News / Opinions

Sketches of Chihuly Garden & Glass

Sketched May 8 and 9, 2012

After months of planning and construction — not to mention controversy — Chihuly Garden Glass opens to the public on Monday on the Seattle Center grounds.

From the moment the plan for a permanent Dale Chihuly glass exhibition was proposed in 2010, some vocal Northwest residents opposed it. It’s a misuse of Seattle Center property, said some. Too expensive for average city dwellers, said others — or simply too narrowly focused on the work of a single artist.

But clearly, whether you’re a fan of the project or not, this 45,000-square-foot exhibition — with its glass house, exhibition rooms, garden and cafe — is destined to be a one-of-a-kind attraction in Seattle. Organizers are anticipating 400,000 visitors a year, and the exhibition (built with private funds) is expected to be a moneymaker for the cash-strapped Seattle Center.

The Seattle Times recently dispatched Seattle Sketcher Gabriel Campanario to take an early tour of the galleries and grounds, and “report” back via pen and watercolor. Here are a few of his impressions, in his own images and words.

For more of Campanario’s sketches, see his blog at www.seattletimes.com/seattlesketcher.

Seattle Times staff

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2018239592_chihuly20.html?prmid=head_main

Car bomb in eastern Syrian city kills 9

BEIRUT —

A car bomb in the parking lot of a Syrian military compound killed at least nine people Saturday, the latest in increasingly frequent bombings in the country’s major cities to target the regime’s security services.

President Barack Obama said the members of the Group of Eight industrial nations support the U.N.’s peace plan for Syria, but added that it had not taken hold fast enough.

In Damascus, top United Nations’ peacekeeping and military officials met with Syrian officials to try to salvage that peace plan, which has been marred by daily violence and dismissed by the opposition as unrealistic. A cease-fire that was supposed to start last month has never really taken hold, undermining the rest of international envoy Kofi Annan’s plan, which is supposed to lead to talks to end the 14-month crisis.

Saturday’s suicide bombing struck the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, blowing holes in the walls of nearby buildings and sending up a plume of smoke that stretched across the horizon.

Video broadcast on Syrian state TV showed damaged buildings, smoldering cars and trucks flipped upside down. Debris filled a street that was stained with blood. The station said a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle carrying 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of explosives and that the blast left a crater five meters (15 feet) wide and more than 2 meters (6 feet) deep.

The state-run news agency SANA said the blast hit the parking lot of a military residential compound, while an opposition group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that the bomb went off close to the city branches of the Military Intelligence Directorate and Air Force Intelligence.

Syria’s state news agency posted photos of U.N. observers – some of the about 260 currently in Syria as part of Annan’s plan – visiting the blast site.

Attacks like the one in Deir al-Zour, which once served as a transit hub for militants heading to fight U.S. forces in neighboring Iraq, have raised fears that militant Islamists are taking advantage of chaos in Syria to carry out al-Qaida-style attacks.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack. The government blamed it on “terrorists,” who it says are behind the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

A spokesman for the city’s rebel military council denied the opposition was behind the attack and blamed the blast on the regime.

“This is not our style because we work to protect civilians and their homes from the bullets and shells of Assad’s gangs,” Mohammed Attallah said in a video posted online Saturday. “So how could we carry out such a huge criminal act that killed citizens and caused great material damage?”

A group calling itself the Al-Nusra Front has claimed previous attacks through statements posted on militant websites. Little is known about the group, although Western intelligence officials say it could be a front for a branch of al-Qaida militants from Iraq operating in Syria.

The country’s last major bombing targeted an intelligence building in Damascus on May 10. It struck during morning rush hour and the high death toll – some 55 people – made it the deadliest attack of the uprising.

Saturday’s bombing was the third so far in May. April and March saw two major bombings each, while the three previous months all had one each. Most of the attacks have been near security-related buildings in Aleppo and Damascus, Syria’s two largest cities, which have largely stood by Assad throughout the uprising.

