Seattleholding.com

Man charged with planting pipe bombs before the Jan. 6 riot argues Trump’s mass pardons apply to him

“According to the government, the timing was chosen because of what was scheduled to occur at the Capitol on January 6.”They also argued that prosecutors’ theory of a possible motive places Cole’s alleged conduct “in the same political controversy that animated the January 6 crowd.”In court filings, prosecutors have said that Cole confessed to investigators after his Dec. 4 arrest. He told FBI agents that he felt “bewildered” by conspiracy theories related to the 2020 pre

Top counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigns over Trump’s Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat

Top counterterrorism official Joe Kent has resigned over President Donald Trump’s Iran war, saying Iran posed “no imminent threat to our nation.”Kent said he “cannot in good conscience” back Trump’s war in Iran.Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent posted on social media Tuesday.Kent is a former political candidate with connections to right-wing

Chateau Ste. Michelle releases 2026 Summer Concert Series lineup

Michelle Winery has announced the lineup for their 2026 Summer Concert Series, featuring bluegrass, folk, reggae, country, indie, soul, blues, and rock artists.Starting in May, concertgoers will enjoy this wide variety of music with a fresh glass of Washington wine under the summer sun.Follow this link to read additional stories from KIRO 7Here’s the full lineup:May 24 – Yellowcard: The Up Up Down Down Tour With Special Guests New Found Glory and Plain White T’s – SOLD OUTJune 25 &#8

Iran’s internet blackout silences voices at home as diaspora creators fill the void

Diaspora creators enter the debateThere has long been a “narrative war” among members of the diaspora, said 26-year-old social media creator Ciara Moezidis, who was born in the United States and has extended family in Iran.Her Instagram following has increased by 2,000 people since January, when she started posting in support of Iranian protesters and against a war.“It’s been incredibly exhausting to navigate this while seeing bombs drop across Iran and not being able to reach our families,” sai

Heavy rainfall elevates flood threat across western Washington

That combination of heavy rain and premature melting is expected to raise the risk of flooding later in the week, according to the NWS.Rivers at risk of floodingWater from the Tolt River flows into the Snoqualmie River, which may reach moderate flood levels near Carnation as runoff moves downstream.The Snohomish River could reach moderate flooding by Thursday morning. In contrast, flooding may develop later in the week along the Skagit River as runoff continues to move north through the watershe

Trump’s tax law changes may increase the number of donors, but reduce donations to nonprofits

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions more Americans will likely donate to nonprofits following changes in tax laws passed by Congress last summer, but those changes will also likely reduce the overall amount of money given to charity, according to new research.The report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy published Tuesday reflects how “top heavy” charitable giving is, meaning the largest donors and corporations have an outsized impact on overall giving trends, said Jon Bergdoll

Harger: Seattle’s homeless crisis isn’t one problem. It’s three. And we’ve been spending billions pretending otherwise.

