Seattleholding.com

Winter returns: Rain, mountain snow, and blustery conditions ahead in Western Washington

This weather pattern will generate showers in the lowlands, with rain totals ranging from a half-inch to more than 2 inches, and plenty of snow in the mountains.Low Snow LevelsSnow levels are expected to vary from as low as 500 feet on Monday and Tuesday to as high as about 3,000 feet on Wednesday, before dropping to around 2,000 feet for the rest of the week. The lower snow levels early this week will likely result in a mix of rain and snow in some Western Washington lowland areas during overni

Harger: Before Washington passes its first income tax, it’s worth asking what the last hundred billion actually bought

In 1994, I paid $540 a month for a one-bedroom apartment off Greenwood Avenue in Seattle. It had a view of the Sound. Parking was included. People said rent was getting too expensive back then.Since then, the state budget has more than doubled. Services have expanded in every direction. Taxes have gone up repeatedly, and more are on the way. That same apartment would cost around $1,200 today if rent had just kept pace with inflation. I just checked. It’s now $2,200.This week, Olympia is expected to pass a new income tax on millionaires—more revenue for more programs. And I find myself wanting to ask a simple question before we write that check.What did we get for the last hundred billion or so in spending?I’ve lived here nearly my entire life. I’ve seen the pattern.I’ve been on the air in this region for around 30 years. Long enough to see how this works.A problem gets identified. A program gets created. Taxes go up to pay for it. When the problem doesn’t get better, the answer is never to ask whether the program is working. The answer is always that we didn’t spend enough. And if you’re the person asking about results, you’re not a concerned taxpayer. You’re MAGA. You’re heartless. You want people to suffer.It’s a very effective way to end a conversation without ever having it.So let’s have it.The ten-year plan to end homelessness in King County is now 20 years old.In 2005, King County launched a Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The goal was to have it solved by 2015. We are now twenty years into the ten-year plan. Still working on it. We do camp cleanups that move people six blocks down the road and call it progress.Washington doubled education spending. Fourth-grade math rankings dropped from 10th to 27th.We doubled what we spend on public schools. In 2013, Washington fourth graders ranked 10th in the nation in math. By 2024, they ranked 27th.When those numbers came out, the state superintendent didn’t change the approach. He changed the definition of proficiency. The kids didn’t get smarter. The bar got lower. The webpage tracking the old targets quietly disappeared.DSHS spending tripled. Children in state care are dying at a higher rate every year.We tripled spending on the Department of Social and Health Services. The number of children dying in the state’s care has gone up three years in a row.That’s the track record the new income tax is being asked to build on.Washington voters treat every election as Trump or not Trump. Local results don’t break through.Washington voters treat every election as a binary choice. Between a Republican and a Democrat around here, the translation becomes: Trump or not Trump. And when that’s the frame, voters around here feel as if there’s not much of a choice.It doesn’t matter that the ten-year plan is twenty years old. It doesn’t matter that the test scores went down while the bar got lower. It doesn’t matter that the children are still dying. Because enough voters are convinced the other option is MAGA. And for a lot of people, that’s enough.I understand it. I just think it’s costing us.The middle is getting squeezed from both directions.Here’s what makes it particularly exhausting. It’s not just the national Republican Party that’s abandoned the center. Our own state and local leaders have drifted about as far left as you can go without falling off the map. Olympia passes income taxes and blocks child welfare votes in the same month. Seattle spent years debating whether to let police do their jobs.Washington DC has gone hard right. Olympia and Seattle have gone hard left. And the rest of us are standing in the gap, wondering when someone is going to govern from where most people actually live.We are told every single day that we have to pick a team. We are told the middle is dead.Most people here want the same thing. The money to actually work.I do believe most people here feel the same way I do. They want results. They want the money to actually work. They want a ten-year plan that ends in ten years. They want test scores that go up when spending goes up. They want fewer children dying, not more.That’s not a fringe position. That’s most of us.We just haven’t figured out how to make it the loudest voice in the room yet.<a class="twitter-follow-button" href="https://twitter.com/https://twitter.com/kirocharlie" data-show-count="false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow @https://twitter.com/kirocharlie</a><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Family devastated after teen shot to death at Parkland apartment

