Nailed it.
  • Kelly O
  • Nailed it.

The Seahawks Are Going to the Super Bowl: It was a miraculous game (or, according to Packers people, "difficult to explain") that—based on the number of people screaming from bars near my apartment—every single one of you was watching yesterday. Seattle could not even handle it until we could because now the Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl again! But the real question here is who to thank. Legal weed? Kshama Sawant? Steve McQueen and Richard Linklater?





In actual news about the team: Marshawn Lynch might get fined by the NFL for his latest signature crotch grab display and not making himself available to reporters. And it's still unclear what the hell is going on with Richard Sherman's arm, which he injured in yesterday's game. (Don't worry. He says it will have to "fall off" for him to miss the Super Bowl.)

Here's How to Make Your Day Off for MLK Day Mean Something: A rally is now happening at Garfield High and speakers will start at 11. A march leaves at noon. Among the speakers is "Jelani Brown, a young man from Ferguson, Missouri, who was involved in the organizing in response to the police killing of an unarmed Black teenager Mike Brown. He will speak about his experiences growing up in the St. Louis area, organizing his community since Mike Brown's death, and a vision of this movement going forward." Details here. (And a rundown of a few other local events here.) Get over there!

The State Attorney General Wants to Sue Patent Trolls: State lawmakers have introduced a bill targeting patent trolls, groups that accuse companies of violating patents in hopes of getting them to fork over a payment for their supposed violations. According to the Washington State Attorney General's Office, one large patent troll has targeted 313 businesses in the state. The bill would allow that office to sue bad actors under the Consumer Protection Act.

Not inside the state House or Senate.
  • Arina P Habich/Shutterstock
  • Not inside the state House or Senate.

State Lawmakers: Keep Your Side Arms Out of the House and Senate: There were a few tense moments Thursday, when gun rights activists protested, armed, inside the spectator gallery at the state House. Now, state lawmakers have banned open-carry weapons inside the public viewing galleries in the House and Senate.

State Scraps Highway 520 Bridge Plan Everyone Hated: The state has abandoned plans for an expensive and unpopular "tall cable-stayed span for the Portage Bay stretch of Highway 520," instead favoring a lower profile concrete girder design, reports Mike Lindblom at the Times.

Sammamish Might Fine Parents for Letting Their Kids Drink at Home: The city of Sammamish is considering a new "social host" law, which would punish parents or other property owners if underage drinking happens on their property.

Soldiers Are Sitting in Barracks at JBLM Being Monitored for Ebola: A group of soldiers who recently returned from Liberia are being kept in barracks at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for 21 days, the CDC's recommended monitoring time for someone who may have been exposed to Ebola.

Not Bertha's Fault (That We Know Of): A storm drain overflowed near the fancy new Starbucks on Capitol Hill Sunday and it looked bonkers.


This isnt Lolita because shes trapped in the Miami Seaquarium
  • Menno Schaefer/Shutterstock
  • This isn't Lolita because she's trapped in the Miami Seaquarium

Animal Activists Want to Get Back an Orca Taken from the Sound 40 Years Ago: A group gathered Saturday at Alki to call for the return of Lolita, an Orca taken from Puget Sound to the Miami Seaquarium more than 40 years ago, according to the West Seattle Blog. The event coincided with one in Miami that drew about 1,000 people.

Another Legal Challenge for East Link Light Rail: Kemper Development Company, a former Bellevue mayor and an environmental activist have filed a court petition to try to get a "more thorough environmental assessment" of the proposed light rail route "up the western edge of the Mercer Slough along Bellevue Way Southeast and under 112th Avenue Southeast," reports the Seattle Times. The project will remove thousands of trees from the Mercer Slough Nature Park and, although Sound Transit will replace them with new trees outside the rail line's buffer zone, the petitioners worry "the change could permanently alter the park’s ecosystem."

A Woman Was Arrested for Clawing at Her Cab Driver: "Police say the driver reported traveling along I-5 when the woman ‘reached forward, and began clawing his neck and punching him,'" reports KIRO.