分類: King County

有孩子在西雅圖的學區嗎? 記得注意一下學校提供的資訊. Seattle PI: Schools will bring in water —————————————– Seattle Public Schools will provide bottled water to about 70 schools after the winter break and test drinking water in all locations following an analysis initiated by a parent that showed high levels of lead and cadmium in drinking fountains. At a meeting last night, the board directed Superintendent Raj Manhas to undertake the testing and report back to the board by February with a plan on how to proceed with and fund any necessary repairs. “This is a critical health problem that we have to act upon,” said School Board member Dick Lilly. “We have to protect the health of kids.” John Vacchiery, the district’s director of facilities planning and enrollment, said the water testing would likely cost between $48,000 and $64,000. Providing drinking water to just 40 schools for a year, he said, would cost about $700,000. Vacchiery estimated it would cost roughly $10 million to replace galvanized iron pipes, a major source of lead contamination, in the 38 district schools built between 1900 and the 1960s. There are about 100 schools in the district. The issue arises at a crucial time for the district, which will put two major levies before voters in February. The board would have had to decide by tomorrow if it wanted to increase one of the levies to cover any water system repairs, but instead delayed a decision on how to pay for any remedial work. Manhas sent a memo to principals on Monday, acknowledging that the last comprehensive water testing and repairs at schools were done in the early 1990s and noted that the district has no consistent testing program in place. Public schools, with the exception of the few that have their own water source, such as a well, are not required by state or federal law to test their drinking water for contaminants. State standards are based on the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974 to regulate the country’s public drinking water supply. The act covers water suppliers such as Seattle Public Utilities but treats schools like private homes and other customers. Questions about drinking water quality came to light recently when Mark Cooper and Geoff Compeau, two parents who have children at Wedgwood Elementary School, began asking questions about the orange-colored water coming out of the school’s taps. Using reports of water testing done at the school a decade ago, Cooper and Compeau identified four fountains with lead levels exceeding the maximum allowable limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. They took samples from the fountains last Friday and had them tested at a certified lab in Bothell. All four showed lead levels exceeding EPA limits of 20 parts per billion (ppb), and one of the four had cadmium levels higher than the 5 ppb EPA limit. One drinking fountain, located in a classroom, had lead levels 10 times over the limit. Cooper said he’s “outraged” at the district’s inattention to the problem, particularly since a 1993 district report recommended replacing all piping at four district schools – Wedgwood, Fairmount Park, Schmitz Park and Mann, which now houses NOVA alternative school. The report, which followed the comprehensive water tests, also recommended the district conduct random sampling to ensure lead levels stay within recommended levels and replace fixtures in fountains with lead levels over the limit. Vacchiery said to the best of his knowledge, the pipes at the four schools were not replaced. “I’m going to assume they were not,” he said. Vacchiery said there have been numerous facilities directors at the district since the early 1990s, he said, and he’s trying to determine at which schools repairs were done. Troy White, an environmental coordinator for the district, said additional water testing was done in 2000 and 2001, but it was limited to fewer than 400 samples at about 27 schools. Data released by the district appears to indicate that only one of the four schools cited in the 1993 report, Schmitz Park, was tested at that time. It showed lead levels over EPA limits in two fountains, one of them five times over the allowable limit. After 1993, there was a plan in place to flush water fountains on a regular basis to reduce lead levels, but Vacchiery said he didn’t know whether that plan was followed rigorously. Drinking fountains were replaced in many buildings, he said, but repairs “weren’t systematic.” In 1990, the district tested drinking water at 80 of its schools and facilities. At the time, it was determined that lead levels in drinking water “could be reduced significantly” by flushing the fountains periodically during the day. However, a staff report concluded that the best solution was to eventually replace the materials contributing to lead levels in the water. Elaine Packard, principal at NOVA, which was constructed in 1902, said her focus on water quality predates the district wide testing. “I knew that this building was old, and I knew that the pipes could have lead in them,” said Packard, who’s been at the school since 1974. For 15 years or more, she said, NOVA students and teachers have been supplied with bottled water “because I had committed to having drinking water we knew would be safe.” The school paid for the water from its own budget initially. Packard asked the district to test the water at least twice, she said. The water failed a lead-contamination test Packard estimated took place in the mid-1980s. Although the water fountains were shut off, sink taps remained on line, and district administrators urged her to flush the pipes by running the water for several minutes first thing in the morning. Fairmount principal Davy Muth, who’s been at the school since 1998, said she was not aware of any potential problems with the school’s water until district officials visited her yesterday and told her the water would be safe as long as custodians flushed the school fountains twice daily. Up to that point, Muth said, teachers and students drank the water. “We didn’t know any better.”

