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What happened? Tracking the last minutes of the doomed Destination


At 6:13 a.m., the Destination’s emergency beacon sent out a distress signal. At 6:14, the transponder quit transmitting. The boat was sinking to the bottom of the Bering Sea. Read Chapter 7 of No Return: The final voyage of the Destination.




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How much is the life of a Bering Sea crabber worth?


After the Destination sinks, loved ones find themselves in anguished negotiations over how to split a $5 million liability-insurance policy. A brother finds it hard to let go of the crew and the vessel. Read Chapter 8 of No Return: The final voyage of the Destination.




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Public Crisis, Private Toll: Key findings of The Seattle Times’ investigation of private psychiatric hospitals in Washington


Washington state has approved or expanded 10 private psychiatric hospitals since 2012, promising to transform the way mental-health care is delivered in a state with a chronic shortage of treatment options. Yet on the inside, these new institutions have failed patients in ways both known and unknown to regulators and all but invisible to the […]




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Behind the Public Crisis, Private Toll investigation: A multitude of interviews, thousands of pages of records


This project began with a surprising discovery. After years of chronic shortages of mental-health care options in Washington state, for-profit companies were competing to build new psychiatric hospitals, and state regulators had approved a major expansion of inpatient beds. How would these new hospitals, geared to make money, serve people who arrive there at their […]




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Why are birds and seals starving in a Bering Sea full of fish?


The animal die-offs offer the world a stark example of the perils of rising ocean temperatures, which already are upending parts of the Bering Sea ecosystem as climate change — driven by greenhouse-gas pollution — unfolds in Alaska at a breakneck pace.




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Lives Remembered: Meet some of the people Washington state has lost to the coronavirus pandemic


We often hear about the impact of the pandemic in terms of numbers: This many cases, that many deaths. But each data point represents a human life whose loss is felt by countless other people. If we are to truly understand the toll this virus is taking, their stories need to be front and center.




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TSA employees at Sea-Tac, other airports must now wear masks to slow spread of coronavirus


Five TSA employees nationwide have died of COVID-19, and 516 employees have tested positive, including seven at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.




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How do I change what software handles my picture files?


Patrick Marshall answers your personal technology questions. This week's topics include changing the default program for images and photo editing software, trouble with colors on a LG GRAM and updating to Windows 10 and security software.




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Tech giants are profiting — and getting more powerful — even as the global economy tanks


As the pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are benefiting enormously from a potentially permanent shift in consumer habits, leveraging their political clout by arguing that they are essential services, and gutting their competition.




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‘The hardest time we’ve ever faced’: Amazon revenue surges, but coronavirus costs may wipe out operating profit


The company's first-quarter sales rose 26% year over year to $75.5 billion. But expenses related to Amazon’s pandemic response weighed on the bottom line in the three-month period ended March 31.




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Amazon will let thousands of Seattle and Bellevue employees work from home until at least October


The extension raises the prospect that one of Seattle’s busiest neighborhoods could be largely deserted for another five months.




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Whole Foods to provide face masks for shoppers to prevent spread of coronavirus in stores


Amazon-owned Whole Foods will provide grocery shoppers with free single-use masks at all its stores beginning this week, in keeping with the chain's "request" that all shoppers wear masks.




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Amazon vice president, a distinguished engineer, resigns to protest firing of employee activists


Tim Bray described the firings as “evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison.”




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2% of Puget Sound households received grocery delivery last year, before coronavirus changed shopping


The most popular online grocery category was packaged foods such as breakfast cereal and pasta; followed by toiletries, personal care products and diapers; household cleaners and paper products; and frozen food.




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The Backstory: A global premiere of Earth Day art, and a collection of rare, local talent   


ON APRIL 22, 202o, a billion people around the world will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day — except, this year, likely not together. Ironically, a small forest of trees will be sacrificed for print publications around the globe to analyze the lasting impact of Earth Day, deep-dive into a half-century of environmental activism […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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How much is ‘a pinch of salt,’ anyway? Food professionals and home cooks weigh in. 


Part of the problem lies in the whole idea of salt measurements: What’s the difference between a pinch and a dash?