I got an email last week from a listener named Ben. I’m going to let him speak for himself.“I am currently homeless because I’m underemployed and could not keep up with bills. I live in my Jeep with my dog and am not an addict of any kind, and continue to work. I really dislike that I’m struggling to find housing, and these people that have taken everything from everyone are given more. The true face of homelessness in Washington is not the street dwellers but the cashiers and waiters and everyone else that’s working but just can’t get that leg up. I have a college degree. I’ve owned a retail business in the Northgate Mall. I owned a home before divorce. It only took six months of no income to completely drown me, and now I’m a statistic. But since I’m responsible and able to work and function in society, THERE IS NO HELP FOR ME.”Ben is living in his Jeep rather than a Seattle encampment. He doesn’t want to be around the drug use, the chaos, the danger. He’s trying to hold his life together, not watch it come apart around him.Now picture a woman in a tent in a Seattle encampment in Ballard. Been there two years. Severely addicted to fentanyl. Found unresponsive twice last week. She’s been offered shelter repeatedly. She keeps turning it down.We call both Ben and that woman by the same word: homeless.That one word is doing an awful lot of work. And I’m not sure it’s doing it honestly.<h2>Seattle’s homeless population is really three different groups with three different problems</h2>Michael Shellenberger wrote about this in his book <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/san-fransicko-michael-shellenberger?variant=33063782055970" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“San Fransicko.”</a> His core claim is that the word homeless was never neutral. It was coined deliberately by activists in the early 1980s to frame the whole issue as a poverty problem. A housing cost problem. It was designed to make addiction and mental illness disappear from the conversation before the conversation even started.Here’s what that word is actually hiding: three completely different groups of people who have almost nothing in common and need completely different kinds of help.The first group is Ben. Priced out by a run of bad luck, a life event, a few months where everything went wrong at once. He wants stable housing. He’s ready to work. And the system has very little for him.The second group is the woman in the tent. What we call Seattle homeless encampments are really open drug scenes. People living close to their supply because fentanyl addiction has consumed everything else. Give this group an apartment without dealing with the addiction, and you haven’t solved anything. We just put a roof over her head, hand her clean needles, and call it compassion. Meanwhile, she’s still addicted, still suffering, still dying. We’re letting people rot and calling it a housing strategy.The third group is the severely mentally ill. Untreated schizophrenia. Psychosis. People cycling endlessly between the street, the ER, and the jail. A housing voucher doesn’t touch what’s actually wrong with them either.<h2>Here’s where Seattle’s homelessness spending gets cynical</h2>When you collapse all three groups into one word, addiction and mental illness disappear from the conversation. Housing becomes the only acceptable answer. And a massive, largely unaccountable industry gets built around providing that answer.The contractors who build the housing write campaign checks to the politicians who fund the housing. The politicians set policies that generate more contracts. It’s a circle, and it’s very good for everyone inside it.Washington state has spent <a href="https://www.cascadepbs.org/news/2024/05/wa-spent-5b-over-past-decade-homelessness-housing-programs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than $5 billion</a> on homelessness over the past decade. Seattle and King County are each spending somewhere between $200 million and $300 million a year on top of that. King County <a href="https://kcrha.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KCRHA-2025-Annual-Budget-REVISED_12.19.24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says it needs</a> $4 billion a year <a href="https://www.aol.com/articles/king-county-homeless-authority-plans-235000510.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">through 2044</a> to address King County homelessness.It’s a perfect system. Just not for the people sleeping outside.They took a word that means you can’t afford rent and stretched it to cover addiction, psychosis, and everything in between. They named every crisis a housing crisis. And we let them.Here’s why it worked. And why it’s still working.Most people in Seattle are renters or homeowners who are, by some combination of hard work and luck, keeping their heads above water. They walk past a tent on the way to the coffee shop, and they feel something. Guilt, maybe. Discomfort. A vague sense that they should be doing more. That’s a human reaction, and there’s nothing wrong with it.The activists figured that out a long time ago. They built an entire political strategy around it. If housing is the only problem, then people with housing are part of the solution. It feels good to support more housing. It feels generous. It feels like the right side of history.But the moment you question it out loud: “What if that person in the tent has a fentanyl addiction that no apartment is going to fix?” You’ve just made yourself the bad guy. You don’t care about the homeless. You’re blaming the victim. You’re heartless.So people don’t say it. Even when they’re thinking it. Even when they’ve watched the same person cycle through shelter offers for two years and turn them all down. Even when they’ve seen the needle kits and the foil and the burned spoons. They stay quiet because the word has a force field around it.We’ve taken it so far that Public Health Seattle & King County now distributes harm reduction kits that include glass pipes, tin foil, and printed instructions on how to fold that foil into a makeshift pipe. Not to help people get clean. To help them use more safely. That’s where the logic ends up when you decide the problem is never the addiction.Question the word “homeless,” and you’re against the people. So nobody questions it. The word stuck. The money followed. And here we are.<h3>Forty years of this, and Seattle’s crisis keeps growing</h3>Suggest that maybe, just maybe, a fentanyl addiction is not primarily a housing problem, and see how fast you get accused of not caring about the homeless.The word is protected. The people it was supposed to help are not.We’re not getting Ben housed. We’re not getting the woman in that Ballard tent the treatment she desperately needs. We’re not getting the severely mentally ill off Seattle’s streets and into real care. We’re just spending money, protecting the world, and calling it compassion.Meanwhile, the contractors cash their checks, the politicians collect their campaign donations, and Ben is still in his Jeep.Charlie Harger is the host of <a id="menurkpt" class="fui-Link ___1q1shib f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1s184ao f1mk8lai fnbmjn9 f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn" title="https://mynorthwest.com/category/seattles-morning-news/" href="https://mynorthwest.com/category/seattles-morning-news/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Link “Seattle’s Morning News”">“Seattle’s Morning News”</a> on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries <a id="menurkpv" class="fui-Link ___1q1shib f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1s184ao f1mk8lai fnbmjn9 f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn" title="https://mynorthwest.com/author/charger/" href="https://mynorthwest.com/author/charger/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Link here">here</a>. Follow Charlie <a id="menurkq1" class="fui-Link ___1q1shib f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1s184ao f1mk8lai fnbmjn9 f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn" title="https://x.com/kirocharlie" href="https://x.com/kirocharlie" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Link on X">on X</a> and email him <a id="menurkq3" class="fui-Link ___1q1shib f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1s184ao f1mk8lai fnbmjn9 f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn" title="mailto:[email protected]" href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Link here">here</a>. <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>