An 18-year-old teen was shot to death Saturday morning in Parkland, according to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/piercecounty.sheriff/posts/pfbid02PGNg7BYrvC1eNfGv8kxWrMCcwKqNdHCjEVfUYZBTcEnxhNbTf5oJhsfDm9EVj3SRl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pierce County Sheriff’s Office</a>.Deputies were sent to an apartment complex at 112th Street East and 6th Street East around 9 a.m. after hearing about a person who had been shot. When law enforcement arrived, they found the teen dead, and there was no shooter.The shooting happened at an apartment complex in the area, and investigators are still searching for a suspect, according to KIRO 7. Family members later identified the victim as Jack Bartlett.<a href="https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/were-shattered-family-young-man-killed-parkland-shooting-demands-answers/X37LO2NNOZFBRLJKXDFZPKN5VY/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KIRO 7 reported</a> investigators found bullet holes in both a vehicle and an apartment unit at the scene, with at least one round entering a bedroom.<h2 data-start="681" data-end="865">Family speaks out after Parkland teen’s killing</h2>Family members said they are devastated by the loss. “We have to pick up the broken pieces of our family, and we’re shattered,” Bartlett’s mother told KIRO 7.Detectives have opened a homicide investigation and are working to determine what led up to the shooting. No arrests have been announced.Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.This is a developing story; check back for updates.<a class="twitter-follow-button" href="https://twitter.com/http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest" data-show-count="false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest</a><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Paris Hilton launches recovery fund for women business owners after disasters

Like the LA program, the Back in Business Recovery Fund will distribute unrestricted grants, partnering with some of the 150 local women’s business centers spread across the U.S.Collaborating with the centers will help identify impacted women quickly and opens up access not just to cash, but to a community of business owners facing similar challenges, said Amanda Brown Lierman, executive director of GoFundMe.org. “It’s really key to the success.”Decisions on when to activate the fund will also b

Justice Department and Live Nation reach settlement over illegal monopoly case, AP source says

<block>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reached a settlement in its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and it’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, on Monday in a case that alleged an illegal monopoly over live events in America. The settlement was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who could not publicly discuss details of the agreement publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The terms of the deal were not immediately clear. It comes as the two sides face trial in New York over whether to dismantle the monopoly the Justice Department said was squelching competition and driving up prices for fans.The case brought under the Biden administration in 2024 accused Live Nation of using threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing.Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment, have a long history of clashes with major artists and their fans, including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.</block>

Pennsylvania state police trooper shot and killed in a traffic stop, authorities say

George Bivens, told a late Sunday night news conference at Paoli Hospital in Chester County.The shooter then got out of the car, walked a short distance away and shot and killed himself with a pistol, Bivens said. He did not identify the man.O’Connor was married and had a young daughter, authorities said.O’Connor had been on patrol when a call came in for an erratic driver. O’Connor was dispatched and reported shortly afterward that he had pulled over the car at an intersection

AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Mississippi’s state primaries

There were about 91,000 votes cast in the Democratic presidential primary and about 82,000 in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, which was about 5% and 4% of registered voters, respectively. About 6% of the total votes cast in both the Republican and Democratic primaries that year were cast by absentee ballot.As of Friday, a total of 13,473 ballots had already been cast in the 2026 primariesHow long does vote-counting usually take?In the 2024 primaries, the AP first reported results at 8:07 p.m

AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Georgia’s special congressional election

ET.What’s on the ballot?The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the special elections for the 14th Congressional District, state Senate District 53 and state House Districts 94 and 130.Who gets to vote?Any registered voter may participate in the special election in their district.What do turnout and advance vote look like?As of Thursday, there were about 521,000 registered voters in the 14th Congressional District. Georgia voters do not register by party.About 378,000 votes were

