A recall effort over public safety policies against first-year Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson turned out to be a real nothingburger.
The applicants behind the filing withdrew their charges in a status conference this week, court officials said. The required public hearing on the charges was scheduled for Monday in King County Superior Court to determine if signature gathering to place a recall on the ballot could proceed. Continue reading
A 29-year-old man faces felony charges after an accidental shooting at Cal Anderson Park left his friend “bleeding profusely” from the leg earlier this month, according to King County Superior Court charging documents.
Prosecutors charged Mark Paul with third-degree assault with a firearm enhancement and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
CHS reported here on the Monday night, August 10th shooting along Nagle Place next to the park’s basketball courts.
While standing beside a parked SUV containing an adult and two children, Paul allegedly attempted to clear a handgun by racking the slide, according to the charges. The weapon reportedly discharged into the ground, sending a bullet fragment into the leg of a man he was talking with. The victim suffered heavy bleeding and was transported to Harborview Medical Center. Continue reading
The civil recall petition seeking to remove Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has moved to the next phase after being officially assigned to King County Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi.
This step is a formality as the court will now determine the validity of the case. Continue reading
A King County Superior Court judge has dismissed two counts of first-degree murder against Liam Kryger after state evaluators determined he remains incompetent to stand trial. The dismissal won’t be mean Kryger will be set free.
Following Thursday’s dismissal, the King County Prosecutor’s Office said Kryger’s case will now shift to an evaluation for civil commitment: Continue reading
A Seattle couple has launched a recall effort against Mayor Katie Wilson claiming the first-year mayor has failed to maintain public safety and enforce city laws as mandated by the city charter.
The filing from Melinda Jacobson and Dale Osterud cites Wilson’s policies around Seattle Police Department surveillance cameras, street disorder in areas like Aurora Ave and the International District, and her decision to demand the resignation of Chief Shon Barnes following the fatal shootout at the Bite of Seattle. The petition asserts that the removal of Barnes created instability within SPD. Continue reading
(Image: Single Shot)
The owner of Capitol Hill’s Single Shot restaurant pleaded guilty Monday to failing to pay more than $1.5 million in federal payroll taxes over a ten-year span.
Rory McCormick, 44, admitted that between 2014 and 2024 when the investigation began, he withheld Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes from employee paychecks but pocketed the money rather than paying the Internal Revenue Service.
Across 36 quarters, McCormick kept $1,027,362 in employee withholdings and failed to pay over $400,000 in required employer-matching contributions, resulting in a total tax loss of $1,446,341. He also admitted to skipping his personal income tax filings from 2015 through 2024. Continue reading
(Image: Single Shot)
The challenges of Seattle’s food and drink industry are ranging far beyond high Capitol Hill rents and labor costs this summer for one Summit Ave restaurant.
Federal prosecutors say the owner of Capitol Hill’s Single Shot Kitchen and Saloon did not pay the IRS more than $1 million in employee taxes over a ten-year period beginning with the restaurant’s 2014 debut on Summit.
Federal prosecutors have charged Rory McCormick with one count of Willful Failure to Pay Over Tax in the case that includes allegations of $1,027,362 in unpaid employee taxes and another $418,979 in employer-side payroll taxes owed to the IRS.
In the case filed last week in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, prosecutors say McCormick withheld taxes from employee paychecks but failed to pay over the withheld funds to the IRS “for the 36 quarters over this period.” Continue reading
Defenders of the right to be nude in Denny Blaine Park are cautious in victory this week as a King County Superior Court judge has denied a bid by a group of neighbors and nearby property owners to close off the public shoreline at the historically recognized LGBTQ+ nude beach.
In his decision, Judge Samuel Chung sided with the City of Seattle and the Friends of Denny Blaine community group in keeping the two-acre park on the shores of Lake Washington open — and nude — calling Denny Blaine “a limited natural resource that must be shared by the residents of the neighborhood and the Park’s visitors.”
While it will keep the park open, the ruling will put new pressures on Denny Blaine as it has become a center in debates over public space, community use, and personal expression in Seattle.
The ruling also cements some key elements for neighbors: property values.
The judge cited the King County Assessor’s Office’s designation of “thirteen properties as being negatively affected by ‘nuisance’ from the Park and decreased the assessed land value of these homes by at least ten percent” as a key element in his ruling.
Chung’s decision comes with caveats after several findings that, he said, justified the neighbors’ claims around lewd acts and criminal activity at the park. In the ruling, the judge said the city must implement and manage a previously approved abatement plan, and “develop and implement a park specific user plan and code of conduct to address overcrowding, safety, and prohibited and acceptable behaviors.” Continue reading
A memorial to Paul Ewell at the site where he was found murdered in 2024 (Image: United Way of King County)
Liam Kryger, the 27-year-old accused in two deadly attacks on sleeping homeless men killed in late night assaults on area streets in 2024, remains incompetent to stand trial, according to a newly filed state psychiatric evaluation.
The determination likely marks the end of his active criminal prosecution.
Kryger was arrested in early 2024 and initially charged with first-degree murder in the brutal ax slaying of 52-year-old Daravuth Van, who was killed while camping outside Town Hall Seattle. Prosecutors later added a second count of first-degree murder for the February 2024 killing of 68-year-old Paul Ewell, who was attacked while sleeping outside the Seattle Men’s Chorus building along 12th Ave.
Surveillance, phone location data, and a discarded ax purchased at a local Lowe’s linked Kryger to both homicides. Continue reading
Monday’s planned meeting of the Seattle City Council’s comprehensive plan was canceled. Unfortunately, the canceled committee meeting is news.
A June Washington Court of Appeals ruling has reopened the environmental review of the city’s growth plan changes. Land use and comp plan committee chair Eddie Lin says the ruling has put the council’s next phase of changes for the plan on hold.
The Urbanist reports the delay will mean the “Centers and Corridors” proposals for new neighborhood centers and increased density along high-frequency transit corridors might not be completed until late 2025 or early 2027 at the earliest:
The Court of Appeals ruling affirmed a major loophole in a “safe harbor” state law, which had previously been believed to exempt zoning changes allowing more housing within urban areas from SEPA, finding that final actions are exempt but “procedural motions” like the issuing of a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) are not. That leaves the door open to challenges at either the Superior Court level or the state’s Growth Management Hearings Board.
The ruling likely cancels the entire summer of scheduled comp plan committee meetings, the Urbanist reports.
CHS reported here on the Centers and Corridors plans and proposals that will likely bring the hottest debate around future growth in areas like Montlake, Madison Valley, Madison Park, and Madrona.
The Centers and Corridors legislation “updates zoning in new growth areas identified in the Comprehensive plan, including: 30 new Neighborhood Centers, new and expanded Urban Centers, and transit corridors,” city officials say. The second phase of comprehensive updates focus on the 30 proposed Neighborhood Centers including Montlake, Madison Valley, Madison Park, and Madrona in the Capitol Hill area. The designation will “allow residential and mixed-use buildings up to six stories in the core and four and five-story residential buildings toward the edges,” according to one city summary. Once the neighborhood framework is in place, future Neighborhood Centers like Roanoke Park could be in play.
The plan is being championed by Mayor Katie Wilson.
Meanwhile, two cases challenging updates to the growth plan already forged by the council now have renewed life and are proceeding in King County Superior Court.