This is your yearly reminder to avoid being a jerk in the ferry line

Fortino said to get a fine, someone in law enforcement must see it, but you are encouraged to reach out to ferry staff or police about a line-cutting violation.“That doesn’t necessarily mean that the trooper or officer can’t take some sort of remedial action based on the complaint, but in order to issue a citation that has to be observed by the commissioned law enforcement officer at the time of the violation,” Fortino explained.Sometimes a visit from a trooper in the fer

Lukas prizes honor books on homelessness, the US Census and ancient India

The winners were announced Tuesday by the project’s administrators, the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.Jeff Hobbs’ “Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America” won the Lukas Book Prize, a $10,000 honor given for exemplifying “literary grace, commitment to serious research and social concern.” The Mark Lynton Prize for history, a $10,000 award for combining “literary grace, commitme

Republicans are launching a voting bill debate that could last days or even weeks

“There is an apparatus already to ensure that elections are safe and secure and that only eligible voters are casting ballots in our elections.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats are not opposed to voter identification but “this is about purging the voter rolls in a massive way, so you never even get the chance to show a voter ID when you showed up to vote because you’d be knocked off the rolls.” Expect a show on the Senate floor Trump, backed by Republican Sen. Mike Lee

Rescue crews dig bodies out of the ruins of a Kabul hospital hit in an airstrike blamed on Pakistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Rescue crews were still digging bodies out of the rubble of a drug rehabilitation hospital in the Afghan capital Tuesday morning, after officials there said an overnight Pakistani airstrike killed at least 400 people at the facility.Pakistan has denied Afghanistan’s accusation that it targeted a hospital, saying its strikes, which were also conducted in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, did not hit any civilian sites.The strikes late Monday night mark a dramatic escalation

Police in Nigeria suspect suicide bombers in deaths of at least 23 people in Maiduguri

It was one of the deadliest attacks in the conflict-battered city in recent history.Residents and emergency services earlier told The Associated Press that three explosions were reported in crowded places in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, including in a major market and at the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.“Regrettably, a total of 23 persons lost their lives, while 108 others sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso

Trump’s homeland security pick Mullin is poised to inherit a department beset by challenges

Markwayne Mullin be approved as the next secretary of Homeland Security, he will walk into the department’s sprawling Washington, D.C., campus with his work cut out for him.Immigration enforcement is at a crossroads. Disaster-hit states and their lawmakers are angry at delayed federal assistance. Frustrated travelers face long airport security lines due to a monthlong funding battle in Congress.Mullin would take over from embattled outgoing secretary Kristi Noem, who entered office with Pr

