Alaska Airlines Captain Bob Porter doesn't look too thrilled as he carries the ceremonial first Copper River salmon of the season, a 45-pound king, off the aircraft at Sea-Tac International Airport last week. Anthony's executive chef Pat Donahue won the Copper Chef Cook Off held on the tarmac for the second year in a row. Anthony's has restaurants in Des Moines and at the airport.
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season at Sea-Tac International Airport.
The Port of Seattle offers these summer traffic numbers at Sea-Tac:
Thanks to a bill signed recently by Gov. Christine Gregoire, Washington students enrolled in International Baccalaureate Diploma Programmes (IB) will be able to graduate by earning the IB Diploma and two other high school state graduation requirements.
"Getting an IB Diploma is not easy, these programs are very rigorous and the students really have to work hard," said state Rep. Tina Orwall (D-Des Moines), the bill's prime sponsor. "By streamlining their transition into higher education without requiring them to take redundant classes, this bill lifts a significant burden from the student's workload to makes sure they focus on the demands of their IB courses."
In order to graduate, under Orwall's measure, IB program students must:
Carol Roll and Jameson Dowell of Burien are taking on an ambitious goal in support of research to improve prevention and early detection of breast cancer. This August they will be scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro, 19,341 feet, in Tanzania, Africa for the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer benefiting Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The Mt. Kilimanjaro climb will be Roll's third time participating in Climb to Fight Breast Cancer. In 2007, she raised $8,000 and climbed to the top of Mt. Rainier - 14,411 ft.
Last year she attempted Mt. Shasta in Northern California and raised $9,000 for The Hutch.
Roll grew up in the area and always enjoyed spending time outdoors hiking, camping and fishing.
It is not just about reaching the top of a mountain though that inspires Roll to climb. After her second battle with breast cancer, Roll lost her aunt, Dr. Carol Folger, to breast cancer in 2001. She climbs in memory of her aunt in hopes that the funding she generates will one day lead to life saving research.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, made it clear on Tuesday, May 24 that efforts to bolster medical marijuana patient and dispensary rights in Washington are done for the year.
“Regretfully, I have decided not to pursue further attempts this year to strengthen our state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law,” Sen. Kohl-Welles said in a statement.
“Despite having bipartisan support, we were unable to achieve these objectives,” she added. “By far this represents the greatest disappointment of my legislative career.”
For West Seattle and White Center dispensaries that have opened up over the past year, the news could spell an end to their entrepreneurial run.
Known as Senate Bill 5073, the bill originally worked its way to Gov. Gregoire’s desk with sections on legitimizing dispensaries in the state by creating state-controlled licensing. The Governor vetoed the bill in April, claiming her employees would be exposed to federal prosecution for licensing businesses still seen as illegal under federal law.
Golden Gardens is getting a new pirate-themed playground to be completed in time for summer.
Construction on the Parks and Green Spaces Levy project started last week and the site is now fenced as site grading and earthwork has started.
According to the project's website, most of the earthwork and drainage will be completed in the first couple of weeks. Installation of irrigation and the building pathways and seating walls will follow before the new play equipment can be installed.
The new play area will be located on the lawn between the bathhouse and the parking lot. It includes a variety of play equipment grouped around the theme of a beach adventure.
The old play area won't be removed until will the new play area is complete, which is scheduled for mid July, 2011.
Construction will occur weekdays with hours approximately 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pathways to the bathhouse will remain open. Construction staging will impact about a dozen parking spaces in front of the bathhouse and the sidewalk adjacent to the parking lot.
According to three tipsters who have contacted the West Seattle Herald, people should be on the lookout for chalk signs and pink balloons around West Seattle that say "WE LOVE U TRACY D." with a breast cancer pink ribbon emblem.
The photo above was taken on the Alki Beach sidewalk at 58th across the street from Dukes.
As we understand it, these signs are well-wishes directed toward West Seattle breast cancer survivor and advocate Tracy Dart, who we featured in our May 12 story about the breast cancer fashion show benefit that featured Ms. Dart and other survivors on the runway.
She has been a friend to the West Seattle Herald, has had some recent health challenges and we wish her well in her fight against breast cancer.
The Sneakery, the casual shoe store the Herald covered first here, and here, located at 4736 California Ave s.w. is holding their grand opening this Saturday, May 28. They will be offering 30% off all socks and as well as give-aways and prizes.
It has taken some time to get the store fully stocked but now the inventory is full with a wide range of socks, shoes and related accessories.
Rising local musicians Troy and Mackenzie of the Young Evils will play an acoustic set of music at 7pm.
The Sneakery has been in Ballard for 5 years. Brands in stock currently include shoes by Converse, Adidas, New Balance, Puma, PF Flyers, Saucony Originals, socks by Sock Dreams, Sock It To Me, Dahlgren, Sock Guy, and more.
The kid’s section will include Converse, Saucony, Stride Rite, Robeez, Adidas, and lots of socks and tights.
People passing-by the Matador today on N.W. Market Street and Ballard Avenue were likely to have come across this unusual sight.
A bicycle was 'parked' in a tree.
The nearby bike rack was full so naturally, a tree is the next best thing.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles annouced today that she will no longer pursue further attempts to reform the state's medical marijuana law.
Kohl-Welles issued the following statementregarding her efforts to reform Washington's medical marijuana law.
"Regretfully, I have decided not to pursue further attempts this year to strengthen our state's voter-approved medical marijuana law.
"My efforts to make improvements to existing law were motivated by the need to provide qualifying patients with protection from arrest and prosecution and access to a safe, secure and reliable source of the medicine they are legally entitled to use and that has been recommended to them by their licensed health care provider. I also sought to increase public safety and provide a bright line for law enforcement in determining those who are authorized patients, regulated growers and dispensers.
"Despite having bipartisan support, we were unable to achieve these objectives. By far, this represents the greatest disappointment of my legislative career.