  • Food & Drink
  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Jefferson school days echo in the May memories of its West Seattle students


IN OUR CORONAVIRAL days of school closures and social distancing, and with May Day here, this week’s “Then” image might be poignant. It depicts 130 people posing for a group photo at West Seattle’s Jefferson Elementary School on Saturday, June 1, 1985, just 17 days before it fell victim to the wrecking ball. As editor […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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‘Cultivated’ makes a compelling case for the natural power of a beautifully arranged garden in a vase


CHRISTIN GEALL IS a Victoria-based gardener who arranges flowers, and a floral designer who grows much of what she uses in her designs. She also is the author of “Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style,” a gorgeous new book from Princeton Architectural Press. “Flowers shape my years now,” she writes. “They are both calendar and […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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A new home in Madison Park creates 3 levels of elevated living without towering over its neighbors


KEVIN AND KAREN had lots to look at when they were moving to Seattle from Bellevue. They looked in Madrona. They looked on Queen Anne. But Madison Park looked different. “We were drawn first and foremost to the neighborhood,” Kevin says. “Specifically, the Canterbury neighborhood. It’s really close to the lake, and has longtime residents. […]




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The Backstory: The more we’re indoors, the more powerful the appeal, and the hope, of the great outdoors


THE DEEPER WE got into our isolation, the more I missed the old routines and simplicities of daily life. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed making the kids’ lunches in the morning, or quiet time in a coffee shop to work alone, or watching baseball, or hands that didn’t crack and bleed from frequent […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Sara Naftaly of Amandine Bakeshop shares her perfected recipe for a very British, very comforting malt loaf 


British baked goods are known to be soothing; there’s a whole afternoon-tea tradition built around them, not to mention a more-recent cult-favorite TV series. Here is a recipe for malt loaf, studded with sultanas and tiny currants.



  • Food & Drink
  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Nobody’s playing in person these days — but there’s a whole new dimension of fun and friendship in videoconference game nights 


BEFORE CERTAIN CURRENT events upended all of our lives, a few friends and I had a goal: more old-fashioned game nights, involving old-school boards, mysterious card decks and little plastic figures. There’s something wholesome and cheering about gathering around a table and jointly figuring out the rules of some new game. And you can mix […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Help us solve the mystery of this Suess & Smith masterwork 


THIS WEEK, WE present a puzzle. It centers on a national innovator in aesthetic glass that brightened downtown Seattle more than a century ago. The glitter of the Gold Rush lured members of two German families, named Suess and Smith, to Seattle from Chicago in the late 1890s. But physical gold was not their destiny. […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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From ‘Jeopardy!’ to opera, our arts critic picks 6 of the best events to watch or listen to May 1-7


Here are a few arts-and-entertainment-y online diversions for the week, from near and far, including Seattle Opera on KING-FM and New York City Ballet.




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Washington Attorney General’s Office looking into complaints about Brown Paper Tickets owing artists money


Earlier this year, clients of the Seattle-based online ticket broker — many of them artists and small-business owners — said they haven't been paid for events, some dating back to last year. Some, still unpaid, have been turning to Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson for help.




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What’s in the water in Maple Valley? ‘The Voice’ contestant Zan Fiskum follows in musical footsteps of Brandi Carlile and Benicio Bryant


When Maple Valley's Zan Fiskum appears on “The Voice” Monday night, she'll be continuing a growing tradition started by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, and continued by wunderkind musician Benicio Bryant.




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Maple Valley’s Zan Fiskum picked by judge John Legend to move to next round of ‘The Voice’


Fiskum destroyed an updated, slow-fast version of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” on the NBC singing competition show on Monday night.




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Soundgarden members accuse Chris Cornell’s widow of withholding benefit concert funds


The Seattle rock icons filed a countersuit Wednesday accusing Vicky Cornell of withholding money raised through a star-studded benefit concert held last year in the late singer's honor, instead using it for personal purposes — an accusation Cornell denies.




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Increasing number of elephant seals making Puget Sound home at Whidbey, Fidalgo islands


Northern elephant seals have a range from Alaska to Mexico. Most of the animals make their way along the coast, but some venture into Puget Sound.




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Reader’s Lens | A wood duck shows off his truly beautiful colors


One reader captured this excellent shot of a stunning wood duck wading across the water, showing that self-isolation sometimes really all it’s quacked up to be.




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Hundreds of lightning strikes put on a show over Western Washington


The National Weather Service in Seattle counted about 250 reports of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. "It made for a pretty good show for us," meteorologist Dana Felton said.




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Emerald Downs cancels three races because of power outage


According to Emerald Downs President Phil Ziegler, impending darkness would have placed horses and riders at risk, and made cancellation a necessity.




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Race Home wins Gottstein Futurity on final day of a mixed-bag Emerald Downs season


Track president Phil Ziegler says overall handle increased this season despite 11 fewer races. But he says attendance, the number of horses per race and on-track betting declined.  




