Making headlines around the Northwest this morning:

• Seattle Hostages, Two Others Killed by Somali Pirates
• Snow in the Forecast
• Higher Logging Fees Needed: Lands Commissioner

Two From Seattle Killed by Pirates

A Seattle couple sailing around the world were among four Americans killed by their Somali captors aboard their yacht today, according to a U.S. military statement. The four were captured last Friday.

When Nokia decided its Symbian operating system wasn't the path to success in the smartphone market and started looking for outside options, it found two major suitors: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and Google's Android.

The Friday before Valentine's Day, Nokia announced it was hooking up with Microsoft. Will this marriage work? Strategic News Service publisher Mark Anderson says this deal may not be the best thing that ever happened to Nokia, but it won't be the worst.

The northern tip of the Salish Sea is the place where the Campbell River on Vancouver Island empties into Georgia Strait. 

In the final segment in our series “Reflections on the Water,” KPLU environment reporter Liam Moriarty talks with Darren Blaney, a wood carver and former chief of the Homalco First Nation, which is based in Campbell River.

Read more ...

Hundreds of families will rally in Olympia today to send a message to the legislature. Despite budget challenges facing the state – they say lawmakers need to keep their hands off school funding. 

The population of Washington state prison inmates has become whiter, older and more violent in the past decade. That's according to an Associated Press review of Department of Corrections records.

These links to the major Puget Sound area transit agencies provide quick information about services and routes, schedule changes, and severe-weather disruptions and emergency operating information.

Metro Transit

Sound Transit

Pierce County Transit

Community Transit (Snohomish County)

Intercity Transit (Thurston County)

Kitsap Transit

Bipolar disorder has been the inspiration for many artists and many works of art…from the movie A Beautiful Mind to Sylvia Plath's autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. 

Now it's showing up in a musical, called "Next to Normal." 

Ten years ago, the production had its genesis at The Village Theater in Issaquah.  Now, after numerous revisions, it's back in the Seattle area at the 5th Avenue Theatre.  For the latest in our series ARTSCAPE, KPLU's Bellamy Pailthorp caught up with Bryan Yorkey, the writer of the show, who together with the composer, Tom Kitt, was the surprise winner of last year's Pulitzer Prize for drama.

So now you’ve seen the Jazz 100 list selected by our listeners, and you’ve got some introductory analysis on by Kirsten Kendrick and myself.

I felt that it was appropriate for the next step to be getting some thoughts from a fresh pair of eyes…and who better than two of the best in the business, KPLU’s Midday Jazz host Robin Lloyd and Evening Jazz host Abe Beeson?

See their thoughts on the Groove Notes blog

Two of the state's passenger-only ferries, the Skagit and the Kalama, have been sold to Scope Community Consultants of Coquitlam, B.C., for $400,000. The boats have been tied up at the dock since the state ended passenger-only service in 2009. Their new owner is loading them onto a cargo ship and sending them to Tanzania, where they'll ferry passengers between the mainland and the Zanzibar archipelago.

It was an emotional scene in a King County courtroom as the man known as the Green River killer pleaded guilty to his 49th murder.  Gary Ridgway is already serving 48 consecutive life terms. The latest plea is for murdering Becky Marrero in 1982, whose remains were found last December.