News

What is Google's business plan? The company, fueled by its successful search engine, seems to be going off in a zillion different directions: Android, Youtube, Gmail, Voice, Maps, Blogger, Picasa, and Docs, just to name a few. Many Google products are given away for free. 

Analysts have recently noted Google's expenditures are rising faster than its revenues. This comes as no surprise to our technology commentator, Strategic News Service publisher Mark Anderson. It reinforces what he said about Google in his list of predictions for 2011.

Do you remember who delivered your high school graduation speech? If the students of Bridgeport High School get their wish, they almost certainly will.

You might hear an unusual rumbling overhead today in Seattle. An original World War II bomber will be in the sky. The Boeing B-17 is part of a traveling history exhibit that lets you actually fly in the plane. 

Wildlife experts think they may have finally outsmarted the osprey, at least when it comes to keeping them off of utility poles. The hawk-like birds have caused power outages and harm to themselves by nesting on high voltage power lines.

Ospreys are pretty resourceful birds. When the tall, bare trees they used to nest in disappeared from the water’s edge, they figured out utility poles were a close substitute. Whenever humans try to stop them from using the poles, ospreys find a workaround.

Making headlines around the Northwest this morning:

• UW Regents pick Utah president as new leader
• Seized Drugs Reported Stolen From Snohomish Co. Medical Examiner Office
• Records reveal Army’s failures that preceded Ft. Lewis soldiers’s shootout with police
• Gas Prices Still Climbing in Western Washington

UW Board of Regents Name Utah's Michael Young new U-Dub President

[UPDATED 10:30 a.m.]

The University of Washington Board of Regents has chosen University of Utah President Michael Young as the next leader of the university in Seattle.

If we relied on Hollywood, we’d get a very limited view of African Americans. 

"There’s three models that we have of black people in Hollywood and none of them are any good. The ho, the gangster, the victim. And occasionally you get the saint."

That's Jacqueline Moscou, artistic director of Seattle's Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. And what she's talking about are films like "Booty Call,"The Book of Eli" and "Precious."

The University of Washington will name University of Utah president Michael Young to the same post on Monday, according to the Seattle Times. KOMO TV is also reporting that an announcement could be made Monday.

It's 14 years off in the future. But a compromise deal will shut down the Northwest's largest coal-fired power plant near Centralia. Legislation is headed to the governor's desk following a vote Thursday in the Washington senate.

The lawyer for one of five Washington state soldiers charged with killing Afghan civilians for sport says his client is being released from custody pending his court martial.

Attorney Colby Vokey tells The News Tribune of Tacoma that an Army judge on Friday agreed to release Spc. Michael Wagnon, originally from Las Vegas. The other four defendants remain in custody.

Over the years, bears have gone from primal menace to environmental icon, while enduring a close brush with extinction along the way. Ecologist and Bellingham resident Chris Morgan works to educate people about bears, especially the bears we share the Cascades Mountains with.

On this Earth Day, we present a recent conversation about the importance of coming to terms with these large carnivores.

KPLU News has garnered four 2011 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) for excellence in electronic journalism, competing against other large market radio stations in Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.

Making headlines around the Northwest this morning:

• Microsoft Raises Could "Get Us Out of the Recession"
• Opponents Lose Bid to Block I-90 Light Rail Plan
• Wash. Legislature Passes Marijuana Dispensary Bill
• U.W. Researcher in Serious Condition After Fall on Mt. Olympus

Economists say unprecedented raises announced by Microsoft yesterday could be just what's needed to help lift the Puget Sound region out of a economic slump.

"Initial Public Offering," or I-P-O, is a buzz term that was talked about a lot in the boom years of the late 1990s – especially in Seattle, where lots of high-tech startup companies were thriving at that time.  They've been pretty scarce lately.  But they may be coming back.

How can you have a successful draft during a lockout? That's what the Seahawks are trying to figure out ahead of the 2011 draft, which begins Thurs., April 28.

Even as the current players are locked out, the Hawks are trying to decide who to add to the team. KPLU sports commentator Art Thiel says the big question is, will they go for a quarterback?

Some jazz singers excel at singing standards. Others excel at scat-singing or vocalese (writing lyrics for instrumental improvisations and singing them). However, Grammy award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling can do it all.

He easily proved it in front of a small studio audience of Leadership Circle members on April 15th with along with two long-time musical colleagues; pianist, Laurence Hobgood, and guitarist, John McLean.