Tag Archive: SEATTLE


May Day protesters reach out to small businesses that were damaged

Filed under: Activism, Activism, Budget Cuts, Community, Corruption, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It, Economic News, Elitist Privilege, Entrepreneurship, Fiscal Irresponsibility, Government, Greed, Irrational Violence, Lack Of Transparency, Politics, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Retaliation, Secrecy, Security, Special Interests, Unethical — Leave a comment
May 4, 2013

by NATALIE SWABY / KING 5 News

 

Posted on May 3, 2013 at 11:46 PM

 

SEATTLE – Small businesses caught in the chaos of May Day are receiving some support from people involved in the protests.

Bill’s Off Broadway had a window broken when the march escalated into violence and vandalism on Capitol Hill. A nearby bar and a Walgreens also had windows smashed.
Protestor Elaine Simons said she was shocked to see the damage.
“It hit us to the core,” said Simons. “We were really upset to see a little business got hit when our message was really against banks and corportation, about unemployment and no health care.”
Simons said a group will gather at Bill’s Off Broadway on Wednesday to buy food and leave a good tip. She wants to show support for the workers caught in the middle on May Day.
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Capitol Hill businesses ask why police pushed protesters their way

by ELISA HAHN / KING 5 News

Posted on May 2, 2013 at 6:49 PM

Updated Thursday, May 2 at 7:03 PM

 

In all the May Day violence, it was surprising there wasn’t more property damage than a few broken windows. All the windows were on Capitol Hill. And now businesses there are wondering why police pushed the protesters to their neighborhood.

Rowdy protesters broke windows of at least three businesses, Sun Liquor, Walgreens, and Bill’s on Broadway.

Don Stevens, owner of Bill’s on Broadway, believes police did a good job containing violence Wednesday night. But he wonders when they decided to get protesters out of downtown, why push them east to Capitol Hill?

“Where are they going to put them?” Stevens asked. “Where are they going to go? Where do you stop and say ‘We’re done with you now. We’ve gotten you far enough away from Westlake Center.’”

 

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Stung by criticism after widespread vandalism during last year’s May Day protests, Seattle police have taken steps to avoid a repeat.

Filed under: Government, Activism, Community, Irrational Violence, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Riots — 7 Comments
April 30, 2013

A year after chaos, Seattle police say they are ready for May Day

By Steve Miletich

Seattle Times staff reporter

One year after a May Day demonstration erupted in vandalism and caught Seattle police ill-prepared, the Police Department says it has learned from its mistakes and is ready to respond to problems when marchers return to the streets for Wednesday’s events.

Capt. Chris Fowler, who has been assigned to oversee this year’s planning, said Monday he was given a clear directive from the police brass about a month ago: Allow peaceful marchers to exercise their free-speech rights but be prepared to arrest people who commit crimes against people or property.

That message got muddled last year, when planning didn’t begin until a week before May Day and officers were sporadically deployed, with conflicting messages regarding when they could use force to stop violence.

As a result, police found themselves undermanned when dozens of violent protesters, including black-clad anarchists, broke away from a midday march, smashing windows at the William Kenzo Nakamura U.S. Courthouse, businesses and cars in the downtown core.

Assistant Chief Mike Sanford became a lightning rod for some critics when he bolted on his own in civilian clothing to make an arrest — forcing officers to come to his rescue and use force when he tripped and found himself surrounded by hostile protesters.

While no one was hurt, the business-oriented Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), upset at the police response, called for a thorough review.

The department responded with two reviews, one internal and another by a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief, but they were only released April 2 after delays.

This year, police are preparing for a 1:30 p.m. rally at Judkins Park in South Seattle, followed by a march to the downtown Henry M. Jackson Federal Building beginning at 3:30 p.m.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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OLYMPIA — The countdown to May Day is on.

Local police are hoping for the best, and planning for the worst.

CAPITOL photoAt a small coffee shop on 5th and Water in downtown Olympia, protesters, some who consider themselves anarchists, gathered for a strategy session… May Day planning, but they didn’t let the media in and declined to send somebody out to talk with us.

We did talk with Mark McElroy across the street.

