I-5 was closed for several hours this past Friday as police arrested two men who had been firing assault rifles from the 92nd Street overpass over I-5. Local residents heard shots fired at around 9:30 p.m. Upon arrival, police heard gunfire within 50 yards and saw tracer rounds fired from a wooded area. A SWAT team was called in, I-5 was shut down, and roadblocks were set up. The suspects, who have not yet been named, were found and arrested after a two-hour search. more ›

The MSNBC has a piece up today about how minors hunting sans supervision is legal in 21 states, with the jumping-off point being the case of young Tyler Kales, recently sentenced to thirty days in juvie for mistaking Skagit County hiker Pamela Almli for a bear and shooting her in the head, killing her instantly. So many things wrong with this story: the fact that the then-fourteen-year old was armed with only the supervision of his sixteen-year-old brother; that the two were out huntin' in the fog; and that hunting near hiking areas is a-okay and doesn't require any signage to that effect. more ›

An 18-year-old California man believed to be in town visiting relatives was the victim of last night's drive-by shooting at the intersection of 140th Street and Military Road South in SeaTac. His four male friends, all in their late teens and 20s, were in the car when the bullet struck the victim in the backseat. Immediately after, they rushed him from the SeaTac intersection to Highline Community Hospital in Burien, where the shooting victim died from multiple gunshot wounds. So far the King County Sheriff's Office is stumped. The darkly lit area didn't allow for any witnesses to see the suspected second car before it turned off at South 140th Street. However, officers are still investigating and trying to determine whether or not there was a motive behind the shooting. more ›

A school field trip to Seattle's Carkeek Park went wayward, after two 10-year-old boys discovered a loaded Glock 9mm pistol lying on the beach. Naturally curious, the two North Beach Elementary School fourth graders picked up the weapon, believing it was a toy gun. Much to their surprise, it was real--and loaded. At that point, they proceeded to bring the loaded gun to their teacher. (Umm, may we suggest taking gun safety classes this summer.) Police were called shortly after and later determined the gun was not stolen. Thankfully, no one was hurt. more ›

Exciting night for the Seattle Police Department, as they responded to a DUI collision involving two parked cars at the 6200 block of Seaview Avenue N. The believed-to-be-intoxicated suspects, a 17-year-old male driver and a 20-year-old male passenger, were armed and running (slowly) in circles. Witnesses spotted the driver hiding an AK-47 in the bushes shortly before the two suspects were arrested. Officers hit the weapons jackpot upon finding the rifle loaded with a 30 round "banana" clip, two baseball bats, and an illegal "butterfly" knife on the passenger. The SPD also reported a red bandanna--gang colors!--found in the back of the black sedan. Both were booked on various DUI and weapons charges. more ›

In times of economic need, one must shoulder certain new responsibilities, such as crockpotting. Reduce, re-use, make things at home; if the world can't magically provide you with luxuries like, say, law enforcement anymore, then buy a gun and take matters into your own hands. And we have reached that point, so get thee to your nearest pawn shop. At least, that's what Mason County's commissioner Tim Sheldon seems to recommend, given recent Sheriff's Department budget cuts. Great, the Northwest definitely needs more people waving guns around in fear because they feel the government doesn't have the resources to take care of them. more ›

A teenager was shot by a gun his stepbrother both obtained and stored at Highline High School. So can the Highline school district be held partially responsible for his death? How about the stepbrother's family? The victim's mom, Michele Lucero, thinks so: long-distance from New Mexico, she's suing the district, her kid's father, and his wife for failing to divine the future. Er, technically she's calling it "failing to secure the gun" that issued the bullet that killed her son. This is a fascinating twist in what has been a complex, emotional case since Michael Miller was shot by his stepbrother nearly three years ago. What will it mean for the district, we wonder, if Lucero wins her lawsuit? Will it change anything? more ›

This man neglected to pay his Bellevue storage unit fees, and when the owner tried to auction off his belongings, the cops found out about his precious hidden illegal crates of military weapons. Whoops! Ronald Struve pled guilty to all five federal charges in court this morning. His lawyer says Struve has "unusual political beliefs" (no!) and, with regards to the guns, was "apparently keeping them anticipation of Armageddon." This man needs more sunshine, puppies, and donuts in his life, all stuff he'll get zero amounts of in prison, which is where he's likely to end up. more ›

OSCARS TRIVIA: In case you haven't had enough of the Academy Awards already, Atlas Foods is kicking off their new weekly trivia night with questions about all things Oscar. This trivia night is all ages (a rarity, it seems), but happy hour-priced drinks are available to those of legal age. Teams can have up to four people. more ›

Seattlest woke up at the breaka breaka this morning and turned on the news to find out there was a shooting outside Benaroya Hall last night around 11 p.m. According to the Times, police found a man in his "40s [...] lying on the sidewalk near a bus stop between Union and University streets with facial wounds." The man was taken to Harborview and his condition is unknown. more ›

There's a noisy debate going on in the comments on both Slog and KOMO regarding the cops and lethal versus non-lethal actions. more ›

