April 2008

If you need a smoke detector, the Seattle Fire Department will giving them away to low-income and elderly people during the Ballard Lions White Cane Days fundraiser on May 2 and 3.

The smoke detectors will only be available in front of the Fred Meyer Store. In addition, the fire department will have light flashing smoke detectors available for people with hearing problems.

White Cane Days is a tradition for the Lions Club to raise funds for sight and hearing programs.

Seattle's narrow north to south geography will create a major challenge in keeping traffic flowing when the Alaskan Way Viaduct is torn down in 2012.

"It's an hour glass. A lot of people are pushed through it," said Ron Pannanen, project director for the viaduct, with the Washington State Department Transportation.

Pannanen made the comments during a Ballard Rotary Club luncheon. He said the state is looking at traffic solutions from Interstate 5 to the waterfront once the viaduct is torn down.

Stem cells.

These words still evoke fear in many people's hearts with the accompanying images of embryos being killed so that embryonic stem cells can be harvested. Current Stem cell transplants and stem cell research as with organ donors and organ transplants during the late 1980s to 1990s, are still often shrouded in fear and misunderstanding.

Remember the movie Coma, starring Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold, based on a novel by Michael Crichton? It played on the fears surrounding organ transplantation.

Seattle Public Utilities is helping low-income homeowners save money and water by offering free efficient toilets.

Toilets are the main source of water use in the home, accounting for approximately 30 percent of residential indoor water use.

Centerstage is proud to present what is unarguably one of the greatest examples of American Musical Theatre: My Fair Lady.

There's a saying in Broadway circles that on average it takes eight years from the moment a playwright puts down his pen, to his play's opening night on the Great White Way. My Fair Lady took even longer than that.

In the mid-1930s, film producer Gabriel Pascal acquired the rights to produce a film version of Shaw's Pygmalion.

He asked Alan Jay Lerner to write the musical adaptation.

Lerner agreed.

Could School Boards improve schools?

You bet they could!

However we need to look at why they haven't.

The "Education Reform" mantra that has spread over this country in the past 15 years has been a response to the realization that America's and certainly Washington's students do not fare well when compared to other developed, or developing countries.

It has become apparent to many state legislatures and Congress that the parties responsible for the quality of education have not been effective.

Who are the responsible parties?

As a twenty-something kid with a decent job, minimal responsibilities and few wants, I spent a lot of time just knocking around on my days off, visiting friends.

It was not unusual to see me and my old '56 Big Window Flatbed pick up tooling around Burien, Federal Way, or West Seattle, toting my dogs, a guitar and frisbee, enjoying the dependability and usefulness of that truck.

One day I parked it in a friends yard after a very rainy afternoon and could not get it back out.

Decatur senior hurler Justin Reed fires the ball towards the plate during a recent home game against Kentwood. Click here for more photos from the game by photographer Seth Bynum.

It doesn't take a math whiz to count the number of champions on the Raiders' top-ranked math team.

But if you need help with the tally, the Raiders have more than enough talent in mathematics to lend you a hand.

The talented group of students from Thomas Jefferson High School recently competed in the Mu Alpha Theta State Math contest on March 22, where the Raiders brought home the gold for Federal Way.

This contest brought together schools and math teams from across Washington State.

South King Fire and Rescue conducted a training exercise on the campus of Landmark on the Sound near Des Moines on Friday April 25th. An older, abandoned free-standing home in the southwestern corner of the 27 acre property was slated to be demolished, making room for the future expansion of new apartment homes, parking areas and additional green space. Landmark President and CEO Jane Ipsen contacted South King County Fire and Rescue and went through the process to submit the buildings (home and garage) for the purposes of training.