He’s not a protester but he supports their right to do so.

“I think it’s important for people to have the right to protest.  That’s one of the cornerstones of American democracy is protest so I think that’s a valuable component of being an American citizen,” Mark McElroy said.

Valuable component as long as it doesn’t go too far.

Police fear the violence that erupted in Seattle last year.

“Peaceful protests are fine. Our concern is a criminal element getting mixed up in legitimate protests and causing trouble and for those folks we want them to know that won’t be tolerated,” Olympia Police department spokesperson Laura Wohl said.

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Washington State Avalanche Updates

Filed under: Avalanche, Disaster Management, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — Leave a comment
April 15, 2013

Woman rescued after Snoqualmie Summit avalanche dies

Woman rescued after Snoqualmie Summit avalanche dies

Credit: John Langeler / KING


by KING 5 News

Posted on April 13, 2013 at 2:43 PM

Updated yesterday at 4:22 PM

 

The King County Sheriff’s Office says a female snowshoer who was rescued after an avalanche yesterday died.

Weather conditions in the area are too dangerous to continue the search for another missing person.

Initial reports said as many as three people were missing after the avalanches.

The King County Sheriff’s Office says one avalanche, at Granite Mountain, carried three snowshoers about 1,000 feet.

The two men emerged from the snow, but their friend is still missing.

At another site at milepost 50, a group of about 13 people from Sammamish went out snowshoeing. At about the 4,800 foot level, an avalanche split the group in two.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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Avalanche danger keeps search for missing hiker on hold

by Associated Press and KING 5 News

Posted on April 15, 2013 at 6:09 AM

Updated today at 6:18 PM

 

SEATTLE  — Rescuers for a second day have suspended a search for a hiker who has been missing since Saturday when he was caught in an avalanche in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle.

Dangerous avalanche and weather conditions prevented rescuers from searching Monday, said Sgt. Cindi West with the King County Sheriff’s Office. Rescuers hope to resume Tuesday, but by late Monday the King County Sheriff’s Office was calling it a recovery operation.

Mitch Hungate, 61, a dentist and seasoned athlete, was with two other companions Saturday afternoon when an avalanche swept them more than 1,200 feet down Granite Mountain, a 5,600-foot peak about 45 miles east of Seattle. The two hikers said the last thing they heard was Hungate say “Oh no” before the avalanche.

The two friends emerged from the snow and called for help. They tried but weren’t able to find Hungate.

“The longer the time goes on, the less chance of survival,” West said Monday morning. But “we’re not ready to say we’re in recovery mode yet.”

“I really didn’t want to leave him,” said Hungate’s wife, Marilyn. “I want to be with him until he can be here with us.”

Beverly Walker, office manager at Mitch Hungate’s dental office in Renton, said he is an incredible athlete who enjoyed competing in Ironman triathlons. “His athleticism was beyond anything anyone could comprehend,” she said.

“You know, it’s hard to hold out a glimmer of hope. I don’t know what to feel. What to think. I guess I’m still in shock,” co-worker Dr. Derek Hahn said.

 

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The Rancho Mirage City Council could pass an ordinance that would be by far the most restrictive of drone usage in the United States

Filed under: Freedom, Fundamental Rights, Government Overreach, Invasion Of Privacy I, Legislation, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Rule Of Law, Security, Special Interests, State Sovereignty, Unmanned Drones — 1 Comment
April 6, 2013

Rancho Mirage, California considering the strictest anti-drone ordinance in the US

image credit: roland/Flickr

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

The Rancho Mirage City Council could pass an ordinance that would be by far the most restrictive of any in the United States, even banning the use of recreational drones in residential areas.

If passed, Rancho Mirage, California would join Charlottesville, Virginia and Seattle, Washington in restricting drone use along with the some 30 states considering anti-drone legislation.

There has even been talk of anti-drone action at the federal level, all in an attempt to push back against the massive rise of drone use in the United States by countless entities both public (ranging from US Marshals to law enforcement to the National Guard to the Department of Homeland Security to the military and more) and private (from potential use by media outlets to colleges and universities to commercial operators of all kinds).

