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Judge Rules $15 Minimum Wage Hike Doesn't Apply To Seattle Airport Workers

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airport security seattle

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - The voter-approved law establishing a $15 minimum hourly wage for travel and hospitality workers in a Seattle suburb encompassing the region's main international airport does not apply to workers at the airport, a judge ruled on Friday.

King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas ruled that the city of SeaTac does not have the authority to set workplace rules within Seattle-Tacoma International Airport because the aviation hub is owned by the Port of Seattle, a separate government entity.

Supporters of the law, who view it as an example for communities elsewhere to emulate in their fight for a living wage, said they will appeal the decision directly to the Washington state Supreme Court.

"The Washington State Legislature has clearly and unequivocally stated its intent that municipalities other than the Port of Seattle may not exercise any jurisdiction or control over SeaTac Airport operations, or the laws and rules governing those operations," Darvas wrote in her ruling.

Darvas is the same judge who in August ruled that the voter initiative be struck from the ballot in a decision subsequently overturned on appeal.

Under her ruling on Friday, the minimum wage and paid sick leave law does not apply to roughly 4,700 airport workers but does cover about 1,600 workers at SeaTac hotels, rental car agencies and parking lots. The law, which as written exempts small firms, unionized workforces and airlines, is set to take effect on January 1.

Supporters of the law, which passed by a margin of 77 votes in November with about 6,000 ballots cast and survived a subsequent recount, said they expected the judge to rule against them but are confident of prevailing on appeal.

"Full-time workers at the airport should be able to support their families without public assistance," said Heather Weiner, spokeswoman for the union-backed Yes for SeaTac campaign.

Plaintiffs in the case were led by Alaska Airlines, which has its primary hub at the airport and which in 2005 terminated its roughly 500 unionized ramp workers there, some of whom were rehired as lower-paid nonunion contractors.

"Alaska Airlines believes in fair pay and benefits for all workers, and we respect every worker and the job they do," said Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy. "This lawsuit isn't about $15 an hour. It's about an initiative that violates state and federal law."

Washington state's hourly minimum wage is already higher than any other state's, and is set to rise by 13 cents to $9.32 an hour in January. The new wage in the city of SeaTac will be among the nation's highest, just below a $15.38 rate mandated for city workers and contractors in Sonoma, California.

The law is not without precedent.

Since 1994, when Baltimore instituted the country's first so-called living wage ordinance, more than 120 local governments have followed suit, according to the National Employment Law Project.

Four major California airports operate under ordinances similar to the SeaTac law, including one guaranteeing workers at San Jose airport $13.82 an hour plus health insurance, and another mandating that Los Angeles airport workers earn $10.91 per hour plus health benefits.

(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Steve Gorman and Jackie Frank)

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NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where Every Team Stands Going Into The Playoffs

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tom brady

After 17 weeks of regular season games, the same two teams everyone loved since August — Seattle and Denver — still sit atop our power rankings.

They're the favorite going into the playoffs.

But parity is the definitive characteristic of the NFL, so all 10 playoff teams behind them have a real chance.

32. Washington Redskins (previously 32nd)

Record: 3-13

Result: 20-6 loss to New York Giants

Biggest thing we learned this week: Mike Shanahan is out, and they have problems everywhere.



31. Houston Texans (previously 31st)

Record: 2-14

Result: 16-10 loss to Tennessee

Biggest thing we learned this week: They have the 1st pick in the draft.



30. Oakland Raiders (previously 30th)

Record: 4-12

Result: 34-14 loss to Denver

Biggest thing we learned this week: The Terrelle Pryor experiment might be over. He had two TD passes in his last four starts.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Washington's Weed Legalization Could Be A Disaster For Medical Users, And They're Making A Last Stand

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RTR3B9JD

Many medical marijuana supporters in Washington were skeptical about the legalization of recreational weed when the campaign took off in 2012. It seemed odd, but medical marijuana users saw what voters didn’t. Legalization could make the medical marijuana system much worse — or even kill it.

Their worst fears may already be coming true.

Initiative 502, a 2012 voter initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, came into effect on January 1. While the law was purposely written in a way that steered clear of the medical marijuana system, it placed the State Liquor Control Board in charge of creating a tightly regulated, tax-generating system for recreational marijuana.

And this past year's budget asked the Board to make recommendations for medical marijuana, too. These recommendations could be disastrous for the medical marijuana industry, threatening to limit possession amounts, restrict home growing, and shut down the hundreds of dispensaries currently operating. Ultimately, these limits could force the system's more than 100,000 patients over to the heavily taxed, more expensive recreational system. 

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This potential disaster has led Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), a longtime medical marijuana advocate, to prepare a bill aimed at salvaging medical marijuana and fixing many of the Liquor Control Board's recommendations for the upcoming session of the Legislature, slated to begin next week. 

Kohl-Welles has been a key player in any medical marijuana discussion in Washington since she was elected in 1995. After witnessing the drug’s effect on a cancer-ridden friend in the mid-90s, the senator became an outspoken advocate for the medical marijuana community.

The Making Of The Marijuana "Wild West"

Marijuana in Washington has a complicated history, far more so than in Colorado, which also legalized recreational smoking in 2012. In 1998, Washington passed a voter initiative with a nearly 60% majority to legalize medical marijuana for patients with terminal or debilitating illnesses.

The initiative left a lot of open questions. Unlike in Colorado and California, medical marijuana in Washington was mostly unregulated. Patients were allowed to have a 60-day supply of marijuana, 15 plants, or up to 24 ounces of usable marijuana, yet the law never specified where the product would come from. No regulatory agency was placed in charge of the nascent medical marijuana industry, which lead to what Senator Kohl-Welles calls “a grey market.” 

Despite pushing for the 1998 medical marijuana initiative, Kohl-Welles knew the law was flawed. Since its passage, she has tried, with varying degrees of success, to rein in the medical marijuana wild west she helped create. After nearly 10 years of back and forth, Kohl-Welles got small amendments to the law passed in 2007, 2008, and 2010.

Wash. Gov. Chris Gregoire In 2011, Kohl-Welles finally got a comprehensive reform bill through the state legislature to then-Governor Christine Gregoire. The bill established a complete system for licensing and regulating the medical marijuana dispensary business. In fact, it did for medical marijuana much of what I-502 is poised to do with recreational weed.

