August 2015

Courtney Gregoire, Port of Seattle Commission Co-President and daughter of former Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire will be the speaker at a special "State of the Port" luncheon to be held at Jack Block Park on Sept. 3 at 11:30am, sponsored by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

In a press announcement from the chamber they said:
"Gregoire works as a senior attorney in Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, where she fights technology-facilitated crime against vulnerable populations including children and the elderly. Elected to the Port of Seattle Commission in 2013, Courtney currently serves as commission co-president.

Commissioner Gregoire's priorities include growing our regional economy, expanding international trade and tourism, and protecting our shared natural environment. These priorities reflect Courtney's long-standing commitment to helping communities generate broadly shared prosperity through improved education, quality employment and increased trade opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses.

South Seattle College’s West Seattle Campus closed at 4 p.m. due to a power outage. All classes for this evening have been cancelled.

The Georgetown and New Holly South Seattle College campuses, however, will remain open on their regular schedule.

Shortly before 11:30 a.m. today, a transformer blew in the north parking lot of the West Seattle campus, causing a brief power outage. A loud “boom” that was caused by the transformer was heard on the north-end of campus. No injuries were reported.

To fix the transformer, Seattle City Light will need to shut down all power at 4 p.m. on the West Seattle Campus to make the necessary repairs. Regularly scheduled hours for the West Seattle Campus are expected to resume tomorrow, August 12.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Mount Rainier will be paired with the four Federal Way schools for football for the second consecutive year.
The Rams find themselves in the five-team South Puget Sound League Northwest Division along with Federal Way, Thomas Jefferson, Decatur and Todd Beamer high schools.

Mount Rainier starts off its season with a jamboree and three non-league games, however.

After joining Evergreen and Highline in the Highline Public Schools jamboree at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 29 the Rams will play their first full game Friday, Sept. 4 when they entertain Tahoma at 8 p.m. at Highline Memorial.

They travel to Art Crate to play Bethel at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11 and come home to play Kentlake at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18.

Mount Rainier kicks off its SPSL Northeast schedule Saturday, Sept. 26 with a 6 p.m. visit to Todd Beamer at Federal Way Memorial.

The Rams turn around to host Thomas Jefferson at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2 before visiting Decatur at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10 at Federal Way Memorial.

Mount Rainier then hosts Federal Way for a 5 p.m. battle on Friday, Oct. 16.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Chief Sealth graduate Keone Kela was sent to AA Frisco right before the Texas Rangers' weekend series in Seattle and now finds himself as a teammate of Des Moines native Alex Burg.

Kela had a 5-5 record with a 3.30 earned run average for the Rangers with 47 strikeouts, 44 hits allowed and 14 walks allowed in 43.2 innings of work out of the bullpen. He also had one save in three opportunities.

The 22 year old is now 1-0, 0.00 with two strikeouts in two innings of work for the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League.

Kela stands at 6-foot, 1 inch and 230 pounds as a rookie out of Everett Community College.

He throws and bats right-handed and is 0-for-5 in his Major League career as a hitter.

Burg came to Frisco by way of Washington State University and started off the 2015 season with Class A High Desert.

The 6-0, 190 right-handed batter is 28 years old and plays catcher.

He has played in 35 games for Frisco, hittting .282 (35-for-124) with five doubles, five home runs, 19 runs scored, 17 RBI and 16 walks.

Yesterday Seattle City Light started the remedial work to clean contaminants from the proposed transitory homeless site at 2826 NW in Ballard. Leading up to starting the work, the City sent letters to neighbors warning them to cover their gardens and limit time outside near the site because of potentially harmful dust.

In July the Ballard News-Tribune reported that Seattle City Light discovered the site to be contaminated with a pesticide called dieldrin. They also found some heavy metals, including cadmium and lead. In addition, asbestos was found in the concrete pad on the site.

The contaminants were discovered after the city proposed the site to be the location for a homeless encampment. The Ballard site is one of three in the city and was the only site to be contaminated.

According so Seattle City Light, testing old substation sites before they are used for different purposes is a standard practice.