While the vote on the proposal was delayed, according to My Desert, it is still quite noteworthy due to its highly unusual focus on the use of drones over residential neighborhoods.

“I didn’t find any ordinance such as this adopted by any municipality in the United States,” said the plan’s author, City Attorney Steve Quintanilla.

However, as My Desert points out, there was also a bill introduced in the Texas legislature which seeks to ban both possession and use of images of private property captured by drones without the permission of the property owners.
The proposed ordinance in Rancho Mirage would entirely ban the flying of “unmanned aircraft that can fly under the control of a remote pilot or by a geographic positions system (GPS) guided autopilot mechanism” up to 400 feet above residential zones.

Drones flying higher than 400 feet fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration.

While cameras are currently not covered in the proposed ban, they could be added, “But some of the cameras can be pretty small and hard to see, so that could be difficult to enforce,” according to Quintanilla.

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Washington Gun Control Bill Fails In State House

Filed under: Freedom, Fundamental Rights, Government, Government Overreach, Guns, Legislation, Politics, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Rule Of Law, Self_Defense / Crime Prevention / Security, The American Constitution, Weaponry / Armament — 2 Comments
March 15, 2013

March 13, 2013 5:10 AM
File photo of guns. (credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

File photo of guns. (credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

Gun control fails in Washington state

Rick Moran

American Thinker

A bit of cheery news this morning; the state of Washington’s lower house has beaten back a gun control bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales.

Examiner:

A contentious proposal to expand background checks on Washington state gun sales failed Tuesday in the state House, where supporters said they were just a handful of votes short.

In a final effort to pick up a few extra votes, Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, had proposed a referendum clause that would have allowed the public to vote on the measure. He initially believed that would draw enough support to corral the 50 votes needed to pass the bill but conceded Tuesday night that others had dropped their backing because of that shift.

“It was too big of a stretch for this year,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen said he was disappointed by the result, and several Democrats departing for the night were emotional about the collapse of a bill they’d spent two days intensely working to finalize. The week had included lobbying from former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was wounded in a January 2011 mass shooting, and Gov. Jay Inslee.

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World record 5-story-tall boring machine, Bertha, will begin work in Seattle soon, The tunnel will replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct

Filed under: Community, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It — Leave a comment
March 9, 2013

Tunnel boring machine in pieces for voyage to Seattle

by KING 5 News

Posted on March 7, 2013 at 4:31 PM

Updated yesterday at 7:25 PM

 

Bertha, the world record 5-story-tall boring machine, will begin work in Seattle soon. But first, Bertha’s 41 pieces – the largest weighing up to 900 tons – are being loaded on a single ship.

The ship will leave Japan in mid-March and arrive in Seattle later this month, if the weather cooperates.

Bertha’s deep-bore tunnel will replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct, which will eventually be torn down. She should begin digging next summer.

“We’re entering an exciting stage of this project,” said Linea Laird, WSDOT’s administrator for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program. “While we have a lot of work to do once Bertha arrives, we can’t wait to introduce her to the people of Washington.”

You can follow Bertha’s journey through her Twitter account (@BerthaDigsSR99).

Crews in Seattle are 80 percent finished with a 400-feet-long, 80-feet-deep pit directly south of the viaduct where Bertha will begin her digging.

 

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Maine joins 29 other states considering legislation to restrict police use of drones

Filed under: Freedom, Fundamental Rights, Government, Government Overreach, Human Rights, Hypocrisy, Invasion Of Privacy I, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Special Interests, State Sovereignty, Unethical, Unmanned Drones — Leave a comment
March 9, 2013

By Madison Ruppert

Editor of End the Lie

(Image credit: M Hooper/Flickr)

(Image credit: M Hooper/Flickr)

State lawmakers in Maine have taken the initial steps towards limiting the use of drones by both state and local law enforcement, joining the many other states around the country also looking to regulate drone use.

Similarly, cities including Seattle, Washington and Charlottesville, Virginia are pushing back against drone use as well.

