Making headlines around the Northwest this morning:

• No Charges in Woodcarver Shooting
• Vulcan hired to re-develop Bothell
• Monroe Weighs Schools Consolidation
• Seattle Fireworks Show Needs Cash - Again

Seattle Officer Won't be Charged in Williams Slaying; Could be Fired

The King County Prosecutor's Office has decided not to file criminal charges against the Seattle Police officer who shot and killed a Native American woodcarver last year. An official announcement is expected today from the Prosecutor's Office.

Created for a Medici, it was the dessert of choice for Venetian working girls.

Junior is back.

Ken Griffey, Jr. is returning to the Seattle Mariners as a special consultant less than a year after abruptly retiring from baseball.

The Mariners made the announcement Tuesday morning.

Construction at Joint Base Lewis-McChord would increase further if Congress adopts President Obama's 2012 budget proposal.

The News Tribune reports that the spending plan released Monday would set aside more than $300 million for construction at the base south of Tacoma, up from about $172 million in the 2011 budget proposal Congress has yet to approve.

The recession is forcing Washington families to make tough decisions about their children’s education. As incomes have dwindled, so has attendance at private schools. In the past few years, the schools have lost nearly 3,000 kids, according to data reported to the state. 

Previously undisclosed documents are raising questions about whether the Australian company trying to build a new coal export facility in Longview has tried to snooker local officials.

According to an article in the New York Times, documents show officials at Millennium Bulk Terminals “tried to limit what state officials knew about its long-term goals during the early permitting process last year.”

Let us know, because Benny Green will be visiting KPLU for a Studio Session this afternoon at 12:15 PST and we thought it would be fun to ask you to provide us with a question.

Head to our Facebook Page and post your question - If Abe Beeson reads yours during the interview, he'll credit you for it on the air!

Making headlines around the Northwest this morning:

• Amanda Knox's Parents Indicted in Italy
• Teen Kicked by Officer Seeks $450K
• Wind, Rain Hit Western Washington
• Lakewood  Police Kill Woman Who Pointed BB-Gun

Italian Authorities Charge Amanda Knox's Parents With Libel

 A lawyer says the parents of Amanda Knox, the University of Washington student convicted of murder in Italy, have been ordered to stand trial for alleging that Italian police abused their daughter.

“It’s 25 stories tall and looks like a giant, floating golf trophy.”

The Herald of Everett takes first prize for describing a massive vessel the federal government plans to bring to the region this spring.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar vessel (SBX for short) is, according to a release by the Missle Defense Agency, “an integral part of the nation’s Ballistic Missle Defense System” (BMDS for short; the military does love its acronyms).

Sad to report the passing of British jazz pianist George Shearing, who died Monday from congestive heart failure in New York. He was 91. 

He came to the U.S. in 1947 and quickly established himself as a popular instrumentalist and composer. His recording of "September In The Rain" sold nearly a million copies, and his tune "Lullaby of Birdland" became a popular jazz favorite.

Listen to the Q&A here:

What is the greatest jazz recording ever? That's the questions we asked listeners of KPLU and our jazz stream Jazz 24. From that, we came up with our list of the Top 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs of All Time.

KPLU music and news host Kevin Kniestedt tabulated the nearly 3,000 votes.  One thousand five hundred songs were nominated over a period of several weeks.

The revolution in Egypt serves as a reminder of the risk of investing in foreign stocks. On this week's Money Matters, financial commentator Greg Heberlein tell's KPLU's Dave Meyer that events in Egypt don't just make him wary of investing in foreign stocks, he's "horribly fearful"!

How risky are Egyptian investments?

Lawmakers in Olympia are proposing to slash or even eliminate dozens of important programs and services, as they struggle to eliminate a nearly $5 billion budget gap.

Environmental groups are hoping to stave off what they say would be crippling budget cuts to natural resource agencies in charge of protecting water, air and forests. But with education and health care for the poor on the chopping block, they face a tough battle.

Esperanza Spalding walked into the KPLU Seattle studios like some teenaged gunslinger. However, she’d been working full time in music for most of her 25 years, and her chosen weapon was a double-bass that reached just above her impressive afro.

Now a Grammy Award winner for Best New Artist (take that, Justin Bieber!), I’ve recently enjoyed listening back to our meeting a year ago, and specifically our interview.

Dr. Tachi Yamada is leaving his position in June as head of the Gates Foundation’s global health program.

That’s big news primarily because the Gates’ global health program is so big, the largest program at the world’s largest philanthropy, accounting for more than half of the $3 billion the Gates Foundation spends every year trying to make the world a better, healthier and more equitable place.