The clean up is expected to take one week and will cost around $145,500. The remedial work includes removing 18 inches of soil from the site. It also included cutting down a healthy Korean Ashe, which SLC removed last week.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Pros

Mariners
Seattle wraps up its three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday of this week, hosting them for a 12:40 p.m. game at Safeco Field.
The Mariners will then take Thursday off to go on the road to Boston for three games against the Red Sox over the weekend.
Friday and Saturday action starts at 4:10 p.m. followed by a 10:35 a.m. game Sunday.
From there it's on to Texas for 5:05 p.m. action Monday and Tuesday against the Rangers.
Mariners games can be seen on the ROOT Sports cable television network and heard on 710 AM radio.

Seahawks
Seattle kicks off its preseason Friday, hosting the Denver Broncos for a 7 p.m. game at CenturyLink Field.
It will be a rematch of the Super Bowl two seasons ago that the Seahawks won.
Seattle action is carried on 710 AM.

Sounders
The Sounders will entertain Orlando City for a 2 p.m. men's professional soccer match at CenturyLink Field on Sunday.

Today Mayor Ed Murray, along with the City Council and the newly-created Office of Labor Standards (OLS), unveiled a website that allows the public to track enforcement of Seattle’s minimum wage, paid sick and safe leave, wage theft, and job assistance ordinance. The dashboard compiles data collected by OLS and presents the information in a digestible format.

“The public needs to be able to see how the new Office of Labor Standards is working effectively to ensure workers are paid and treated fairly under Seattle’s strong labor laws,” Mayor Murray said. “This new tool allows employers and workers to access readily-available data to show the progress we’re making with enforcing our labor standards and historic minimum wage increase, and where we still need to improve.”

Councilmember Nick Licata said, “This dashboard helps bring to light that employees are being denied wages in Seattle. I’m heartened to know that workers have access to these statistics and that there’s a City agency dedicated to investigating and remedying the situation.”

Attempted robbery ends with shooting, three people injured

Three people were injured after a man tried to steal a necklace from woman and fired three shots from a pistol on August 8. The incident occurred around 12:15 a.m. on the street near NW Market Street and Ballard Avenue NW. According to Seattle Police a female victim was walking down the street when the suspect approached her. A bouncer from the BalMar intervened, and the victim was able to get away from the suspect. The suspect then fired three shots into the street. The bullets fragmented and ricocheted, striking three bystanders. The victims went to Ballard Swedish for treatment. Police combed the neighborhoods, but were unable to locate the suspect. The man was described as black and in his 20s.

Man assaults QFC employee with orange

A very fast moving brush fire in the Arroyos, in West Seattle burned about "3/4's of an acre" according to the neighbor who called 911 to report it. The fire briefly threatened homes in the area but was dealt with by Seattle Firefighters pretty shortly after it was reported.

She said there were some men working at the top of the steep slope but did not know if they had anything to do with the blaze which burned through dry grass and blackberry vines.

A helicopter with Infrared flew over the area looking for hotspots, the neighbor said. "Thank God for tile roofs she said.

No one was hurt.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR
Chief Sealth graduate Keone Kela was sent to AA Frisco right before the Texas Rangers' weekend series in Seattle and now finds himself as a teammate of Des Moines native Alex Burg.
Kela had a 5-5 record with a 3.30 earned run average for the Rangers with 47 strikeouts, 44 hits allowed and 14 walks allowed in 43.2 innings of work out of the bullpen. He also had one save in three opportunities.
The 22 year old is now 1-0, 0.00 with two strikeouts in two innings of work for the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League.

Kela stands at 6-foot, 1 inch and 230 pounds as a rookie out of Everett Community College.
He throws and bats right-handed and is 0-for-5 in his Major League career as a hitter.
Burg came to Frisco by way of Washington State University and started off the 2015 season with Class A High Desert.

The 6-0, 190 right-handed batter is 28 years old and plays catcher.
He has played in 35 games for Frisco, hittting .282 (35-for-124) with five doubles, five home runs, 19 runs scored, 17 RBI and 16 walks.