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A Christmas essay: a better way to help the homeless

Posted Thu, Dec 25, 9 a.m.

Vancouver faces a potential public relations embarrassment during the 2010 Olympics, owing to the city's tremendous homeless population. An architect proposes a bold solution: temporary, modular housing.

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Cross-border commerce and the 2010 Olympics

Posted Tue, Nov 25, 6 a.m.

Money isn't flowing as freely as once thought, and the challenges of the border and exchange rates determine whether and how Northwest contractors and service providers will benefit from the Vancouver Games.

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Marie Chouinard, a very distinctive voice in dance

Posted Thu, Oct 23, midnight

The Montreal-based choreographer brings a new work to On the Boards, full of chaotic invention and dirty dancing.

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Election day in Canada: stability time

Posted Mon, Oct 13, 10:12 p.m.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper will likely be returned to power, despite some gains on the left. Canadians are comfortable with government's role, which makes them shake their heads at America's cowboy capitalism and figures such as Tim Eyman. Maybe that's our political future up there.

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Seattle: Coming back to earth

Posted Thu, Oct 9, 4 a.m.

Some good news about right-sizing the city, and saving money, too.

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Pit bulls, bears, and lipstick: more attacks involving animals

Posted Tue, Sep 16, 4 a.m.

Lessons learned from the places where people, animals, and politics collide.

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Will the anti-conglomerate Blethens sell newspapers to a conglomerate?

Posted Tue, Sep 9, 10 p.m.

Brunswick News, part of the Irving family's vast industrial holdings in Canada, is kicking the tires of Blethen Maine Newspapers, which is owned by the Seattle Times Co. The Irvings own most of the newspapers in the province of New Brunswick plus companies that do business in adjoining Maine.

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A tribute to eccentrics

Posted Sat, Aug 23, 4 a.m.

Our garden writer shares why those who refuse to follow the herd can best teach us.

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Eat and walk your way through Northwest cities

Posted Wed, Aug 13, 5 a.m.

Our Whidbey Island correspondent shares her favorite way to explore the food and atmosphere of Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle.

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All the rage

Posted Mon, Jul 28, 4 p.m.

What's to blame for all the anger as cyclists, drivers, and citizens fight over their rights on the streets? Is it $4 gas? Young punks? Class warfare? Poor urban design? It's time to theorize.

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A building worthy of greenery

Posted Tue, Jul 22, 5 a.m.

Vancouver's in-city oasis, VanDusen Botanical Garden, hopes to go green big-time with a $23 million visitor center that could be the region's first structure to meet the most rigid sustainability standards.

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When animals attack, and also when they don't

Posted Mon, Jun 30, 5 p.m.

It's the time of year when animal-human encounters are on the rise. Bears are picnicking on hikers, moose are invading trailer parks, and muskrats are blamed for destroying entire towns. You could be next.

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Music festival alert: Vancouver, B.C., is the place for jazz

Posted Wed, Jun 25, midnight

One of the world's premier music festivals is going on to the north of us, and lovers of live music ought to sit up and take notice.

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Hurray for mass transit, but it's no silver bullet

Posted Mon, Jun 16, midnight

For one thing, bus and rail ridership represents only a fraction of trips now, and that's not likely to radically change soon. A Seattle think tank believes a balanced approach is called for, accepting the fact single-occupancy vehicles will play a huge role in years to come.

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The need for cruise control

Posted Tue, May 13, 10 p.m.

An environmentalist explains why better federal regulations are needed to police polluters among the world's fleet of cruise ships: State and local authorities can only do so much. Over six months this year, Puget Sound will see 211 big ships bearing 835,000 passengers call on Seattle.

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Annals of Northwest secession

Posted Tue, May 6, midnight

A primer of regional separatist movements, real and imagined.

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Northwest travel: Five courses up the Inside Passage

Posted Sat, May 3, midnight

Many Seattleites have either never traveled the Inside Passage or seen only parts of it, remotely, from the deck of a cruise ship. A trip through on a ferry is well worth the time.

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Go fish: The government's answer to depleted stocks

Posted Mon, Apr 14, 11 p.m.

While officials are calling for a moratorium on commercial salmon fishing along much of the West Coast, they're opting for a different tactic in Puget Sound: continued fishing.

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Hey, what about an Absolut Ecotopia?

Posted Tue, Apr 8, 5 a.m.

A vodka ad stirs anger and nationalism, tapping a history that links to the fight for the Pacific Northwest.

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Cool ideas for doomsday

Posted Thu, Apr 3, 5 a.m.

While global warming is producing an Arctic land rush, climate change could also result in the far north becoming humanity's ark.

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Other media

For pure skiing, it's hard to do better than Banff It's not celebrities (Park City), not luxury (Aspen), not hard-partying (Whistler). It's the quiet star of North American skiing.

Canadian home sales, prices plunge, too Prices are down almost 10 percent from a year ago, and 85 percent of cities report lower sales.

