Free Republic

SEATTLE -- Bertha finished boring the path for a new tunnel under Seattle nearly one year ago. Since then, construction crews have finished installing a double-deck highway end-to-end inside the tunnel. That leaves crews to finish installing and testing the $3.2 billion tunnel's advanced operational and safety systems. So when will the tunnel open? How much will tolls cost? And what happens to the Alaskan Way Viaduct? When will the tunnel open and what happens to the viaduct? After the tunnel is finished, crews will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct for several weeks to realign the highway to the tunnel....

About half of marijuana users in states where it's legal say they've gone to work while under the influence of the drug ... Instamotor polled 600 self-identified marijuana users in states where recreational marijuana is legal ... Almost half -- 48 percent -- of respondents said they have gone to work high, with 39 percent stating that they go to work under the influence at least once per week. ... 50 percent said they would likely be fired if their boss knew they were high at work.

A sign reading “U SUCK” graced drivers’ commutes along Interstate Highway 5 in Washington State on Tuesday. A driver, Ruslan Kozlov, was traveling along I-5 about 1 mile before Exit 154B when he spotted the surprising message on an electronic billboard over the highway, Q13FOX reported. -snip- The Washington State Department of Transportation acknowledged the image was in fact real and blamed it on a “training error.” “This was an inappropriate message and we apologize if anyone was offended,” they said in a statement to Q13FOX. “This was due to a training error and clearly a mistake. We are taking...

Homeless people brag about the 'tent mansion' they built right next to Seattle's Space Needle that is surrounded by multi-million dollar high-rise condos The structure is located on a patch of grass near Seattle's famous Space Needle It has quickly been dubbed the 'tent mansion' and is surrounded by multi-million dollar high-rise condos Tent structure has glass French doors and is made mostly of tents, wooden pallets, chairs, tarps and even umbrellas Group of homeless people built the camp after they were forced from a park It is in a heavy foot traffic area given the number of tourists walking...

Want a view of the Space Needle? A group of homeless people built a tent "mansion" in a small patch of grass between Third Avenue and Broad Street. It's a half a block from Seattle's most famous tourist attraction and surrounded by multi-million dollar high-rise condos. "We've got the doors, the couch, the table," said Melissa Burns. She's currently living in the new camp. "We've got the living room here, which is a mess right now because we're still constructing, but we're puttin' up the vinyl to cover it up, make it more attractive." (I mean, you got to keep...

Early last year, Seattle instituted a new regulation covering rental property, a “first in time” (FIT) rule. Under the law, landlords were compelled to rent an apartment to the first applicant who met their requirements. If a landlord preferred to wait for other qualified applicants and choose among them, he was in violation of the law and subject to fines. The idea behind the law was one that has swept through “progressive” circles over the last decade, namely that most Americans harbor hidden biases against people who are different, particularly those from a different racial background. Back in 1998, two...

President Trump on Monday ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian intelligence officers in the United States and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle in response to the nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy in the U.K. earlier this month, senior administration officials said. The steps, following Britain's expulsion of Russian diplomats, are meant to send a message to Moscow that actions have consequences, the officials said. The Seattle consulate is being closed because of its proximity to submarine bases, as well as Boeing. “With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to...

Seattle police first in state to seize gun under mental health law by Joel MorenoSaturday, March 3rd 2018 SEATTLE – The city’s police department became the first law enforcement agency in the state to force the surrender of a firearm under a new law known as an “extreme risk protection order.” The incident involves a man who lives in Belltown, who neighbors said had been intimidating people for the past year - even staring-down customers through store-front windows with a gun holstered at his side. Mental illness is suspected, but that new law allowed police to legally disarm him. “He...

You have to go to the survey to see the craziness. The City if Seattle is over run by "homeless" drug addicts, sex offenders, and criminals living in public spaces in tents and RVs stealing everything in sight. They ask if you are lesbian bisexual transgender questioning..."check all that apply" at the gender question.... Insanity.

