Members of King County’s labor council rallied today to call for job growth in the Seattle park that’s been home to Occupy Seattle protests. Labor leaders say they did not want to co-opt the grassroots movement but saw a rally in Westlake Park as an opportunity for both groups. 

The labor council was originally planning to hold its rally in a park near Pike Place Market. Apparently, that spot was so three weeks ago. With all the recent attention on Westlake, they quickly switched gears.

LAKEWOOD, Wash. – Unionized state workers are protesting a cost-cutting proposal to close five wards at one of Washington's mental institutions. More than a dozen employees staged a lunch-time picket Thursday outside Western State Hospital.

It's a museum on wheels! The traveling World War I exhibition, dubbed the "Honoring Our History Tour", rolls into Seattle this weekend on a custom, 18 wheel truck.

He couldn't live up to the hype. The Seahawks have traded disappointing linebacker Aaron Curry to the Oakland Raiders for almost nothing in return. Just two years ago, the Hawks selected Curry as the No. 4 overall pick in the NFL draft.

Prosecutors have filed no charges, as of yet, against the self-proclaimed Seattle superhero who goes by the name Phoenix Jones.

Jones, whose real name is Benjamin John Francis Fodor (and whose real face can be seen in the photos above), appeared in a city courtroom Thursday morning wearing a charcoal-colored mask and a superhero uniform under a button-down shirt.

The ‘superhero’s’ costume, exploits and court appearance are fast becoming internationally recognizable. Could this fortune (for good or ill) make Fodor’s character the next Hollywood action figure?

Students in a Federal Way Public School taught a Hollywood actor a little about STEM education. Danny Glover visited a science, technology, engineering and math school to learn about innovations in public education. 

COULROPHOBIA. Fear of clowns. More common than you might think. We got a bad case of it after hearing all the nasty stuff people dressed like clowns are doing.

Besides selling hamburgers and squeezing into Volkswagens, clowns have been committing robberies and even murders…

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Costco has given more than $11 million to support an initiative campaign that would privatize Washington's liquor distribution and sales.

“Charity begins at home” and hundreds of people in Seattle are now looking at a wet, cold winter with no place to sleep.

That’s what homelessness advocate Jarvis Capucion said to me when I asked him why protesters decided to camp outside the Seattle campus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this week.

“Jimmy Buffett’s 'Singing for Change' project gave us $10,000 a few months ago,” said Capucion. “I want to know why Warren Buffett and Bill Gates can’t do the same.”

The documentary More to Live For screens at the Gig Harbor Film Festival this Saturday. People from the Pacific Northwest will finally get an opportunity to view the story of three men affected by Leukemia seeking out a bone marrow transplant, including the late tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker.

Read more on Groove Notes.

Mayor Mike McGinn has once again told Occupy Seattle protesters at Westlake Park that they must follow the rules against camping in the park. 

Occupy Seattle protesters say they will expand to City Hall but won’t abandon Westlake.

A bumper crop of chubby, adorable harbor seal pups have been hauling out on rocks and beaches of West Seattle in high numbers in recent weeks.

City Light's Skagit Hydroelectric Project isn't just a source of power – it's a work of art.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The U.S. government is considering whether to build short segments of fencing along the northern border with Canada. But the fences won’t stretch very far.

That’s what a U.S. Customs and Border Protection planner told a small audience gathered in Bellingham Tuesday night.

Which would you rather mix up some cake or waffle batter in? 

My birthday present, that stoneware beauty pictured above, or some soulless plastic thing?