Bellingham Man Dies in Avalanche: According to the Herald, Adam Roberts was skiing out of bounds with a friend near White Pass, which is south of Rainier. The two had been out skiing all day. On the last run of the day, Roberts's friend got down the mountain okay, but Roberts set off the avalanche. Friends report that he was an experienced outdoorsman who used to "stand in the rain at five in the morning and hitchhike to Mount Baker." He was 31.
Judge Allows Man Awaiting Trial for "Felon in Possession of Firearm" to Attend His Own Mother's Funeral Tomorrow: According to The Seattle Times, his mother was "found dead in a park." The man was registered as a sex offender at 13, but, as the Times notes, his attorney says he hasn't reoffended.
Do You Have New Year's Eve Plans Yet?: Consider spending your money and time at Tini Bigs and/or Hula Hula, both excellent bars that are being forced to close due to development. I highly recommend Hula Hula. Split one of those giant bowls full of boozy kool-aid and sing karaoke until everyone wants to kiss you at the noon of the night. As always and of course, our Things To Do staff has like a million other NYE events for you to check out.
Area Man Completes Fence Project: Yesterday my favorite bartender in town finally finished building this fence he's been talking about forever. Looks like he did a good job.
Obama Names Two More Giant Swaths of Land As National Monuments: Suck it, climate change deniers and potential pipeline pushers.
Russia, Turkey, the Syrian Government, and Most of the Rebels Agree to a Ceasefire in Syria: Peace talks are scheduled to begin in a month. So far, the war in Syria has left between 450,000 and 500,000 dead. 50,000 of those are children. That's 100,000 shy of the number of Americans who have died in all foreign wars. In addition to this massive amount of death, nearly 5 million Syrians live as refugees.
Secretary of State John Kerry Had Some Strong Words for Israel: Yesterday the US caught up with the rest of the world in blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict impossible by encouraging and basically subsidizing settlements in the West Bank. "Israel can either be Jewish or Democratic, it cannot be both," he said. According to the NYT, Senators John McCain and Chuck Schumer criticized Kerry for his speech, with the latter claiming Kerry "emboldened extremists on both sides.” As usual, the President-elect seems to have no idea what's going on, but it seems clear the Obama administration doesn't mind handing him this mess.
Vox Is Paying a Very Earnest Reporter: To travel around Israel and talk to people who may have sullied any chance at longterm peace by colonizing the West Bank. If you need to brush up on the old conflict, his video is a good place to start. Whereas the early settlers came to the hills of Judea and Samaria for religious reasons, today's settlers come for the good schools and the cheap living.
Following the Death of Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds Dies of a Stroke: At 19, film immortalized Reynolds the moment she made that quarter turn toward Gene Kelly in soft focus with tears in her eyes in Singin' in the Rain. (It happens at :12 in the video embedded below.) Life was a song, she came along and sang and danced and acted her way through it. But now she is dead, because a mother should never have to bury her daughter and love is real.
