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There is that saying that pops up in fortune cookies and is spoken often by parents of antsy kids: Good things come to those who wait. Michael Jacobson of Seattle waited for something. In fact, he waited for nearly three decades to get ahold of two unusual boats that were being used as light fixtures at Ivar’s Salmon House on North Lake Union. When this eventually happened, a new door opened up in his world that he did not expect. These boats, or canoes, are called tatalas . They are built

So, there’s this online test. The faces of people of different races flash up on your screen along with words, like good, bad, sweet and bitter. And you have to immediately click on one of the words when you see the face. It tests our implicit racial biases in a way that’s really hard to fool. The results can be enlightening. Or horrifying, because it turns out almost all of us have implicit bias. Dr. Caprice Hollins teaches workshops that help people confront their prejudices, even when they’ve

Washington State is, of course, named after founding father George Washington. But there’s another George Washington, also a founding father, who settled in a little corner of the territory with his wife Mary Jane nearly 150 years ago. There he founded a town called Centerville, later changed to Centralia. What makes Washington an unusual pioneer-type is that he was African-American, born in Virginia to a white woman and a black slave. “His dad was sold right after George was born and his mom

Dr. Kim Holland emerged from the locker room at a pool in West Seattle on a recent Friday morning, suited up and ready to go. But she scanned the pool with a bit of dismay – no empty lanes. “It’s kind of hard because I don’t like it when there’s more than one person in a lap lane because then you’ve got to pay attention,” she said. “The lanes are too narrow.” Nevertheless, she pulled on her bathing cap and goggles, staked out a lane and climbed in.

Officials hope changes they have unveiled to the White River will help control flooding. The King Flood Control District marked the completion of a big levee project this week in the city of Pacific. They hope to save nearby property by letting the river spread out a little.

This week on Sound Effect, stories of bugs in the system. We first head to the Burke Museum where baby beetles eat away at the flesh of dead animals, down to the bone, so scientists can have a clean specimen. Next, we talk to one of the best known food safety attorneys in the world about how his career took shape. Then we hear from a cyber-security expert about what went wrong in a huge disaster in Bellingham. Also, you may not have known that flea circuses are “real”, but we’ll visit one that

Museums rely on many volunteers to carry out their mission. This is quite true for the Burke Museum on the campus of the University Of Washington, in Seattle. In fact, the Burke has dozens of volunteers that live in a small windowless room, not much larger than a walk in closet. These dedicated workers have been here for years. They are dermestid beetles in their larval state: hungry baby beetles. The beetles dine on dead animals picked up off the side of the road, the carcasses of seals that

Seattle Attorney Bill Marler is often thought of as a bug…an agitator…an annoyance to the beef and poultry industries, and even the companies that grow leafy greens. He’s the guy you call if you are unfortunate enough to fall victim to E. coli, salmonella, listeria, or any other bacteria that somehow works its way into mass food production and into your stomach. E. Coli entered everyday lexicon when three people died and hundreds of others were sickened after eating Jack In The Box hamburgers

On June 10, 1999, Bellingham residents began reporting the strong smell of gasoline. Then, within minutes, 911 operators were flooded with reports of a massive explosion. A fuel pipeline had burst, dumping nearly 300,000 gallons of gasoline into nearby creeks. And then it ignited. Black smoke rose 30,000 feet in the air and flames shot out for over a mile. It’s considered a miracle there were only three deaths. Almost 20 years later, the incident is a fading memory. But the technological

There’s Ms Nimbus, Queen of the Air, and Drake, King of the High Dive. There’s the high-wire artistry of the fabulous Dmitry and Annette. And then, of course, there’s Marcel, the world’s only “mime flea.” These are just a few of the cast members of a unique Seattle attraction: Professor Payne’s Phantasmagorical Flea Circus . Payne Fifeld’s breadbox-sized circus sits squarely in a long and proud tradition of performing fleas, dating back to when 16th-century watchmakers first harnessed Pulex