When Gregoire received the bill, Mike Ormsby and Jenny Durkan, the U.S. attorneys in Washington, told Gregoire that if she signed the bill into law as is, they would go after her administration and any officials who followed her directive. Those U.S. attorneys worked for the federal government, which was cracking down on medical marijuana at the time.

Under competing pressure from the federal government and medical marijuana activists, Gregoire signed the bill, but not before vetoing its most important parts. The messy medical marijuana business got even messier. 

“I was furious with the Governor,” Kohl-Welles told Business Insider. “It was one of the greatest disappointments of my legislative career.”

The senator attempted to immediately introduce a new law to fix the gutted law, but the legislature was exhausted of the issue. By 2012, it became apparent that marijuana reform might be more doable through another voter initiative.

Legalization As Washington's Best Shot At Reform

Public opinion about pot changed drastically over the years, in no small part due to the acceptance of medical marijuana. By 2012, 56% of Americans favored marijuana legalization and regulation. California’s Prop-19, a voter initiative for marijuana legalization, may have failed during the 2010 election, but it opened the eyes of marijuana advocates to the possibility of legalization. Recreational legalization was suddenly more plausible than significant medical marijuana reform. 

Alison Holcomb, an attorney for Washington’s ACLU and the primary author of Initiative 502, concluded that given the mess that medical marijuana had become, legalization was marijuana reform’s best bet.  

“I don't know if I-502 was the simplest solution, but it was definitely the most pragmatic,” Holcomb told Business Insider. 

Holcomb thinks that part of the support for I-502, at least from Washington voters, may have been a result of the messy situation of medical marijuana. 

Loopholes In Washington's Medical Marijuana Law

 Among the few provisions left in by Gregoire’s partial veto was a clause that allowed for “collective gardens.” It stipulates that up to 10 patients may participate in a “collective garden,” in which patients can pool up to 45 plants for the purpose of producing, processing, and delivering cannabis. Dispensary owners used the clause to justify or open businesses, taking the 10 patients limit to mean 10 customers in the store at a time. It was a wonky interpretation of a gutted law, but it has since held up in court.

Many politicians, analysts, and reporters have long felt that the dispensaries' interpretation of the "collective gardens" provision was a legal stretch, if not outright deceptive. Even Kohl-Welles — who wants medical-only marijuana stores in the state — has said the clause needs to go. 

UCLA public policy professor Mark Kleiman goes so far as to call the dispensaries' "collective gardens" interpretation "legal bullshit." Kleiman is the head of BOTEC, a drug policy consultancy Washington state hired to help design legalization. He has some opinions about how loosely medical marijuana was prescribed in Washington.

“It’s either a trivial issue or a cover for complete legalization … Anybody who behaves with oxycodone the way physicians do with cannabis would lose his or her license if they were lucky,” Kleiman told Business Insider.

Kleiman's assessment may be harsh, but it has some merit. In 2010, Washington amended its medical pot law to ensure doctors couldn't be punished for recommending medical marijuana. Since then, the number of dispensaries in Washington exploded. The lid blew off the industry and the profit margins for dispensaries began to soar. In Seattle alone, there are currently more than more than 150 dispensaries.

BI DAY2 31The state has made policing these dispensaries a low priority; both dispensaries we talked to claimed to never have any police issues. Basically, anybody can go in and out of these stores as long as he has a medical marijuana card, which is currently very easy to obtain.

Rick Garza, the agency director of the Liquor Control Board, claims that up to 90% of medical authorizations are fraudulent. In 2011, Seattle Times reporter Jonathan Martin demonstrated the ease of being authorized when, for a story, he obtained a card at Hempfest for $200, without providing medical records.

Medical marijuana's lack of oversight was a prime reason so many voters with no stake in the marijuana debate voted to legalize recreational weed. Under I-502, the Washington Liquor Control Board authorizes licenses for businesses, enforces regulations and collects 25% excise taxes at three separate points: when the producer sells to the processor, when the processor sells to the retailer, and when the retailer sells to the customer.

Tack on state sales taxes and you are looking at nearly a 40% tax rate for recreational marijuana. A regulated, heavily taxed system had voters, politicians, and even potential marijuana investors with dollar signs in their eyes. Medical marijuana, on the other hand, is subject to only the state's regular sales tax rate, which is just 6.5%.

It's now clear that it doesn't make sense to maintain Washington's loosely medical marijuana business alongside the new, highly taxed recreational system. If people can obtain legal high-quality marijuana at a far cheaper price, users will likely attempt to go to the medical marijuana stores. That could be a lot of lost revenue for Washington state and provide ammunition for legalization’s opponents to call the experiment a bust.

The Ones Who Stand To Lose

harlequin marijuanaWhat’s gotten lost in the battle between earnest efforts at reform and political gamesmanship is not those who abuse the system, but the patients who need the system to be healthier.

Former Marine Ryan Day never thought about using marijuana, according to a story in The Seattle Times. Then he found out that his son Haiden had a rare form of epilepsy known as Dravet's Syndrome, which makes him have more than 100 seizures a day. They are so bad that, at 5 years old, Haiden's cognitive development remains stunted at 2. Pharmaceuticals either don’t help or, if they do, come with disturbing side effects.

When Day heard that medical marijuana might be an effective alternative to pharmaceuticals, he was skeptical. With the condition so bad, Day decided to give it a try, feeding his son marijuana-infused applesauce with pot he grows himself. According to Bob Young at The Seattle Times, the treatment has been miraculous. Provided that Haiden uses cannabis daily, his seizures are down to only a few a day. 

Haiden requires a marijuana strain high in cannabidol (a chemical with analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-anxiety properties) and low in THC (the psychoactive ingredient in pot). The strain is expensive, rare, and difficult to cultivate. If Day purchased it in a dispensary, it would end up costing him about $15,000 a year to treat his son. That number could rise exponentially in the coming year.

Stephan Oxman, a patient with multiple sclerosis, was blunt about the problem with only having recreational stores. He thinks, with a profit-driven market, retailers will go after mass-producing plants that have high yields and appeal to recreational users.

