(The Center Square) — A legislative task force "to study the dissolution or absorption of fiscally distressed municipalities" set the tone in its first meeting with a vote to change its name.

$12 million -- That's the whopping number of dollars Oprah Winfrey handed over to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the museum announced Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. Winfrey's name will adorn a 350-seat theater in the new museum, which is slated to open in 2015 on the National Mall. She already donated $1 million to the project in 2007 and has served on the museum's advisory council since 2004.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's acting head Ann Carlson will resign on Dec. 26.

California will ticket a driver for violating the rules of the road, but for driverless vehicles, there is reportedly no mechanism to ticket the person responsible because of a loophole in some jurisdictions.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, experienced a stroke during his trip to Mexico on Wednesday.

Small settlements scattered throughout the region show signs of trade, fortification.

Nvidia is ready to replace its GeForce Experience app on Windows with its new Nvidia app, which is now officially out of beta.

The post New Nvidia App is Ready to Replace GeForce Experience appeared first on Thurrott.com.

Stop the Cuts to Child Care and Education  by Stranger Election Control Board

This crackpot initiative would repeal the state’s new capital gains tax and cut $2.2 billion for education, early learning services, and child care at a time when schools across the state face huge deficits. 

Aside from dramatically reducing funding for schools, passing this initiative would help restore Washington’s status as the state with the most unfair tax code for poor people, all in the service of helping our wealthiest residents dodge a tax that their accountants might mistake as a rounding error. 

It Is Actually Good to Make Polluters Pay to Pollute  by Stranger Election Control Board

This initiative would repeal the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and prohibit the state from ever implementing a similar law, cutting billions of dollars in funding for transit programs, ferries, clean energy projects, air quality improvement, and a bunch of other stuff that’s good for the environment and for the organisms who live in it, including the filthy rich psychopaths who got this initiative on the ballot. 

Destroying the Nation's First Long-Term Health Care Benefit Would Suck  by Stranger Election Control Board

Though our present gerontocracy suggests otherwise, we’re currently wading through the largest wave of people hitting the retirement age in American history. This “silver tsunami” wildly increases the demand for long-term health care, which is a nice way of describing the kind of care that involves paying someone to come wipe asses, pull up pants, and generally help our sick and dying family members age with dignity while the rest of us toil away at our jobs. 

Seventy percent of us will need this care after age 65, but less than 5 percent of us buy it on the private market because the premiums are sky-high and growing higher, the coverage is skimpy and getting skimpier, and people with serious pre-existing conditions are, for the most part, ineligible. People assume Medicare will cover this kind of care, but it doesn’t really. Medicaid kinda does, but to access that care you need to spend down your life savings and literally impoverish yourself, which isn’t exactly ideal. Moreover, if a bunch of our elders impoverished themselves just to qualify for Medicaid, they’d basically bankrupt the state. 

Jones’s musical legacy—and devotion to his Seattle roots—carries on. by Alexa Peters

In 2017, during a performance from local garage-jazz quartet Industrial Revelation at Upstream Music Festival, I noticed a commotion near the stage as people huddled around the VIP seats. I stood on my toes and looked—Is that Quincy Jones?!

While Jones, the legendary musician, producer, and alumnus of Seattle’s Garfield High School, had given a keynote address earlier in the festival, I didn’t expect to see the mastermind behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller sitting amongst the crowd. But there he was, shaking hands, taking pictures with fans, and even sharing generously with a young musician who asked him about score orchestration. Then, it was my turn to thank him. He grasped my hand and grinned, wrapped in one of his iconic striped scarves.

On Sunday, Jones passed away at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91. Though it’s been many decades since he lived in Seattle, and he was only a resident from 1943 until 1951, Jones continuously nurtured his ties to the city over the course of his life and inspired generations of local musicians.

“Sometimes, in today's musical world, there can be a level of superficiality, and Quincy was the opposite of that,” says Riley Mulherkar, a graduate of Garfield High School and rising jazz trumpeter who released his acclaimed debut record earlier this year. “[He had] mastery of the form at a young age—and then he was able to take that into all sorts of musical situations, and literally change the world.” 

Jones was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago. After a tumultuous early childhood with his mother, who had schizophrenia, Jones’s father, Quincy Jones Sr., moved Jones and his brother to Bremerton, Washington. When he was 12, Jones began playing trumpet at Bremerton’s Coontz Junior High. 

In 1947, after Jones’s father remarried, he moved his sons, his new wife, and her three children, to Seattle. Jones started at Garfield High School and quickly met fellow student Charlie Taylor, who played saxophone.