The revolt started in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests calling for political change. As the government cracked down on dissent, many in the opposition took up arms to protect themselves and attack government troops. The U.N. said weeks ago that 9,000 people had been killed. Hundreds more have died since.

Violence has dropped since the U.N. observers began arriving in the country as part of Annan’s peace plan, which has been marred by continued daily violence and dismissed by the opposition as unrealistic.

At a meeting outside Washington of the Group of Eight industrial nations, Obama said the G-8 nations support the U.N. plan for Syria, but added that it has not taken hold fast enough.

World powers remain divided on how to end Syria’s crisis. The U.S. and other Western and Arab nations have called for Assad to leave power, and the U.S. and European Union have placed increasingly stiff sanctions on Damascus.

But with Russia and China blocking significant new U.N. punishments, U.S. officials are trying to get consensus among other allies about ways to promote Assad’s ouster.

“We all believe that a peaceful resolution and political transition in Syria is preferable,” Obama said Saturday in Camp David, Maryland.

In Damascus, a senior U.N. delegation that included Babacar Gaye, military adviser to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous was in Damascus on Saturday and was expected to meet with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

The chief of the U.N. observers in Syria, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, and Annan deputy Jean-Marie Guehenno are also to take part in the meeting.

Ladsous told reporters Saturday that he met with some observers and “reminded them of the importance of the mission, which is basically to save lives by confirming the reduction in the level of overall violence.”

He added that a drop in bloodshed would help create conditions “that could be conducive to some political processes being started by the initiative of the joint special envoy.”

—

Associated Press writers Anne Gearan and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed reporting from Camp David, Maryland.

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018240962_apmlsyria.html

Seattle police issue warning about electricity thieves – KING

Seattle police have issued a warning about some dangerous thieves. And what they’re stealing is not easily seen or measured.

On Thursday at a house fire in south Seattle, two firefighters were shocked by illegally rigged electrical wiring, used allegedly to grow marijuana plants.
“Because of wires from the ceiling and on the wet floor,” said spokesman Kyle Moore with the Seattle Fire Department.

On Monday, another rigged electrical grid used to grow pot sparked a fire in a restaurant basement.

City Light said the thieves were circumventing the meter to draw undetectable, free power.
“You don’t have an electrician doing the work,” said City Light’s Scott Thomsen. “It creates a safety hazard.”

City Light said power theft is expensive for ratepayers. The utility estimates the cost at nearly $3 million a year.

City Light is asking the public to keep an eye out for unusual wiring and call police if it looks suspicious.

Next article
Pontoon problems mar 520 bridge project

Article source: http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Seattle-police-warn--152107235.html

Hostile crowd impedes Seattle police at shooting

SEATTLE —

A shooting victim who lay dying in the parking lot of a south Seattle fast food restaurant as a hostile crowd challenged police officers has been identified.

The King County medical examiner’s office says 31-year-old Courtney Taylor died late Wednesday of multiple gunshot wounds.

Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson says medics couldn’t reach the wounded man for five to seven minutes as some men in the crowd challenged officers to fight. Taylor eventually was rushed to a Seattle hospital, where he later died.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

A hostile crowd challenged officers and delayed help for a shooting victim as he lay dying in the parking lot of a south Seattle fast food restaurant, police said.

Some men in a crowd of 25 to 50 people on Wednesday night were “posturing, ripping off their shirts and challenging officers to fight,” said spokesman Mark Jamieson. Additional officers were called in to quell the crowd.

But Jamieson said fire department medics couldn’t reach the wounded 31-year-old man for five to seven minutes. He eventually was rushed to Harborview Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds, and later died, spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

People often congregate in the parking lot of the Jack in the Box restaurant on Rainier Avenue South, which is a drive-through without indoor seating, Jamieson said.

A witness to the shooting flagged down a passing police car, he said. The officer saw the victim with numerous people standing over him, and no one appeared to be helping. When the officer told them to stand back, the crowd turned on the officer, delaying the emergency response, Jamieson said.

When fire department medics finally reached the man they knew he was very badly wounded, spokesman Kyle Moore said.