A story about the times we live in, and assumptions we can make in our current political climate. The news tip a few days ago said: “Hi. Suddenly there is a Confederate flag flying in front of a house in my Greenwood neighborhood. It is at the north-east corner of 92nd and Palatine, just a block west of 92nd and Greenwood Ave N. I would love to know what this ‘means’ … but of course don’t want to knock on their door. Maybe others in the area are flying the flag? Maybe it’s a story? Thank you.” It was from...

A 19-year-old man in a Seattle suburb has been arrested and accused of raping a high school student as she was dying from an overdose and texting explicit pictures of her to friends. The suspect, who has been identified as Brian Roberto Varela, was charged Friday with second-degree rape, manslaughter and controlled substance homicide, the Associated Press reported.

Five people were arrested as fights broke out and at least one American flag was burned Saturday after a college Republican rally in Seattle drew counter-protesters. College Republicans at the University of Washington had invited members of Patriot Prayer, a group in Vancouver, Wash., to speak in the university's Red Square for a "freedom rally," the Seattle Times reported.

An Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Seattle had to turn back around after a passenger locked himself in the bathroom and took off all his clothing. The flight took off from Anchorage at 1:21 a.m. on Wednesday morning and returned back to the airport one hour and 20 minutes later. A spokesperson for the airline said the plane turned around because of “a passenger not following flight attendants' instructions." "While no emergency was declared, pilots made the decision to return to Anchorage," the spokesperson told local news channel KTVA. "Flight 146 arrived at Anchorage International around 2:45 a.m. and...

When Mike O’Brien, Ballard’s Seattle City Council member, biked up the Ballard Bridge last Thursday night, he counted five tents camped under the north ramp. He went back Tuesday, and those tents were gone. The underpass was fenced off, and workers were drilling holes to put up a 10-foot-high spiked fence to prevent homeless people from camping there.

If you’re planning to watch the Super Bowl but you can’t stand the NFL take-a-knee protests, you may want to root for the Philadelphia Eagles. Not a single Eagles player sat or knelt during the national anthem, one of just seven teams with perfect non-kneeling records, in a season that saw 684 such incidents, according to a study released Thursday by Sports Pundit. The other Super Bowl LII team, the New England Patriots, landed in the middle of the pack with 17 incidents of anthem sitting or kneeling, wedged between the Buffalo Bills with 16 and the Cleveland Browns with...

While the rest of us were popping champagne to celebrate the arrival of 2018, Seattle greeted the New Year with a 1.75 cent per ounce tax on sweetened beverages. It was needed, former Mayor Ed Murray once said, for a host of noble reasons: to reduce sugar consumption; to raise revenue for important projects like a year of “free” community college for all graduating public high school students; and, to subsidize purchases of healthy foods by low-income families.Before he resigned in disgrace over multiple allegations of personal misconduct, Murray considered the soda tax one of his greatest accomplishments, a “cutting...

SEATTLE - A longtime activist for illegal immigrants in the Northwest says she herself is now facing deportation. Maru Mora-Villalpando, a native of Mexico City who has been in the U.S. for more than 25 years, said Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has given her a notice to appear before an immigration judge. She says she believes ICE is targeting her because of her activism. She leads an organization called Northwest Detention Center Resistance, which was created in 2014 when detainees at the privately run immigration detention facility in Tacoma began a series of hunger strikes to protest...

As noted in the article, in one of the more creative and admirable moves by a retail chain in recent memory, Costco took to changing their price signs, showing how much the beverages should cost, and then tacking on the new tax as a separate line item. The city government appears to have been caught totally off guard by the visceral response from consumers. The majority opinion out on the streets seems to be that shoppers will be heading outside the city to shop. And considering the fact that a case of soda has now increased in price by enough...

People are feeling sticker shock over Seattle’s sugary drink tax. You might’ve seen a picture circulating on social media that shows a more than $10 tax on a $15.99 case of Gatorade at Costco. On Friday, shoppers were taking their own pictures, stunned by the new prices. Advocates of the tax held a press conference on Friday, to explain how the city plans to use the $15 million expected to be raised from the tax in 2018. One Costco shopper loaded a case of Coca-Cola into her cart, not noticing the new price until KIRO7 pointed it out. “That much!”...