Corrections

Education

Seattle Public Schools delays sunset of highly-capable cohort program

Seattle Public Schools has changed course on its gifted education program, announcing plans to keep dedicated schools open for at least three more years.

Environment

Famous orca mom carries another dead calf around Puget Sound

Two newborn calves joined the Northwest's endangered orcas in December. By New Year’s Eve, one of them was dead — and being carried around on its mother’s nose.

Law & Courts

Suspect at large after unprovoked stabbing in Seattle's Little Saigon

A 22-year-old man was stabbed Sunday night in an unprovoked attack in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District neighborhood, police say. The stabbing occurred within a block of a corner deemed so dangerous that county buses no longer stop there.

Law & Courts

Washington state gets NY bank to pay $10 million for role in pandemic unemployment fraud

Metropolitan Commercial Bank will reimburse Washington state $10 million in unemployment funds that were stolen and processed through the bank during the pandemic, the state Attorney General’s office announced this week.

Law & Courts

No juveniles in adult prisons, Washington court orders

A Thurston County Superior Court judge told the state it has two weeks to return 43 young men it suddenly moved last Friday from the Green Hill School juvenile rehabilitation center to an adult prison in Shelton unless it can convince the court that the emergency move was necessary to reduce dangerous overcrowding.

Crime

Conflict and confusion after state suspends intake for convicted juveniles

There is concern and confusion in King County courts after a surprising decision from the state to suspend intakes of juvenile offenders at two correctional facilities due to overcrowding. Instead, youths sentenced to long-term confinement will remain under county oversight until further notice, the state Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) told county officials Friday.

Crime

Controversial county effort to divert youth criminal cases to community groups not meeting goals

A $16 million effort by King County to send most juvenile criminal cases to community-based diversion programs, rather than the court system, is having trouble meeting its goals, a county report shows.

Environment

Seattle passed a tree protection law last year. So why did a 'protected' cedar get the ax?

On Tuesday, a 60-foot cedar tree in West Seattle was cut down to make way for a six-home development project, despite being designated by the city as "protected" from home demolition. Local environmental advocates say the removal of the tree, which they called “Henry,” demonstrates that the city’s tree protection ordinance doesn’t extend far enough.

Race & Identity

'The neighbors we needed during World War II.' Japanese Americans protest Seattle area deportation flights

Japanese American community members and immigration advocates gathered at Boeing Field Tuesday to call for an end to deportation flights out of King County International Airport.

Health

Kiosks for free Covid and flu tests unveiled this week in Washington state