Once a beacon of cheap homes, Nevada has become a symbol of America’s struggle with high costs

At the same time, near-zero interest rates drove a wave of refinancing that gave existing homeowners mortgage payments that now seem impossibly low.Almost 40 million people visited Las Vegas last year, and gamblers wagered $14 billion at Clark County casinos, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The steady flow of people and cash attracts dreamers and strivers with the promise of a good job and an affordable home.The population of Clark County, which includes Las Vegas,

Investigation further suggests it was the US that struck an Iranian school, killing 165

<block>JERUSALEM (AP) — The investigative group Bellingcat says newly released video “appears to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school that killed over 165 people at the start of the war raging in the Mideast.It comes as mounting evidence points to U.S. culpability for the Feb. 28 strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base in Minab, Iran, in the country’s southern Hormozgan Province. Experts interviewed by The Associated Press, citing satellite image analysis, say the school was likely struck amid a quick succession of bombs dropped on the compound. The video shared by Bellingcat is a three-second clip of a video taken the day the school was struck and circulated Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency. The video shows a munition falling on a building, sending a dark plume into the air that mingles with smoke that likely came from earlier strikes on the compound. Trevor Ball, a Bellingcat researcher, geolocated the video to a site near the school, something also done by the AP. Ball identified the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile — which only the U.S. is known to possess in this war. It’s the first evidence of a munition used in the strike. Complicating any assessment of the incident is the lack of images of bomb fragments from the blast. No independent agency has reached the site during the war to investigate. When asked by a reporter Saturday whether the U.S. was responsible for the blast, which killed mostly children, Trump responded, without providing evidence: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.” Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their munitions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly chimed in to say the U.S. was investigating. Several factors point to a U.S. strike.One is the launching of an assessment of the incident by the U.S. military. According to the Pentagon’s instructions on processes for mitigating civilian harm, an assessment is launched after a group of investigators make an initial determination that the U.S. military may bear culpability. A U.S. official told the AP that the strike was likely U.S. The official spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter.Another is the location of the school — next to the Revolutionary Guard base and close to barracks for a naval unit. The U.S. military has focused on naval targets and acknowledged strikes in the province, including one in the vicinity of the school.Israel, which has denied conducting the strike, has focused on areas of Iran closer to Israel and hasn’t reported any strikes south of Isfahan, 800 kilometers (500 miles) away. The U.S. is operating warships in the Arabian Sea, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, within range of the school.Neither the U.S. military’s Central Command nor the Israeli military immediately replied to requests for comment Monday from the AP on Bellingcat’s analysis.___Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed to this report.</block>

Iran names former supreme leader’s son to succeed him as war sends oil prices soaring

