Knute Berger
45 Years Later, What Does Ted Bundy Tell Us About Seattle?
Almost a half century after Ted Bundy focused the nation on our region, Knute Berger wonders what this serial killer says about us today
MISSING PERSONS: The July 11, 1974 front page of Evergreen State College’s Cooper Point Journal highlights a story that riveted the region and country
Olympia’s Current Legislative Session Highlights State Tensions
"Most of our issues are very resolvable through mutual understanding and good governance, or should be."
Relations between Western and Eastern Washington are sometimes strained, and this legislative session in Olympia has highlighted some tensions in bills that have been introduced. There’s a kind of tit-for-tat going on. Eastern Washington representatives are asking through bills, “How would you like it if…” For example, Seattle state senator Reuven Carlyle introduced a bill…
Howard Schultz Is Running a Campaign of Contradictions
Knute Berger takes a look at Schultz and his mixed messages
When Howard Schultz brought his quasi-presidential-campaign —cum-book-tour to Seattle’s Moore Theater in late January, there were protesters outside. They consisted of angry SuperSonics fans who will never forgive the former Starbucks boss for letting Seattle’s NBA team leave town, and Democrats afraid that a Schultz independent candidacy in 2020 will divide the anti-Trump vote and…
Seattle Has Snow on Its Brain
Knute Berger looks back on Seattle’s snowfall throughout the years
It’s hard for me not to get excited at the chance of snow. I look at my iPhone weather app obsessively. My inner 10-year-old prays for a cancellation of life-as-normal for the blissful relief of snow adventures. This dates from childhood, obviously. I went to Seattle public schools in the 1960s, a decade when school…
Washington’s Urban and Rural Communities Should Bridge the Partisan Divide
The state’s east-west political divide is changing, says Knute Berger, and there are many issues on which the two parties could find common ground
COMMON GROUND: Urban and rural areas aren’t voting as they used to; isn’t it time the two political parties work on issues that benefit both regions?
Do Locals Really Love the Rain?
PEMCO survey shows that only 45 percent of Western Washingtonians like our drizzle and gloom
The Seattle Times ran a story recently about how people in the Pacific Northwest loved the winter weather and eschewed umbrellas. “Locals love (or at least like) Seattle’s rainy, gloomy weather survey shows,” the headline read. The poll, by PEMCO, the insurance company that likes to make connections with the quirky Northwest, was actually done…
Seattle’s Watergate Connections Are Stronger Than You Think
Knute Berger discusses Watergate, the Russia investigation and more with journalist Bob Woodward
I recently had the chance to interview Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward during an appearance in Seattle where he was promoting his book on the Donald Trump administration titled Fear, an insider’s look at the function—and dysfunction—of the Trump White House. Woodward became famous for the reporting he did with his partner, Carl Bernstein, on…
Seattle Finally Gets Its NHL Team and a Revamped Arena
Knute Berger takes a look back on how KeyArena got to this point
Fifty-six years on, “Paul’s Paraboloid”—otherwise known as KeyArena and formerly known as the Coliseum—is going to be reborn as a shelter for the city’s own, brand-new National Hockey League hockey franchise. On Dec. 4, the NHL announced the approval of an expansion franchise in Seattle for the 2021-22 season, citing the city’s thriving market and…
Should Seahawks’ Doug Baldwin Run for Public Office?
If Doug Baldwin did jump into politics at some point, he wouldn’t be the first popular Seahawks receiver to do so
The midterm elections are over, now we can turn to future politics. One of the most interesting things we learned election week is that Seattle Seahawks star receiver Doug Baldwin is interested in running for office. At a press conference, he said, according to Hawkswire on USA Today: “If I do, it won’t be for…
What Do Citizen Activists and Rainier Club Members Have in Common?
Rainier Club members have long played a central role in shaping our city, Knute Berger recognizes, but so have citizen activists
This article appears in print in the November 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe. I am writing this from the quiet confines of The Rainier Club in downtown Seattle. The club’s ivy-covered brick facade speaks of tradition, power, privilege and solidity. The building is impressive, a landmark designed by Northwest legend Kirtland Cutter in a “Jacobean Revival style,”…
With Mount Baker’s New Historic Status, What Lessons Can This Neighborhood Teach Us?
Knute Berger remembers his family’s Mount Baker neighborhood from long before it was designated a historic place
The Mount Baker Community Club, ca. 1914, became open to all in 1968, changing with its now-diverse neighborhood
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