Despite statements from those who attended this week's protest at the Port of Seattle, the Seattle Police Department, who apparently have plainclothes videographers and photographers on standby to record such events, have released video that shows protesters throwing large items, including road flares and bags of paint, at officers. more ›

Kids will be kids--until they threaten to shoot each other or protest a shady company within their schools. Also, when is the tolling going to start, anyway? more ›

Another bus shooting, justice for one and a decision by the school board that will seem like a great injustice to many. But they're not old enough to vote, so no one cares. It's your Thursday afternoon news roundup. more ›

Catch up with the Wednesday morning news briefs: Dorothy Parvaz has been freed, the missing trooper has been found, plus violence in an Everett school and a repeat offense for the kid who beat up the bus driver. more ›

Did the Jonas Brothers suddenly break up and nobody told us? Teenage girls in Western Washington are going violently apeshit this week and we can’t put a finger on why. Either somebody is putting testosterone in the water supply, or the hormone count in our processed foods has suddenly reached a tipping point--either way teenage girls in the area aren’t taking shit in stride. 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 ›

Police are still looking for the attacker(s) who stabbed two men in the chest, early Wednesday morning over in the Eastlake neighborhood. One of the two attacks took place about 2:39 a.m. near the 1800 block of Eastlake Ave., leaving the victim with a life-threatening chest wound. While investigators estimate the second stabbing happened a half hour later, where the victim--whose condition is still unknown--was found 1814 Minor Avenue. Police believe the two victims were involved in an altercation with two other men earlier in the night, which could have ultimately led to the attacks. Both men were taken to Harborview Medical Center. more ›

The Greenwood community was left a little uneasy after an early morning assault on Tuesday, when 44-year-old Todd Boettger was brutally attacked, robbed, and left to fight for his life on the sidewalk in front of a local bar. Facing life-threatening head injuries, medics transported Boettger to Harborview Medical Center. The attack--which is currently being investigated by the police's homicide/assault unit--occurred on the same day Seattle's City Council voted to approve $1.3 million of funding for violence prevention. Maybe the initiative to prevent the rise in violence among Seattle's youth should be given a second look to include city-wide violence prevention. more ›

We don’t usually read Danny Westneat’s column, but Wednesday’s piece about another Belltown beatdown and the generally deteriorating state of Seattle’s low-crime image is increasingly common. more ›

A new corrections officer in Pierce County has been charged with second degree assault for freaking out on the road in Burien and pulling a gun on some civilians. It wasn't an official Department of Corrections gun; the man was carrying his own weapon, which he pointed at a couple (and their kid!) when their existence on the road pissed him off. So soon after watching the horrifying footage of the BART shooting in California earlier this month, we have zero tolerance for cops gone wacko. Corrections officers especially need to be able to keep cool, fair and calm, on the road or on the job; people's lives and the reputation of the local corrections system depend on it. And after reporting on thousands of lay-offs in the region, it's frustrating to hear about "paid administrative leave" for the officer who had what sounds like an psychotic break. Get that man out of the force and into heavy-duty therapy, and make him pay for it himself. Bah. more ›

A 26-year-old man was shot in the Junction in West Seattle just after midnight last night, and around 1 a.m., Harborview doctors announced that the victim did not survive his multiple gunshot wounds. The SPD is looking for three suspects in the case, but as of this morning they don't have anyone in custody related to the shooting. According to West Seattle Blog's breaking reports, the victim ran into Talaricos after he was shot; it sounds like the fatal gunshots also led to some property damage on the facade of the restaurant as well as inside. Homicide and CSI units are currently investigating. We haven't found any mention of the gang unit's involvement. more ›

Perhaps it's a resurgence of energy after the post-holiday blues that galvanized city activists to gather in solidarity against world problems this weekend. There were two rallies we know of: yesterday's 1,500-strong pro-Israel rally at Temple De Hirsch Sinai on Capitol Hill, and a gay rights protest march from Capitol Hill to Westlake Center on Saturday. The pro-Israel rally was the larger and better-organized of the two; as Dominic Holden over at Slog notes, the anti-DOMA march was poorly attended and organized by a small, inexperienced group without the help of Equal Rights Washington. (Our apologies if the headline makes it seem like the anti-DOMA and pro-Israel camps had anything to do with each other, because they sure didn't.) more ›