"What quality will they put into their stores? Great, you got a place that can grow 10,000 plants, but if the 10,000 plants are garbage you are not helping the medical community," Oxman told Business Insider. "There are patients in far worse shape than I am." 

The Liquor Control Board's End-Game

In October, The Liquor Control Board and other agencies released initial recommendations about medical marijuana. Several of these recommendations infuriated the medical marijuana community. Most noxious among the recommendations were a reevaluation of what ailments could be treated, the folding in of medical marijuana into the I-502 system, and the elimination of home-grows and “collective gardens." The elimination of collective gardens in particular could eliminate many dispensaries, which rely on that definition to operate.

The only real benefit patients would see was the ability to purchase cannabis without a sales tax, which admittedly is a plus. However, patients would still have to pay the new, larger 25% excise taxes.  

BI DAY2 4Those changes could make marijuana not only prohibitively expensive for patients, especially those like Haiden, but also difficult to obtain. Many patients use nearly an ounce a day; the recommendations stipulated that patients may carry a max of three ounces at any one time. For patients like Oxman, that’s problematic. Some days he can barely get out of bed, let alone make the long trip to a dispensary. The ability to obtain large quantities at one time ensures that he’s never without medicine. 

In response to the recommendations, medical marijuana advocates went on the offensive. A single hearing was held in the state capital in November so that citizens’ voices could be heard. Advocates came in force to criticize the regulations. According to Kohl-Welles, the hearing got so rowdy, it never approached being helpful. 

In response to the criticism, the Liquor Control Board revised the recommendations in December. The final recommendations, which the Legislature will use to reform the system, fix some but not all of the issues that drew ire. The state will still redefine and restrict the medical conditions that can get you a cannabis prescription — a mistake according to Kleiman, who says it is akin to “the state playing doctor.” In addition, “collective gardens” will still be eliminated, possession remains at three ounces, and the tax structure is unchanged. The only real concession to the criticism is allowing patients to home-grow six plants which could, to be fair, help former marine Ryan Day grow medical pot for his son. The state legislature has the option of adopting these recommendations or, potentially, disregarding them.

The Plan To Save The Industry

The revisions were a step in the right direction for medical marijuana, but they still do far too little to help patients, according to Kohl-Welles. When the legislature opens its session next week, the senator will introduce a medical marijuana bill that she feels “aligns the industry with I-502,” while fixing some of the problems in the recommendations. 

Kohl-Welles’ bill is still undergoing final adjustments, but the key difference is that patients with authorization cards would be able to purchase cannabis without the retailer excise and sales taxes. It attempts to increase possession amounts and the number of plants allotted to patients. Kohl-Welles would also like to find a way to allow additional I-502 stores that are strictly medical. 

Under I-502, the total number of store licenses is capped somewhere around 300, with 21 allotted for Seattle. With more than 150 dispensaries currently in Seattle alone, Kohl-Welles believes that the number established by the state will be insufficient to fill demand, especially among patients like Haiden who need rare strains that are difficult to cultivate and not particularly commercial. 

With a limited number of stores and a strong recreational customer base, I-502 stores might be incentivized to only carry commercial strains that appeal to those looking to get high. 

Whether Kohl-Welles bill will pass is anyone’s guess. The senator places the bill’s chances of success at “fair.” She admits that, when the session opens, there will be a “wide array” of bills proposed, some aiming to repeal medical marijuana completely. Until the session opens, no one knows which way the legislature will go. 

And what happens if the Liquor Control Board’s recommendations are adopted, effectively eliminating the hundreds of dispensaries currently in business? Kohl-Welles thinks that it will push both medical and recreational users to the black market.

“People will go to whatever is out there so they can get marijuana at a lower cost,” says Kohl-Welles.

SEE ALSO: Here's Who Could Get Rich Off Weed In Washington

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Mother Of Four Wrote Haunting Petition For Order Of Protection Before She Was Found Dead

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Amy Geng

A 28-year-old mother of four was found dead in her bedroom Monday after obtaining two restraining orders against her allegedly abusive ex-boyfriend, The Seattle Times reported. Police have not yet arrested anyone in connection to the murder but questioned the ex, who remains anonymous. 

The woman, Amy Hargrove (also known as Amy Gang), died of "manual strangulation," according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“A piece of paper isn’t going to save my life when he finally gets me, but at least you will know who killed me,” Hargrove wrote in a 2012 petition for a protection order against her ex-boyfriend, father to her third child.

Hargrove first sought protection from the man in 2012 during a custody battle. She said she endured years of horrific abuse from him, according to court documents cited by the Times.

She claimed her ex harassed her, stole her debit card to drain her account, fractured her eye socket, assaulted her while she was pregnant, raped her at gunpoint, and forced her to have sex with another person. Hargrove told a court that her former boyfriend even led police on a high-speed chase, reaching up to 120 miles per hour and eventually flipping the car, with her children inside.

“The detectives are pretty confident that if it wasn’t him, it was someone who knew her," Kirkland Police Lt. Mike Murray told the Kirkland Reporter. “It wasn’t some random assault.”

The Times also spoke with another former-girlfriend of the man in question. In 2009, he allegedly punched her in the face eight times with a closed fist, stole her cellphone, and forced her into his house. When contact Thursday night, she sobbed after learning about Hargrove's death. “Oh my God, oh my God,” she said before declining to talk further.

Hargrove leaves behind four children. 

"If the mood was sour, Amy would be that person who'd make everyone happy and try to make people not stress," Nickolas Bartth, a longtime friend of Hargrove's, told King 5 News

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33 Reasons Why Pike Place Is The Best Market In America

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Seattle’s Pike Place Market may not be the oldest farmer’s market in America, but it is often rated as the best.

First opened in 1907, Pike Place sits on the Puget Sound waterfront, in the heart of downtown Seattle. Home to hundreds of vendors hawking fish, produce, meat, specialty goods, jewelry, and even art, the market is still a place where small businesses thrive.

We took a day trip over Christmas to see Pike Place in full swing. Even amongst the bustling crowds, there isn’t a better place to spend a day eating and shopping.

Pike Place Market is the longest, continuously operating farmer's market in the United States.



First And Pike News is a famous newsstand at the market's primary entrance. The feeling of an old world market starts here, with racks of international newspapers and obscure magazines unavailable elsewhere. It's been locally owned for its entire existence.