Taylor was one of the sons of Evelyn Bundy, a trailblazing Seattle jazzwoman who formed one of the city’s first jazz bands in the 1920s. At Garfield, Taylor was ready to put together his own group. He invited Jones to become a member of his band, and Jones agreed, joining a cast of elite musicians at Garfield including Oscar Holden Jr. and Grace Holden, two children of pianist and Seattle jazz scene patriarch Oscar Holden.

After their first few gigs as the Charlie Taylor Band, Bumps Blackwell, a bandleader, songwriter, arranger, and record producer (who would go on to mentor Ray Charles, Ernestine Anderson, and Sam Cooke, among others), offered to manage them as the Bumps Blackwell Junior Band.

As Paul de Barros notes in his book Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle, the Bumps Blackwell Junior Band was a “focal point” in people’s memories of Jackson Street, which was home to a bustling jazz scene in the years around World War II until 1960. 

The time in the band was influential for Jones, too. Jones got to perform frequently, including opening for Nat King Cole at Civic Auditorium, and the group allowed him to befriend other notable musicians who worked on Jackson Street at the time, like Ray Charles or “R.C.”, who first taught Jones about arranging.

Jones left Seattle in 1951 to attend Berklee School of Music. He soon dropped out to tour with Lionel Hampton’s orchestra and eventually form his own band. From there, Jones’s career is one milestone after another. 

Some highlights from Jones’s career include working as musical director, arranger, and trumpeter in trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s band, becoming the first African American vice president at Mercury Records in 1964, composing film scores for dozens of films, composing for iconic TV shows including Roots, and serving as producer and arranger for top-tier talent including, of course, Michael Jackson. 

Jones also founded Quincy Jones Productions, an all-encompassing media and artist management company that helped jumpstart the careers of artists like Jacob Collier.

With all his accomplishments and fame, Seattle organizations have bestowed Jones with various honors, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Northwest African American Museum and the Seattle International Film Festival. Likewise, Jones kept up his connection to the Emerald City, often supporting the local music scene and returning home for visits. 

As far back as 1959, when Jones was hired to form his own band, he hired musicians from Seattle he admired, including pianist Patti Bown, trumpeter Floyd Standifer, and one of his lifelong friends, bassist Buddy Catlett. 

Upon Catlett’s death in 2014, Jones tributed his “brother and bandmate” on Facebook, calling him “one of the greatest bass players to ever take the stage. From Charlie Taylor's and Bumps Blackwell's bands when we were starting out in Seattle to my Free and Easy tour of Europe, we traveled the world playing the music we love.”

Jones has stayed especially linked with Garfield High School. In 2008, when Garfield High School decided to name their freshly renovated performing arts center after Jones, he flew in for the dedication ceremony. As recently as last year, Jones donated $50,000 to Seattle’s Washington Middle School, which feeds into Garfield High School, to help keep their jazz program alive. 

“Today, I had the pleasure of visiting my old school in Seattle, Garfield High, and man did it bring back some memories!!,” Jones wrote in a 2017 Facebook post. “I can't believe it’s been 70 years since I walked these halls as a student...Moving to Seattle forever changed me for the better...and finding music here showed me that I could be more than a statistic...”

Mulherkar, like Jones, found music at Garfield High School, where Jones is now embedded into the lore of the school.

In 2009, as a high school junior playing trumpet in Garfield’s jazz band, Mulherkar had the chance to meet and work with Jones when the legendary producer came into their rehearsal. He conducted the students in a couple songs, including a swingin’ Jones original and one of Mulherkar’s favorites called “Stockholm Sweetnin’.”

“It was hard to even wrap our minds around, because there's Quincy Jones, the celebrity,” said Mulherkar. “It felt so special to have this personal connection to the man, as a Garfield student, as a trumpet player, and [as] someone who wanted to make my life in the music.”

Mulherkar, who now lives in New York, still finds it special that the beginnings of his career were so touched by the icon.

“As a jazz musician from Seattle who went to Garfield… I love that he was able to make such a tremendous impact starting from a place that, for me, is so relatable,” said Mulherkar.

Through Garfield students like Mulherkar, and the countless other artists Jones mentored as a producer and music executive, Jones’s musical legacy—and devotion to his Seattle roots—carries on. 

The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Nathalie Graham

One more for the blue: After a neck-in-neck race, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez officially won re-election to the House in the 3rd Congressional District, beating out far-right challenger Joe Kent. Her win is another step forward for Democrats as they try to take back the House and retain a shred of power in the coming administration from hell. About two dozen races nation-wide still need to be decided.

