 years. And but the game will at all times offer you one thing you’ve by no means seen earlier than. Working example: Mariners fan Josh George caught a foul popup from third baseman Josh Rojas within the first inning of a house sport in opposition to the Royals. Then, on the very subsequent pitch, George bought one other foul popup off the bat of Rojas. The subsequent day, the Mariners invited the fortunate fan out to throw not one, however two ceremonial first pitches.
Ramps to Nowhere No Extra
For many years, silly Seattleites have jumped off the “ramps to nowhere” on the Washington Park Arboretum and into the murky waters beneath. The ramps have been a remnant of a north-south freeway undertaking that was halted by neighborhood activists within the ’60s and ’70s. And now, lastly, they’ve been eliminated: casualties of the 520 bridge substitute. The town stored one of many former bridge helps in place, with plans to make it a monument to the profitable freeway revolt.
A Striped Star
It began out as a novelty. Then it grew right into a phenomenon. 4 zebras escaped from a trailer pulled over off I-90 in North Bend, sauntering out into the woods. Three have been captured comparatively rapidly. However the fourth didn’t flip up. For days. “He might be going to Cle Elum by now, he might be up by Rattlesnake, he might be taking a drink out of the lake…we don’t know,” North Bend mayor Mary Miller advised FOX 13 Seattle. On social media, photos of Shug the zebra appeared on a ferry, atop the House Needle, at Dick’s. It turned out he was simply hanging round North Bend, the place finally native residents discovered Shug—a feminine, opposite to early stories—in good well being.
Summer season 2024
Bombs Away
You by no means know what’s laying round within the neighbor’s storage. A Bellevue resident handed away not too long ago and left his neighbor accountable for his belongings—together with a rusted, navy grade missile. After the neighbor referred to as a museum in Ohio to ask about it, the museum reached out to native police. Seems the missile, a Douglas Air-2 Genie designed to hold Chilly Warfare–period nuclear warheads (however not carrying one), was inert.
Carroll Carousel
The 2024 Seattle soccer panorama will look loads totally different. However not that totally different. Solely every week after legendary Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was ousted after 14 years, and the one Tremendous Bowl victory in franchise historical past, the Washington Huskies employed his son Brennan to be their offensive coordinator. (In addition they added Steve Belichick, son of former Patriots coach and Seahawks nemesis Invoice, to guide their protection.)
Testing, Testing
4 years after the nation’s first recognized case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Washington, our state is introducing merchandising machines to dispense free check kits, amongst different well being provides. Shut your eyes and suppose again to early 2020. This isn’t the long run you’ll have imagined. The machines, unveiled by the Division of Well being, can be in public locations, managed by native well being jurisdictions and Tribal nations.
Spring 2024
Barging In
A runaway barge drifting perilously near vacationer sights on the Seattle waterfront? Feels like a state of affairs dreamed up for a Gray’s Anatomy episode. However it truly occurred late final 12 months. Earlier than the large barge loaded with empty containers might smash into the Nice Wheel or Seattle Aquarium, the captain and crew of a close-by King County Water Taxi acted quick, utilizing their very own vessel to push the barge north towards an remoted space. Remarkably, no one was injured.
Radio Radio
For the previous three a long time, Seattle’s beloved indie radio station KEXP has been slowly rising its footprint: more and more massive transmitters, a brand new residence in Seattle Heart, a well-liked YouTube channel for its reside performances, possession of a second radio station within the Bay Space. Wait, what? Yep. KEXP bought KREV 92.7 out of receivership for $3.75 million. The brand new KREV will broadcast KEXP programming in and round San Francisco and finally launch a neighborhood Bay Space music present. How did KEXP pay for it? With assist from a $10 million bequest left by an nameless donor—so don’t fear, Amplifiers, your {dollars} are staying native.
Pac-2
The once-storied West Coast school sports activities convention that was residence to the College of Washington, UCLA, Stanford, and others has been cannibalized by larger, wealthier conferences with extra profitable TV offers. The result’s that 10 of its 12 applications are on their manner out the door, leaving solely Washington State College and Oregon State College holding the (empty) bag. The logistics are complicated, and the authorized battle is ongoing. However search for Pac-2 soccer in 2024, whereas the Huskies break new floor within the Large Ten, which is definitely going to be nearer to a Large 20.