從十二月一日開始, 如果想在西雅圖公立圖書館列印電腦上的資料將開始收費. 每一張 10 美分. 另外從 12 月 1 日起, 下列的費用也有所調整. Adult materials overdue: 15 cents a day per item (was 10 cents) Maximum overdue fine: $6 per item (was $4) Large print materials: will accrue fines (had been fine-free) Library Card balance $15 (was $20). Library users with a balance of $15 or more will lose borrowing privileges. Library Card replacement charge for adults and young adults age 13 and older: $1 (no charge before). Initial card is free. Visitor card $15 for three-month card (was $10). Non-resident card $55 for 12-month card (was $50). The Library will not charge for overdue children’s materials, as is currently the policy. Overdue adult materials checked out on a child’s card, however, will accrue fines beginning Dec. 1, 2003. Children who lose their Library Cards will not be charged replacement fees. For more information, call the Borrower Services Department at 206-386-4190

11/5 是那架協和飛機最後一次的飛行. 她將成為飛行博物館展示的飛機之一. 和美國的舊空軍一號專機一樣, 供遊客參觀. 這也是北美西岸唯一的一架. 另一架則在北美的東岸 (Washington DC)

不要隨便寫公司的東西. 這個人沒事在微軟 shipping-and-receiving facility 照 Power Mac G5 的照片. 微軟以洩露公司機密為由, 把他給解雇了. 這樣就上了報紙的頭條… Microsoft fires worker over weblog Michael Hanscom began keeping an online journal, commonly known as a weblog, several years ago. He started his job as a contract worker in Microsoft’s print shop last year. Last week, he mixed the two. This week, he’s looking for a new job, after becoming an unwilling case study in the fine line walked by corporate employees who write about work in their personal weblogs. It all started when Hanscom noticed something interesting on the loading dock on his way into work a week ago — three pallets of shiny new Apple Power Mac G5 computers, clearly destined for somewhere on the company’s Redmond campus. The scene wasn’t entirely surprising. Although the companies are in many ways rivals, Microsoft makes software for the Mac operating system, and Microsoft makes no secret of the fact that it tests competing technologies, including the Linux operating system. But Hanscom, a 30-year-old Seattle resident who has his own Power Mac G5 at home, found the arrival of the computers interesting enough to stop and snap a photo. Later, after getting home from work, he posted it to his weblog, under the words, “It looks like somebody over in Microsoft land is getting some new toys.” Under the photo, he explained that he had come across the computers at Microsoft’s shipping-and-receiving facility, which he identified as being in the same building as the print shop where he worked. He was careful, he says, not to photograph anything around the computers that would have indicated the location. On Monday, when Hanscom came into work, his manager asked him about the post and informed him that he was being let go. Hanscom says he took from the conversation that the post was considered a security risk because a careful reader could decipher from his description the location of the shipping-and-receiving department. According to Hanscom, he offered to take the post down, but he was told that wouldn’t prevent the company from letting him go. “I would have much rather have done that than have lost my paycheck,” he said yesterday. As the weblogging phenomenon has taken off, there have been isolated incidents around the country in which companies fired employees for posting in their personal weblogs work-related material that executives consider compromising or inappropriate. But Hanscom appears to be the first person let go for that reason from Microsoft, where an ever increasing number of employee webloggers regularly post work-related material. Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake declined to comment specifically about Hanscom’s situation, citing a policy against discussing personnel matters. “However, we do recognize that weblogging is a legitimate form of communication,” Drake said. “As you know, a number of Microsoft employees have weblogs, and we respect and support their decision to do so, as long as they abide by our confidentiality agreements — which would apply to any form of external communication.” Hanscom isn’t sure, but he doesn’t think his firing had anything to do with the fact that the computers he photographed were Macs. He says he understands if Microsoft might have been concerned about the security implications of his posting, but he wishes the company would have figured out a way to correct the problem without firing him. He doesn’t recall signing any confidentiality agreement when he was hired. A long-term temporary worker, his job at the company was through an employment agency. Rebecca Blood, author of “The Weblog Handbook,” agreed that Microsoft could have resolved the situation better, at least based on the available information about what happened. “If Microsoft is genuinely concerned about the physical security of their campus, this wouldn’t have been a good way to handle that,” she said. “Firing people who inadvertently break a rule doesn’t prevent other people from breaking it again.” Hanscom, meanwhile, has become a minicelebrity after technology sites, including the popular Slashdot, picked up his Monday weblog post describing his firing. He has gotten calls from representatives of news organizations, and he woke up yesterday to more than 250 e-mails from people offering comments about the situation. “I couldn’t believe that it was getting that much attention,” Hanscom said, explaining that his weblog is usually read mostly by people close to him. “I never expected it to go beyond family and friends.” On the Web: www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism

