Annie McGlynn-Wright could find no shortage of painful examples of police stopping Black youth when she was working through her University of Washington research — but she wanted to learn more about what happened after those stops, and how those early-in-life experiences, depending on race, might shape the rest of a child’s life. The results of the UW study, which was published in late October, were straightforward: Police encounters during childhood increase the risk of arrests in young adulthood for Black students, but not white students. The study, launched nearly 20 years ago, comes in the...

Remember in the spring, the pot-banging? People would come out on their porches in the evening to rally for the health workers — to say, collectively for just a minute or two, that we were thankful for the effort.That spirit seems years away to Anna Halloran.“There’s a large segment of the population that hates the health department right now, that thinks we’re lying,” says Halloran, a communicable disease epidemiologist in Spokane, Washington.Halloran works for the Spokane Regional Health District, which recently fired its top health officer, Dr. Bob Lutz. He was sort of the Dr. Anthony Fauci...

SEATTLE — Loren Culp lost Washington’s gubernatorial race by more than 545,000 votes, but he’s not conceding — and says he’s not going away.Culp, the Republican who took 43% of the statewide vote against Gov. Jay Inslee, has taken a page from President Donald Trump’s playbook by attempting to sow doubts about the election results and lobbing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.In recent days, he and his campaign manager, Chris Gergen, also have turned their anger on top Washington Republicans, including Secretary of State Kim Wyman and state House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox.The post-electio...

The eyes of the nation are fixed on Georgia, with two U.S. Senate seats up for grabs. In a timely twist, the man who helped reshape the South’s political landscape is the subject of a new feel-good documentary just right for lockdown family viewing.“Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President” is a relevant history lesson during our current, painful presidential transition. Carter, 96, remains a powerful spokesman for the value of political decency. His Carter Center, which promotes human rights globally and typically monitors elections abroad, this past week observed the hand recount of the 2020 pres...

SEATTLE — In its first round of grants, the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund will award $791 million to 16 environmental organizations largely focused on researching and implementing ways to reduce carbon emissions, build green jobs and restore wildlife.The funding round announced Monday was remarkably large for an organization that does not have a website and has not published a list of staff, named a director or released instructions on how to apply for grants.Five big-name environmental nonprofits — the Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, World Res...

SEATTLE — It took dozens of park rangers, searchers, doctors and nurses, but Michael Knapinski, who became lost amid freezing, whiteout conditions in Mount Rainier National Park last weekend, was brought back to life in what his medical team is calling a miraculous recovery.The 45-year-old from Woodinville left for a snowy hike with a friend on the morning of Nov. 7. His friend planned to ski down the mountain to Camp Muir, while Knapinski was going to snowshoe to Paradise.“I was pretty close to the end (of the trail). … Then it turned to whiteout conditions, and I couldn’t see anything,” Knap...

SEATTLE — State entomologists confirmed Tuesday they discovered more than 500 Asian giant hornets — including nearly 200 queens — in the nest they pulled from a tree last month.The Washington State Department of Agriculture, or WSDA, announced Oct. 23 that one of its teams had found the nest, the first in the United States, inside a tree near Blaine, Whatcom County. A team of WSDA workers set out to destroy it the following day in hopes of preventing the invasive insects from establishing a foothold here and decimating vulnerable bee populations.They initially reported it had 98 hornets inside...

SEATTLE — Two weeks after his 18th birthday, DeeJay Dallas registered to vote in Georgia on Sept. 29, 2016. The Seahawks’ rookie running back was eager to participate in the electoral process again this year, and Georgia state records show his absentee ballot was accepted there Oct. 27.“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an independent, it’s your God-given birthright to get out and vote,” said Dallas, a native of Brunswick, Ga. “My ancestors fought too hard for me not to vote.”Political activism has never been more prevalent in professional sports than it has in 2020, and few teams h...

SEATTLE — On any given day before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary’s Place in Seattle had more families calling to ask for shelter than it had beds available.That changed after the outbreak hit and state and local eviction moratoriums went into place to help people struggling financially. This summer, Mary’s Place had space for any homeless family seeking help — even though it lost almost a quarter of its 675 beds after closing shelters where people couldn’t keep their distance.“They were able to stay in their homes … or they were finding other solutions,” said James Flynn, chief program officer at...

SEATTLE — In a move rarely seen by professional sports teams, the Seattle Storm voiced its support for the 2020 Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Wednesday.The team’s official Twitter account posted a graphic of the Biden/Harris campaign logo along with its team logo accompanied by a short statement that read: “Join us in support of @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris.” The tweet also included a link for people to register to vote.Team co-owners Dawn Trudeau and Ginny Gilder also offered their own statements supporting Biden and Harris on Twitter.“We don’t typically endorse candidate...

SEATTLE — This spring, as the coronavirus spread across Washington, a team of stalwart volunteers set up signature-gathering drive-thrus outside churches and stores. Their aim: to put a referendum on the November ballot overturning a new law that required public schools to teach comprehensive sexual health education.Thousands of voters streamed to these impromptu drive-thrus. By June, more than 264,000 people had signed, more than double the number needed for the referendum to qualify for the ballot.But in the roughly four months since then, the campaign has moved mostly online. Those who favo...

SEATTLE — If you have a pet, you’ve probably wished at some point that it could talk to you. Too bad that’s impossible … or is it? Alexis Devine would tell you that her dog can — in a way.Devine, an artist in Tacoma, Wash., has had Bunny, a female Sheepadoodle, for a year. And in that time, Devine says she’s introduced Bunny to more than 50 words by teaching her to press buttons that play words out loud.For instance, as seen in videos Devine has posted on social media, if Bunny wants to go to the park, she’ll press a button that says “park.” Or, if she wants to play, she’ll hit the button for ...

SEATTLE — Just when you think Asian giant hornets’ reputation couldn’t get any worse, they’re about to enter the “slaughter phase” when they attack in force, decapitate their victims and prey upon the brood for days. Six “murder hornets,” as they’re sometimes called, have been caught, trapped or reported since Sept. 21 in the Blaine area, where they were first spotted in the U.S. last year. The Washington State Department of Agriculture, or WSDA, is desperate to track down their nest and kill them before they go on their murderous rampage. “Asian giant hornets this time of year start going into w...

SEATTLE — In a summer of skirmishes between protesters and police, July 25 stands out for the volume of its brutality. Tensions had been primed in days prior. Video of agents seizing a protester in Portland sparked anger among some demonstrators. Then, federal agents traveled to Seattle, against local politicians’ wishes. And in an emergency hearing the night before, a federal judge blocked a Seattle City Council ban on tear gas, blast balls and similar weapons. Protesters that day came away bloodied with bruises, cuts and burns after police used crowd-control weapons, according to court filings...

For Seattle, the 2010s were marked by the explosive growth of two things: Population and income.Regarding population, the city ended the decade with the distinction as the fastest-growing big city in the U.S. So it seems only fitting that when it comes to income, Seattle should also close out the previous 10-year stretch with a milestone.And according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week, Seattle did just that, crossing over into six-figure territory.The median income for the roughly 345,000 households inside Seattle’s city limits hit $102,500 in 2019, up about $9,000 from 2018...