“We realized we had to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible,” Moore said. “Every minute made a difference in that case.”

Medics may typically take 10 to 15 minutes to stabilize a patient before transporting, but they couldn’t wait this time. “We transported him as quickly as we could,” Moore said.

It is typical in assault cases for medics to wait for police to secure a scene for their own protection, Moore said.

The shooting was the 14th homicide of the year in Seattle, Jamieson said. Another shooting in the same parking lot last Saturday wounded a man in his legs. It remains unsolved, and it’s unknown if the two are connected.

Although police haven’t received much cooperation, detectives are hoping someone helps identify a suspect and a motive.

“Presumably some of the people saw what happened,” Jamieson said. “We need those people to come forward and tell us what happened.”

Jamieson didn’t know if anyone who interfered could face possible charges because of the man’s death.

“Our concern at the time was to make it safe – to make the scene safe for fire personnel to get in there and render aid,” Jamieson said. “And right now we’re concerning ourselves with trying to solve this homicide.”

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018232582_apwasouthseattleshooting5thld.html

RFK Jr.’s troubled estranged wife found dead in N.Y.

BEDFORD, N.Y. —

Mary Richardson Kennedy’s life had both highlights and troubled moments, and they played out publicly because of the famous political family she married into in 1994.

She was an architect who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, and was the estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr.

The 52-year-old mother of four was found dead Wednesday, adding to the list of Kennedy family tragedies.

Her body was discovered at family property in suburban New York City. An autopsy for was scheduled for Thursday, and no cause of death had been released.

The former Mary Richardson married Robert Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmental lawyer and the son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, in 1994 aboard a boat in the scenic Hudson River Valley. The couple had four children, the youngest born in July 2001. Robert Kennedy Jr. also has two children from a previous marriage.

She was an architect and designer and had overseen the renovation of the couple’s home into an environmentally advanced showpiece.

In a statement issued by Robert Kennedy Jr.’s chief of staff, the family said Mary Kennedy “inspired our family with her kindness, her love, her gentle soul and generous spirit.

“Mary was a genius at friendship, a tremendously gifted architect and a pioneer and relentless advocate of green design who enhanced her cutting edge, energy efficient creations with exquisite taste and style,” the family said.

Her family cited her devotion to her children in remembering her.

“We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her,” the family said in a statement issued by attorney Kerry Lawrence. “Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation.”

Mary Richardson had known the Kennedys for years, through her friendship with Robert Kennedy Jr.’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, whom she met at boarding school when they were teenagers. She had been Kerry Kennedy’s maid of honor at her wedding in 1990 to now-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The couple later divorced.

But recent years had seen darker moments.

She had had trouble with drugs and alcohol and had two high-profile arrests around the time her husband filed for divorce in 2010.

Kennedy was first arrested May 15 of that year on a charge of driving while intoxicated after a police officer reported seeing her drive her car over a curb near the family’s Bedford home. Her only passenger was a dog, and police said she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11 percent; the legal limit is 0.08 percent. Her license was suspended.

At the time of her sentencing, famous family and friends spoke in support of her.

Her mother-in-law, Ethel Kennedy, wrote in a letter that she “is a caring, nourishing mother who has nursed her four children through lifelong bouts of debilitating allergies,” according to an account in the local newspaper, The Journal News, at the time.

Kerry Kennedy, in her letter, said, “When I look at my three daughters, my wish for them is that they are as blessed as I have been to have a companion, a confidante, a friend, like Mary Richardson.”

Mary Kennedy was charged later that year with driving under the influence of drugs, but that charge was dismissed in July 2011 when a judge said the evidence showed she didn’t know the medications she had taken would impair her ability to drive.

There were indications her troubles started earlier. In 2007, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drove his wife to a hospital for treatment, but she resisted and ran from the car, according to the Journal News, which cited Mount Kisco police records.

“I remember she was acting kind of out of it, kind of crazy,” a witness, Rae Kesten, told The Journal News in 2007. “She was running into the street and flailing her arms around. He was trying to restrain her. I didn’t know if they were fighting or not, but I was concerned.”