Carlos Bernadez has been charged with murder in the first degree for his direct involvement with the Chop Suey shooting last weekend. Bernadez was the man police allege opened fire from the side door of the venue, killing one and injuring two others. Roger Allen LaBranche, the first man to be arrested in conjunction with the night's events, has been charged with assault and drug-dealing. As the investigation unfolds, LaBranche may be charged with something more serious; for now, this charge allows the county to keep him as a suspect for accomplice in the murder of 29-E while they continue to clarify what exactly happened to lead up to Saturday night's violence. 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 ›

• Our hearts and all our positive thoughts go out to Amber at the Rainier Valley Post and her neighbors. The RVP, which has been tireless about covering neighborhood crime, has had violence strike far too close to home. Amber's neighbor was stabbed to death yesterday by another neighbor, the victim's husband.
• Capitol Hill Seattle is still playing with Google Street View (no blame, we totally are too) and CHS stumbled upon an interesting scene on 12th Avenue street view. Looks like a parking cop is giving a lecture, surely an unpleasant moment for at least one party. It's frozen now for all to see.
• Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, West Seattle Blog is all about the next round of holidays. They have not one, but two posts about West Seattle Christmas lights, as well as a post about where in West Seattle to get your Christmas tree.

• Sable Verity wishes us all a Happy Thanksgiving, unless of course we get shot and killed before the holiday, which is becoming all too common in Seattle these days. The blog notes that this weekend, 11 people were shot in five separate incidents and one man was stabbed--all within a 36-hour time period.
• Seems like everyone in local politics has a blog these days, including Seattle City Council member Tim Burgess. Yesterday Councilmen Burgess talked about the city budget and youth violence in Seattle, a topic that desperately needs to be addressed, preferably last Friday before 11 people were shot in 36 hours.
• The Rainier Valley Post covered one of this weekend's shootings, which left two teenagers wounded. The shooting, which took place at Rainier Avenue South and South Cloverdale, is believed to be connected to the deadly weekend shooting at Southcenter Mall.

• Darcy Burner commented on The Daily Weekly this weekend and on Seattlest yesterday, which has us wondering if the person posting as "sir-mix-a-lot" on the Central District News is indeed the Sir Mix-A-Lot. Curses! Just that thought alone, and "Baby's Got Back" is already stuck in our head.
• Watch out, West Seattle: with the wet weather here and more on the way, there's an elevated risk for landslides.
• Violence in Central and South East Seattle is getting scarier by the day. The Rainier Valley Post reports of a seemingly random mid-day shooting with no arrests made.

Robert L. Jamieson has a big, big problem with the way things are down in Belltown and a pretty strong idea of who's to blame: more ›

Not to belabor this story, but we think the issue of the rights of bicycle riders to the road is an important one. We ride on the city streets every day and, though some commenters on our post about changes we'd like to see made to Critical Mass in Seattle think that every driver goes out of his or her way to be respectful to us, we know it's not true. Seattle still has a lot to do for bike riders. Our streets are not very safe, nor welcoming to us. more ›

For the record, this Seattlest is a daily bike commuter who knows and appreciates the rights and responsibilities of biking in an urban environment. We also have a friend who was beaten by cops a couple years ago during a Critical Mass demonstration. While this post isn’t specifically about Friday’s incident at Seattle's Critical Mass on Capitol Hill, the event (and one just as scary in New York City) moved us to share these thoughts. more ›

Yesterday Seattlest reported on the beating of a man tending to his neighborhood traffic circle. And it is with great sadness and a general feeling of What the Fuck? that we report that the victim in this senseless beating, James Paroline has died from his injuries. more ›

While it is no angry doctor with a tire-iron, we expect to see a lot more reports like this in the coming months and years. From the Seattle P-I: "Woman responds to expensive gas with her fists." more ›

After this week's headlines about Seattle Central Community College, we're seriously starting to wonder. Two seperate SCCC students were arrested this week for threatening to commit violence on the campus. more ›

The death of a 49-year-old-woman Tuesday at the Frye Hotel marks the third murder at 223 Yesler Way in less than six months. Initially regarded as "the finest hotel in Seattle," the Frye has ironically degenerated into a portrait of violence and despair. more ›

Last weekend, two men were shot at an afterparty for a book-signing of an unauthorized account of Dr. Dre and West Coast hiphop down in Tukwila. One of the men died from multiple gunshot wounds and was identified to the press late last night as a 24-year-old from Renton named Deon T. Guidry. more ›

Ah, football. We love it. It’s easily our favorite sport to watch as it gets our usual docile selves all fired up and yelling at the television every week. Basketball, even with its fast pace and high scoring, is a bore. And baseball? Baseball is almost as fun to watch as golf or the Lifetime channel. But for all of football’s glory, there remains its biggest upset. Which is that it’s one of those high-testosterone... more ›