Bartell Them Goodbye
A pandemic-era Capitol Hill landmark is gone, and a historic native chain is struggling. The Ceremony Support with the “Come Get Sh_t_ Right here” marquee grew to become the most recent in a wave of closures amongst Seattle-area drug shops for the reason that pharmacy large declared chapter. Ceremony Support—which purchased Seattle-founded Bartell Medicine in 2020—has been shuttering areas of each chains for months, together with shops in Everett, Bellevue, and Redmond.
Winter 2023
Cretaceous Race
A whole lot of vicious dinosaurs (individuals in massive, inflatable costumes) descended on Emerald Downs racetrack for the T-Rex World Championship Races, which included each child and grownup occasions. Amid the stumbling grownup dinos, a trio sprinted to the entrance of the pack for a photograph end within the remaining contest. “I’ve been coaching for this all my life,” mentioned winner Boto Rex (actual identify Ocean Kim) from atop the rostrum, his little dino arms hoisting an enormous inexperienced trophy.
Stepped in It
It’s a grimy job however anyone’s bought to do it. Pooper Trooper, primarily based in Lynnwood, filed go well with in opposition to Scoop Troop, a Spokane firm, for infringing on its model id and trademark. Each companies specialise in canine waste elimination, a surprisingly profitable and aggressive trade. The case was settled out of courtroom when Scoop Troop agreed to alter its identify to Swoop Scoop—which they don’t consider will throw their prospects for a loop.
Sport Misconduct
This one is actually arduous to elucidate. The Seattle Kraken discovered themselves mired in a social media controversy after embracing a subset of romance novel followers on TikTok who forged professional hockey gamers in steamy subplots as a type of fan fiction. The Kraken invited TikTok customers to video games and posted memes that includes their gamers—however then some people bought carried away. Felicia Wennberg, the spouse of Kraken heart Alex Wennberg, requested followers to cease posting “predatory” and sexualized messages. Influencers shot again. Perhaps all of us want a while within the penalty field to chill off.
Roll Up
Scorching canine. Hen bake. Sashimi? The Issaquah Costco grew to become the corporate’s first U.S. location with its personal in-house sushi counter that includes actual reside cooks chopping fish and assembling rolls for every day buy. To this point, recent sushi hasn’t appeared in another native Costcos.
Fall 2023
Level Break In
On Might 25, a gaggle of moist go well with–clad burglars broke into an occupied waterfront residence in Yarrow Level at about 4am. They stole roughly $20,000 in money from a secure, made their manner onto kayaks, and paddled off into the darkness. Officers from the Clyde Hill Police Division mentioned they believed the burglars have been headed north on Lake Washington towards, of all locations, Kirkland.
Doodle Dandy
Rebecca Wu, a Bellevue sixth grader, gained the annual “Doodle for Google” competitors, together with her drawing referred to as “My Sweetest Recollections.” Along with seeing her art work on Google’s homepage for a day, she additionally gained a $30,000 school scholarship and a $50,000 grant for her college. Wu says her profitable entry was impressed by her sisters.
Fleeced?
In a battle between two manufacturers on the coronary heart of Seattle’s id, Patagonia is suing Nordstrom for promoting what it claims are counterfeit gadgets at Rack shops. Patagonia claims that, after an 11-year partnership between the businesses ended, Nordstrom Rack continued to promote 1000’s of mislabeled sweatshirts and T-shirts, usually constructed from inferior supplies.
The Subsequent Apple
Horticulturalists from Washington State College have unveiled the state’s latest apple variant. Presently dubbed WA 64, it’s a hybrid of two widespread varieties: the Honeycrisp and the Cripps Pink (also referred to as the Pink Girl). The WA 64 is the product of years of growth and can take nonetheless extra years to hit your native farmers market, as bushes get planted and mature. By then it’ll have a catchier identify.
Summer season 2023
Highway Rank
It’s not your creativeness: Washington is among the worst states to drive in, no less than in accordance with private finance web site WalletHub. The Evergreen State got here in forty ninth place in a 2023 rating that accounted for site visitors, infrastructure, security, and the price of proudly owning and sustaining a car. Hey, no less than we beat Hawaii.
Buckling Down
Seattle is suing Kia and Hyundai as a result of, as metropolis lawyer Ann Davison places it, the automobile producers “reduce prices on the expense of their prospects.” The lawsuit alleges {that a} lack of anti-theft know-how in these autos is why town’s seen a 363 % improve in stolen Hyundais and a 503 % surge in pilfered Kias from 2021 to 2022.