The unexpected death of another person connected to the storied Kennedy clan brought to mind the other sorrows the famous family has suffered.

Shopping in Bedford, Diane Glokler said, “I’ve always just thought that family is very tragic. They keep having tragic things happening to them. It’s heart-wrenching.”

Neighbor Leslie Lampert, who owns the Cafe of Love restaurant a short drive from the Kennedy home, said Mary Kennedy was “at all times just a lovely individual.”

“She was community oriented,” Lampert said. “She was always kind in our presence.”

Another neighbor, Kim Fraioli, a trauma therapist who lives a few houses down from the Kennedys, said the family was private.

“We left them alone,” Fraioli. “We didn’t have any interaction. I think it’s a tragedy. It’s very sad for their family and the surviving children. My heart goes out to the family.”

—

Associated Press writer Verena Dobnik contributed to this report.

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018225721_apusobitmarykennedy.html

Seattle delivers proposed police fixes to Justice Department

Seattle officials on Wednesday delivered their response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed remedies to curtail excessive force in the Police Department, setting the stage for delicate talks that could lead to a settlement, or a prolonged lawsuit if federal attorneys determine the city’s efforts are inadequate.

Mayor Mike McGinn’s spokesman Aaron Pickus confirmed that the response “has been shared” with the Department of Justice (DOJ).

It is unclear when two sides will begin negotiations on an agreement, which U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan has said must take the form of a court-enforced consent decree, with a monitor, to ensure needed changes take hold.

McGinn has expressed his willingness to accept a consent decree, as long as the conditions are acceptable.

City officials had been given a Wednesday deadline to present their response, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Even before the city response was delivered, the Police Department objected to the Justice Department’s proposed reforms as wildly unrealistic and expensive, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

The Department of Justice presented its confidential settlement proposal to the city at the end of March, after finding that Seattle police regularly used illegal force, often for minor offenses. Federal attorneys threatened to sue unless the problems were fixed.

The Associated Press reviewed a copy of the proposal Tuesday, reporting the DOJ wants the city to change policies, add to training for officers and hire more sergeants to supervise patrol officers. The city must also agree to the appointment of an outside monitor, at city expense.

A Seattle police analysis of the DOJ proposal, also reviewed by The Associated Press, takes issue with the cost of the changes — $41 million a year, according to McGinn’s preliminary estimate — as well as the four- to six-month timelines to implement many of them. It complains that the 1-to-6 ratio of sergeants to patrol officers that federal prosecutors are seeking, as opposed to the department’s current ratio of 1-to-8, is not a standard found in most major city police agencies, and would take, conservatively, two to three years to accomplish.

“Plainly stated, the overwhelming majority of programs proposed by DOJ cannot be implemented in less than one to three years, if at all,” the analysis reads. “These timelines can only be described as impossible and prompt serious questions about the analytical thoroughness and organizational experience of those who proposed them.”

A source familiar with a draft of the city’s counterproposal told The Seattle Times it uses the term “response to resistance,” substituting that wording for “use of force.” The city of Austin, Texas, used that phrase when it responded to a DOJ civil-rights investigation in 2008.

Seattle police also want to be released from a court-enforced consent decree after two years if they have complied with changes by then, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

If the decree is still in place after four years, DOJ would have to prove that it should go beyond that, according to the source. At a maximum, the decree would be capped at six years, according to the source.

The DOJ’s proposal calls for reaching the 1-to-6 ratio of sergeants to officers in six months, but appears to give some flexibility by saying that before that, the city and Police Department should evaluate the ratio to determine whether the suggestion is appropriate.

In the first year, the Seattle police analysis said, officers would be recruited and trained to fill in for promoted sergeants. The sergeant exam must be announced a year in advance, according to civil-service laws, and by city rules, the exams are given every other year. Any shortcut to the rules can result in appeals, and typically no more than 20 percent of those taking the exam are promoted.

McGinn has said he expects “good-faith negotiations” between the city and DOJ. If no agreement is reached, the city expects to face a lawsuit from DOJ on June 1.