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Breeders’ Cup bans Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer


ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is banned from entering horses in the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, where he was barred earlier this year. Fred Hertrich, chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board, said Friday that it would honor Santa Anita’s house rule and not allow Hollendorfer to enter horses in […]




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Del Mar preemptively cancels racing for Nov. 21 because of weather


DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Del Mar is preemptively canceling racing for Nov. 21 because of projected rain from the season’s first storm in Southern California. Track officials said Friday the cancellation is due to “an abundance of caution” because rain forecast from Tuesday through Thursday likely will result in a muddy main track and […]




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Owners of disqualified Kentucky Derby winner Maximum Security plan appeal


LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The owners of Maximum Security say they will appeal a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit that seeks to challenge the decision to disqualify their horse as winner of the Kentucky Derby. Gary West said in a statement Monday that he has authorized his attorneys to file an appeal. West and […]




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Horse racing grapples with risks of running during pandemic


Horse racing is quickly learning it is not totally immune to the effects the coronavirus pandemic has had on other sports, and now it’s grappling with the risks of continuing operations. The Louisiana Derby for now is still set for Saturday, the world’s richest day of races is scheduled to go on in late March […]




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Emerald Downs president confident there will be horse racing this season — it’s just a matter of when


Phil Ziegler, president of Emerald Downs, is confident there will be horse racing this season at the Auburn racetrack -- it's just a matter of when.




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Escape into American history with these 6 books, which offer lessons of leadership for trying times


This is a stressful, frightening and unprecedented time in American history. Nonfiction books can inform us about past disasters in American history, and help guide us as we navigate the coronavirus pandemic.




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From ‘Jeopardy!’ to opera, our arts critic picks 6 of the best events to watch or listen to May 1-7


Here are a few arts-and-entertainment-y online diversions for the week, from near and far, including Seattle Opera on KING-FM and New York City Ballet.




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Motherhood, a cult church and recovery form the core of glittering debut ‘Godshot’


With a narrative that follows a 14-year-old seeking liberation from a cult church, Chelsea Bieker gets under readers’ skin with heart-filled prose in her sparkling debut “Godshot,” out now via Catapult.




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How a ‘raucous predeath farewell birthday party’ inspired Luis Alberto Urrea’s bestseller ‘The House of Broken Angels’


Moira’s Seattle Times Book Club will meet online on May 13 to discuss “The House of Broken Angels.” Author Luis Alberto Urrea will speak online in a Seattle Arts & Lectures presentation on May 20.




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Journalist, comic Sopan Deb handles hard truths of immigration, family with humor in ‘Missed Translations’ 


After covering the 2016 presidential election, comedian and journalist Sopan Deb explored his immigrant past by traveling to India ...




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Everybody wins in an Elite Eight matchup between Gonzaga’s nation-leading offense and Texas Tech’s historically strong defense


The Zags lead the country by scoring 88.8 points per game. The Red Raiders have one of the best defenses in the country. Something has to give Saturday.




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Gonzaga’s season ends just short of Final Four in dramatic loss to Texas Tech in West Region final


The No. 1 seed Bulldogs took a two-point lead over third-seeded Texas Tech into halftime of their NCAA tournament West Region final. But with 16 turnovers, Gonzaga couldn't hold on and fell just short of its second Final Four in school history.





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In roughly 24 hours coronavirus makes sports, a longtime sanctuary in times of crisis, disappear


Sports has always been the escape during times of crisis and collective stress. But now the very act of conducting sports threatens to add exponentially to perpetuating the coronavirus pandemic and growing the stress.




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Due to coronavirus, NCAA grants extra year of eligibility to spring athletes, considers same for winter athletes


After the cancellation of the spring and winter championships tournaments stemming from concerns over the novel coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA will grant an extra year of eligibility to athletes who participate in spring sports, the organization announced Friday.




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10 years later, UW great Quincy Pondexter is grateful for often-forgotten NCAA tourney shining moment


Ten years ago Wednesday, the 11th-seeded Huskies played in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16, a stage they have not returned to since. The run was fueled by Quincy Pondexter, who looks back on the season as the greatest year of his life.




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Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott discusses conference’s financial hit and ‘concern and anxiety’ over athletes because of coronavirus


The Pac-12 is facing a revenue hit of at least $1 million per school from the cancellation of its men’s basketball tournament and March Madness, although the full extent of the damage won’t be known for weeks.