Pike Place Nuts features freshly roasted nuts with odd, delicious flavors like banana walnuts and caramel cashews. It's the kind of oddly specific thing you can only find at Pike Place.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Boeing Painted A New 747 In Seahawks Colors To Root On Seattle In The Super Bowl

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Despite its threat to pull production of its new 777X jet out of the Seattle area during a fight with its workers, Boeing is rooting for the hometown Seahawks to take down the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII this weekend.

For the occasion, the plane maker came up with a new spin on the face-painting fan: It painted a new 747-8 freighter in a special Seahawks livery.

Boeing informs us the plane can hold 121 million Skittles (a favorite candy of running back Marshawn Lynch). It looks pretty cool:

Boeing 747-8 freighter seattle seahawks livery

Boeing 747-8 freighter seattle seahawks livery

SEE ALSO: How To Get To The Super Bowl Without Taking A Car

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The Soul-Crushing Disappointment And Inevitable Heartbreak Of Being A Seattle Sports Fan

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richard sherman seattle seahawks

Seattle, out-of-towners keep telling me, is experiencing a wave of football furor unlike any other NFL market they've ever seen. You can't miss the signs of Seahawks Fever. It's not the just the familiar "12th Man" flag on the Space Needle. This week, each construction crane and radio antenna in town is emblazoned in Seahawks colors. Every building in the skyline has installed its own navy and green floodlights, and the effect at night is something like a hand-tinted cityscape from a lost German Expressionist classic. The "emerald city" of the Pacific Northwest has literally become the Emerald City.

Last week, Seattle's venerable alt-weekly, the Stranger, ran a sports page for the first time in its 23-year history. On Saturday, the cast of the Seattle Opera's production of Rigolettocame onstage for a final curtain call dressed in Seahawks jerseys. Today, I ran out to a nearby superstore in hope of finding a Seahawks jacket for my suddenly football-obsessed bandwagon fan of a son. The store had planted a "12" in its floral arrangement out front; a crowd was taking pictures. Inside, they had been completely sold out of Seahawks-wear for more than a week. This town of mild winters and mild-mannered computer engineers is suddenly more sports-obsessed than any icy Rust Belt football fortress.

And why not? A Super Bowl appearance would be cause for celebration anywhere, but in Seattle, sports success is a particularly rare blossom. In recent years, MLS' Seattle Sounders and the WNBA's Seattle Storm have had some success, with the Storm even winning a few titles. But the last professional championship for a Seattle team in one of the four major sports was the SuperSonics' 4–1 win over the Washington Bullets in the 1979 NBA Finals. Before that, you have to go back to the Seattle Metropolitans, a regional hockey club that won the Stanley Cup in 1917. I was a North Seattle kindergartener when the town won its last championship. It's the first real news event I remember. This year, I turn 40.

Seattle can't claim the longest championship drought currently running in America. In Cleveland, 2014 will mark half a century of abject failure. San Diego, for its part, hasn't won squat since 1963. But Seattle often winds up atop lists ranking cities' sports futility, because our long decades of mediocrity have been punctuated with occasional moments of hope—always followed by bitter, soul-crushing disappointment. Also, the Sonics no longer exist. Clevelanders can at least take consolation in the fact that they still have their terrible NBA team. Hooray?

Consider the Seattle Mariners. As a child I often went to see the lowly Mariners play in the Kingdome, led by future non-Hall-of-Fame "stars" like Alvin Davis and Harold Reynolds. Usually the M's lost, and even if they won, you still had to spend a few hours in the dreary concrete Kingdome, the major league ballpark that most closely resembled an airport parking garage. Only the arrival of Ken Griffey Jr. and one well-timed double by Edgar Martinez saved the team from a mid-'90s move to Tampa. Six years later, the team was a legitimate contender, winning a record-tying 116 games and briefly making believers out of fans—until they lost the pennant in five games to the New York Yankees. Even more demoralizing for Seattle fans: The series was held a month after Sept. 11, 2001. For the only time in history, America was actually cheering for the Yankees.

The Seahawks finally made it to the Super Bowl in 2006, their 30th season in the league, only to lose to the Steelers on account of some forehead-poundingly iffy officiating. (Years later, the ref apologized for those bad calls. Thanks, we appreciate that.) The Sonics flirted with greatness from time to time after that 1979 championship, but lost in the NBA Finals in 1996 to a 72–10 Bulls team. The team is now situated for fantastic long-term success … in Oklahoma City. The NBA allowed the move in 2008, while refusing to OK a similar deal to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle five years later. The sports gods are capricious, especially when they are David Stern.

I myself am a product of the sturm und drang—and the inevitable heartbreak—of Seattle sports fandom. You learn quickly never to hope for too much or to celebrate too soon: The specter of eventual futility lies on the other side of every small victory. Expectations must be managed. When I went on Jeopardy! in 2004, my only goal was not to be That Guy, the one with negative money who gets booted before Final Jeopardy. Even after the first win, I expected to lose every subsequent game. This is the kind of psyche you get up here, molded not only by the annual six months of drizzle, but also by the sub-.500 memories of Harold Reynolds and Jim Zorn and Rashard Lewis. Only in Seattle could an NFL team take the field to the pathos-filled violins of "Bitter Sweet Symphony," as the Seahawks do, and have everyone understand.

Given Seattle's famous climate, local weather forecasters have had to coin a word for non-dreary interludes: they are "sunbreaks." When the rain stops and the clouds lift even for a few hours, locals pounce. Offices empty; parks fill up. It's the upside of bracing for misery: Any ray of hope, no matter how transient, is a cause for celebration. That's what I think about when I see school buses full of Marshawn Lynch jerseys and scowling Seahawks logos fashioned out of Post-its on high-rise windows: We are enjoying a sunbreak. And who knows? We're not supposed to hope, but maybe this is the team that ends the heartache. Maybe, after almost 40 years, the clouds are finally lifting.

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Seahawks Fans Went Nuts In The Streets Of Seattle After The Super Bowl

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Fans gathered in downtown Seattle last night after the Seattle Seahawks’ dominating Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos. The celebration started out orderly but turned destructive, as the crowd became increasingly intoxicated and unruly. 