A $50 million push hopes to make child care a top issue in the midterm elections

The announcement comes as the cost of child care continues to rise and as waiting lists for federal child care subsidies, which support working families in poverty, continue to grow. Sondra Goldschein, executive director of the campaign and its political action committee, said child care and elder care are important to the affordability conversation, especially as child care costs exceed what families pay for housing. Then there is the pressure on the “sandwich generation,” composed of middle-ag

What’s in the voting bill that Republicans are pushing to the Senate floor

Thune said last week that if you have to show an ID to get a library card, “it’s not too much to ask voters to show ID to vote in federal elections.” States would be required to share their voter rollsThe legislation would require states to share voters’ information with the Department of Homeland Security as a way to verify the citizenship of the names on the voter rolls — giving the federal government unprecedented access to state voter data. Many states are already embroiled in legal fi

Trump team applying pressure to media: Tell the war’s story the way we see it

Some of them will be, and that’s a serious matter.”What kind of reporting is expected from ‘patriotic’ news outlets?Trump said on social media that he was thrilled to see Carr looking at the licenses of the “highly corrupt and highly unpatriotic ‘News’ organizations.” Their efforts were endorsed Monday by hosts of the influential “Fox & Friends” morning show on Fox News Channel.“The president has said enough with this coverage, from other networks that are not telling you the tru

A fleet of festive pubs on wheels bring a taste of Ireland to New England

Patrick’s Day, an Irish pub appeared one night beneath a basketball hoop in a suburban Massachusetts driveway.Neighbors packed around the bar as music played and Guinness flowed — inside a tiny pub that had been towed in for the night.Instead of heading out to celebrate the holiday, the bar had come to them.“The Wee Irish Pub” was delivered by Tiny Pubs, a small business run by brothers Matt and Craig Taylor, who build miniature Irish pubs on wheels for holidays, weddings and backyard part

Illinois voters pick a new generation of Democrats for House, Senate after near-record retirements

