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Calls have been placed with SPD media relations. While the initial police response was intense, there are no indications that this incident has any ties to the shooting of officer Brenton.

UPDATE: SPD spokesman Officer Mark Jamieson believes this incident is unrelated to the investigation of the murder of Officer Timothy Brenton. Referring to the Friday arrest of Christopher Monfort, Jamieson says police are fairly confident that they have the person reposnible in custody.

In an e-mail titled "Domestic Terrorism?" Slog tipper Patrick alerts us to this news report from Fort Hood, Texas.

FORT HOOD (November 5, 2009)-Army officials have confirmed a violent incident has happened Thursday afternoon on post.

The reports indicate there may be at least twelve and maybe even as many as fifteen victims involved in this incident.

Details have not been released but it is known that ambulances and police are converging on a location in the center of the sprawling military post.

And this report refers to a "mass casualty event." Schools in the area have been placed on lockdown.

UPDATE: Seven have been confirmed dead, twelve injured in a mass shooting.

UPDATE 2: MSNBC says a second shooter may still be alive and "holed up" on the base. There could be a third shooter, as well. There have been at least two murder-suicides on the base in past years. One was as recently as 2008.

UPDATE 3: Waco television station KCEN reports that at least 20 people have been injured and that there were three shooters. One is in custody, one is cornered, and one is still on the loose.

UPDATE 4: KCEN is now reporting that there are two gunmen, and both have been captured. At least 4 SWAT officers have been injured in a gun battle with the second shooter.

UPDATE 5: Now they're saying there are three shooters and one is still on the loose. There could be as many as 30 wounded.

YES HE DID.

Streaming here.

ballot
1549, from Italian pallotte, dim. of palla "ball," for small balls used as counters in secret voting (see balloon). Earliest references are to Venice.

booth
c.1145, from O. Dan boþ "temporary dwelling," from E. Norse boa "dwell," from P.Gmc. *botho (cf. Ger. Bude, M.Du. boode), from base *bhu- "to dwell" (cf. Lith. butas "house," O.Ir both "hut"), from PIE base *bheue- "to be, exist, grow" (see be). Cf. also (see bound (adj.2)).

envelope
1705, from Fr. enveloppe, a back-formation of envelopper "to envelop" (see envelop).

envelop
late 14c., "be involved in," from O.Fr. envoluper, from en- "in" + voloper "wrap up," of uncertain origin, perhaps Celtic.

This November, as voters head to the ballot booth that is their envelopes, they should know their world has gone from clear derivations (Italian, Proto Indo European) to murky ("perhaps Celtic") and from expansive (balloons, growth) to intimate ("wrap up").

PADANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Thousands may have died in an earthquake that struck the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island, a minister said on Thursday, with officials saying many victims remained buried under toppled buildings.

The 7.6 magnitude quake hit Padang on Wednesday afternoon, knocking over hundreds of buildings, but with communications patchy it was hard to determine the extent of the destruction and loss of life...

A tsunami caused by a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific has killed at least 20 people and injured 50 in Samoa, local media report...

PI:

Police were called to the scene of a shooting in the 800 block of 32nd Avenue South about 8:30 p.m. and found the victim with a gunshot wound. He was treated at the scene and no other details were available on his condition. The suspect fled to a house, which was surrounded by police.

UPDATE: Central District News is all over it:

[T]he victim had been shot in the head by another man armed with an AK-47... There's a huge police response, including heavily armed SWAT teams. Traffic and pedestrian access has been shut down for several blocks around the crime scene and the site of the standoff.

The suspect is described as an 18 year old white male, 6' tall, muscular build, blonde hair, wearing a black tank top and shorts. He's possibly associated with two other older black males, whose whereabouts are currently unknown...

UPDATE 2: According to two teenagers (acquaintances of the victim) at the scene at Harborview, the victim's family came out and told everyone that the victim was dead. This is unconfirmed information. Employees of Harborview emergency room deny the presence of any shooting victim this evening. No deaths have been reported to the King County Morgue as of a few minutes ago. The East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department has no information, according to someone reached just now on the after-hours line.

UPDATE 3: According to Central District News: The "victim, a man in his early 20s, died at the scene." According to the father of a friend of the victim, the victim is not in his 20s but an 18-year-old.

UPDATE 4: Seattle Times confirms the death, as does the PI.

UPDATE 5: Again, Central District News:

12:12AM - Dispatch says: The suspect is still outstanding, but it's unknown if he's actually in the house or not. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Did you ever go to the Frontier Room in Belltown prior to its remodeling/gentrifiupscaling? Back when it was pretty much the world's most awesome dive bar, with definitely the world's most awesome dive-bartender, Nina? I thought I had a pretty good Nina story, but John Scott Tynes in the comments on this week's Bar Exam totally has me beat.

According to a source, King County Executive Ron Sims has been confirmed as deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and will resign tomorrow. Next up: the process for picking a replacement between four candidates: Sims chief of staff Kurt Triplett, former county council members Steve Hammond and Louise Miller, and former Seattle mayor Charles Royer.

You gotta imagine that Obama is actually kinda thrilled he gets to choose a new Supreme Court nominee so soon. He's a former constitutional law professor. This is his thing! NPR's Supreme Court reporter extraordinaire Nina Totenberg breaks the news.

I don't want to be an alarmist but AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

The World Health Organization has just raised the flu threat level from phase 4 to phase 5, indicating a pandemic is "imminent."

"Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Erica Barnett is ready.

UPDATE: The King County Health Department is briefing the City Council on swine flu right now.

We'll have updates in a few. In the meantime, check out the piece Erica and I wrote this week about the gaps in the state's pandemic preparedness plan.

The World Health Organization has raised its global pandemic alert level to Level 4, meaning that the virus can easily transmit between people and cause "community-level outbreaks." According to WHO, "The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic ... but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion." The next phase, Phase 5, means that "a pandemic is imminent."

The corner of 42nd and University is blocked off right now after a shooting. A police spokesperson told a group of reporters about 10 minutes ago—The Stranger's Anthony Hecht happened to be out there—that the victim in the shooting is a white male who was with some friends about an hour ago and got shot in the side of the face. The suspect is possibly a black male in face makeup. There's some uncertainty about this, but according to information circulating at the scene, there was apparently an altercation between the shooting victim's group of friends and another group in Juggalo-style face paint.

The victim was taken to Harborview. The fire department says it's serious but not life-threatening. The current thinking is that this was a street-kid thing, rather than a gang thing.

We will keep following this.

Obama's lifting the travel restrictions for Cuba.

With the changes, Obama aims to lessen Cubans' dependence on the Castro regime, hoping that will lead them to demand progress on political freedoms, the official said. About 1.5 million Americans have relatives in Cuba.

This is going to be huge. And divisive.