<block>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s late supreme leader, was named Monday as the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, putting a hard-line cleric in charge as the war spreading across the Mideast sent oil prices skyrocketing with Iran launching new attacks on regional energy infrastructure.With Iran’s theocracy under assault by the U.S. and Israel for more than a week, the country’s Assembly of Experts chose the secretive, 56-year-old cleric with close ties to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as the new supreme leader. The Guard has been firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since the younger Khamenei’s father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed Feb. 28 during the war’s opening salvo.Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has also all but stopped tankers from using the shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman through which a fifth of the world’s oil is carried. Brent crude oil, the international standard, surged to more than $114 a barrel on Monday, some 60% higher than when Israel and the United States first attacked Iran. As global concerns grew over economic effect, U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the spike in prices as temporary. “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump wrote on social media. Iran has been firing on Israel and American bases in the region since the start of the war, but has also been launching missiles and drones at energy and water infrastructure. On Monday, a fire broke out at an oil facility that was attacked in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted several drones attacking the Shaybah oil field. Israel, meantime, said it was launching new airstrikes on central Iran. <hl2>New Iranian leader seen as even more hard-line than his father</hl2>The younger Khamenei, who had not been seen or heard from publicly since the war started, had long been considered a potential successor. That was even before the Israeli strike killed his father, and despite never being elected or appointed to a government position. There appeared to be some dissension over his selection. Political figures within Iran criticized the idea of handing over the supreme leader’s title based on heredity and thereby creating a clerical version of the rule of the shah, who was toppled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But top clerics in the Assembly of Experts likely wanted Khamenei to prosecute the war.Khamenei, who is believed to hold views that are even more hard-line than his late father, now will be in charge of Iran’s armed forces and any decision regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.While the country’s key nuclear sites are in tatters after the United States bombed them during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, there’s still highly enriched uranium in Iran that’s a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Khamenei could choose to do what his father never did — build a nuclear bomb. Israel has already described him as a potential target, while Trump had called him “unacceptable.”“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump had said. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard issued a statement expressing support, as did the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, speaking to Iranian state television, praised the Assembly of Experts for “courageously” convening even as airstrikes continued in Tehran. He said the younger Khamenei had been trained by his father and “can handle this situation.”<hl2>Regional anger grows as attacks continue on energy infrastructure and oil prices spike </hl2>Saudi Arabia lashed out at Iran following a thwarted drone attack on its massive Shaybah oil field, saying Tehran would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states. The Foreign Ministry said Iranian attacks mean “further escalation which will have grave impact on the relations, currently and in the future.” In addition to targeting energy facilities also in the UAE, Iran on Monday also attacked Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where it hit a residential area wounding 32 people, including several children, according to authorities.Bahrain has also accused Iran of damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. Desalination plants supply water to millions of residents in the region and thousands of stranded travelers, raising new fears of catastrophic risks in parched desert nations.In Iraq, air defenses show down a drone as it attacked a U.S. military compound inside the Baghdad International Airport, a security source told the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.There were no reported injuries or damage and it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias have previously targeted the base.Elsewhere, the U.S. military had said a service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. soldiers have now been killed.The U.S. State Department early Monday ordered nonessential personnel and families of all staff to leave Saudi Arabia following the escalation in attacks. Eight other U.S. diplomatic missions have ordered all but key staff to leave: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials. Israel reported its first soldier deaths Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where its military is fighting Hezbollah.___Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press journalists Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank, Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, and Qassem Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed reporting. </block>

The Latest: Oil prices soar after Iran names new supreme leader and launches more attacks

The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field.Here is the latest:China envoy urges end to fightingA Chinese envoy to the Middle East has called on all sides to stop their military actions and said attacks on non-military targets and civilians should be condemned.Special Envoy Zhai Jun, meeting in Saudi Arabia with Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said Sunday that the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of all Gulf countr

Urban salsa music pioneer Willie Colón to be remembered at New York funeral

His family said on social media that he passed away peacefully surrounded by relatives at a hospital in Westchester County, just north of New York City.“While we grieve his absence, we also rejoice in the timeless gift of his music and the cherished memories that will live on forever,” his family said in a statement.Born in New York City’s Bronx borough, Colón produced more than 40 albums that sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and collaborated with a wide variety of artists, including t

Jury selection to begin in South Florida for 5 charged in 2021 assassination of Haitian president

Solages was a CTU representative in Haiti who coordinated with Sanon and others, officials said.The conspirators met in South Florida in April 2021 and agreed that, once in power, Sanon would award contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects, security forces and military equipment, investigators said. Worldwide Capital agreed to help finance the coup, extending a $175,000 line of credit to CTU and sending money to co-conspirators in Haiti to purchase ammunition, officials said.CTU initially ret