<block>CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois voters are deciding primaries Tuesday for six open U.S. House and Senate seats that will spur a new generation of leadership in the state’s heavily Democratic congressional delegation. The retirement of longtime Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, has triggered a competitive campaign, drawing as candidates two sitting House members and the lieutenant governor, among others. Sharp elbows and furious fundraising have marked the race, which also is a test of the influence of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire whose name is floated as a 2028 presidential contender.A spate of House retirements has led to open seats with crowded contests across the Chicago area. The stakes are high, with most primary winners in the Democratic stronghold expected to win in November. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and PACs supporting the cryptocurrency and AI industries also have spent big on several of the contests. Here’s a look at the key races:<hl2>3 top Democrats running to replace Durbin</hl2>Ten Democrats and six Republicans are running after Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, announced his retirement after five terms.Three top Democrats have emerged: Chicago-area U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.Krishnamoorthi has dominated fundraising and the airwaves and was the first on television with ads in July. He started 2026 with over $15 million on hand after spending more than $6 million and raising more than $3.5 million in the final three months of last year, according to campaign finance records.By comparison, Stratton started the year with $1 million after raising about the same amount and spending just under $1 million in the last three months of 2025. But last month Pritzker put $5 million in a super PAC largely aimed at helping get her elected.She campaigned on Pritzker’s endorsement and lit into Krishnamoorthi at debates, particularly on the five-term Democrat’s voting record and donations from a contractor tied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.“That is not the example of somebody who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump and fight for all of our communities,” Stratton said during a debate in January. “I want to abolish ICE.”Krishnamoorthi, who has called to dismantle the agency, said he donated the money to immigrant rights groups. He argued that Stratton zeroed in on him because she “didn’t have any policy ideas. She had to attack.”Meanwhile Kelly has taken issue with Pritzker’s involvement, arguing that a sitting governor should not interfere.Candidates have touted ties to iconic Chicagoans including President Barack Obama and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died last month. However, an endorsement touted posthumously by Stratton caused a snag as Jackson’s family withdrew it Monday, saying the draft wasn’t meant for public release. Election officials hope to see busy polls after turnout in the 2024 primary was 19%, the lowest in more than five decades. Roosevelt Jones, 67, said his Social Security and public safety were at the forefront as he cast an early ballot for Stratton in Chicago recently. “She seems to be the one to take care of things,” he said. In the Republican primary, six candidates are on the ballot including Don Tracy, former Illinois Republican Party chairman, and attorney Jeannie Evans. Illinois last had a Republican in the Senate a decade ago, when Mark Kirk was defeated by current Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth. <hl2>Crowded US House primaries</hl2>Dozens of candidates are running for five open seats in the Chicago area where funding from groups supporting Israel and the cryptocurrency industry have played an outsized role.Ten Democrats and one Republican are running in Kelly’s district, the 2nd, which spans parts of the South Side and suburbs and dips into the central Illinois farmlands. Among the Democrats are former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the late civil rights leader, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller and state Sen. Robert Peters.The open seat in Krishnamoorthi’s suburban 8th District has attracted eight Democratic candidates including former U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean and Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison. Two other House members are retiring after long careers.The 7th District of Rep. Danny Davis, who was first elected in 1996, covers parts of downtown, the West Side and suburbs. Democratic front-runners to replace him include state Rep. La Shawn Ford, City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, developer Jason Friedman and Kina Collins, a community organizer. Two Republicans are running.Rep. Jan Schakowsky is also retiring, after 14 terms, and the primary field for her 9th District seat is the most crowded. Among the 15 Democratic candidates are Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, digital creator Kat Abughazaleh and state Sen. Laura Fine. Four Republicans are running.Another open seat is that of Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who announced he would not seek reelection citing health reasons. The primary is uncontested after Garcia quietly schemed to place his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, who is not related to the congressman, on the ballot before a critical deadline. The move assured that no other Democrat would have time to circulate petitions. Then he withdrew.<hl2>Pritzker seeking a third term as governor</hl2>Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune who is unopposed in his primary, is the first governor to seek a third term since the 1980s.One of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, Pritzker used a campaign ad this month to highlight efforts to oppose the aggressive federal immigration crackdown in Chicago last year.“I will always stand up for the law and the constitution,” he said. “Because that’s what we do in the state of Illinois.”Pritzker has also made digs at Republican candidate Darren Bailey, a former state senator whom he handily defeated in 2022.Bailey, among four Republicans vying for the nomination, says he is doing things differently. For one, he focused more on Chicago voters by choosing running mate Aaron Del Mar, who leads the Republican Party in Cook County. Bailey has criticized Pritzker’s leadership, including blaming him for rising costs. “He’s just another billionaire who has never once felt the pain he’s inflicted,” he said.Also in the Republican primary are Ted Dabrowski, a real estate developer; Rick Heidner, a video gambling magnate; and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick.</block>

‘Why would you stay here?’: Seattle contractor leaving after 30+ years cites taxes, homelessness, break-ins

I mean, we’ve been around a long time, but my kids don’t want to go through what we go through in the state of Washington.”Instead, Bob is leaving Washington for a more prosperous state for his business.“We’re selling our properties, we’re doing our research right now, and we’re just going to pull our money out of the state of Washington, all of our assets, get it all sold, and we’re going to move to somewhere that’s less obnoxious,” he

UN expert: Haiti has a chance now to tackle gang violence as new international force deploys

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Haiti has a chance now to tackle pervasive gang violence with a U.S.-initiated international force starting to deploy and a prime minister committed to providing alternatives for young gang members, the United Nations’ expert on human rights in Haiti said Monday. “We’re in a place now where the next few months are going to be crucial,” said William O’Neill, who visited Haiti this month. “And I think it can turn around, because the gangs, at the end of the day, are not that