The legislation in Maine, which is waiting on a vote in the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, seems similar to that being considered in other states in that it “would limit the ability of state and local police to use drones and require a warrant before the unmanned vehicles are deployed in an investigation” according to the Portland Press Herald.

Unsurprisingly, the legislation has come up against resistance from law enforcement along with Maine’s Attorney General Janet Mills.

Mills claims that the bill is too broad and the Maine Department of Public Safety says that drones could come in handy for search and rescue operations. Much of the legislation around the country has a clause allowing for exemptions for emergency use.

The Maine Department of Public Safety already purchased a drone which, according to the deputy chief, was for the sake of “curiosity,” according to the Herald.

The bill is sponsored by Democratic state Senator John Patrick and is part of a larger effort by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to regulate the domestic drone use.

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Salinity Levels In Atlantic Ocean Are Off The Chart, According To NASA Instrument

Filed under: Discoveries, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch, Research, Seas / Oceans — 14 Comments
March 2, 2013

February 28, 2013
Image Caption: Among the prominent salinity features visible in this view are the large area of highly saline water across the North Atlantic. This area, the saltiest anywhere in the open ocean, is analogous to deserts on land, where little rainfall and much evaporation occur. Red colors represent areas of high salinity, while blue shades represent areas of low salinity. Credit: NASA/GSFC/JPL-Caltech

WATCH VIDEOS: [Aquarius Measuring Salty Seas 1] – [Aquarius Measuring Salty Seas 2]

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The salinity level of the world’s rivers, lakes and oceans has been a growing topic in response to global climate change. As NASA’s Aquarius instrument has shown previously, seasonal salinity has been on the rise in oceans all around the world. This year, the picture is no less striking, with deep shades of oranges and reds, at least in the image above, filling a large swath of the Atlantic Ocean both to the north and to the south of the equator.

Launched on June 10, 2011 aboard the Argentine spacecraft SAC-D, Aquarius was specifically developed to study the salt content of the oceans’ surface waters. Variations in ocean salinity, one of the main drivers of ocean circulation, are closely associated with the cycling of freshwater around the world. The data collected from these measurements provide scientists with valuable information on how global climate change is affecting rainfall patterns around the globe.

“With a bit more than a year of data, we are seeing some surprising patterns, especially in the tropics,” said Aquarius’ principal investigator Gary Lagerloef, of Earth & Space Research in Seattle, Washington. “We see features evolve rapidly over time.”

Aquarius was designed to cover the Earth from an orbit that takes it over all the world’s ice-free oceans, taking a complete measurement of salinity levels every seven days. The detector on the instrument measures the top 1 inch of ocean water in 240-mile-wide swaths as it sweeps across the world overhead.

NASA has now received its first full year worth of data from Aquarius showing the varying salinity patterns around the globe.

By studying the data, the research team has revealed some key findings. The Arabian Sea, which sits against the Middle East, is much saltier than the Bay of Bengal, which is diluted by intense monsoons and freshwater discharges from the Ganges River, as well as others.

The Amazon, which releases large amounts of freshwater into the southern Atlantic, will either send a plume of freshwater toward Africa or bend up toward the Caribbean, depending on the seasonal currents. Freshwater also builds up against Panama’s coast, carried down from the central Pacific.

 

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Seattle opens it’s largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary while the power struggle between the Will of the People, the State and Federal Law rages on….

Filed under: Bioethics, bureaucracy, Diseases, Freedom, Fundamental Rights, Government, Government Overreach, Greed, Health, Health And Wellness Report, Holistic Health, Human Rights, Hypocrisy, Lack Of Transparency, Legislation, Medical Research, Politics, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Psy - Ops, Rule Of Law, Special Interests, State Sovereignty, Taxation, The American Constitution, Therapy, Unethical — 1 Comment
February 23, 2013

Seattle’s largest medical pot dispensary opens

by JOHN LANGELER / KING 5 News

 

Instead of a state-run liquor store, a building in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood now holds “the Whole Foods of weed,” according to the man who owns the business inside.

Green Ambrosia opened last Saturday and is the city’s biggest medical marijuana dispensary.

