December 2008

Despite rumors to the contrary, the Whole Foods project at the new development Fauntleroy Place is still a go, but some measures are underway to reduce the total cost of the $65 million project, according to the developers BlueStar Management/Development.

The decision to conduct "value engineering" was made after the first phase of the project was completed at the end of November, said Eric Radovich, managing director of public relations, marketing and human resources for BlueStar.

It will include rebidding on some existing materials and some structural redesign work.

To the relief of the Arbor Heights community, the local school was not included in Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's most recent recommendations regarding school closures across the district.

The district had recommended on Nov. 25 that the Arbor Heights program close and Pathfinder K-8, an alternative school, move into the building. But on Dec.

A man with an Arizona address was tased and taken to the ground at California and Lander after failing to obey officer orders on Thursday evening. He had called 911 several times, saying that officers "had better get to me before I kill someone." He claimed to be holding several weapons, but none were found. He was taken to Harborview for an involuntary mental evaluation.

Friday morning around 7, a woman living in the 9400 block of 21st SW saw a man come in through an unlocked door. He shined a flashlight on her and claimed to be an officer looking for a robbery suspect.

As vibrant costumes, colorful sets and lavish choreography set the stage for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's 25th Anniversary of the Nutcracker, amongst the ballet slippers and number of dancers that will twirl on stage are three of our very own Ballardites.

Dressed as the Little Boy, an infantry officer and a scrim mouse, the Haskin siblings of Sunset Hill auditioned in September and have been rehearsing since then for their opening night to shine the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Having a set of siblings perform all together is a rarity but second-grader Jack said it's kind

The Ballard Terminal Railroad is a three-mile long short line railroad that runs from Northwest 40th Street in Fremont through Ballard along the waterfront to their yard near Ray's Boathouse restaurant.

It is one of three lines operated by the Ballard Terminal Railroad Co., who also operate the Meeker Southern, a five-mile long short line railroad running between Puyallup and McMillan and have just won the bid from the Port of Seattle to provide freight rail service on the Eastside Rail Corridor that runs between Renton and Snohomish.

A short line railroad is one that ope

Losing a loved one especially a child or parent to a life threatening illness is not always easy.

Students could see some major changes in the Washington's standardized student assessment testing with the recent election of Randy Dorn as the state's superintendent of public instruction.

Dorn, a former state legislator, teacher, and principal, emphasized a desire to replace the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for an alternative standardized test during his campaign.

"Schools should be about hope, opportunity and opening doors for all students," said Dorn.

The nonprofit Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle and King County says requests for emergency grocery bags is up over 25 percent over last year while donations to the program have remained essentially static.

As the holiday season approaches it is unclear whether there will be enough food available to meet the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors.

As many North Seattle families are affected by overcrowding in a number of Seattle Public Schools, many people are wondering why some of their neighborhood schools are being closed down.

Closed last year but still seen as a reasonable solution to increase classroom space, numerous Ballard residents don't understand why Viewlands Elementary School was not kept open to help ease the overload of students in certain neighborhoods.

"Viewlands is not slated to be reopened because most of our rise in enrollment is occurring in the Northeast cluster and to some degree in Queen An

The Seattle Department of Transportation will be diverting Burke-Gilman Trail traffic within the segment that runs from Golden Gardens parks to Northwest 60th Street starting Monday, Dec.