Sounders F-U
In January, the Sounders introduced Windfall as their principal equipment sponsor…and it didn’t go over effectively. Supporters decried the religiously affiliated well being group’s anti-abortion and anti-transgender stance—one thing at odds with the soccer membership’s public overtures to the LGBTQ neighborhood. Some followers even went as far as to create their very own customized “pro-choice” jerseys.
Evening Streaking
A inexperienced fireball—brightly blazing area particles that explodes within the higher layers of Earth’s ambiance—lit up sprint cams and residential safety programs throughout Western Washington final January. As proud residents rushed to put up their footage on Twitter, the American Meteor Society merely recorded it as Occasion 314-2023 in its fireball log. Strategy to make us really feel particular.
USPS SOS
Native porch pirates have apparently set sail for wider waters as a string of mail truck thefts final winter despatched cops scouring Beacon Hill and West Seattle for the boxy white autos. In all cases, the mail carriers have been unhurt and the vans have been finally recovered—sans a number of packages.
Spring 2023
Flipping the Hen
Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover included an endeavor to promote blue verification checkmarks for $8, leaving manufacturers to take care of IRL fallout from digital impersonators. A pretend account for Redmond-based Nintendo of America posted a pic of its iconic Italian plumber extending the center finger.
Misinformation Thriller
Web scuttlebutt of a serial killer on the unfastened in Seattle appeared to unfold sooner than one might say “pretend information” this fall. A notable Instagram account with 157,000 followers on the time posted in regards to the rumor, and anxious service trade vets handed phrase on to patrons. A College of Washington researcher later picked aside the report’s zero sources and doubtful gossip community progress.
Ticket to Refund
Seattle’s parking enforcement officers have lastly discovered a everlasting spot—again with the Seattle Police Division—after a shift to the Division of Transportation underneath former mayor Jenny Durkan led to an enormous mistake: a authorized technicality that compelled town to nullify practically $4.5 million in parking tickets.
Grocery store Sweep
Shareholders of grocery retailer chain Albertsons should wait just a little longer for a $4 billion payout from a proposed merger with Kroger. Washington’s lawyer basic Bob Ferguson filed for a short lived restraining order till state regulators might evaluate the deal. Based on The Seattle Instances, greater than half of Seattle-area households regularly store at a retailer owned by the 2 corporations.
What a Hoot
“Warning Aggressive Owl” learn indicators posted by the Division of Fish and Wildlife at North SeaTac Park, the place a hostile chicken defending its nest was reportedly harassing passersby. Walkers have been inspired to slowly wave their arms overhead, put on a hat or helmet, or deploy an umbrella in the event that they needed to cross paths with the feathered defender.
Winter 2022
Slimy Seattle
For weeks Reddit ran wild with theories a couple of mysterious pink goo clinging to sidewalks in Wallingford. Was it Tubifera ferruginosa, a raspberry mould? An homage to a wacky podcast sketch? Simply melted sweet? One courageous soul seems to have confirmed the globs are Swedish Fish, the Wallingford Purple Goo Instagram account stories. However its origins stay unknown.
Amazon vs. Microsoft Canceled (Actually)
After the Museum of Museums introduced a name for artwork completely from Amazon and Microsoft employees, many social media commenters dragged a present designed “to recalibrate the narrative round what an enormous tech employee is,” citing the trade’s ties to the gentrification pushing artists out of town. The exhibit, slated to debut this fall on the First Hill artwork area, was swiftly nixed.
Bahhhhd Choices
A Nigerian Dwarf goat was stolen from the Grays Harbor County Truthful. The suspects then took Penny to a Walmart in Lacey (naturally) earlier than the native sheriff’s workplace recovered the three-month-old animal and returned it to its homeowners. The heist wasn’t the one native goat drama. A couple of days later, three runaways trotted alongside Freeway 12 in Brady. A state trooper gave them a journey residence.
The AI Singer
Overlook about these Dall-E Mini artwork memes. Synthetic intelligence can also be coming for the performing arts. A current New York Instances function captured the oddity of watching a jazz fusion band carry out on Maury Island with a machine, Desdemona, as its lead vocalist. The not-yet-sentient singer crooned in regards to the day when engineers can not management their creations.