Shortly after the game, a crowd gathered in Seattle's Pioneer Square, a neighborhood marked by a number of historic buildings. seattle riotMore than 3,000 Seattleites joined the celebration of chanting and dancing fans. Fans took over intersections and smashed champagne bottles on the pavement.Seattle2Before long, fans started lighting small bonfires and fireworks. Some fans even began bringing out furniture and lighting it on fire.seattle4The crowd started to get really boisterous, breaking glass on top of this pergola.Seattl3Riot police were summoned to keep control of the crowd. Some fights broke out and police began arresting unruly fans.seattle5One police officer was assaulted by a fan.seattle8Another man was arrested for firing a weapon in celebration in the city. seattle6Police began extinguishing fires and dispersing the crowd. It didn't take long for the crowd to go home once the riot police got involved. seattle7

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Now Protesters Are Blocking Microsoft Buses In Seattle, Just Like They Did To Google's Buses In San Francisco

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The recent wave of protests against tech companies and the gentrification they have brought to the cities their employees call home has now expanded beyond the confines of the Silicon Valley.

This morning, two protesters in Seattle disrupted the routes of a handful of Microsoft's "Connector" shuttle buses, which the company provides for its employees so that they can live where they like in Seattle and easily commute to the company's offices in nearby Redmond.

In a post on the blog "Tides of Flame," an anonymous writer with apparent ties to the protesters lays out the reasons for the blockade. Briefly:

"However, we are tired of falling prey to these emotions and instead make the first steps to address this very specific aspect of the Microsoft leviathan.  The Connector Shuttle has directly impacted our lives and the lives of those around us.  It is simultaneously a symbol of and a concrete component in the process of hyper-gentrification."

Seattle resident Sean Maguire snapped a few pictures of the protest and was handed a flier by one of the protesters.

From this tweet, here's the front of the flier:

microsoft protest flier

 And the back:

It'll be interesting to see how the situation develops. The Seattle City Council is holding a forum later this week to discuss options for making housing more affordable, but policy ideas that come up will likely take months or years to implement. We're keeping our eyes out for further protests in the Redmond/Seattle area — hopefully, we won't see any stories like that Google engineer who was followed to his home in Berkeley by protesters last month.

SEE ALSO: Why everyone who hates the Google buses is totally wrong

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The $80 Million Machine Digging Seattle's Underground Highway Hasn't Moved In Months

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seattle tunnel viaduct project

An ambitious project to build a highway under downtown Seattle has been stalled since early December, and it will be quite a while before work resumes.

The idea of the $3.1 billion project is to demolish the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a waterfront highway that was damaged in a 2001 earthquake.

Drivers will go the two miles underground instead.

But the $80 million tunneling machine charged with making that happen has broken down 60 feet below the surface, and repairs are going to take months.

Now some are wondering if it's time to give up on the centerpiece of the $3.1 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement program.

Known as Bertha, the world's largest tunneling machine weighs 7,000 tons and measures 57.5 feet in diameter. It began work in July 2013 and broke down in early December, after digging just 1,023 feet out of the planned 9,270.

The problem, according to the state's Department of Transportation, is a damaged seal, which protects the bearing that allows the cutterhead to spin.

With Bertha 60 feet down, making repairs is complicated.

According to Crosscut, a Seattle-based news outlet, the only way to fix the seal is to dig a shaft to reach the front of the machine, or access it through the back of the rig. Either way, the work will take months, and workers still don't know what caused the problem in the first place, the WSDOT says.

In a post on Seattle Transit Blog, Ben Schiendelman argued there are better ways to use the $800 million the state has left in its project budget, like fixing the street grid to make the highway less crucial, and improving public transit:

It’s important, though, to consider the massive opportunity cost of spending this much money on such a high risk single project. The tunnel was justified over and over by proponents by asserting that surface/transit/I-5 couldn’t cover the required trips. Even at this late date, there is still enough money to address those problems, and dramatically improve the city’s environmental footprint and many other measures we care about.

Crosscut reports that when asked if it's time to pull the plug on Bertha, Washington Governor Jay Inslee said, "I don't think we're at that point."

SEE ALSO: The Brand-New Airbus Jetliner Has Made Its Public Debut, And It Looks Awesome

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Seattle Prostitution Has 'Exploded' Because Of The Internet

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Seattle skyline

Seattle bucked a national trend of declining illicit sex revenue with local spending rising from $50 million in 2003 to $112 million in 2007, according to a report from the Urban Institute.

At the same time, the city has seen a big shift in prostitution solicitation from the street to the Internet — both in response to a police crackdown and as part of a shift that is happening around the country.

In the words of on Seattle law enforcement official interviewed in the report:

"I think that because of the Internet, it's just really exploded. And because it is just hitting now, I mean my wife would never go to Backpage or anything like that, so to her, she would have never known that this went on had she not been married to me, unless you are the hobbyist or the exploiter or the young girl involved in it. And then when people hear about Backpage or Craigslist, people are shocked. I’m like, 'Really you’re shocked?!' I mean, you can buy anything on the Internet!"

Cities around the country have seen a spike in Internet-based prostitution because of websites like Backpage and Craigslist, partly because the Internet provides some perceived advantages over street prostitution. Prostitutes tend to make more money online, and pimps believe it's safer to post ads online than to put their girls out on the street. While most street prostitutes have drug problems and work for pimps, more women in Seattle appear to be placing independent ads online to postitute themselves, the report found.

The Internet, however, can be a double-edged sword for sex workers, as cops can scour websites like Backpage and Craigslist to root out illegal activity with relatively little manpower.

As to why Seattle's underground sex economy is outperforming, a federal law enforcement officer pointed to the local economy:

"[T]hey used to say, as Boeing goes, Seattle goes. Boeing’s making record orders. Microsoft’s doing pretty damn well. Costco’s doing very well. Amazon’s doing well. So as a whole, there's a lot of, pretty much all the major Seattle-based companies, those are doing [well]. They will have people who are making good money that are getting paid.”

Atlanta's sex economy is also booming.

