Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far! Plus, overwhelming public support for mandatory paid sick leave, some tunnel business, the Seattle School Board's new budget, government layoffs and some wayward honeybees. more ›

More details on the School District ethics as that crisis winds down, an Alaskan wildfire and upgrades to the Aurora Bridge -- but mostly just a whole lot of old-fashioned violence. more ›

In this morning's headlines: gearing up for the gubernatorial race, liquor privatization, South Seattle murders, an update on the school district and another medical marijuana raid. more ›

The City Council voted yesterday to put the Families and Education levy up for renewal on November's ballot. In a horrible case of bad timing, the seven-year Families and Education Levy is expiring in the wake of the Seattle Schools' recent financial scandal. While often levies are renewed with only a negligible tax difference -- we do this with school levies all the time -- the price tag has been doubled on this one, from $116 million to $231 million, or from about $64 to $124 per household in property taxes (the PI estimates $65/$134). more ›

During a recent state audit of the public school system, a riding lawn mower, laptop computers, overhead projectors, and a costly spool of copper wire were just a few of the items suspiciously missing from the inventory of the Seattle School District. The cost of the small electronics missing alone totaled up to $118,911 in taxpayer money gone and unaccounted for. Well, the unaccounted part was only recently uncovered, when the audit revealed--despite four previous reminders--that the Seattle School District once again failed to report the suspected or known losses and vandalism. more ›

The School Board voted last night to approve proposed changes to school start times. In the fall, elementary schools will begin class at 9:30 a.m. and K-8, junior high, and high schools will begin at 8:15 a.m. We've heard from usually reliable sources both that kids learn better in the mornings and that mornings are bad for learning, so since that one's apparently still up in the air, we'll whine about what an ill thought-through decision this is with regards to working parents. more ›

One of Garfield's star basketball players, Tony Wroten Jr., was "terminated" (we're assuming that means he was pulled out of school rather than murdered in cold blood) by the Seattle School District this week when they ruled that he doesn't live within district boundaries. The Wrotens have hired a lawyer, and the athlete's father told King 5 that school officials didn't do their homework. His words: "For them to say they've come by here six or seven times and say the car is not here….they never knocked on the door, they never came in, they never talked to our landlord who works in the Seattle School District." Sucks to be Tony Wroten Jr. right now. As an aside, happy finals week to all the students in the land. more ›

[Full Disclosure: We were in APP (then called "IPP") from 1st-8th grade.] more ›

Is a new front opening up in the Culture Wars? Seattle school officials say no, but King 5's producers not-so-subtly imply yes. more ›

Over at new Crosscut.com, Knute Berger reports that the Seattle School District will send four local high schoolers to the White Privilege Conference in Colorado Springs. more ›

We heard a rumor and since rumors are one of our favorite things to propagate (second only to "the species") we're getting off to a good Friday. Unfortunately, while there are potentially lots of good rumors surrounding the Seattle public school district (no school closures, across the board school closures, Gates Foundation bought the district) AND lots of good rumors surrounding Apple (new wireless iPod will get you chicks, Apple recalling those crusty and yellowing iPod sleeves, Jobs going to space and not coming back), this rumor falls squarely into the "meh" category. more ›

Seattlest regrets there isn't a "Delete All" button when it comes to Port leadership. more ›