News

The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in three years. The stock market is up.  But, are you feeling better about the economy? 

Maybe it was the economic news. Maybe it was the sun coming out for the first time in a while, but most people we talked to on the streets of downtown Seattle this afternoon said they were feeling positive.

This past Tuesday there was a little competition between 10 of Puget Sound's breweries to see who will brew a special 50th anniversary beer for the Space Needle.

With scorecards and tasting glasses in hand, a packed room in the famous landmark enjoyed the view, sampled beers and chose a winner.

Pike Brewing Company's "Pike Space Needle Golden Anniversary IPA" came out on top.

Scientists have deciphered some of the secrets of one of Puget Sound’s natural recyclers. It’s a microbe – which likes to eat sulfur and nitrogen – and might be found near any of our beaches.  

The technique they devised could open the door to a better understanding of microbial life that abounds everywhere – in the oceans, in soils, and in the human body.

Louis Jordan is one of the pioneers of American music, and an important force in the transition from the Jazz Era to Rock and Roll. He was one of the first to down-size the big band format to a combo of five or six players, pounding out high energy jump, swing and rhythm and blues for dance audiences.

One of the early bands to use electric guitar, he established a musical style that rock originators like Bill Haley followed closely. Louis Jordan’s 1947 recording of “Early in the Morning” is an example of the influence of Afro Cuban rhythms on American music.

Thieves dove up an alley in the University District Tuesday morning and somehow managed to lift a 70-inch, 1,260-pound stainless steel propeller over a retaining wall and fence and make off with it.

Update: Seattle Parks has possession of the propeller that was stolen earlier this week from the University District. After discovering the stolen propeller at the Northwest Corporate Park in Kent, a security guard contacted the Kent Police Department.

Restoration projects in Eastern Washington’s Colville National Forest are a model for the nation; that was the word from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack two years ago.  

And now those efforts are netting nearly a million dollars in new federal funding.

At the same time, funding has been renewed for another project in Washington: the Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative, near Yakima.

It's great to see the sun again during this dark time of the year, but it carries a price.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has issued a Stage One Burn Ban for Pierce County, effective at 4:00 this afternoon. Outdoor fires are banned, and no burning is allowed in uncertified wood stoves and fireplaces.

The high pressure system that's bringing us sunshine through the weekend is also trapping more air pollution near the ground.

Wednesday night the Washington State Senate voted in support of same-sex marriages by a 28 to 21 vote. Gay and lesbian citizens around the state support the idea, but for some, wedding bells don’t sound so appealing.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Out-of-pocket medical expenses are crushing some Washington families – even though they have health insurance. A key legislative committee voted Thursday to place an overall cap on how much a family would have to pay each year.

Today’s forecast calls for sunshine, says KPLU’s weather scientist Cliff Mass. And, as scientists are bound to do, he also notes some interesting details not as obvious as the sun in the sky.

“We may have a lot of sunshine but there are a lot of subtleties going on in the next few days that are worth talking about,” Mass said.

NEW YORK — After three days of controversy, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity says it is reversing its decision to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood.

"We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives," a Komen statement said.

Did you find yourself in the dark, shivering under blankets, eating cold rations during the recent snow and ice storms? Did it have you wondering why we are so dependent on overhead power poles to keep the lights on?

Could there be a better way?

Read more on I Wonder Why ... ?

The Seattle Seahawks will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend from the sidelines, as the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants. The Seahawks manhandled the Giants during the regular season, but went on to finish with a losing record while the Giants made an amazing season-ending run.

How did this happen? Art Thiel tells us that if you try to predict the outcome of an entire season based on a small sample of it, you usually end up wrong.

A new global estimate of malaria deaths by researchers in Seattle has revealed the death toll is much greater than most experts had thought — and is not, as had been universally assumed, mostly a killer of children.

The study found more than 1.2 million people died from malaria in 2010, nearly twice the official estimate put out by the World Health Organization, and more than a third of the deaths were in adults.

Read more on Humanosphere.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington lawmakers are introducing several proposals that echo the demands of the Occupy protesters. In fact, the formal title of one proposal introduced Thursday says it is aimed at “Guaranteeing that the top one percent pay too.”

The chief sponsor, Democratic Representative Marko Liias, says the Occupy movement wasn’t the only thing that prompted this idea.