Where things stand after another weekend of war

<block>Iran has named a son of its late supreme leader as his successor. U.S. President Donald Trump already had expressed disdain for Mojtaba Khamenei, calling him “unacceptable.” The Islamic Republic’s war strategy now has a new commander, and the powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has pledged allegiance.Oil prices shot above $100 a barrel. Both sides in the war struck new targets over the weekend, including civilian ones. Bahrain accused Iran of hitting one of the desalination plants that are crucial for drinking water in Gulf countries. Israel struck oil depots in Tehran, sending up thick smoke and causing environmental alerts.The U.S. announced another soldier’s death. Saudi Arabia announced the first deaths there. Anger grew in Arab countries over Iran’s launching of hundreds of missiles and drones around the region. The Israeli military’s chief of staff warned that the war “will take a long time.”Here’s where things stand as the war enters its 10th day.<hl2>Iran</hl2>Iran’s announcement of a new supreme leader came after the country’s remaining leadership appeared to show a rift. President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for attacks on neighboring countries, but hard-liners criticized that and said the war strategy would continue.The new supreme leader had not been seen or heard from publicly since the war began. He has not made a statement in his new role. The younger Khamenei inherits both the war and domestic unrest after Iran earlier this year cracked down on some of its largest protests in half a century.Iran did not publicly update its death toll over the weekend from the over 1,200 previously reported. Some Iranians continued to flee the country.<hl2>Israel</hl2>Israel attacked both Iran and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in neighboring Lebanon, where authorities say over a half-million people have been displaced and over 300 killed.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “many surprises” in the next phase of the war. Israel said it destroyed the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, which operated the ballistic missile command, and struck ballistic missile launchers and missile production facilities.Eleven people have died in Israel since the war began. Multiple alerts continued to sound per day across Israel about incoming projectiles, almost all of them intercepted.<hl2>United States</hl2>The U.S. military warned Iranians to stay indoors, asserting that Iran was launching attacks from densely populated areas. Evidence mounted indicating that the U.S. was behind the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran on the first day of the war, but Trump suggested Iran was to blame.Trump also attended the return of the remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the war. Seven have been killed.Families of U.S. detainees in Iran worried their loved ones are at risk.The U.S. military did not give an update over the weekend on the number of missiles and drones that Iran has fired in recent days, after saying the rate had gone down sharply. Experts said it’s possible that Iran is holding back some missiles in reserve.<hl2>Middle East</hl2>The head of the Arab League called Iran’s war strategy “reckless” as Gulf and other nations reported intercepting Iranian missiles and drones in areas of their countries with no U.S. military presence.No country other than the U.S. and Israel has said it is attacking Iran. Some countries in the region host U.S. military facilities or troops. Iran has urged countries not to allow the U.S. to attack it from their territories. A missile hit a helicopter landing pad in the U.S. Embassy complex in Iraq.More deaths were reported. Saudi Arabia said a falling military projectile killed an Indian citizen and a Bangladeshi one. Kuwait said two border guards were killed, and the United Arab Emirates reported a driver killed.Foreign residents and workers have made up most of the reported deaths in the Gulf. Over a dozen people have been killed there in all.<hl2>Globally</hl2>The U.S. sought to assure Americans that surging fuel prices are a short-term problem. Russia is profiting from the surge.Many travelers and pilgrims remain stranded in the Middle East. The U.S. State Department said over 32,000 Americans have left the region since the war began.Nervousness remained around some of the world’s busiest air hubs. Passengers waiting for flights at Dubai International Airport were ushered into train tunnels after several blasts were heard. Kuwait said fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport were targeted by drones.More states are becoming involved. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country will send experts to advise the U.S. and Middle Eastern allies on repelling Iranian drone attacks next week.</block>

Travelers encounter long waits at some airports as DHS shutdown affects security checkpoints

The Hobby airport on social media Friday said it expected more travelers than normal due to spring break.In a series of posts Sunday, the airport on X went from urging travelers to arrive early to asking them to arrive 3 to 4 hours before their flights to eventually asking them to arrive 4 to 5 hours early to allow extra time for screening, citing the partial government shutdown.A statement from Houston Airports, which counts Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airport as part of its system,

