Crosscut most recent
Posted Wed, Jan 7, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
The new year will be challenging for historic preservation in Seattle, but there are great opportunities and new initiatives ahead, too. Here's a breakdown of six front-burner issues for 2009. First of 2 parts
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5 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Jan 6, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
You can't go many news cycles without hearing about some kind of monorail mess-up, but there's good news too.
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18 COMMENTS
Posted Sat, Jan 3, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Set aside the nostalgia for a moment, and consider the good aspects of the new Seattle. Really.
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3 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Dec 24, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
An international movement to change the ethic of growing cities seems right for the Northwest. But we'd have to check the boom-town impulses embedded both in our growth economy and our frontier DNA.
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14 COMMENTS
Posted Fri, Dec 19, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Some think the time is ripe to revive a New Deal program that put writers to work for the public good. Others say that's what bloggers are already doing.
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6 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Dec 16, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
There is a way to avoid huge overruns on mega-projects, but policy makers won't like the medicine. It replaces dreams and pork with data.
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29 COMMENTS
Posted Fri, Dec 12, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Another task Obama inherits is trying to bail out America's botched effort to have a pavilion at Shanghai's Expo 2010, the largest world's fair in history. There are reasons to hope that "yes, he can."
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3 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Dec 9, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
In the twilight days of Dubya's presidency, the new parlor game is wondering who was the worse president: Bush or Nixon?
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16 COMMENTS
Posted Mon, Dec 8, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Some would like to cut these performance audits from the state budget, supposedly saving money. Now is when we need them most.
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10 COMMENTS
Posted Thu, Dec 4, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
With Obama's new New Deal gaining momentum, let's remain skeptical of big projects that are touted as economic saviors. States like ours may be desperate, but a boondoggle is still a boondoggle.
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8 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Dec 2, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Dispatch from the War on Christmas: Atheists make fools of themselves in Olympia while violence breaks out at Wal-Mart. The sacred season is now a very, very sick season.
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18 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Nov 26, 7 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Washington's death row inmates and corporate fat cats are employing strategies that could come in handy for seagoing brigands.
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Posted Thu, Nov 20, midnight
By Knute Berger
Electing a black president has caused a rise in hate crimes, but no one is less popular than Godless blowhards.
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24 COMMENTS
Posted Mon, Nov 17, 6 a.m.
By Knute Berger
Mayor Greg Nickels plans to defy state law with a gun ban that is worse than an empty gesture: It puts law-abiding citizens at greater risk.
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34 COMMENTS
Posted Sat, Nov 15, midnight
By Knute Berger
There are risks in thinking small while trying to make a greener city.
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21 COMMENTS
Posted Mon, Nov 10, 6:46 p.m.
By Knute Berger
The campaign symbol that got away. Plus: tales of ravenous locusts, obese bears, Bigfoot's B.C. invasion, and more animal news.
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Posted Fri, Oct 24, midnight
By Knute Berger
If God wants to join the political debate over assisted suicide, he should expect a bloody nose.
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7 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Oct 22, midnight
By Knute Berger
Critics of Seattle's Pike Place Market ballot measure think the Market should be ruled by the market.
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12 COMMENTS
Posted Sun, Oct 19, 4:51 p.m.
By Knute Berger
Over objections from the University of Washington, the Nuclear Reactor Building was added to the state's heritage list and was approved for National Register consideration.
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4 COMMENTS
Posted Fri, Oct 17, midnight
By Knute Berger
How democracy expresses its irrationality, from McCain and Palin to Dinocrats to Obama's audacity of hope.
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3 COMMENTS
Knute "Skip" Berger is Mossback. In addition to writing and blogging for Crosscut, he is editor-at-large of
Seattle magazine, political columnist for
Washington Law & Politics, and a regular guest of
Weekday with Steve Scher on NPR affiliate
KUOW-FM (94.9). A Seattle native, Berger has long been a writer and editor for local magazines and newspapers. Most recently, he was editor-in-chief of Village Voice Media's
Seattle Weekly from 2002 to 2006, where he wrote the award-winning
Mossback column. Berger has also worked for the Hope Heart Institute, Washington State Centennial Commission, and served as a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster reserve corps. He lives in Seattle.
Duwumps
An early name for Seattle was Duwumps, which reminds us of a time before civic pretension, "world-class" ambitions, and over-priced coffee. In that spirit, this news is collected as an antidote to Seattle hype. If you see stories that aid the cause of Lesser Seattle — or more positively, Greater Duwumps — send them to Mossback.
Blog posts
Posted Mon, Jan 5, 6 a.m.
by
Knute Berger
In 2009, two Northwest states are honored with an endangered species: postage stamps.
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Posted Thu, Jan 1, 4:50 p.m.
by
Knute Berger
2009 starts with a bang in terms of Nazi stories, which were a strong theme in 2008 too. In addition, we gained insights into the similar reading habits of Bush and Hitler.
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Posted Tue, Dec 30, 6 a.m.
2008
by
Knute Berger
The gas tax would be phased out and drivers monitored by GPS and subjected to a mileage tax instead.
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Posted Tue, Dec 30, 6 a.m.
2008
by
Knute Berger
In economic hard times many states are re-looking at privatization and "pawning the family silver" to raise cash.
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Posted Mon, Dec 29, noon
2008
by
Knute Berger
A Washington Post story indicates that after a major multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar effort, there's little or no progress in saving Chesapeake Bay.
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Posted Sat, Jan 3, 3 p.m.
by
Knute Berger
Is Portland the "beardiest" city in America? Should Prince William shave his new whiskers? And what will the impact of a baby-faced Obama be on facial hair fashion?
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Posted Sat, Dec 20, 11 a.m.
2008
by
Knute Berger
From Republicans to The Stranger, everyone wants to grab a piece of crab grass.
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Posted Wed, Dec 17, noon
2008
by
Knute Berger
African American poet Mona Lisa Saloy defends reading her poem "The "N" Word at Lakeside School.
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Posted Tue, Dec 16, 2 p.m.
2008
by
Knute Berger
Uncovered film footage takes you to the 1909 world's fair.
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Posted Mon, Dec 15, 11 a.m.
2008
by
Knute Berger
An African-American poet stirs up a Seattle private school by using a word that is "antithetical to Lakeside’s spirit."
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