As you well know, today is Martin Luther King Day. The Seattle Times has a Tribune story about the challenge of keeping King's legacy alive to a generation of Americans who have never known government-instituted segregation. However in the wake of the Tucson shootings,his message of nonviolence and activism rings even more clearly. more ›

When traveling the country and trying to avoid the Cheesecake Factories, Cracker Barrels and Claim Jumpers that clog the arteries, we get excited whenever we see a Martin Luther King street exit. The same can be said for exit 157 off I-5 in Seattle, where, just to the north, you’ll find a diversity of delicious restaurants. more ›

A couple of months ago, the PI's Robert Jamieson publicized an issue with some sites using Google Maps data: Seattle's Martin Luther King Jr. Way South was showing up under its pre-1982 name, Empire Way South. "You're not going to say we are being racist," a Google spokeswoman wondered. No, I assured her. The point of this tale is that even the best technology can miss things -- and people with careful eyes can... more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. more ›

CELEBRATE MLK: Take a few minutes out of the day to check out HistoryLink's accounting of Martin Luther King Jr.'s one visit to Seattle and then head to Seattle Center for some of their events. The East West Bookshop on Roosevelt also has a "concert and program of tribute" from 7:30pm-8:30pm more ›

No matter what Dane Cook's myspace page says, the Reverend Dr. Samuel McKinney, narrator of the gospel musical Black Nativity, is the only person you'll see on a Seattle stage this month who went to school with Martin Luther King, Jr. Our favorite part of this consistently entertaining show was watching 80-year-old McKinney--who also once met Langston Hughes, its author--tap his toes, silently sing along, and break into a smile during the solos by the Total Experience Gospel Choir. more ›

We've been hoping for weeks to publish what Danny Westneat did today--an open letter to everyone who says Seattle's schools are shitty. more ›

Well, it happened. In a 7-2 vote that was never extended to the public, the King County Council agreed to spending at least $500,000 to change our logo from a crown to the likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. And to add to the surreal ludicrousness of this move, Ron Sims is designing the new logo. The jesters are now running the castle, Seattle. more ›

King County Councilman Larry Gossett is re-submitting his proposal to the City Council this month to spend $600,000 on changing the county's logo from a crown to the likeness of Dr. Martin Luther King. In a recent email to our local neighborhood council (Jackson Place), Gossett indicated that this would "finally give respect and visibility to the fact that our County's namesake is Dr. King." more ›

-An 88-year-old woman who misjudged a curve on I-5 and drove off the road was found today after spending five days trapped by Blackberries. Look, you may think that mobile email is the greatest thing since the Sir Mix-a-lot ring tone, but there's a real danger of these devices ganging together and waylaying elderly drivers. Seattlest thinks there should be a law. more ›

The holidays are over (except for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, of course), so authors are starting to make their way to Seattle again, ready to read excerpts and sign autographs so that you'll be tempted to buy their latest title. Here's a cheat sheet for the week in book tours. more ›

As unlikely a place as Seattle is for North/South Irish violence, the city's St. Patrick's Day parade yesterday was host to some tensions related to that conflict. What the Seattle Times describes as a "dignitary from the British territory of Northern Ireland" felt it was appropriate to raise the British Union Jack and march with it for the duration of the parade from his honored position at the front of the procession. more ›

Keith D. Gilbert, by all accounts the scourge of Roosevelt, was arrested in that neighborhood early Tuesday by federal agents. Gilbert is a famous racist and promotor of some Aryan thing or other who has served time for a previous plot to explode Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but he's better known in Roosevelt for being a thug landlord and neighbor who repeatedly threatens, sues, and intimidates people in the area. more ›