Fox News apologizes for showing old video of a hatless Donald Trump at a dignified transfer ceremony

The return of the bodies of six soldiers took place Saturday at Dover Air Force Base.But Fox News said archival footage of Trump at an earlier ceremony was inadvertently pulled up by a staff member and used on two Sunday morning telecasts. A spokeswoman noted the correct footage was used at other times, including on Saturday.“We regret the error and apologize for the incorrect footage,” Fox said in a statement.Fox News anchor Griff Jenkins issued an on-the-air correction Sunday, saying “we exten

‘Country’ Joe McDonald, ’60s rock star, proud protest counterculture icon, dies at 84

<block>NEW YORK (AP) — “Country” Joe McDonald, a hippie rock star of the 1960s whose “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” was a four-lettered rebuke to the Vietnam War that became an anthem for protesters and a highlight of the Woodstock music festival, died Sunday. He was 84. McDonald, who performed with his band, Country Joe and the Fish, died in Berkeley, California. His death from complications of Parkinson’s disease was reported by Kathy McDonald, his wife of 43 years, in a statement issued by his publicist.McDonald was a longtime presence in the Bay Area music scene, where peers included the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane and his onetime girlfriend, Janis Joplin. He wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs, from psychedelic jams to soul-influenced rockers, and released dozens of albums. But he was known best for a talking blues he completed in less than an hour in 1965 — the year President Lyndon Johnson began sending ground forces to Vietnam — and recorded in the Berkeley home of Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz.In the deadpan style of McDonald’s hero, Woody Guthrie, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” was a mock celebration of war and early, senseless death, with a chorus concertgoers and others would learn by heart:And its 1, 2, 3 what are we fighting for? Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam, And its 5, 6, 7 open up the pearly gates, Well there ain’t no time to wonder why, WHOOPEE we’re all gonna die At the time he wrote “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag,” McDonald was co-leader of the newly formed Country Joe and the Fish and he added a special “F-I-S-H” chant before the song: “Give me an F, give me an I, give me an S, give me an H.” By the time his group appeared at Woodstock in 1969, the Fish were on the verge of breaking up, the chant was a different four-letter word beginning in “F” and McDowell was performing before hundreds of thousands. Many would stand and sing along, a moment captured in the Woodstock documentary released the following year. (For the film, the song’s lyrics appeared as subtitles, a bouncing ball on top).“Some people alluded to peace and stuff (at Woodstock), but I was talking about Vietnam,” McDonald told The Associated Press in 2019. He called the opening chant “an expression of our anger and frustration over the Vietnam War, which was killing us, literally killing us.”The song helped make him famous, but brought legal and professional consequences. In 1968, Ed Sullivan canceled a planned appearance by Country Joe and the Fish on his variety show when he learned of the new opening cheer. Soon after Woodstock, McDonald was arrested and fined for using the cheer at a show in Worcester, Massachusetts, an ordeal which helped hasten the band’s demise.McDonald even performed the song in court. His friendships with such political radicals as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin led to his being called in as a witness in the “Chicago Eight (or Seven)” trial against organizers of anti-war protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. On the stand, he explained how he had met with Hoffman and others and told them about “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag.” When he began performing it, the judge interrupted and told him “No singing is permitted in the courtroom.”McDonald recited the words instead.In 2001, the daughter of the late jazz musician Edward “Kid” Ory sued McDonald, alleging that his song’s melody closely resembled Ory’s 1920s jazz instrumental “Muskrat Blues.” A U.S. district judge in California ruled in McDonald’s favor, citing in part the “unreasonable” delay between the song’s release and the suit being filed.