Shorelines legalizes ‘cottage housing’ clusters north of Seattle

By  Daniel Beekman  Seattle Times staff reporter A new type of housing will be allowed to sprout in Shoreline from now on, though officials aren’t sure whether many developments will actually be built under the city’s new rules. The Shoreline City Council voted Monday to legalize “cottage housing” in low-density zones that are currently dominated by suburban-style

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Fentanyl has devastated King County’s homeless population, and the toll is getting worse

1 of 11 | A candlelight vigil in December by Women in Black honors homeless people who died in 2022. Deaths by overdose have skyrocketed. (Daniel Kim / The Seattle Times) By  Anna Patrick Seattle Times staff reporter Before the pandemic, most fentanyl-related overdoses reported in the Seattle area involved people with homes. They started

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From farm to BARN: Bainbridge makerspace promotes art accessibility, eyes expansion

   1 of 14 | Grae Drake uses the professional equipment at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network to create colorful marbles and hide them around Bainbridge. (Kevin Clark / The Seattle Times) By  Sara Jean Green  Seattle Times staff reporter BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Using a propane oxygen torch that emits a footlong flame, Grae Drake creates swirling

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Now comes hard work of making drug treatment available in WA

Patients line up to pick up medication for opioid addiction at a clinic in Olympia in 2020. Washington’s new drug-possession law increases the penalty for drug possession from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor. Public drug… (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)More  By  The Seattle Times editorial board The Washington Legislature needed extra innings to finally come

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Post McCleary, WA school funding doesn’t add up

By  David S. Knight  and  Kendall Fujioka Special to The Times Washington’s K-12 school finance system remains broken just six years after an overhaul effort. And state education leaders have demonstrated a lack of urgency to address the fundamental problems. The system is not progressive with respect to student race, ethnicity or economic status. While

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How to go birding by boat in Western Washington

1 of 7 | A passenger photographing pigeon guillemots off Cypress Island. (Bryony Angell) By  Bryony Angell Special to The Seattle Times Typical of outdoor enthusiasts ready for a mid-June weekend in Western Washington, my friend Roniq Bartanen and I were dressed in seasonably appropriate rain gear and woolens. Binoculars and camera in hand, we joined

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Seattle utilities consider massive efforts that could help green our grid

March 22, 2023 at 7:00 am The $2 billion Goldendale Energy Storage Project proposes to generate 1,200 megawatts of power with pumped-storage hydropower, using upper and lower reservoirs above the John Day Dam. Leaders of the Yakama Nation say the proposed location is sacred, holding archaeological, ceremonial and First Food gathering sites… (Washington State /

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Dear people of WA: The case for another voter-enacted open government law

March 10, 2023 at 2:03 pm Updated March 10, 2023 at 3:03 pm By  Kate Riley  Times editorial page editor Just over 50 years ago, Washington voters approved Initiative 276, which demonstrated the citizenry’s righteous desire to keep tabs on their elected officials. With that vote, the state Public Records Act established the right of the

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