Please spare us, H5N1: The Centers for Disease Control want more testing done for bird flu after blood tests on 115 of dairy workers showed 7% had bird flu antibodies, meaning they'd already contracted the disease at some point. Previously, we only confirmed 46 cases of bird flu jumping from cows to farmworkers. This new study suggests that bird flu has infected many more people than the confirmed cases. Experts say this indicates the H5N1 viruses are a greater threat than we realized. Great! Another flu just in time for the vaccine-doubters to take office. 

Wet weekend—and then week—ahead: Friday will likely be our last dry day for a while. Get your galoshes ready. The rain starts Saturday and it'll continue at least throughout the week.

I hope you like rain this weekend! ????️

It could be wet for the State H.S. football tournament games across the Puget Sound region. #pnw pic.twitter.com/JAvPx7hegV

— Jake Whittenberg (@jwhittenbergK5) November 8, 2024

That's nice: Boeing said it will pay the employees the money they lost while being furloughed during the machinists' strike that started in September. 

Egyptian flooding: A pipe leak at the historic Egyptian Cinema on Capitol Hill shut down the 108-year-old theater for the "foreseeable future." Repairs will be expensive and take months. The universe does not want me or my people (progressives, art house movie lovers) to be happy this week. 

INBOX: The SIFF Cinema Egyptian is going to be closed for "the foreseeable future and the Fine Arts building leadership expect that it will take multiple months of building closure to assess, repair and reopen." Sad news especially during what is a big time of the year for film. pic.twitter.com/v2ItPx5Lpi

— Chase 'Hutch' Hutchinson (@EclecticHutch) November 7, 2024

Another hit while we're down: Don't forget, five light rail stops will close this weekend. Starting at 10 pm on Friday through 5 am Monday, Westlake, Symphony, Pioneer Square, International District/Chinatown, and Stadium stations will all be closed and inaccessible. Trains will run between Lynnwood and Capitol Hill and between Sodo and Angle Lake. Shuttle buses will be available to bridge gaps between open and closed stations. It’s all part of the crawling effort to connect Line 1 to the Eastside line.

Sign of the times: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale rocketed to the top of Amazon's bestsellers list this week.  

Racist texts: In the days after the election, Black and Brown people across the country received spammy, racist texts telling them they had "been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation" and that the senders' "executive slave catchers" would pick them up. State attorney generals say they will root out who sent these texts. A second Donald Trump term means the masks covering the depravity in America are well and truly off. Racists are emboldened. 

Nobody panic: Forty-three monkeys escaped from a medical lab in South Carolina. "There is almost no danger to the public," a local police chief said. No danger? Isn't this how Planet of the Apes started? 

Israeli soccer fans attacked in Amsterdam: Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch's Ajax faced off in a Europa League soccer game Thursday. After the game, people attacked Israelis in hit-and-run scooter attacks. Five Israeli fans went to the hospital, but have since been released. Around 20 to 30 other Israelis sustained light injuries. Police arrested 63 people, and ten are still in custody. Context, as always, is important. In the days leading up to the match, social media videos showed Maccabi fans "chanting anti-Arab slurs, praising Israeli military attacks in Gaza, and yelling 'fuck the Arabs,'" according to CNN. Ajax won the game 5-0. 

And now, something from Ashley about the cops: 

Fill’er up: The King County Jail officially lifted misdemeanor booking restrictions for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) allowing officers to finally lock up all those pesky Target shoplifters and people who tried to use the bathroom at PCC one too many times and ended up trespassed. I wrote about how SPD Deputy Chief Eric Barden told officers in a department wide email Tuesday that they should book people into jail whenever a public safety interest existed and only show additional discretion when the department neared their misdemeanor bed limit of 135 people per day. Most people charged with misdemeanors spend less than a week in jail, so could be a lot of people cycling through, which King County Department of Public Defense Interim Director Matt Sanders said will ultimately make it harder for people to hold down jobs, maintain housing, and secure behavioral health treatment, ultimately undermining public safety in the city.

Did you hear about San Francisco's new mayor? He's a centrist Democrat and he's the heir to the Levi's fortune. Daniel Lurie won the ranked-choice voting election with 56.2% of the vote. Incumbent London Breed only received 43.8%. San Franciscans made clear they are sick of seeing poverty and being confronted with crimes of desperation. Unfortunately, as we know very well in Seattle, electing a centrist may hide the problems for a bit, but it will do nothing to fix them. 

A porn gorge: North Korean soldiers deployed in Russia have unrestricted internet access for the first time in their lives and they're using it to watch mountains of porn and jerk themselves silly. Boys will be boys! 