華大校區的北邊部份, 尤其介於 NE 45th 和 NE 47th 之間. Seattle Times 的報導: Trouble has often found a home on Greek Row For decades, it has been no secret that Greek Row — the several blocks immediately north of the University of Washington and home to fraternities, sororities and communal student rentals — is one of the city’s liveliest neighborhoods. It’s also one of the city’s more crime-ridden neighborhoods. Early Sunday, three parties spilled into the streets and a riot ensued, leaving one car overturned, a mattress ablaze and several police cars damaged. A Seattle Times analysis of the past five years of Seattle police reports confirms the Greek Row stereotype — that crime and violence north of the university are concentrated in those same several blocks that thousands of young adults call their first homes away from home. And September — when students move back to school — is traditionally the worst month of the year by far. The number of crimes in September over the past five years has often been double that of other months. In the eight-block area known as Greek Row, police have typically logged more than 200 crimes a year. And predictably, the farther away you move from the university and Greek Row, the fewer crimes are reported. For example, for the busiest and most heavily populated block, the 4500 block of 17th Avenue Northeast, 255 crimes were reported from 1998 through 2002. In the next block north, the 4700 block of 17th Avenue Northeast, 180 crimes were reported. And the block north of that, the 5000 block of 17th Avenue Northeast, had 97 crimes. In Greek Row, the most common crime is theft, accounting for 29 percent of all crimes reported. Next are burglary and property damage, each making up 12.8 percent of all crimes reported. Assaults are fourth most prevalent, followed by auto theft. In a neighborhood known for its alcohol-fueled problems, liquor-violation reports make up only 5 percent of all crimes reported. Serious violent crimes remain relatively rare. Robbery makes up less than 1 percent of the crimes reported, and rape less than half of a percent of all crimes on Greek Row. Officers in the North Precinct focus on the area with extra patrols on weekends, and a liaison officer visits with fraternities and sororities to communicate crime-prevention tips, said Deanna Nollette, a police spokeswoman. But the area is inherently transient — students live there a few years before moving on — and the demographics make for difficult police work. “You get a lot of young people who are relatively inexperienced with alcohol and relatively inexperienced with life, and you get them away from home for the first time,” Nollette said. “You get a huge number of kids with a large amount of alcohol, and in that group they will do things that individually they would never, never do. And you get a few kids doing some stupid things, and pretty soon others join in.” Three parties, including one at an annex of a fraternity that lost its official University of Washington recognition two years ago, provided the people and the fuel that led to the riot across from the university campus over the weekend. As many as 300 people had converged on the area for partying and drinking, but police say only 30 to 50 people actively participated in the melee. One person was arrested. The riot began brewing about 11 Saturday night, when two police officers went to the 4700 block of 18th Avenue Northeast to deal with noise complaints about large house parties on the block. The officers found hundreds of students gathered on the front lawns of the houses. At the first house, where as many as 150 people were gathered, the renters were cooperative and shut the music off, according to police. Same with the second house. But the partygoers then converged on the third house — which police sources identified as an annex of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. DKE is not a fraternity recognized by the UW, having been expelled by the university’s Interfraternity Council in 2001 after allegations of hazing rituals. At the fraternity annex, police contacted a student who identified himself as the DKE president, according to police sources. He agreed to shut the music off. But then the partygoers in front of the house began to boo and yell expletives at the officers, the report said. The two officers on the porch, boxed in by the crowd, heard glass breaking and realized most of the partygoers were holding bottles. Unable to reach the street through the crowd, they sprayed pepper spray in the air to clear a path. The officers left the immediate area and called for backup. By 1 a.m., the crowd had moved into the intersection of 18th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 47th Street, where a car was flipped over, a mattress was ignited in the street, and passing vehicles and police cars were dented and smashed with hurled bottles. It took some 60 officers to disperse the