McGinn first announced the cost estimate of $41 million on Monday, prompting the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle to describe the figure as “simply wrong.”

In December, a DOJ report found that one of every five times a Seattle officer used force, it was used unconstitutionally. The department failed to adequately review the use of force and lacked policies and training related to the use of force, it said.

McGinn has said he agrees with many of the DOJ’s findings and has already pushed initiatives to address some of the issues raised. Durkan has said those are encouraging, but too vague to satisfy the DOJ.

According to The Associated Press, the DOJ’s 100-page settlement proposal includes a wide array of changes, some previously reported by The Times:

• Officers must use “disengagement and de-escalation techniques” to calm agitated suspects or call in specialized units to reduce the need for force, and only use force proportional to resistance.

• Officers shall not use any weapon to strike someone in the head unless deadly force is required.

• All uses of force, including pointing a gun at someone, must be reported.

• No force can be used against someone who merely talks back to an officer.

• New reporting requirements for investigative stops of civilians, including duration of stop and perceived race of person stopped, to collect data to ensure bias-free policing.

• An expansion of the Police Department’s crisis-intervention teams.

• Policies to protect whistle-blowers, with the presumed response for retaliation being firing.

The DOJ’s proposed settlement also calls for 40 hours of annual training for officers, sergeants and commanders on topics ranging from role-playing in proper use-of-force decision-making, to use of weapons, de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention, anti-bias training and evaluating written reports, The Associated Press reported. The Police Department believes adequate training covering all those topics would take far longer than 40 hours — perhaps 120 hours or more of training beyond the 40 hours officers already undergo every year.

That would require other officers to fill in, on overtime, for those receiving training, the department said.

The department is already operating at a bare-bones level, with 520 patrol officers and average response times hovering at just under six minutes, the analysis said, and it would be “preposterous” to promote 54 officers to sergeant without replacing them, said the analysis reviewed by The Associated Press.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or smiletich@seattletimes.com

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018220279_spdplan17m.html

Seattle police object to DOJ proposal

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Police Department is objecting to reforms proposed by the Justice Department as wildly unrealistic and expensive, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

The DOJ presented its confidential settlement proposal to the city at the end of March, after finding that Seattle police regularly used illegal force, often for minor offenses. The DOJ threatened to sue unless the problems were fixed.

The AP reviewed a copy of the proposal Tuesday, which shows the DOJ wants the city to change policies, add training for officers and hire more sergeants to supervise patrol officers. The city must also agree to the appointment of an outside monitor, at city expense.

A Seattle Police analysis of the DOJ’s proposal, also reviewed by the AP, takes issue with the cost of the reforms — $41 million, according to a preliminary estimate — as well as the four- to six-month timelines for many of them. It complains that the 1-to-6 ratio of sergeants to patrol officers that prosecutors are seeking, as opposed to the department’s current ratio of 1-to-8, is not a standard found in most major city police agencies, and would take, conservatively, two to three years to accomplish.

The DOJ’s proposal calls for reaching the 1-to-6 ratio of sergeants to officers in six months, but appears to give some flexibility by saying that before that, the city and police department should evaluate the ratio to determine whether the suggestion is appropriate.

In the first year, the analysis said, officers would be recruited and trained to fill in for promoted sergeants. The sergeant exam must be announced a year in advance, according to civil service laws, and by city rules, the exams are given every other year. Any shortcut to the rules can result in appeals, and typically no more than 20 percent of those taking the exam are promoted.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is due to present his response to the DOJ’s proposal this week, which he expects will be followed by “good-faith negotiations” between the city and DOJ. If no agreement is reached by the end of the month, the city expects to face a lawsuit from DOJ on June 1.

Last week, the DOJ sued tough-talking Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Ariz., over allegations that his department racially profiled Latinos. It was only the second time since the verdict in the Rodney King police brutality case and Los Angeles riots that the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against a law enforcement agency with which it was unable to reach an agreement.

