Author Archives: jseattle

About jseattle

Justin is publisher of CHS. You can reach him at chs@capitolhillseattle.com or call/txt (206) 399-5959. Follow @jseattle on Twitter or be best pals on Facebook.

FEMA and National Guard COVID-19 vaccine clinics are coming — Meanwhile, first Washington reopening assessment leaves state stuck in Phase 1

Posted on by
1

(Image: Washington State Department of Health)

President-elect Joe Biden Friday announced a plan to deploy the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard to set up COVID-19 vaccine clinics across the country.

Biden’s plan will also “jumpstart” distribution to pharmacies and retail chains as the number of vaccinations has lagged the goals promised by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, Washington’s new region-based reopening phase process is continuing its slow start with the state announcing each of the eight regions organized under the “Roadmap to Recovery” plan will remain in Phase 1 this week (PDF). Each region’s status is assessed against a set of metrics on a weekly basis. Continue reading →

Suspect arrested in Seward Park murder investigation was acquitted in 2018 Seattle U threat case

Posted on by
1

Police say a man acquitted in a 2018 Seattle University shooting and bomb threat case taken into custody Thursday afternoon in a Capitol Hill traffic stop is suspected in the death of a woman found early Thursday morning in Seward Park.

Police say they took Bryson Morgan, 23, into custody Thursday after a 4 PM traffic stop near 17th and Madison.

Morgan has not been charged. He was booked into King County Jail Thursday night for investigation of homicide. Continue reading →

Plywood comes down as Seattle Police begins process of removing East Precinct wall and barriers — UPDATE — Mayor’s office: Wall expected down ‘in coming weeks’

Posted on by
9

(Image: Alex Garland)

The reopening to the public of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct will apparently come piece by piece. This week, plywood is being removed from the Seattle Police Department’s precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine, the first time Seattle daylight has touched the glass since the summer days of CHOP and the Capitol Hill protest zone. The large cement wall and fencing barricading the facility and closing it off from the public remain.

A department spokesperson tells CHS the removal of the plywood “is part of a process underway” to fully reopen the precinct “when safe to do so.” Work is also underway to repair the glass and strengthen the windows.

There is no schedule for removing the wall. Continue reading →

With supporters hoping for 2021 run for Seattle mayor, attorney and activist Nikkita Oliver to teach course on ‘police and prison abolition’ at Seattle U

Posted on by
36

Seattle University has announced it is adding attorney and activist Nikkita Oliver to its faculty roster this spring to teach the school’s young would-be lawyers a course on “police and prison abolition.”

Don’t worry if you’re hopeful Oliver might make another bid for the Seattle mayor’s office — Seattle U’s policies won’t preclude the Seattle University School of Law adjunct faculty member making a 2021 run for city hall.

Oliver declined to comment on the 2021 race. “When the time is right, I will answer questions related to a mayoral campaign,” Oliver said. Continue reading →

Return of the Capitol Hill newsstand: Big Little News planned for Pike/Pine

Posted on by
4

It’s been a decade since Capitol Hill last had a newsstand. The news? Well, it’s changed a bit in the meantime but the appetite for newspapers and magazines has somehow survived the explosive growth of online information and smartphones.

CHS has learned a new project coming to Pike/Pine from some familiar faces in the neighborhood will celebrate that appetite for the printed page — and the bottleshop. Continue reading →

Vacant house cited for past issues with squatters burns at 19th and Pine

Posted on by
1

(Image: CHS)

A house ordered boarded up and left empty for years burned in a smoky fire Wednesday morning at 19th and Pine.

Seattle Fire responded just after 9 AM to reports of smoke and fire coming from the northeast corner home on properties adjacent the Mt. Zion Baptist Church and lined up for eventual redevelopment.

Firefighters opted to take a “defensive” strategy with the blaze given how much of the house was engulfed and its status as a derelict property, according to radio updates. Continue reading →

Power problems from overnight windstorm cancels online school in Seattle

Posted on by
Reply

It’s not clear if there will ever be a “snow” day with Seattle Public Schools in online remote learning mode during ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. But Mother Nature managed a “school’s out” day of another type Wednesday as the district canceled online instruction during widespread power outages. Continue reading →

Part of Capitol Hill’s class of 2020, Cornelly’s craft pizza and pasta now part of the neighborhood on Summit Ave

Posted on by
Reply

Brett Phillips has some Summit Ave pizza for you

With 2021 so far taking a “hold my beer” approach to outdoing 2020 in the stress over things you can’t control department, the comfort of a hot pizza from a neighborhood joint should not be overlooked.

Cornelly’s opening last year down on Summit Ave may have been missed by a few — it ranked inside the top 10 of Capitol Hill newbies in our review of 2020 in food and drink but in only ninth place — but you can make up for that now that the new year is here. Continue reading →

Now hiring: the soon to open Central District Amazon Fresh grocery store

Posted on by
18

(Image: Amazon Fresh)

Company officials have confirmed to CHS the Central District store in the new mixed-use development at 23rd and Jackson will be part of the company’s first Amazon Fresh groceries to open in its home state of Washington.

We are proud to be bringing hundreds of good jobs with benefits to the Seattle area as we prepare to open the first Amazon Fresh grocery stores in our home state of Washington,” Roetta Greene Elton, district manager of Amazon Fresh grocery stores, said in a company statement on the openings. “We’re excited to provide customers with new, low-priced grocery stores in their neighborhoods and look forward to contributing positively to the community.”

Amazon’s big message about the big new store that has risen where the neighborhood’s Red Apple grocery used to stand focused on one important component: jobs. Continue reading →

Insurrection in the Capitol: Seattle Police officers investigated, National Guard troops in Olympia

Posted on by
1

As reports emerge of police, firefighters, and active military personnel from across the country participating in the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful bid to stop the certification of President-Elect Joe Biden, the Seattle Police Department announced it is placing at least two officers on leave as an investigation is launched into their participation in the deadly day of protest, riot, and sedition in Washington D.C.

Meanwhile, further SPD fallout from Wednesday’s deadly clashes includes a call for the head of the city’s police union to apologize or resign for his comments about the event. And, in Olympia, Washington National Guard troops have joined the State Patrol in barricading the state’s Capitol grounds over security concerns as legislators meet Monday to adopt rules that will allow them to meet virtually during the rest of the session.

In Seattle, SPD interim Chief Adrian Diaz said the city’s Office of Police Accountability is conducting a “full review of any SPD employee activities at the U.S. Capitol.” Continue reading →