crowd. Alex Perino, a DKE member who was walking to the house yesterday with a friend, said he saw the whole fracas but that DKE members didn’t participate. “There were lots of people being very drunk and doing stupid stuff,” he said. What started as two or three ordinary parties got out of hand, Perino said, as more people arrived and the parties spilled into the street. “It didn’t involve fraternities and sororities,” he said. “A lot of people showed up who didn’t even go to the U Dub.” That assessment was supported yesterday at a briefing given by Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowski and UW Vice President for Student Affairs Ernest Morris. They said the one person who had been arrested is not a university student. But Morris stressed that Greek Row bears some responsibility for the crowds that gathered Sunday morning. “Being in a setting like that, by not walking away you provide a venue, a setting for those who want to break the law,” Morris said. Recently, much of the police presence in Greek Row has come down to one officer, Jake Thompson, who routinely checks on parties that have been registered in advance. At the briefing, he said Sunday’s events could not be traced to just one house. And, as in any other neighborhood, residents are free to mingle in the street. However, Thompson said he had not seen anything as violent as Sunday’s riot in his 10 years on the job. For that reason, the department is adding 12 officers to patrols in the neighborhood and is shifting other units into backup positions. Kerlikowski said that does not mean police necessarily believe there is danger of more riots. “This year started off differently,” he said. “We didn’t have a fire before, and we didn’t have a car overturned.” Those elements of the riot have rattled some residents. Gerald Bucklin, who owns and lives in a house at 18th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 47th Street where he also rents to 18 student tenants, said loud, rowdy parties are fairly frequent in the neighborhood. He wasn’t home when this one became violent. “It sounds like it was a little bigger and a little out of hand,” he said. “It kind of concerns me. It’s the fires and the violent side of it that I hope is not a trend.” Next door, Bob Torney, a 33-year resident who also takes in student tenants, said he’s all in favor of students’ enjoying college and having the occasional party. But he said matters have gotten worse the past few years. “I’m disturbed about it,” he said. “I’m amazed the rest of the community isn’t — especially the university.” Neither Bucklin nor Torney had any particular beef with the DKE house. But the riot came at a bad time if the fraternity hopes to re-establish its UW ties. Recognition by the Interfraternity Council means access to the precious list of incoming freshmen for recruiting, and it means use of university facilities and participation in organized Greek events, such as social functions with sororities. But the flip side is that without formal recognition, the university has virtually no supervisory control over the DKE house, said Bob Roseth, a university spokesman. Since the Dekes aren’t members of the Interfraternity Council, they don’t have to follow IFC rules, which include fairly strict procedures over alcohol parties, including filing for permits in advance. “We have no leverage,” Roseth said. “The leverage we have is with the recognition agreement. So they’re completely independent of us. Basically, they’re in the same situation as people in the apartments are.” Seattle Times database specialist Justin Mayo contributed to this report.

無意間看到路邊上的 Strangers 雜誌. 找了一下中文的新聞, 可是都沒有報導. KAI-TING HUNG , a Taiwanese national and a 19-year-old student at SCCC in 1999, “armed with meat cleavers and knives, briefly took two people hostage at the campus” after receiving “a failing grade for the second quarter in an intensive English-as-a-second-language class,” according to the Seattle Times. Hung was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of unlawful imprisonment. After charges were filed, according to another Times report, Hung posted bail and fled the country.

根據 Washington Low Income Housing Alliance 的報導, 一個人至少要賺每小時 $17.75 才可以在金恩郡租得起兩房的公寓… 出處: Seattle PI A worker in King County must earn at least $17.75 an hour to afford the rent of a two-bedroom home, according to a report released last week by the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. That amount, which is also known as the “housing wage,” is what a full-time worker must earn to spend no more than 30 percent of his or her income on rent. Nearly half of all King County renters, an estimated 46 percent, cannot afford the housing wage for a two-bedroom unit, according to the report. Workers who earn minimum wage must work 86 hours a week to afford a space that size. Nationally, the housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $15.21 an hour.