McGinn first announced the cost estimate of $41 million on Monday, prompting the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle to describe the figure as inflated. The city is facing a budget hole of about $30 million.

“The budget numbers being projected by the city are simply wrong,” Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Bates said in a written statement Monday. “The cost of any agreement will not be remotely close to the figure cited today. We are confident that once the city understands our proposed agreement, it will conclude that what we cannot afford is further delay.”

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Tuesday.

The Justice Department launched its formal civil rights investigation early last year, following the fatal shooting of a homeless, Native American woodcarver and other incidents of force used against minority suspects.

Surveillance cameras and police-cruiser videos captured officers beating civilians, including stomping on a prone Latino man who was mistakenly thought to be a robbery suspect, and an officer kicking a non-resisting black youth in a convenience store.

In December, a DOJ report found that one out of every five times an officer used force, it was used unconstitutionally. The department failed to adequately review the use of force and lacked policies and training related to the use of force, it said.

McGinn has said he agrees with many of the DOJ’s findings and has already pushed initiatives to address some of the issues raised. U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan has said those are encouraging, but too vague to satisfy the DOJ.

The mayor has expressed some heartburn over the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the changes, saying it could hamstring officers in some situations — for example, during a public safety emergency, such as rioting that gripped the city’s downtown on May 1. The mayor has suggested that he would not have been able to take certain actions, such as issuing an emergency order authorizing police to seize bats and long sticks from the protesters, without advance approval from the monitor.

The DOJ has disputed that — “Constitutional policing does not inhibit or hamstring the police,” Durkan said — and McGinn announced Monday that he ultimately will agree to the appointment of a monitor.

“The monitor shall not, and is not intended to, replace or assume the role and duties of the city or Seattle Police Department, including the chief of police,” the DOJ’s proposal reads.

The DOJ’s 100-page settlement proposal includes a wide array of changes.

—Officers must use “disengagement and de-escalation techniques” to calm agitated suspects or call in specialized units to reduce the need for force, and only use force proportional to resistance used by suspects;

—Officers shall not use any weapon to strike someone in the head unless deadly force is authorized;

—All uses of force, including pointing a gun at someone, must be reported;

—No force can be used against someone who merely talks back to an officer;

—New reporting requirements for investigative stops of civilians, including duration of stop and perceived race of person stopped, to collect data to ensure bias-free policing.

—An expansion of the police department’s crisis intervention teams;

—Policies to protect whistleblowers, with the presumed punishment for retaliation being firing;

—An expansion of the city’s police-review board, the Office of Professional Accountability, to include a review of whether the board should report to the mayor rather than the police department. The city maintains that many of the changes to OPA would require negotiations with the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild; according to the Seattle Police analysis, the last time changes to the OPA were negotiated, it cost the city more than $24 million in pay raises for union members.

The DOJ’s proposed settlement also calls for 40 hours of annual training for officers, sergeants and commanders on topics ranging from role-playing in proper use-of-force decision-making, use of weapons, de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention, anti-bias training and evaluating written reports. The police department believes adequate training covering all those topics would take far longer than 40 hours — perhaps 120 hours or more of training beyond the 40 hours officers already undergo every year.

That would require other officers to fill in, on overtime, for those receiving training, the department said.

The department is already operating at a bare-bones level with 520 patrol officers and average response times hovering at just under six minutes, the analysis said, and it would be “preposterous” to simply promote 54 officers to sergeant without replacing them, the analysis said.

Article source: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Seattle-police-object-to-DOJ-proposal-151617305.html

Mayor says pricetag for Seattle Police reforms is too high – KING

SEATTLE – Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says federally mandated police reforms will cost the city nearly $41 million a year. That’s 20 percent of the police budget.

McGinn insists it’s too costly and unrealistic. He’s thinking more along the lines of a $5 million a year fix, his original estimate.

“They’ve given us everything they could possibly ask for and that’s very expensive. We’ll come back with what’s more reasonable, then we’ll start talking,” he said.

Last year, the Justice Department found Seattle Police engage in a pattern of excessive force and cited violations of citizens civil rights.