The opening comes as Washington’s Liquor Control Board and lawmakers decide how to regulate recreational marijuana sales in the wake of Initative 502, which legalized the use and possession of small amounts of pot.

“This could be the face of what I-502 enabled pot looks like,” explained Green Ambrosia owner Dante Jones.

Jones’ business has operated since 2011, but only recently opened a storefront.  Inside, behind a bamboo wall, is one large glass table loaded with jars of marijuana.  There are restrictions on how much medical marijuana a business can have on sale.

 

Read Full Report  and  Watch Video Here

 

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Medical Marijuana: Federal Law Still Rules Over I-502

Posted: Feb 21, 2013 10:40 PM CST Updated: Feb 22, 2013 12:52 AM CST

by Dylan Wohlenhaus, KHQ Local News Reporter – email

SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane resident Jerry Laberdee was in Federal court Wednesday to face charges of selling and using marijuana for charges filed before the passing of Initiative 502.

Laberdee is a medical marijuana patient and dispensary owner.  His store, ”Medical Herb Providers,” was raided in 2011 when federal agents seized more than 30 pot plants, thousands in cash, and several ounces of ready-to-smoke weed.

Jerry Labredee and his business partner Dennis Whited were charged with distribution and manufacture.  Laberdee and Whited were facing up to 20-years in prison.

 

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Bills would stop medical pot arrests, erase marijuana convictions

By GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press Published: Feb 21, 2013 at 2:51 PM PST Last Updated: Feb 21, 2013 at 4:54 PM PST
Bills would stop medical pot arrests, erase marijuana convictions

SEATTLE (AP) – Two marijuana-related bills advanced Thursday in Olympia, with legislative committees giving their OK to one measure that would block police from arresting medical marijuana patients and another that would let people have misdemeanor pot convictions erased.

The House Public Safety Committee voted 6-5 to recommend the bill on pot convictions be passed, and the Senate Health Care Committee approved the arrest-protection bill. The votes beat a deadline Friday for bills dealing with policy matters to be passed out of committee.

Democratic Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon of Burien told the House committee Wednesday that after Initiative 502 passed, allowing adults over 21 to have up to an ounce of marijuana under state law, he started thinking about the thousands of people who have criminal records for activity that is now legal – criminal records that can keep people from getting jobs, housing or loans.

Typically, people must wait three years after completing their sentence before asking to have a misdemeanor conviction vacated. The bill would eliminate that waiting period and remove other restrictions on having pot misdemeanors wiped clean.

The bill drew some objections at a hearing Thursday. The head of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Tom McBride, noted that the bill would allow people to have their convictions erased even if they had more marijuana than I-502 allows. Misdemeanor pot possession has historically been defined as up to 40 grams, but the new law only lets people have up to an ounce, or 28 grams.

 

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Drone zone: Proposed aerial surveillance rules for Seattle

Filed under: Community, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It, Freedom, Fundamental Rights, Government, Government Overreach, Human Rights, Hypocrisy, Indoctrination, Invasion Of Privacy I, Security, Special Interests, State Sovereignty, Surveillance — Leave a comment
February 6, 2013

Linda Thomas
mynorthwest.com
Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:48 CST

The Draganflyer X6 is an electric powered Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) which most people refer to as a drone. Seattle Police have two of them. The drones must follow FAA guidelines which include not flying over crowds. They must be monitored by at least one operator and one observer

Put words like “surveillance” and “unmanned aerial systems” together, and people begin to worry about Big Brother watching their every move.
At the direction of Mayor Mike McGinn, the Seattle Police Department has been working on rules governing the use of drones. A city council committee will discuss, and likely vote, on the proposed policy Wednesday afternoon.

The SPD has two drones, so far, that were obtained with a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. While the technology will become more advanced, the drones Seattle has burn through batteries in about 10 minutes.

The city says the systems “are intended to help us protect public safety by gathering visual information in specific situations where sending in an officer would not be safe, or to take crime scene photography that a human being could not easily capture.

The use of aerial surveillance cameras will be “tightly controlled, regulated and will not be used to conduct random surveillance,” they say.

Here’s how the Seattle Police Department proposes using the new technology:

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