SEE ALSO: How Much 7 US Cities Spend On Illegal Sex, Drugs, And Guns

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Seattle City Council Votes To Limit Rideshare Firms UberX, Lyft, And Sidecar

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Ed Murray addresses the crowd after being sworn in as Mayor of Seattle at City Hall in Seattle, Washington January 6, 2014. REUTERS/David RyderOLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Seattle lawmakers on Monday voted to cap the number of rideshare company drivers in a hotly contested move to limit a industry that has emerged in scores of cities to compete with traditional taxis.

The rules, approved unanimously by the Seattle City Council, will limit each of the three ridesharing companies - UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar - operating in the Pacific Northwest city of about 630,000 people to 150 drivers on the road at any time.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said he would sign the measure into law, despite concerns the limits were too strict.

The companies, which allow members of the public to hail rides at the touch of a smartphone app, have said the rules will make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to continue operating in Seattle.

The companies together have at least 2,000 drivers citywide, according to the Seattle Times newspaper.

In addition to capping the number of drivers, the council also moved to require that drivers and cars meet state insurance rules already in place for taxis.

"In cities across the United States and other parts of the globe, companies have chosen to launch first, ask questions later," said Seattle City Council President Sally Clark in a statement.

The limits and changes are to last a year, when they could be revisited.

The move represents a victory for Seattle's traditional taxi and car-for-hire drivers and companies, which have said the app-flagged services operate at an unfair advantage because they need not abide by rules such as having to accommodate elderly or infirm customers.

Uber Seattle General Manager Brooke Steger, whose company lobbied aggressively to defeat the proposed rules, said their passage means Uber will not have enough drivers to keep up when demand is highest.

"It's astounding that the City Council has chosen to ignore the voices of nearly 30,000 constituents and move to put hundreds of drivers out of work," Steger said in a statement.

Uber has faced criticism in recent months for its practice of surge pricing, in which it increases the cost of a car ride - sometimes several times over - at times when demand is highest, such as during a snowstorm.

Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick has defended the practice as an example of market-driven efficiency.

(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in Olympia, Washington; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Eric Walsh)

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2 Dead After News Helicopter Crashes In The Center Of Seattle

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Seattle helicopter crash AP

A news station's helicopter has crashed near Fisher Plaza in downtown Seattle, KIRO 7 reports.

Three cars caught fire, and two people have been reported dead. They were both in the helicopter when it went down, according to fire officials who spoke during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

There is no word yet on what might have caused the crash.

KOMO News reports that its helicopter was lifting off from Fisher Plaza when it crashed.

Three people were on board the chopper at the time, according to CBS News reporter Jeff Pegues.

KING 5 News reports that at least three cars were hit.

The crash occurred on Broad Street near the Space Needle, according to the Seattle Police Department. Police are telling people to stay away from the area, noting that an investigation will continue for several hours and possibly into tomorrow.

Photos have been tweeted of the crash:

KOMO News reporter Kelly Koopman says the helicopter belonged to the news station:

The crash reportedly happened right outside the newsroom, according to Koopman.

This shot shows an aerial view of the crash:

KOMO News' chopper was also used by KING 5 News, according to their Twitter account.

Koopman also tweeted that one person was reportedly on fire:

Officers reportedly extinguished a person's clothes that had caught fire, according to KOMO News.

A 37-year-old male was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to the Seattle Fire Department. He reportedly extracted himself from the red car seen in these photos.

The man has burns on more than 50% of his body, according to fire officials.

The fire department tweeted this photo of the aftermath:

The car fire looks pretty serious:

Here's the tail of the chopper:

YouTube user Alex McBurney uploaded video of the crash from moments after it happened:

And this Vine also shows the fire:

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18 People Still Missing After Deadly Seattle-Area Mudslide

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Snohomish mudslideRescuers struggled on Sunday to reach survivors from a vast landslide in Washington state that killed at least three people, after hearing voices pleading for help under the wall of mud and debris.

Authorities said 18 people were still missing after the mudslide, which stretched for 1 square mile and buried a section of the State Route 530 and the Stillaguamish River under a field of sodden earth, rocks and mangled trees up to 18 metres deep.

Helicopters flew over the debris field and rescue workers used thermal imaging cameras to try and locate survivors, but were forced to turn back as they tried to reach areas where voices had been heard on Saturday. Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said that the authorities were working to get rescuers on the ground, but at present the risks were too great.

He told a news briefing “we suspect that people are out there, but it’s far too dangerous to get responders out there”, describing the mudflow as “like quicksand”.

Three people were killed when the mudslide occurred at around 11am on Saturday morning, in a rural area near the town of Oso, about 55 miles (90 kilometres) north of Seattle. Several were injured, including a 6-month-old boy, who was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Centre in Seattle.

Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said two other victims were in critical condition - an 81-year-old man and a 37-year-old man - while a 58-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were in serious condition.

The mudslide flattened an entire neighbourhood of some 20 homes and blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, forcing evacuations due to fears of flooding as water levels rose behind the debris. Jay Inslee, the Washington state governor, proclaimed a state of emergency and the National Weather Service on Sunday issued a flash flood watch for Snohomish County.

One eyewitness told local newspaper the Daily Herald that he was driving on the highway at the time of the mudslide and had to slam on the brakes to avoid being consumed by the wall of debris.

“I just saw the darkness coming across the road. Everything was gone in three seconds,” Paulo Falcao told the newspaper.

Authorities believe the slide was caused by ground water saturation from recent heavy rainfall. John Pennington from the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management said the area has a history of unstable land. But he said Saturday’s slide happened without warning.

“This slide came out of nowhere,” he said.

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Images Of The Devastating Mudslide That Killed At Least 8 And Destroyed A Neighborhood Outside Of Seattle

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A mudslide occurred 55 miles north of Seattle on Saturday, March 22. It ravaged an entire neighborhood in Oso, Wash., destroying at least six homes, and blocked a part of the Stillaguamish River, causing flooding. 

“I just saw the darkness coming across the road. Everything was gone in three seconds,” resident Paulo Falcao told The Daily Herald.

Originally, authorities reported three people died. The newest numbers show eight dead, eight injured, and 18 still missing. 

The search continues today — although quicksand-like conditions have hindered progress.

These photos show the immense and deadly destruction.

aerial view Seattle mudslide

An aerial view shows this house almost completely submerged in water, likely from the flooded Stillaguamish River. Nearly 15-20 feet of debris have dammed up the river, creating more flooding concerns.

house destroyed Seattle mudslide

 A rescue vehicle visits a house strewn across mile marker 37 on Highway 530.

house destroyed Seattle mudslide

Here's a closer look. 