Bizarre Flex
In late August, the third Seattle-area location of a “premier assisted stretching boutique” opened in Issaquah. StretchLab presents private coaching periods with Flexologists and touts a machine that, after simply three squats, can assess one’s mobility, activation, posture, and symmetry. Memberships begin at $179 monthly.
Fall 2022
Hybrid Commuting
E-bike batteries. A stripped-down mobility scooter. An outdated love seat. Put all of it collectively and you’ve got the motorized sofa Kass Hodorowski has jury-rigged to wheel across the Metropolis of Future. The three-mile-per-hour pleasure rides of Tacoma Sofa Man have each amused social media and highlighted the sorry state of native sidewalk accessibility.
Hulled Up
Angelyn and Richard Burk, previously of Tukwila, will spend their retirement years dwelling completely on cruises. Angelyn, an accountant, says it’s extra inexpensive to perpetually ship off for Sydney and different coastal locales than to abdomen the bonkers price of dwelling on shore.
Drawing the Strains
The Seattle Division of Transportation has eliminated a “guerrilla crosswalk” at Greenwood Avenue North and North 83rd Avenue, The Seattle Instances stories. Thick white traces confirmed up one September day throughout a thoroughfare that’s overdue for a everlasting crossing. It’s being referred to as an act of tactical urbanism.
Et Tu, Apple?
Uncared for produce in warehouses and transport containers will get wasted much less now, due to a neighborhood startup not too long ago featured by GeekWire. Strella Biotechnology makes use of sensors to watch ranges of ethylene, a fuel that fruits exude, to trace which Granny Smiths are ripe or rotten as they slog by means of the provision chain.
Cat-Paw-Tol Hill
The wanderlust of an orange tabby cat has captured the creativeness of a Seattle neighborhood. A quickly rising Fb group dedicated to Lord Byron, a five-year-old feline named for the adventurous British Romantic, paperwork sightings all over the place from road corners to inside random individuals’s houses. Lord Byron’s proprietor advised The Seattle Collegian the cat has even hopped into the automobiles of unsuspecting drivers.
Summer season 2022
Boxed In
Police rescued an 80-year-old girl in Illinois from a hostage scenario after her Seattle-based daughter observed she hadn’t texted her every day Wordle rating. Unanswered messages prompted her youngsters to alert the authorities. No indication of what number of five-letter phrases the previous instructor considered through the many hours a unadorned, scissors-wielding man locked her in a rest room (she was unhurt), however some four-letter ones will need to have come to thoughts.
KOMO Axes Its Tourism Bureau
Broadcast information fixated on crime downtown early in 2022, and no one was extra obsessed than KOMO reporter Jonathan Choe. Throughout one dispatch, he stood throughout from police on Third Avenue and queried a visiting couple, “You guys aren’t afraid to stroll by means of all this?” The vacationers, befuddled, stored strolling. Choe was later fired after a number of incidents.
Flightmare Gasoline
Pilots have skilled some sudden air site visitors within the neighborhood of Jet Metropolis. The rollout of AT&T and Verizon’s 5G wi-fi companies grounded all passenger flights at Paine Discipline earlier this 12 months as a result of it doubtlessly interfered with important security tools. And somebody skilled a inexperienced mild on a number of planes approaching Sea-Tac in harmful (and prison) “laser strikes.”
Caught on KUOW
A glitch in Mazdas of a sure age not too long ago examined the boundaries of our public radio fandom. Drivers turning to the NPR station in automobiles made between 2014 and 2017 despatched their infotainment programs into a brand new iteration of the Seattle Freeze. The issue stays one thing of a thriller, however native dealerships have begun putting in substitute elements freed from cost to appease the aggrieved tote-clutchers.
Not a Prime Supply
Jeff Bezos has provided to pay for the deconstruction of a historic bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to accommodate the cargo of his $485 million superyacht. In protest, 1000’s of Fb customers have pledged to egg the 417-foot vessel because it makes its manner by means of the Dutch port. In unrelated information, Bezos’s ex MacKenzie Scott has donated extra to charity since their break up than the Amazon founder.
Editor’s notice: This record is up to date quarterly with information gadgets of questionable import however indubitable resonance within the Seattle zeitgeist. In case you have any odd native anecdotes to share that haven’t made headlines but, be happy to ship them to [email protected].