Need something to do tonight? The world is bleak. Why not laugh a little at an improv show? The improv theater I wrote about for my column is having a battle of the star signs show tonight followed by an open-to-all improv jam. I'll be performing on the Scorpio team even though I'm not a Scorpio (don't tell anyone). 

A song for your Friday: This just feels like the sound of my psyche right now. 

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. There are various benefits to it. One of the major benefits that attracts me is that with affiliate marketing, you don’t need to create a product in order to make sales. Creating a product is a tedious task (although for some businesses, this cannot be […]

Satin sheer thigh high stayups stockings from Sarah Borghi. 20 deniers. With Lycra and precious siliconed lace border. Meryl labelled. Colors Bianco,Playa,Chiaro,Sabbia,Fume`,Nero. Sizes 1,2,3. See Sizechart. Price: USD9.73

Our online media release is published on Internet News Bureau.

An online tutorial that shows shoppers in a step-by-step guide to search for hosiery and socks of interest and on how to place an online order.

A new collection of pantyhose by MusicLegs®.

Big diamond Fishnet pantyhose. Seamless with Lycra® for the perfect fit. Sexy fishnet that is perfect for your favorite dress or lingerie.

A new collection of bodystocking by MusicLegs®.

Semi-opaque diamond patterned bodystocking. Low cut with elastic spaghetti straps. Open crotch for convenience. Suitable for workout.

A new collection of nets thigh hi stockings by Elegant Moments®.

Big diamond net thigh hi with lace top. Suitable to use with garterbelts.

A new collection of Rhinestone Lariat by Elegant Moments®.

Looking like a beaded scarf, Elegant Moments lariat necklaces have the lariat look, with a knot of decorative tassel hanging down from the center, but are secured with a clasp in back.

The hardened rhinstones are scratch-proof with high refractive index. As such, the necklace glitters even under low lighting.

Gabriella Fantasia Exclusive fashion patterned tights. Braided with LYCRA®, this pantyhose is highly stretchable and durable.

Sheer to waist. Flat seam. No heel pocket, suits any foot length.

See sizechart at:
http://www.newlook.com.sg/sizechart.asp?style=GBP711A

Gabriella patterned, delicate, sheer stay up stockings with 9-cm wide lace in precious double silicone strips.

Braided with high percentage of LYCRA® for greater elasticity and durability. Reinforced toes.

See sizechart at:
http://www.newlook.com.sg/sizechart.asp?style=GBS211A

Big diamond fence net thigh high from Music Legs®. Highly stretchable with Lycra®.

Onesize (5'~5'10", 100~175lbs).

Sensational Italian made opaque legging in plait/rib pattern. 70 denier, from Intimidea®.

Sheer to waist. Calf long leggings (footless tights) in soft comfort waistband. With flat seams and cotton gusset for comfort.

See sizechart at:
http://www.newlook.com.sg/sizechart.asp?style=ND92057

Beautifully made Italian lingerie - bandeau in comfort microfibre. Anotomic with light support.

Strapless for the sensational look and feel.

See sizechart at:
http://www.newlook.com.sg/sizechart.asp?style=ND11317

Stylish Italian made round neck T-Shirt, half sleeves "raglan". Luxurious T-Shirt in soft microfibre for extra comfort.

See sizechart at:
http://www.newlook.com.sg/sizechart.asp?style=ND21845

Sensational Italian made pantyhose highly stretchable sheer women pantyhose in 15den from Intimidea®. Matt look. Reinforced panty area. See sizechart: http://www.newlook.com.sg/nd/sizechart5.jpg

Sensational Italian made pantyhose highly stretchable sheer women pantyhose in 15den size 5 (XL) from Intimidea®. Matt look. Reinforced panty area. See sizechart: http://www.newlook.com.sg/nd/sizechart5.jpg

Sheer thigh high stockings in glamorous fushia color from Music Legs®. With big lace top and flocking design.

Onesize (5'~5'10", 100~175lbs).

Mini diamond fence net thigh high stockings from Music Legs®. Highly elastic with high spandex content.

This thigh high requires the use of garterbelt.

Onesize (5'~5'10", 100~175lbs).

Sensual opaque thigh hi from Music Legs®. With spandex mini diamond net insert.

Onesize (5'~5'10", 100~175lbs).

The Agency is every online community member's worst fears come to life: a real honest-to-goodness troll/noise factory where dozens of employees using hundreds of accounts post thousands of highly targeted and coordinated attacks as awful comments on Twitter, Facebook, and forums in order to sway public opinion about geopolitics. From a nondescript office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid “trolls” has tried to wreak havoc all around the Internet — and in real-life American communities...

