A new poll published by AARP found that women over 50 are poised to have a decisive voice in choosing our next president because 95 percent of them plan to vote.

Puget Sound Salish hangs on by a thread, thanks to efforts to preserve it. Unfortunately, when a language dies the ways its speakers experienced the world vanish with it.

A proposal in Vancouver, B.C. could be "the most dramatic statement of urban Indigenous presence in any Canadian city – a new district called Senakw, after the long-displaced village."

What do sharks have to do with Puget Sound? They draw crowds. One way out of this problem could be virtual reality. That's what is proposed in Sarasota, where the sharks and whales will be virtual, not captive.

Republicans have at least three candidates or potential candidates who are deeply controversial and threaten to be embarrassing to the party’s chances to regain a position as serious contender in statewide politics.

So the picture is now becoming very clear: e-scooters are as dangerous as motor vehicles, if not significantly more dangerous, and are far less regulated.

"We cannot imagine being proud to see one of our mainline authors, from our subculture, on the shelf at Walmart. In many ways, our objections to celebrity are a veiled way of talking about class.”

On a per-capita basis, each resident of King County had, on average, 36 percent more income to spend in 2018 than in 2010, after adjusting for inflation. Insane housing prices? All those new, expensive bars and restaurants? Bentleys and Teslas? Now you know why.

God bless John McPhee for explaining both the How and the Why of what I've been doing for the last long while. It's probably...

What we feared during the last decade when autocrats and populists took power in democratic countries like ours has come to pass and surpass our worst nightmares.

Fires and fire conditions are the new normal, and not just in Australia. So is controversy about causes and prevention of the fires.

The Trump administration is threatening to expand the tariff to 100% on all European wines. If enacted this tariff will have devastating effects on the wine industry.

Local and state actions have become necessary because Congress, under the control of either party, has up to now been unwilling or unable to increase the minimum wage.

The bonanza of women that sought the Democratic nomination this cycle reflects the increase in women running for office at all levels. Not only did a record number of women win election to Congress in 2018, but a growing number of those who lost that race already have filed to run again.

No, not Mitch McConnell or Pompeo. Or, for that matter, any of the Republicans currently serving in the government.

In terms of fundamentals, compared to other American cities, upper-middlebrow Seattle in 2020 will remain the same as it was in 2019: white, woke, wealthy, and (sigh) too wet. Plus ça change.

Over the years, ever since the 1960s Julia Child revolution in food, few things in journalism have stayed more fixed than restaurant reviews. The basic message is a kind of luxury porn. The basic literary formula is to go from appetizer to dessert. But now that's changing. Restaurant reviews are woke.

We are seeing, not only in Seattle but elsewhere, a shift in power from the traditional government/business alliances that dominated in the past, to an evolving array of nonprofits and movement-generated groups that are elbowing their way into the public discourse. This was already afoot in the 2010-2019 decade.

This confrontation with Iran has taken on a life of its own. Iran will make the next move. In a rational world Congress would then to do its job and stop this madness.

The chairs of those four major committees, Mosqueda, Strauss, Herbold and Pedersen, will be the power brokers for the top issues facing the city. As incoming Council President, Gonzalez will also have her share of power on the second floor of City Hall. That leaves Juarez, Lewis, Morales, and Sawant somewhat at a disadvantage in trying to move big agendas forward.

Maybe the Gates Agenda is comprehensive enough, sensible enough, and credible enough (given the admiration of the Gateses) to be a rallying set of ideas.

While you are watching (or trying to ignore) TV commercials at home, everybody in the stadium is spending that time waiting. The players stand around. Some stroll off and back on the field. They have enough time to order a pizza or call their wives. Quarterbacks walk over to the sidelines to confer with coaches.

"Making Dystopia" makes me wonder if Modernism -- the word itself is a marvel of marketing -- may be about to fade from favor and be "deconstructed" like so many other imposed-from-above cultural values.

Good riddance to 2019 and the fall of the MAX. With hopes for 2020, and electing leaders with a clue.

All too often, natural scientists and economists seem to be talking past each other. The scientists propound values—biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, the elusive but essential quality of “wildness”—that are not readily measurable in financial terms, hence not considered by traditional economists.

Many of Seattle's arts institutions are so focused on the essentials of survival it’s increasingly difficult to experiment or play. When margins are so close, a failed project is less tolerable.

Economic angst layered on top racial or ethnic tension -- that mixture has always been toxic. We went through similar turmoil in the 1850s and the 1920-30s. We are once again two nations, divided by race, culture, and education.

There’s no way to cast the recent report as substantive progress. Or to see it as evidence of Jay Inslee's gubernatorial leadership.

Ah, the season of cheer and misadventure is upon us...

So far the Republicans are eagerly playing their assigned bad-guy roles. Pelosi probably knows that McConnell is more than ready to suit up as a villain.