Assisted suicide jury ponders intent When a Quebec man rigged a noose in his uncle's bedroom, did he mean to help his uncle die?

Bankruptcy explored by Nortel, largest telephone equipment maker in North America Toronto-based firm reportedly studying bailout scenario from Canadian government

Rae drops out, leaving path clear for Ignatieff to lead Canada's Liberal Party The Toronto MP is bowing out, leaving Michael Ignatieff the sole contender to lead his party, and maybe Canada.

Blog posts

Is Northwest nature worship neurological?

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 6:30 a.m. 2008

Our religious impulses toward the wilderness could be boosted by the way our brains work.

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Lessons from the Canadian election

Posted Sat, Oct 18, 6 a.m. 2008

Running on global warming issues proved "hard to sell and easy to hammer," but leave it to our neighbors to figure out this urgent new politics. Plus, why arts funding matters (at least in Canada).

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Carless and carefree: Victoria to Courtenay by train on Vancouver Island

Posted Mon, Oct 6, 5 p.m. 2008

I prefer road trips that don't include me as the driver. And now with the gas gods scowling down on us, even folks who would never leave their beloved vehicles at home are opting for alternative ways to roam. Plus, lots can happen when you're not behind the wheel. You can read. Listen to tunes. Eavesdrop. Take a snooze. Or see familiar sights with fresh eyes. My favorite way to travel to British Columbia is a combination of trains, buses, boats, and planes. This is the fourth and final in a series of my carless, carefree getaway to BC. Depending on your time and budget, cut and clip as necessary.

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Sarah Palin's socialist 'sandwich'

Posted Sat, Sep 27, 1 p.m. 2008

Gov. Sarah Palin, commander of Alaska, mans the thin snowy line that lies between two hostile socialist countries: Russia and Canada. Weeks after the GOP convention, Palin still maintains that sheer proximity to these powers is evidence of her foreign policy credentials.

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Carless and carefree: Vancouver to Victoria on Vancouver Island

Posted Tue, Sep 23, 4 p.m. 2008

I prefer road trips that don't include me as the driver. And now with the gas gods scowling down on us, even folks who would never leave their beloved vehicles at home are opting for alternative ways to roam. Plus, lots can happen when you're not behind the wheel. You can read. Listen to tunes. Eavesdrop. Take a snooze. Or see familiar sights with fresh eyes. My favorite way to travel to British Columbia is a combination of trains, buses, boats, and planes. This is the third in a series on my carless, carefree getaway to BC. Depending on your time and budget, cut and clip as necessary.

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Carless and carefree: Bellingham to Vancouver

Posted Wed, Sep 3, 5:24 p.m. 2008

I prefer road trips that don't include me as the driver. And now with the gas gods scowling down on us, even folks who would never leave their beloved vehicles at home are opting for alternative ways to roam. Plus, lots can happen when you're not behind the wheel. You can read. Listen to tunes. Eavesdrop. Take a snooze. Or see familiar sights with fresh eyes. My favorite way to travel to British Columbia is a combination of trains, buses, boats, and planes. This is the second in a series on my carless, carefree getaway to BC. Depending on your time and budget, cut and clip as necessary.

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A Seattle gold rush house is endangered

Posted Sun, Aug 31, 5 a.m. 2008

There's little question that Seattle was put on the map by the Klondike Gold Rush. The man credited with setting off that rush, George W. Carmack, spent the last dozen years of his life living in a big Colonial Revival home in what is now Seattle's Central District. The National Park Service says the George Carmack House is fit for the National Register, but it may be too late. A for sale banner hangs on it today touting the property as a 4,800-foot lot ripe for redevelopment.

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BC Ferries offer better fare

Posted Fri, Aug 8, 5:01 a.m. 2008

Even though I'm a Washingtonian, if I had to choose between the Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the BC Ferries, the Canucks win by a kilometer. Granted, BC Ferries has had its share of mishaps. In 2006, the Queen of the North sunk while cruising the Inside Passage on its 18-hour journey between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert. One hundred and one passengers were on board, and two are still missing and presumed dead. Human error was blamed for the sinking. Two years later, the Queen of Oak Bay lost power and plowed through dozens of boats at a marina in West Vancouver while attempting to dock at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.

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Land rush on top of the world

Posted Thu, Aug 7, 5:21 a.m. 2008

The search for the Northwest Passage spurred the European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. With global warming, Arctic land claims are heating up as the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Russia, Iceland and Norway vie for sea lanes, the seabed and once ice-bound islands. Finally, there's a great visual to sort out these competing claims.

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Sausage Links, transit migraine edition

Posted Wed, Jul 23, 3 p.m. 2008

Ready to pay $6.85 round-trip to drive across the 520 bridge? Me neither. That's the proposed toll that would raise money to help pay for improvements to the floating fossil. But the idea of a toll begs another question, something I've been dying to get reader input about: Do you think having a toll on local bridges like 520 will sway voters to vote for the proposed light rail measure this November? Thoughts?

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