Rachel Carson. David Brower. Aldo Leopold. These luminaries are often credited with igniting the modern environmental movement. Yet there’s another monumental figure, now sometimes overlooked, who spearheaded many of the movement’s most important ideas and initiatives: Stewart Udall.  A Westerner who fought what he called “the myth of superabundance,” and a prevailing attitude of growth for its own sake, Udall appealed for a new “land conscience” to conserve public lands already threatened by deforestation and exploitation. Washingtonians of a certain age may remember this conservation ic ..read more

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Topics: arts, black arts legacies, Painting, Sculpture, Seattle ..read more

It’s noon at Golden Gardens Park. For the first time in weeks there isn’t a cloud in the sky. Music is blaring and there are volunteers scattered along the beach picking up trash. The volunteers are a part of the Surfrider Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting the world's oceans, waves and beaches. The Seattle chapter cleans beaches, tests water and advocates for plastic pollution laws. “It feels like you’re making a difference … when you clean up a beach. And most of the time, these beaches are places that a lot of people like to go, like Gas Works, Green Lake and Seward Park ..read more

Topics: Multimedia, Video, Food, Seattle, Health, local business, Nightlife ..read more

A Seattle City Councilmember’s effort to incentivize the construction of apartment buildings that include affordable housing and ground-floor community amenities appears dead in the water after her Land Use Committee colleagues voted against the bill on April 17. Councilmember Tammy Morales’s Connected Communities Pilot would have allowed private or nonprofit developers to build higher or wider buildings, skip design review, and be exempted from certain development fees if they partnered with community organizations to construct projects where at least 30% of the units are subsidized at below ..read more

Whatcom County officials paid $225,000 last November to settle claims that a former Public Works director sexually harassed a female employee for more than two years. Jon Hutchings resigned in lieu of termination in October 2022, just one day before a third-party investigator interviewed three female employees who reported Hutchings had made sexual comments to them or touched them inappropriately while at work. But county leaders never formally disciplined Hutchings or adjudicated the complaints. And they helped him get a new job, writing a favorable “letter of introduction.” “It has been a pl ..read more

When police believe property like a car, boat or even just cash is tied to a crime, they can seize it and in many instances keep the proceeds. The practice is known as civil asset forfeiture. A new audit finds that law enforcement agencies here in Washington are complying with the state’s seizure law, but could do more to help people trying to reclaim property they’ve lost and to be more transparent about how the system works.  In a 110-page report released last week, the State Auditor’s Office delves into a program long used by police in combating drug-related crimes that has drawn fire ..read more

The ambiguous promise of Bed Bath & Beyond has long been the source of jokes and fanciful speculation. Might you find a panini press? Or a way to finally connect with your mother-in-law? When the downtown store shuttered in 2018 (well before the retail chain became an online-only brand), Vanishing Seattle pondered “Bed Bath & Beyond Help?” At least for this location, what’s “beyond” has been clarified. The long-vacant, 66,000-square-foot space — a 1960 building that looks like it’s being trampled by its own parking garage — is becoming a new arts and performance space called ..read more

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