Other News

Looking for an opportunity to get away from it all?  The National Park Service is taking bids on the contract to manage a 21-room lodge, restaurant and general store in Stehekin.  When they say it's remote, they aren't kidding; located at the end of Lake Chelan, the area is reachable only by boat, floatplane or on foot.  There's no TV, no cell phone service and just one pay phone.  

As King County makes massive cuts to help balance its budget, the union representing King County sheriff’s deputies has, for months, refused to consider a wage freeze next year.  Even as other unions in the county have agreed to do so.  But deputies are voting on a proposal to reduce their upcoming pay increase. 

Local vets remember Pearl Harbor attack; guilty verdicts for some accused of helping Maurice Clemmons avoid police; vandalism punctures more than car tires in Bremerton; and questions remain over how a dog was electrocuted on a Seattle sidewalk. 

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire says she will call a special session of the legislature to address the ballooning budget crisis. The Democrat made the announcement Monday afternoon following a meeting with legislative leaders from both parties. 

KPLU Staff update at 4:32 pm, Monday

The light are on again for more than 9,000 Orcas Power and Light customers in the San Juan Islands. A late morning outage was caused by a problem at a substation operated by the Bonneville Power Administration.

In a short statement from Orcas Power and Light's website:

Power has been restored to all members with the exception of scattered areas of San Juan Island. Outage was caused by equipment failure at the BPA transmission station. 

Former Seattle Mariner general manager Pat Gillick has been elected to baseball's Hall of Fame. Gillick won three World Series titles during his 27 years as general manager of Toronto, Baltimore, Seattle and Philadelphia.

Eyes turn to Olympia on eve of budget talks, Bellevue takes a hit, Pierce County plans protections against nature's hits,  and the Huskies fight their way to a Holiday. 

Washington lawmakers return to Olympia this week, but not for a special session. They're getting organized for the regular session in January. That will bring out advocates who plan to stage protests over looming budget cuts.

Across the Northwest food banks are seeing more customers than ever. Now, Washington’s Department of Agriculture is asking farmers to increase their produce donations to aid the state’s hungry.

It's that time of year when many of us give generously to charitable organizations.  But how do we know where the money is really going?  In some cases, more money goes into the pockets of professional fundraisers than to the charity itself.  

You can find out how your dollars are being spent at the Washington Secretary of State's office.  Just type in the organization's name, click the search button and you can see what percentage of dollars goes to charitable services...and how much goes to pay for fundraising.

It's a strong year for independent films – and for indie movies from the Pacific Northwest.  Four feature films that were shot in the Seattle area have been selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival in January. 

"The Details" is a dark comedy  shot in Kirkland with a cast including star actors Laura Linney, Elizabeth Banks and Tobey McGuire.  It's in the line-up for the high-profile "Premieres" series. 

It was national news when a Washington-based soldier just back from Afghanistan died in a shootout with police in Salt Lake City. That was in August. Around the same time another soldier from the same brigade also died violently. But his death didn’t get much notice. It happened on a dark two-lane road in rural Wisconsin.