A HILLSIDE NEARBY A lot of the hills along the Stillaguamish River look like this.
  • Kelly O
  • A hillside near Oso: A lot of the hills along the Stillaguamish River look like this.


Forest Board Enacts New Rules on Logging: Eight months after the mudslide in Oso that killed 43 people, state regulators adopted new interim guidelines to require more study of vulnerable sloping landscapes—like the kind in Oso—before logging can proceed, reports KUOW. Environmentalists praised the move; loggers voiced displeasure.

Mian Rice to Run for City Council: The son of former mayor Norm Rice—44 years old and with a master's degree in transportation planning—is planning to run in North Seattle's newly formed Fifth District.

And Throwing His Hat Into the Race for Jean Godden's Council Seat: ...is Transportation Choices Coalition director Rob Johnson. A council of mass transit nerds? I could dig that.

Black Wealth Down, Not Up, in Seattle: "While Seattle’s median household income soared to an all-time high of $70,200 last year, wages for blacks nose-dived to $25,700—a 13.5 percent drop from 2012. Among the 50 largest U.S. cities, Seattle now has the ninth lowest income for black households," reports Gene Balk at the Seattle Times.

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  • Defense.gov
  • The navy wants to fly these things as low as 1,200 feet above national parks and forests on the Olympic Peninsula.

Navy Wants to Run War Games in Olympic National Park: "If it gets its way... the Navy would be flying Growler jets, which are electronic attack aircraft that specialize in radar jamming, in 2,900 training exercises over wilderness, communities, and cities across the Olympic Peninsula for 260 days per year, with exercises lasting up to 16 hours per day," reports Dahr Jamail at Truthout. Residents of nearby areas, including local tribes and the mayor of Port Townsend, are concerned, and the navy has been forced to hold more public hearings about the plans.

Faster Internet Service Coming to West Seattle and Eastlake: CenturyLink crews have been spotted in West Seattle installing gigabit fiber ahead of an expected launch next year, while Wave is now offering its own gigabit service in Eastlake. Both Internet offerings will cost upward of $80 a month—not terribly affordable compared to the low-cost, high-speed connections already available around the world.

Shiro Kashiba to Open New Sushi Restaurant: In Pike Place Market! Seattle Met has the details.

Assessing the United States-China Climate Deal: The nonbinding deal is, in effect, an IOU to future presidents, a promise on paper that will be meaningless without action, writes leading climate change activist Bill McKibben in the Huffington Post. But it is historic, because it marks the first time a major developing nation has agreed to limits on emissions.

Drones: They patrol half of the Mexico border, the AP reveals.

Speaking of Which: Warplanes are now deciding, autonomously through their own software, who to bomb in military test flights.


OMG THE #COMETLANDING: Here's the latest from the BBC! In short, the robot lander hit the surface of the comet and then bounced, twice, because its harpoons didn't fire, until it settled near a cliff. That's not where it wanted to land, and it may not be getting enough sunlight to sustain itself beyond its 60-hour battery life. Philae's operators at the European Space Agency are considering whether to hop to a different spot on the comet, but they're worried about coming loose. In the meantime, the robot lander is gathering data to send back that will tell us lots of interesting things, including, possibly, what we are made of.