Shell-and-mortar fireworks are legal in Washington state, but the injuries they cause are more similar to those inflicted by illegal fireworks, the study found. In fact, they were even more damaging than homemade fireworks.
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Heads up: Lots of construction projects will affect Puget Sound highways this weekend
Check out the map and travel prepared.
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Space Needle to undergo $100 million renovation; will sport glass floors and observation panels when complete
“Privately funded, the ambitious project will heighten the Observation Deck experience with floor-to-ceiling glass on the interior and exterior to further open up the uninhibited 360° views of the Puget Sound area.”
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Do not privatize the Bonneville Power Administration
“To Pacific Northwesterners, the Bonneville Power Administration power grid is like energy itself — quietly taken for granted, humming away in the background … until something goes wrong. A proposal by the Trump administration to sell off BPA’s transmission system should shake the region awake from complacency,” says The Seattle Times.
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Where anti-tax fervor means ‘all services will cease’
Southwestern Oregon’s public services are rotting away or shutting down due to voter unwillingness to pay dues to keep them running. The New York Times looks at the collapse of the commons in an often-ignored area of the Pacific Northwest.
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World’s first light rail on a floating bridge: For I-90, Sound Transit had to invent ‘a brilliant solution’
“Sound Transit’s consultants have invented a flexing track connection, using earthquake science, to safely move future light-rail trains on the I‑90 floating bridge,” reports The Seattle Times’ Mike Lindblom.
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Seattle isn’t doing enough to make its streets safe and pedestrian friendly
People who walk regularly around Seattle are torn between bafflement and dismay at what they traverse on foot. On any given day, they encounter buckled,
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California Legislature votes to raise gas taxes, vehicle fees by $5.2 billion a year for road repairs and transit
Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason, reporting for The Los Angeles Times: “After a week of fierce debate between opposing interests, the state Legislature on Thursday approved a plan to raise gas taxes and vehicle fees by $5.2 billion a year to pay for the repair of California’s pothole-ridden, decaying system of roads, highways and bridges.”
LaunchTolling: it’s something we get used to
We know how this works from 520, 405 HOT, and lots of other toll projects in other cities. At first people say “I’LL NEVER PAY.”
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Closures come for libraries around Oregon’s Douglas County; central public library in Roseburg closes May 31st
What happens when a vital public service is starved of resources? It shuts down. Without enough funding to keep the doors open, authorities in Oregon’s Douglas County are closing its libraries, leaving 8,500 cardholders stranded. “We simply don’t have the money anymore,” Douglas County Commissioner Gary Leif told The Register Guard of Eugene.
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A first-timer’s fresh view of Vancouver, B.C
One highlight was riding Amtrak across the border. There’s something about train travel that melts stress away. — Daniel Beekman: A first-timer’s fresh view of
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A letter of thanks to King and Snohomish counties for ST3
Addressing King and Snohomish voters, who supported Sound Transit 3, Tacoma News Tribune columnist Matt Driscoll writes on behalf of people in Pierce County to say thanks for “saving our transportation bacon”.
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5.0 magnitude quake rumbles Oklahoma oil town of Cushing, nearby region
A strong earthquake has caused serious damage in the central Oklahoma oil town of Cushing, which is home to the United States’ largest commercial oil
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Sound Transit 3: The opportunity of a generation
Seattle Subway: “Over a century after the first vote for a fast and reliable train system in the Seattle area, it’s finally our generation’s chance
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Seaside’s crumbling schools: Infrastructure woes add to tsunami fears
“It’s one thing to hear about the crumbling condition of Seaside’s high school, middle school and Gearhart Elementary School. It’s another to take a tour and see them firsthand,” writes The Daily Astorian’s RJ Marx, beginning a report on the appalling, abysmal conditions of the Oregon coastal city’s schools.
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Arrest Arpaio, not the people! Racist Trump-supporting sheriff, accused of targeting Latinos, is charged with criminal contempt
“Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County with criminal contempt of court, saying he willfully defied a judge’s orders to stop targeting Latinos — including citizens and legal immigrants — in traffic stops and other law enforcement efforts, behavior the judge said showed a pattern of discriminatory policing,” The New York Times reports.
LaunchArrest Arpaio, not the people! Racist Trump-supporting sheriff, accused of targeting Latinos, is charged with criminal contempt
“Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County with criminal contempt of court, saying he willfully defied a judge’s orders to stop targeting Latinos — including citizens and legal immigrants — in traffic stops and other law enforcement efforts, behavior the judge said showed a pattern of discriminatory policing,” The New York Times reports.
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Joe Fitzgibbon rebuts Reuven Carlyle: Sound Transit’s property taxing authority does not poach education dollars
State Representative Joe Fitzgibbon has responded to Reuven Carlyle’s recent guest post for Publicola opposing Sound Transit 3, saying Carlyle outlined a “false choice” in his piece. “This does a disservice both to our region’s residents who have waited 40 years too long for a regional transit system and our state’s public school children, parents, and educators who have waited 40 years too long for full public education funding,” Fitzgibbon argues.
LaunchThis Republican mayor has an incredibly simple idea to help the homeless. And it seems to be working.
This Republican mayor has an incredibly simple idea to help the homeless. And it seems to be working. The Washington Post’s Colby Itkowitz explains how
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‘We should be screaming’ with outrage: Washington State doing little to protect schoolkids from earthquakes, tsunamis
The Seattle Times reports on Washington’s failure to seismically retrofit public schools and ensure schoolchildren in tsunami hazard zones have a way to get to higher ground.
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