Loan Forgiveness: What Would God Do?
The Bible is actually pretty clearly in the debt-forgiveness camp.
Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reformer who Helped End the Cold War, Dies...
Gorbachev’s idea of humane communism never became a reality. His attempts to reform a brutal Communist empire garnered admiration around the world but failed to inspire his own people.
Alaska Elects a Rare Democrat to Congress
Mary Peltola will be the first indigenous Alaskan to represent the Great Land in Congress.
Judge: Sustainable Salmon Harvest isn’t Sustainable
Threatened Chinook salmon from the Snake River, Puget Sound, the upper Willamette River, and the lower Columbia all swim north along the coast to Southeast Alaska, where they are caught by Alaskan trollers.
Deep Brew: Next-Gen Union Organizing at Starbucks
When the company replied, in effect, “No, no what do you really want?” the new breed of Millennial/Gen Z front- line staffers replied again, “We want a union.”
Justice William O. Douglas and the Wilderness He Saved
The product of Yakima and Whitman College, Douglas was tapped for the high court in 1939 and confirmed at the age of 40.
Now We Know Who Spent Big to Try to Save Herrera...
These are professional Republican operatives looking to take the House for the GOP.
The LA Times: How to Dismantle a Great Civic Institution
“Bad City” takes the reader inside the Times newsroom at a time of plummeting ad revenue and cancelled subscriptions.
Democracy’s Peril: The Top Issue (and yet…)
Latest poll: Together, pocketbook issues exceed concerns about democracy.
Shopping for Food in Italy: Buy It Today, Eat It by...
"You buy just enough to eat for two days and then go out again for more."
Has Seattle Lost Its Vibrant Downtown? Tips for Revival
Crime, homelessness, high rents, stymied urban politics, NIMBY opposition to building housing, lagging transit, family values from remote work, worker-liberation — all apply to Seattle.
Stirewalt’s Warning: How Media Outrage Divides Us
"Politicians, popular culture, the news media, and leaders of major institutions speak in a language of anxiety, and did so long before our now-receding pandemic began."
Six Months In: Where the War in Ukraine Stands
Half a year after Russia’s invasion, the devastating attacks on Ukrainian fighters have ground down into a deadly war of attrition.
Denali: On the Frontlines of Climate Change
“There is nothing so American as our National Parks,” Franklin Roosevelt once declared. Now those parks reflect a country’s warming climate and weather extremes.
How to Make Governments Better Deliver Services
Our current system of budgeting public services is ridiculous. It takes too long and it focuses on spending levels not the quality of the deliverables.
State of Seattle Arts (Part II): How do we Build a...
Seattle is built on creativity. Now it's time to strengthen the arts ecology that supports it.
Department of Truck-Size Loopholes: Campaign Cash is Gushing in the Legislature
This is basically pure special-interest money, raised $1,000 at a time from willing donors eager to court influence with powerful committee chairs and leaders in the Legislature.
The Wolves of Washington
Washington has arguably become the most effective state in the West when it comes to managing wolves.
Water-World: State Ferries as They’re Supposed to be
History buffs, backpackers, stressed commuters, and wide-eyed tourists continue to be charmed and revived by the graceful rhythms aboard our Washington State Ferry system.
Different Times: When Walter Cronkite Told Us the News
The assassination of President Kennedy changed news consumption worldwide. For the first time CBS and NBC News (ABC News was still a fledging) reported a major news story live for four days straight, without commercials.
Mending, Not Just Rending: The Case for ‘Solutions Journalism’
The impact of a steady stream of “deficit reporting” is to encourage cynicism (“everybody’s a crook”) and despair (“there’s nothing you can do”). Sharing news about things that are working seems pretty basic.
Warren Magnuson’s Legacy is Instructive: The US Senate in 1970 Versus...
Of things accomplished and the nature of political rivalries.
What Could Have Been: Grand Civic Space Languishes as Pit to...
It does seem that after an angst-ridden 17-year saga, it is time to talk about rethinking the original dream. The hole in the city’s heart has yawned unoccupied under six mayors.
Lessons from Hungary: How to Undermine a Democracy
Hungary's Orban lays out the insidious steps that toss out democracy and accountability, while remaining popular with the electorate.
Seattle Arts: Reckoning or Opportunity? (Part I)
There are many reasons to worry about the survival of the arts in Seattle.
A Fascinating Explosion of Puget Sound Plankton So Big It was...
“Puget Sound is to plankton what Florida is to oranges, what Iowa is to corn, and what the Cascades are to Douglas fir.”
The Book John Steinbeck Almost Wrote About the Pacific Northwest
Together with Ed Ricketts’ seminal Between Pacific Tides (1939), “it was going to be a trilogy that would complete the biological intertidal scientific data on the entire West Coast of the United States to Mexico and as far as Alaska.
State of the Union: The Lake that Connected a City
Puget Sound Natives, likely migrating from the north in the 12,000 years ago, found a perfect home on the shores of Lake Union.
Man Oh Manzanita!
It does seem that everyone has a pandemic story to tell. Now, if you’ll oblige me, it is my turn.
How Grand Opera Almost Came to Our Northwest Forest
The magic of Santa Fe Opera mixed with Wagner’s grand dramas recalls those days when Seattle dreamed big, mixing art with natural grandeur.
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Radical Skepticism has Eaten Truth from the Inside
My point is not to launch a witch-hunt for post-modernists. It is to try to get a handle on how the view that there’s no truth, only power, and the posture of radical skepticism devolve into a cynicism that is corrosive to the soul and to society.