Stryper is back with “When We Were Kings,” a solid album with big riffs and an even bigger message…

Viva Performing Arts will present the Tucson community with the 10th anniversary of Viva Dia de Los Muertos on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Linda Ronstadt Hall…

21-Year Old WWII Soldier's Sketchbooks Reveal a Visual Diary of His Experiences

A visual diary with 158 pencil sketches brings to life the wartime experience of noted architect Victor A. Lundy, who served in the U.S. 26th Infantry Division during World War II. In 1942, Lundy was 19, studying to be an architect in New York City. Excited about rebuilding Europe post-war, he and other college men enlisted in the Army Special Training Program (ASTP). But, by 1944, with D-Day planned, the Army needed reinforcements, and Lundy and his company were thrown into the infantry. Lundy couldn't believe it and recalled during an oral history interview that during lectures, he "never listened, I was busy sketching." But soon, "I sort of took to it. ... war experience just hypnotizes young men." Lundy, who is now 92, recalls his inability to listen during lectures. “I was busy sketching,” he admits. During his time in the infantry, he continued to sketch in his pocket-sized notebooks. The drawings, which were created between May and November 1944—when Lundy was wounded—take us from his initial training in Fort Jackson to the front lines in France. The vivid images show everything from air raids to craps games for cigarettes. A sense of longing for home is a recurring theme in his sketches, which include detailed drawings of his bunk as well as particularly dream-like drawing, titled Home Sweet Home, that shows a soldier lounging on a hammock. Lundy, who went on to have an acclaimed architecture career, donated his eight sketchbooks to the Library of Congress in 2009. The sketchbooks have all been digitally archived and are now available for viewing online. Lundy’s gift is a precious one, as in this age of continued war and terror it is more important than ever to learn from our past history.

As COVID-19 fears grew, public officials and sports execs contemplated health risks — and debated a PR message — but let 33,000 fans into a Seattle Sounders soccer match, emails show. By Ken Armstrong, ProPublica, and David Gutman and Lewis Kamb, The Seattle Times On March 6, at 2:43 p.m., the health officer for Public Health — Seattle & King County, the hardest-hit region in the first state to be slammed by COVID-19, sent an email to a half-dozen colleagues, saying, “I want to cancel large group gatherings now.”…

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is unlike anything else…

It starts raining just as two trucks hauling juvenile salmon arrive near the end of a gravel road at Chief Joseph Dam in the Central Washington town of Bridgeport on Friday, May 6…

Going to a Spokane Indians game is as much about the sensory experience at the ballpark as it is rooting for your favorite team…

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, local officials are required by law to perform what's known as a "logic and accuracy" test on the ballot counting machines…

Tucked inside a nondescript building on Washington State University's Pullman campus is a bank holding an abundance of the world's wealth, where row after row of temperature-controlled filing cabinets store something far more precious than savings bonds or artwork: seeds…

Before we start, let's get this out of the way: No, it is not a HIPAA violation to ask someone if they've been vaccinated for COVID-19…

Alexander Kulabukhov is up at 5 am on Feb. 24, jolted awake by the explosions in his neighborhood…

When property assessments were mailed to Spokane County homeowners earlier this month, the average home was valued a whopping 31 percent higher than the year before…

Blitz opens amid a terrifying conflagration on a nighttime city street…

The Great Hall of St. John's Cathedral was abuzz on a recent Monday evening, as musicians chatted, arranged their music stands just so and tuned their instruments in a pleasant cacophony…

"It was always absolute madness."…

Acoustic duo Sweet Sorrows to visit India

Based on the strength of my first listen to the album-titled opening track from Jóhann Jóhannsson's new Fordlandia, I was ready to launch it far up my often-morphing "best of 2008" list. When the woodwind curls of "Melodia (I)" followed, I was wooed even further. Following the more epic IBM 1401 - A User's Manual and Virðulegu Forsetar, Fordlandia is much more straightforward and concise, with what is essentially three separate suites of music that are largely broken down into more digestible pieces.

The first time I listened to this new album from Gang Gang Dance, I sort of wrote it off as the "transition" release, where the group tried a lot of new things and succeeded at a few of them while not quite landing their punches in other directions. Then, I noticed that I kept playing it over and over again, and those songs that I originally thought weren't as strong ended up as some of my favorites. Although it has some things in common with their last full-length God's Money, it's a much more ambitious and exciting batch of songs, melting together everything from grime to ragged experimental jams and shimmering electronic pop.