10:01am

Tue May 31, 2011
Technology

Technology brings digital memories to grave sites

The process of burying the dead hasn't changed much over the centuries, but now their gravestones can provide a digital link to their life stories.

A Seattle-based company is creating burial markers that include a scannable, stamp-like image called a "quick read" — or QR code.

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7:05am

Tue May 31, 2011
Health

Effort grows to check young hearts for early signs of cardiac arrest

Credit Nick of Time Foundation
A student gets a free heart screening in Thurston County, Wash. Volunteers hope to screen 600 more young people in Seattle this Wednesday, June 1st.

A local mom whose teenage son died from sudden cardiac arrest is pushing to make sure the tragedy doesn’t happen to other families. She's part of an effort to check young people across the state for undetected heart conditions. Its largest screening to date is this Wednesday, June 1st, at Garfield High School in Seattle. 

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6:48am

Tue May 31, 2011
NEWS ROUNDUP

Tuesday morning's headlines

Credit KING-TV
A mother and son died in a house fire at the 900 block of South Puget Sound Avenue in Tacoma just before midnight Monday.

Showers likely through Thursday. Highs around 60. Latest forecast here.

Making headlines around the Northwest:

  • Police Seek Driver After  Stolen Car Hits Girl, 9
  • Three Killed in Two Fatal Crashes on I-90 Over Weekend
  • Tacoma House Fire Kills Two

 

Nine-year-old Hit by Stolen Car in Seattle

Seattle Police are seeking information about a hit-and-run driver whose stolen car jumped a curb and hit a 9-year-old girl.

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5:00am

Tue May 31, 2011
The Digital Future

The next monopoly?

Credit Achim Hepp / flickr.com
Whatever the next antitrust battle over techology is, it probably won't involve Microsoft and Starbucks.

Microsoft is appealing a $1.3 billion fine from European antitrust regulators. But its antitrust worries in the United States appear to be over. The consent decree with the US Justice Department expired May 11th. A lot has changed since Microsoft crushed Netscape in the browser wars of the 1990s. This month on The Digital Future, Strategic News Service publisher Mark Anderson says Microsoft has transformed itself into a much better corporate citizen.

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9:59pm

Mon May 30, 2011
urban growth

Gates Foundation big campus opens across from Seattle Center

Everything about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is looking big these days.

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11:46am

Mon May 30, 2011
Transportation

RapidRide buses coming to Eastside this fall

Shiny burgundy buses equipped with automated pay stations, three doors each, low-riding chassis and accelerated time tables started serving south King County last fall. They're called RapidRide and they're funded by the Transit Now ballot measure that voters approved in 2006. 

A second route is slated to start serving Bellevue and Redmond in October. The King County Council votes on exactly where they'll go on Tuesday afternoon

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4:00am

Mon May 30, 2011
2010 Census

Idaho more youthful, Oregon grayer than national median age

The American West is home to more young people than any other region of the country according to new data from the U.S. Census. Still there are differences in the age demographics within our region.

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7:00am

Sun May 29, 2011
Artscape

The art of disaster

When you think of porcelain, your grandmother’s fancy dishes might come to mind. The ones that are taken out of the cabinet only for Thanksgiving and other special holidays. Or maybe you own a beautiful china vase.

There are a lot of delicate dishes and trinkets in the home of Seattle artist Charles Krafft. But his pieces go beyond pastels and pretty flowers.

Krafft has made a career out of messing with our expectations of ceramic art. Pouring tea from one of his teapots or eating from one of Krafft’s plates might make you lose your appetite.

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6:00am

Sat May 28, 2011
Memorial Day

Marking Memorial Day

Originally published on Fri May 27, 2011 7:00 pm

Credit Win McNamee / Getty Images
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment this week placed flags at the graves in Arlington National Cemetery in preparation for Memorial Day.

Like many of you, we hope, The Two-Way is planning to take some time off over this holiday weekend.

We may put up a post or two, and will certainly jump back in if there's major news. But the general plan is to resume blogging Tuesday morning.

The reason Americans are have a long weekend, of course, is that Monday is Memorial Day. And that's much more than just the unofficial start of summer.

From this year's presidential proclamation:

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6:45pm

Fri May 27, 2011
The Record

Gil Scott-Heron, poet and musician, has died

Originally published on Fri May 27, 2011 9:38 pm

Credit Anthony Barboza / Getty Images
Gil Scott-Heron in Harlem in 2010.

Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York, his book publisher reported. He was 62. The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."

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2:45pm

Fri May 27, 2011
LAW

Opponents: Liquor privatization bill will clash with initiative

Credit Elaine Thompson / AP
A worker tallies liquor heading to distribution trucks from the Washington State Liquor warehouse in Seattle. The 250,000-square-foot warehouse is the nexus from which all the state's liquor is shipped in, processed, and shipped out.

This week, the state legislature took the first step toward privatizing liquor distribution. The new legislation allows private companies to submit bids to be the sole distributor of liquor in the state. In Olympia, Bryan Buckalew reports not all advocates of privatizing liquor are happy with the development.

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1:29pm

Fri May 27, 2011
The Northwest's Late Spring

Cool, wet spring delays Washington strawberry crop

Credit minkcy chiu / Picasa
Not ready for prime time: Western Washington farmers are experiencing one of the latest seasons for crops in recent memory. Strawberries may ripen at least two weeks later than normal.

A cool, wet spring has slowed strawberries and other crops in parts of Washington.

One berry farmer, Randy Kraught of Barbie's Berries in Ferndale, told The Bellingham Herald the area needs sun soon to ripen strawberries and following crops of raspberries and blueberries.

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11:36am

Fri May 27, 2011
Festivals

Fortieth Folklife ushers in summer (unofficially, of course)

Credit File photo / AP
Cody Olesen hula hoops during the Northwest Folklife Festival. The festival began on Friday and runs through the Memorial Day weekend ending on Monday.

More than 200,000 people are expected to visit the Seattle Center over the Memorial Day Weekend for the 40th annual Folklife Festival.

About 1,000 music, dance and other events are scheduled over four days, starting Friday, at indoor and outdoor sites. The festival also includes food and craft booths.

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11:01am

Fri May 27, 2011
Sports with Art Thiel

Mariners' streak gives fans 'hope for the future'

Credit Lenny Ignelzi / AP
Felix Hernandez pitches the Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Padres on Sunday, May 22. The Mariners swept the three-game series, and their strong starting pitchers were a big reason why.

The Mariners are firing on all cylinders these days, with great starting pitching, clutch hitting and good fielding. They enter this weekend's big series with the Yankees on a hot streak. But how long can it last?

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8:34am

Fri May 27, 2011
Northwest History

Bellingham mayor apologizes, 125 years after expulsion of Chinese

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike has issued a formal apology to the Chinese community for the expulsion of their people,125 years ago.

Pike says the apology is meant to make it clear: authorities now see the racist actions by regional governments and their supporters more than a century ago were wrong.

In 1885 and 1886, thousands of Chinese immigrants were driven out of Puget Sound towns during an economic downturn. Civic leaders and town newspapers argued the new residents were taking jobs away from white people.

The apology and related events this week in Bellingham are part of a year-long Chinese Expulsion Remembrance Project. Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Mount Vernon are also taking part. The project also has a Facebook page.

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