The feds want more training of officers and the hiring of more sergeants. But does that really lead to a $41 million a year price tag as the mayor claims?

“Some of these numbers are scare numbers. I’m much more focused on what we should we be doing to have sustainable and meaningful reform of policing in Seattle,” said City Councilman Tim Burgess.

On Monday, the Seattle City Council got its first briefing of the mayor’s coming response to the feds. The meeting went into executive session – the public barred from the room.

In an interview, McGinn said he’d agree to a consent decree and a federal monitor, but the current terms are not do-able.

“The idea that we have to consult with a monitor before we can move rapidly to deal with issues gives me concern as well,” he said.

The mayor knows if the city doesn’t agree to the terms, the Justice Department has threatened to file a lawsuit against Seattle.

A spokesman for the Justice Department says the budget numbers being projected by the city are simply wrong. Thomas Bates says the cost of any agreement will not be remotely close to the figure cited Monday.

Article source: http://www.king5.com/news/Whos-going-to-pay-for-Seattle-Police-reforms-151469755.html

Yankees bats give Andy Pettitte little help in return to mound against Seattle Mariners

Andy Pettitte’s a big boy who’s been around baseball long enough to understand why, even for icons, the reviews occasionally aren’t all glowing or forgiving.

Such was the case on Mother’s Day when the stan ding ovation Pettitte was accorded from the crowd of 41,631 at Yankee Stadium as he exited the game with one out in the seventh inning belied his performance – which, Joe Girardi’s “he looked pretty good” assessment to the contrary, was something less than the Yankees privately hoped for from the would-be savior of their starting rotation.

Heaven knows, the Yankees probably thought they had provided Pettitte with a soft landing for his initial comeback start in the person of the Triple A-laden Seattle Mariners, who entered the game 12th in the American League in runs, and 13th in batting and homers. But as took his leave in the seventh, he was trailing 4-1 after escaping a potentially disastrous previous inning in which he’d given up his second two-run homer of the game (the first of the year to a .207 hitter named Casper Wells), as well as three consecutive hard-hit singles to ex-Yankee Jesus Montero, Justin Smoak and rookie Alex Liddi.

It took a hard-hit grounder by Mike Carp to first base that Mark Teixeira stabbed and turned into a 3-2 double play on Montero at the plate for Pettitte to keep the game within reach, although it kind of reminded you of a scene out of a “Rocky” movie in which Sylvester Stallone’s bloodied hero is being pummeled against the ropes only to suddenly rear off and score a knockout punch.

If anything, however, Pettitte was his own worst critic. After first pronouncing how he good he felt being out there again competing, the 39-year-old lefty legend conceded he wasn’t able to locate his four-seam fastball and that, in turn, took away from the effectiveness of his bread-and-butter pitch. “I just wasn’t able to get any swings on my cutter,” he said.

“I got a little careless with a few pitches (the two-run homers to Smoak in the fourth and Wells in the sixth) and they hurt me,” he added.

The homer to Wells was especially bothersome to Pettitte, if only because it came right after the Yankees had cut the Seattle lead to 2-1 the previous inning on a bases-loaded walk by Russell Martin. It was the only run they could muster over the first seven innings against 37-year-old retread Kevin Millwood, who came into the game with a 5.88 ERA.

In truth, if they were giving out reviews Sunday, they would be far worse for the Yankee hitters than for Pettitte. After all, we are talking about a pitcher who has given up more lifetime hits (3,185) than innings pitched and has a career ERA of 3.88. As Girardi so noted: This is what Andy Pettitte does. He gives up a lot of hits but more often than not pitches out of it, frequently with double plays, as was the case twice Sunday.

On the other hand, the Yankees twice squandered bases-loaded opportunities – in the fifth when Derek Jeter grounded into an inning-ending double play and, more egregiously, in the eighth when Charlie Furbush, the fourth Seattle reliever of the inning, struck out Teixeira after previously issuing another bases-loaded walk.