Snohomish mudslide

The red "X" shows authorities have already searched the house for survivors. 18 people remain missing.

house destroyed Seattle mudslide

The landslide caused even more damage, flattening at least six homes in a neighborhood in Oso, Wash.

 

house destroyed Seattle mudslide

Above, people examine the debris. The mudslide reportedly measures one square mile and 15 feet deep in certain places.  

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Why Seattle Will Suffer If It Raises The Minimum Wage To $15

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Seattle skyline

Economists everywhere may soon be thanking Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.

Not because of his inspired policymaking, but because Murray seems ready to turn his city into a gigantic laboratory for one of the most ambitious, and quite possibly misbegotten, labor market experiments in recent memory.

Yesterday, Murray announced a plan that would gradually raise Seattle’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and tie it to inflation, which won approval from a large committee of business and labor leaders, as well as some city council members.

Today, Washington state’s minimum is a comparatively piddly $9.32. The full council still has to consider Murray’s proposal, but should it pass, Seattle might not just have a far higher minimum wage than its surrounding suburbs, where businesses can easily move; it might well have the highest minimum wage in the world.

I generally support a higher pay floor. And I love a good experiment. But I can’t help but wonder if Seattle is poised to take a step too far.

The nationwide push for a $15 minimum wage that began with striking fast food employees has been a masterful public relations stroke.

Its sheer audacity grabbed the media’s attention and has arguably reset the terms of the entire debate about worker pay. It has certainly made the proposal by congressional Democrats and President Obama for a $10.10 federal minimum look reasonable by comparison.

But while the fight for $15 has made for great politics—in Seattle, both mayoral candidates only adopted the idea last year after it waspopularized by a socialist city council candidate, Kshama Sawant, who ultimately won her race—it’s built on dubious economics. The truth is, nobody has any idea what would happen if the minimum wage jumped that high. But there are good reasons to worry that results would be ugly.

The research literature on whether minimum wage increases kill jobs is decidedly mixed. Some economists have found that hikes lead to small job losses among teens and in industries like fast food. Others have found that losses are nonexistent, or at least negligible.

In the end, I tend to argue that even if you assume reasonable job losses, middle-class and poor families come out ahead in the bargain. Though some workers end up unemployed, enough get raises to make the tradeoff worthwhile.

But that assumes we don’t lift the pay floor too high, too fast. Minimum wage studies have typically looked at small increases, somewhere around 50 cents or a dollar.

Seattle’s proposal would be far larger. It would also have virtually no U.S. precedent. (Nearby neighbor SeaTac recently upped its own minimum to $15, but the city is little more than an airport and only 1,600 workers are affected.)

Adjusted for inflation, the value of the U.S. minimum wage peaked at $10.66 in 1968, as shown in this American Enterprise Institute graph. That’s the ceiling on America’s historical experience.

Screen shot 2014 05 03 at 4.21.30 PM

Seattle’s plan has little global precedent, either. As Tim Fernholz at Quartz notes, the city is essentially considering adopting the highest minimum wage on the globe.

That may come as a surprise, if you’ve ever read about Australia’s roughly $15 minimum.

But once you adjust for purchasing power, the wage floor down under, as well as in high-pay countries like Belgium and France, is closer to $10, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

If the Swiss vote to raise their minimum to $25, as they are consideringBloomberg reports it would be worth just $14 on a purchasing power basis.

Screen shot 2014 05 03 at 4.23.11 PM

Any plan that makes hiring a worker more expensive than in France should be cause for concern.

We know that businesses in high-wage countries are especially eager to replace workers with software.

Fast-food restaurants in Europe, for instance, have been some of the earliest adopters of labor saving technologies like digital kiosks where customers can order.

Those innovations are already beginning to make headway in the United States. But by passing a $15 minimum, Seattle would risk speeding the process up within its city limits.

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Arindrajit Dube, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst economist who is perhaps the foremost advocate for the idea that minimum wage increases don’t kill jobs.

“Would I be concerned about possible job losses if there were a $15 minimum wage in the restaurant industry, yes, I’d be concerned,” he told the New York Times in December. “There are concerns that it might lead to the substitution of automation for workers.”

The move is especially risky for a single city, where businesses can easily choose to open or relocate in the suburbs. That fear convinced Washington, D.C. to coordinate its own recent minimum wage increase with some of its surrounding counties. Seattle isn’t taking any such precaution. (Again, SeaTac is barely a city.)

To his credit, Murray’s is trying to implement the idea gradually.

Under his proposal, businesses would have between three and seven years to phase in the new minimum, depending on their size and whether employees get health care coverage or tips.

Through 2024, some businesses will also be able to count $3 worth of tips or benefits toward the $15 total.

By introducing the change over time, the city will give businesses leeway to adjust, if they can.

If they can’t, however, the impact could be vast. Researchers at the University of Washington have estimated that 102,000 workers in Seattle make $15 or less, meaning they would be directly affected by the hike. Murray is running his experiment with a quarter of his city’s workforce.

And yet, for all the red flags, I’m oddly glad he’s giving it a try. If the plan passes, it will be fascinating, and instructive, to see how such a hike plays out in a major American city.

If it succeeds, it could mean a profound shift in how we think about worker pay. If not, Seattle will have taken out the idea for a test drive.

Better that one city’s job market crash than a whole country’s.

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Seattle Raises Its Minimum Wage To $15 An Hour

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SEATTLE (Reuters) - The Seattle city council voted unanimously on Monday to approve a hike in the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour, to be phased in over the next seven years.

Under the terms of the plan, businesses with fewer than 500 workers must raise wages to a minimum of $15 per hour over the next seven years. Larger businesses or franchises must meet that level within three years, or four if they provide health insurance.

(Reporting by Jimmy Lovaas; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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One Of The Creators Of 'Bejeweled' Is Selling This Modern Seattle Mansion [PHOTOS]

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brian fiete house

Brian Fiete, cofounder of "Bejeweled" creator PopCap Games, has listed his Seattle home for $5.45 million, according to Curbed.