Seattlest is not sure what to do with this P-I story about a poll on kids' perception of violence. The gist of the article is that according to Junior Achievement's survey, a startling percentage of kids in the U.S. don't seem to feel like violence in their communities is all that noteworthy--and that data resonates profoundly with the experience of many in South and Southeast Seatte. Presumably, the poll was faulty in some way, phrased poorly or not asking the right questions, because there's not a non-sociopathic kid in the world who isn't concerned when their friend gets shot at the mall. (Even as a young kid, we could recognize that "when is it okay to hit somebody?" was a dirty trick question.) It is conceivable, however, that street violence feels so entrenched in some Seattle neighborhoods that a kid could take the attitude that change isn't possible. more ›

Two weeks after a gunman at Folklife injured three people, Mayor Greg Nickels announced his plan to ban guns from all city-owned property. Yesterday, Wash. State Attorney General Rob McKenna (defending his office against challenger John Ladenburg in November's election) released an official legal opinion concluding that Nickels does not have the authority to order the prohibition. more ›

An armed man was forcibly subdued in the lobby of a downtown hotel this weekend after an alarmed ex-girlfriend alerted staff that the man had a gun and intended to use it. The altercation, which involved as many as four employees, escalated into a full-fledged wrestling match as the suspect became violent and refused to hand the firearm over. more ›

Conventional wisdom says these days ain't happy ones for pulp-and-print publications. Circulation's down. Ad revenues are down. Everyone wants to read online. So nearly every newspaper, magazine and television news program has a host of blogs these days, to compete with the millions of self-described experts, autodidacts, conspiracy theorists and Chuck Norris-aficionados who propagate the blogosphere with their own brand of citizen journalism (read: poor spelling and poorer grammar). more ›

is the type of play that gets a regular theatre-goer excited: A clever original script, expertly produced by a small theatre company, with a strong cast of local actors. This is what fringe theatre was supposed to be but rarely managed. more ›

There is something seriously wrong in this city right now. The fight between drivers and bicyclists has been brewing for years, but recently it seems to be reaching a boiling-over point. It pushes what we consider to be sane people, on both sides of the argument, into a state of rage that we honestly find a bit frightening. more ›

1. Things We Lost in the Fire. There are a few things we liked about this (supposedly based here, though there is nothing to indicate that it actually takes place here) movie---mostly that the heroin junkie played by Benecio Del Toro lives in a flophouse in Renton and that Halle Berry plays a Seattle woman named Audrey, leading to a scene where Del Toro runs after her calling, "Audrey, Audrey, Audrey, Audrey, Audrey!" Call us vain, but we like the sound of our name. more ›

A few weeks ago, Nobel Prize Laureate and co-discoverer of DNA Dr. James Watson blew through town, reflecting on how he's stayed away from stupid people, then delving into his now-customary slurry of sexist patois. Apparently he waited until he got across the pond to London to pull out the big guns:

The 79-year-old geneticist said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really." He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”

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The food news may seem depressing, but there's hope. Bear with us. more ›

Seattlest confidant/subliterate henchman "Pete the Polak" told us a long stupid story this weekend about how a friend of a friend of his once knew Duff and this credible source claimed that it was he and not Axl who wrote the lyrics for the timeless classic "Paradise City" and that said song was based on Seattle. We immediately called horse shit on this obvious lie, but upon activating a computer we could find no evidence to the contrary. more ›

With the primary on August 21st we thought we would bore the general public and preview the races for City Council. more ›

Swoop, the mascot of Eastern Washington University, was stomped outside a bar Sunday night and briefly detained by none other than police chief Gil Kerlikowske. Apparently. Reports the Seattle P-I:

Lt. Kenneth Hicks, shift commander at the precinct that includes Pioneer Square, was leading Kerlikowske on a closing-time tour of the club district when the senior officers witnessed a man-on-eagle fracas, according to police documents. more ›

Guns, booze, dames, and private eyes: The SIFF Cinema Summer Series (say that five times fast) kicks off tonight with their first annual Seattle Noir City Festival. Noir City's been taking place in San Francisco for five years now, and this is the first time it's made its way to the seamy underbelly of the Northwest. more ›

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. more ›

At the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit yesterday morning Bill Gates dropped some future knowledge on the assembled ad men and tech types. A few of those nuggets we found particularly interesting and insightful: more ›

Wednesday, February 21 more ›

If you got caught in traffic today because Aurora was closed for five hours, you've got your friendly Seattle cops to thank:

Just after 1:30 a.m. Monday, officers were called to an apartment building in the 1500 block of Aurora Avenue North following a report that a man there had thrown a knife at his girlfriend and threatened two other people in the apartment with a rifle... more ›

That's how Mayor Ole Hanson described the beginning of the general strike that was held in Seattle February 1919, one of the few general strikes ever attempted in the U.S. The Bolsheviks had just won their revolution in Russia two years earlier and the Red Scare was coming into play in our country. Add 35,000 striking shipyard workers. Subtract the city's more moderate labor officials - They were in Chicago for a vote. Those left behind broached the subject of a general strike with other unions and the city was shut down on February, 6, while rumors of poisoned water, blasted dams and union heavies en route from Chicago kept everyone else either locked in their homes or fleeing for the country. In an effort to keep the peace, or kick a lot of union ass anyway if the peace got queered, the mayor brought in soldiers from Fort Lewis and deputized 2,400 frat guys and student organization members whom he armed with clubs and guns. The city teetered towards open war in the streets. more ›