So for all the hype leading up to this day, which began with Pettitte’s surprise announcement back in March that he was coming out of retirement, and was cultivated by the Yankees and their legions for nearly six weeks, the bot tom line was this: The best pitcher by far Sunday was Pettitte’s fellow comebacking geezer, Millwood. And given Millwood’s recent rocky road odyssey through four organizations (including a trip to the minors with the Yankees before being released), maybe what the Yankees really need to be looking for is a savior for their offense.

Article source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/yankees-bats-give-andy-pettitte-return-mound-mariners-article-1.1077560

City wins English title for 1st time in 44 years

MANCHESTER, England —

Manchester City won the English title for the first time in 44 years, surging past Queens Park Rangers 3-2 on Sunday with Sergio Aguero scoring his team’s second goal late in stoppage time.

Aguero, the son-in-law of Argentine great Diego Maradona, scored during the fourth minute of injury time, two minutes after substitute Edin Dzeko made it 2-2. The winning goal snatched the trophy from defending champion Manchester United on goal difference. Without Aguero’s startling goal, United would have won the title after its 1-0 victory over Sunderland moments earlier on the final day of the season.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finale like this,” City manager Roberto Mancini said. “We didn’t deserve to lose. We had a lot of chances and we deserved to win the game and championship. It’s fantastic for the club and the supporters after 44 years. It’s been a crazy season and a crazy last minute.”

It was the first time the English title was decided in such dramatic circumstances since 1989, when Arsenal and Liverpool finished even on points and had the same goal difference. Arsenal won the title on total goals.

City won the title for the first time since 1968 after overturning the eight-point lead United held five weeks ago. The two Manchester rivals have traded places atop the standings all season, and continued to do so until the final minutes of the final day.

City took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but then went down 2-1 after the break despite QPR captain Joey Barton being sent off in the 55th, leaving his team with 10 men the rest of the way.

“I never stopped believing,” City captain Vincent Kompany said. “When Edin scored that goal, it reminded me of so many other moments during the season when we’ve done this before. There was no reason not to believe.

“It’s not sunk in yet. I don’t know what happened at the end, it was just a huge mess.”

Pablo Zabaleta put City in front in the 39th minute, but Djibril Cisse tied it for QPR three minutes into the second half after a misplay by Joleon Lescott. Lescott went to make a simple headed clearance but instead knocked the ball backward, and Cisse seized on the defender’s mistake by driving a shot past Joe Hart.

Barton was then sent off for elbowing Carlos Tevez, but Jamie Mackie managed to head the visitors in front in the 66th.

City’s expensively assembled squad had been facing its first loss at home since December 2010, but Dzeko sparked the recovery by heading in a corner kick in the second minute of stoppage time.

There was still time for one final moment of drama in an unpredictable season when Aguero drove home the winner. As the final whistle blew, thousands of City fans poured onto the field and blue smoke wafted around the stadium.

Winning the title is the result of more than a $1 billion of investment by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour, who rescued a financially stricken club from ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2008.

“It was really important to start winning this championship,” Mancini said. “Manchester City can have a big future now.”

The field was covered in confetti from the start and all the action was in QPR’s half, although the hosts couldn’t find the goal against a relegation-threatened club.

Yaya Toure fired over and David Silva struck tamely at goalkeeper Paddy Kenny before news filtered through of Wayne Rooney putting 19-time champion United ahead at Sunderland and top of the standings.

QPR hasn’t won on the road since December, but it wasn’t all bad news for the London club – it avoided relegation after Bolton was held to a 2-2 draw at Stoke.

In Sunderland, United’s players left the field stunned by what had unfolded. Fans looked at each other in disbelief and stood with hands on heads in bewildered silence.

“It’s a cruel way (to lose the title),” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “We’ve experienced many ups and downs in the 25 years I’ve been here, most of them have been great. We’ve won the title three times on the last day; today we nearly did it.

“I’d like to say on behalf of Manchester United, congratulations to our neighbors – a fantastic achievement to win the Premier League.”

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Associated Press writer Mark Walsh contributed to this report from Sunderland.

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2018201361_apsocenglishpremierleague.html