PopCap is best known for its hit game "Bejeweled," which, according to cofounder Jason Kapalka, has been played by more than 500 million people throughout its 14-year history. The company was bought by Electronic Arts for $1.3 billion in 2011.

Fiete's house is glassy and modern, with four bedrooms situated over three floors of living space. Sliding doors throughout the house make for incredible views of the Space Needle and downtown Seattle. 

The house is located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, on top of the highest hill in the city.



You can get amazing views from several different spots in this house.



Large glass doors easily open the space to the outside.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

At Least Three Shot At Seattle Pacific University

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seattle

SEATTLE (Reuters) - At least three people were shot at Seattle Pacific University on Thursday, and the suspect was in custody, Seattle police said on social media.

The Seattle Times newspaper put the number of wounded higher, at seven, none fatally, and said that police were evacuating Otto Miller Hall on campus, but a police spokesman at the scene confirmed only three victims.

Seattle police had initially said via twitter that four people were confirmed shot but later downgraded that to three, saying a SWAT team was searching the campus and that authorities were receiving conflicting information about the number of victims.

The school said on its website that it was in lockdown as a result of the shooting. There was no immediate word on the conditions of those wounded.

 

(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Bill Rigby; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Seattle College Students Subdue Gunman After He Kills One Person

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SEATTLE (AP) — When a lone gunman armed with a shotgun at a small Seattle university stopped firing at students to reload, another student pepper-sprayed him and subdued him with the help of others and prevented more deaths, police said.

"There are a number of heroes in this," Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said. "The people around him (the gunman) stepped up."

A 19-year-old man was fatally shot and two other young people were wounded after the gunman entered the foyer at Otto Miller Hall on the Seattle Pacific University campus and started shooting Thursday afternoon. When he paused to reload, a student building monitor disarmed him. The gunman had additional rounds and a knife, McDonagh said.

"But for the great response by the people of Seattle Pacific, this incident might have been much more tragic," he said.

The man in custody was not a student at the school, McDonagh told a news conference.

Four people, including the young man who died, were rushed to Harborview Medical Center. A critically wounded 20-year-old woman was in intensive care late Thursday night after about five hours in surgery, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. A 24-year-old man was hospitalized in satisfactory condition. A Seattle Fire Department official said the man suffered "pellet type wounds" to his neck and chest.

A 22-year-old man was treated and released, Gregg said. Police said he suffered minor injuries during the struggle with the suspect.

None of the victims was immediately identified.

Aaron R. Ybarra, 26, was booked into the King County Jail late Thursday for investigation of homicide, according to police and the jail roster.

Also late Thursday, police who said they were serving a warrant entered a house that was believed tied to Ybarra. A phone message left at that house in the north Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace was not immediately returned.

Messages left with friends and relatives of Ybarra via social media were not immediately returned.

The Seattle Times said the suspect's father, Ambrose Ybarra, said he doesn't know anything of the incident.

"We just hope he's safe," he told the paper. "It's upsetting to have these accusations thrown around. We're in emergency mode. We are trying to stay calm."

The paper said Zack McKinley described himself as one of Ybarra's closest friends and said he was "super happy and friendly."

McKinley said the attack was puzzling because Ybarra had happy to have just started a new job bagging groceries at a store.

He said Ybarra didn't do drugs or drink alcohol and spent time writing. Ybarra could get emotionally low, but McKinley said he had a good group of friends and never saw him depressed.

Student Chris Howard was at Otto Miller Hall when the shooting happened. He said he saw the wounded young woman on the floor being tended to by a classmate. Her chest was bloodied. Her phone was covered in blood, but she asked her helpers to look through her phone for her mother, aunt and best friend.

"She was panicking," Howard said. "She said 'I think I'm going to die.'"

Soon after, police arrived. By then the suspect had been subdued. Howard ran outside and back through the lobby where he saw the man pinned on the floor.

"The suspect was calm. Not speaking. Not moving. Not struggling. Just there," Howard said.

The afternoon shooting came a week before the end of the school year, and the situation was particularly tense when police initially reported that they were searching for a second suspect.

"It appears the suspect acted alone," McDonagh said.

He said he did not know the gunman's motive or intended target. Detectives are "working as quickly as we can to figure it out," McDonagh said.

The university locked down its campus for several hours, and it alerted students and staff to stay inside. Some students were taking finals in the same building that the shooter entered.

Both the young man who died and the young woman suffered gunshot wounds to the body, Seattle Fire Assistant Chief Jay Hagen told the news conference.

On Thursday evening, people packed the First Free Methodist Church on campus for a service of prayers and song. So many people crowded into the building that dozens of people gathered on a lawn near the church and formed their own groups as the sun set.

"We're a community that relies on Jesus Christ for strength, and we'll need that at this point in time," said Daniel Martin, university president.

About 4,270 undergraduate and graduate students attend the private Christian university. Its 40-acre campus is in a leafy residential neighborhood about 10 minutes from downtown Seattle. The school canceled classes and other activities Friday.

Jillian Smith was taking a math test on the second floor of Otto Miller Hall when a lockdown was ordered.

She heard police yelling and banging on doors in the hallway. The professor locked the classroom door, and the 20 or so students sat on the ground, lining up at the front of the classroom.

"We were pretty much freaking out," said Smith, 20, a sophomore. "People were texting family and friends, making sure everyone was OK."

About 45 minutes later, police came and escorted them out of the building two by two, she said. On the way, they passed the lobby where she saw bullet casings and what appeared to be blood on the lobby carpet and splatter on the wall.

"Seeing blood made it real," Smith said. "I didn't think something like this would happen at our school."

The gun violence follows a spate of recent shootings on or near college campuses.

Last month, according to police, Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured seven before turning his gun on himself in a rampage in Isla Vista, California, near two universities.

Seven people were killed and three injured when a 43-year-old former student opened fire at a tiny Christian school, Oikos University, in Oakland, California, in 2012. A gunman killed five people and injured 18 when he opened fire in a Northern Illinois University lecture hall in 2008.In 2007, 32 people were fatally shot in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, before the gunman killed himself.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, noting previous mass shootings in the city, said: "Once again the epidemic of gun violence has come to Seattle."

____

AP reporters Donna Gordon Blankinship in Seattle and Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, contributed to this report.

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