<hl2>A man of the ’60s</hl2>McDonald continued touring and recording for decades after Woodstock, but remained defined by the late 1960s, a time period he openly longed for in the late 1970s rocker “Bring Back the Sixties, Man.” His albums included “Country,” “Carry On,” “Time Flies By” and “50,” and he would continue writing protest songs, notably the 1982 release “Save the Whales.”Although defined by his anti-war activism, McDonald would acknowledge conflicted feelings about Vietnam. He had served in the Navy, in Japan, in the late 1950s, and found himself identifying with both the protesters and those serving overseas. In the 1990s, he helped organize the construction of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Berkeley, formally unveiled in 1995.“Many remembered the ugly confrontations that had happened during the war years in the city,” McDonald later wrote of the ceremony. “Yet the atmosphere proved to be one of reconciliation, not confrontation.”McDonald was married four times, most recently to Kathy McDonald, and had five children and four grandchildren. He was involved off and on with Joplin over the second half of the 1960s, two young hippies whose careers and temperaments drove them apart. When McDonald told her he thought they should break up, she asked him to write a song, which became the ballad “Janis”:Even though I know that you and ICould never find the kind of love we wantedTogether, alone, I find myselfMissing you and IYou and I___<hl2>Raised on politics, and music</hl2>Country Joe McDonald did not come from the “country.” He was born on Jan. 1, 1942 in Washington, D.C., and grew up in El Monte, California. He was the son of onetime Communists who named him for Josef Stalin and otherwise encouraged him to love music and identify with the working class. He was still in his teens when he began writing songs, playing trombone well enough to lead his high school marching band and teaching himself folk, country and blues songs on guitar.After returning from the Navy, in the early 1960s, he attended Los Angeles State College, but soon moved to Berkeley and became immersed in folk music and political activism. He founded an underground magazine, Rag Baby, for which “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” was written to help promote, and helped start such local groups as the Instant Action Jug Band and the Berkeley String Quartet.In 1965, he formed Country Joe and the Fish with fellow singer-guitarist Barry “The Fish” Melton, later adding Bruce Barthol on bass, organ player David Bennett Cohen and Gary “Chicken” Hirsh on drums. The name was suggested by magazine publisher Eugene “ED” Denson, who cited a quote from Mao Zedong that revolutionaries are “the fish who swim in the sea of the people.” McDonald was dubbed “Country Joe” because Denson had heard that Stalin was known as “Country Joe” during World War II.Like the Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds and other bands, the Fish evolved from folk to folk-rock to acid rock. “Electric Music for the Mind and Body,” their debut album, was released in May 1967 and featured a minor hit, “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine,” along with numerous long jams. A month after the album came out, they appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, the first major rock gathering and a highlight of the so-called Summer of Love.“I think the ‘Summer of Love’ thing was manufactured by the media or something, because I don’t remember us thinking, ‘Wow, this is the “Summer of Love,′ ” he told aquariandrunkard.com in 2018. “(But) I was just thrilled to be a part of this new counterculture and new tribe because I had never really felt comfortable in the other tribes that I was a part of growing up and in the Navy. My parents were actually Jewish Communists. I never felt a part of it, but I was really thrilled and happy to be a hippie.”</block>

Red Lion Hotel in Longview-Kelso heavily damaged in 2-alarm fire

A major two-alarm fire has destroyed a large part of the Red Lion Hotel in Kelso.The fire broke out Saturday afternoon, just after 1:30.Fire crews with Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue were the first to respond as flames ripped through the structure.The hotel is more than 50 years old and was built in 1970.When firefighters got to the scene, smoke was billowing from the front of the hotel, and fire commanders quickly upgraded the response to a two-alarm commercial fire.An aerial ladder truck pours wate

NTSB member says he was fired without explanation by the Trump administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — A National Transportation Safety Board member who was a public face of the investigation into last year’s deadly collision of an airliner and an Army helicopter near the nation’s capital said Sunday that he had been fired by the Trump administration without explanation.Todd Inman said in a statement that he received notice Friday from the White House personnel office that his position on the board was “terminated effective immediately.” He said he had not yet