Erik Lacitis
The Seattle Times
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Past articles by Erik:
Archivists share their most-requested Pacific Northwest images; here’s how to make them yours
You can get a high-resolution digital copy of many historic images for free, or a small fee, and then create your own home art gallery with renowned works. → Read More
Hatchery trout & PowerBait at lowland lakes: Great times for tens of thousands in WA
On fishing season's opening day, over 30,000 people turned out to cast into Western Washington's lowland lakes. → Read More
Thanks to a glitch, some Seattle Mazda drivers can’t tune their radios away from KUOW
Maybe HAL from "2001: A Space Odyssey" now works in public radio. A number of Mazda drivers have found they can no longer change the station on their infotainment systems — all because they tuned in to KUOW. → Read More
In Leavenworth, Christmas skirmish breaks out over rebranding and Krampus Drink Crawl
A Facebook posting by a Leavenworth restaurant co-owner has escalated into two religion-advocacy groups warning of the “erasure of Christmas customs” and the bringing of “demonic influences” into the tourist town’s annual holiday festivities. → Read More
‘Absolutely tragic.’ The grisly demolition at Seattle’s Boeing Field of an old 727
The hope was to find a home at a Kansas City air museum for the old Boeing 727 parked at Boeing Field. Instead, after years of overdue rent and problems getting it airworthy, the plane met a grisly death with... → Read More
Kona and Mr. Bear: A tale of a nasty divorce and pet visitation rights in Washington state
Who gets the pets in a divorce? Get it in writing. An acrimonious Clark County divorce case in Clark County over visitation rights with Kona and Mr. Bear, dogs, turns on pets being considered property. No visitation rights for property. → Read More
Burned by an online, phone or email scam? Tell us your story
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center by May 15 had a received its 6 millionth online scam complaint since it began tracking them in 2000. And the complaint trend line... → Read More
Your stories of (non)sleep in the COVID era: Spider and corpse and Trump dreams. And masks. And Netflix at 3 a.m.
Join the pandemic sleep problems club: It’s doubled to 40%. And nightmares? More of them, too. You’re not the only one waking up from dreams in which nobody is wearing a mask. → Read More
Borracchini’s Bakery, a Seattle destination for almost a century, is closed for good
The pandemic has taken down another business — this one, a destination for generations of Seattleites with both a sweet tooth and a sense of tradition. → Read More
She got $662/month to run a tiny Washington town post office. When asked for more, USPS shut it down.
The Postal Service, as has been well publicized, has been losing money and shedding post offices. When this post office on Washington's Long Beach Peninsula closed last month, locals lost their meeting place of 132 years. → Read More
AG Ferguson, with tribes and historic groups, sues feds over Seattle National Archives closure
The battle continues between state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the federal government over the closure and sale of the National Archives facility at Seattle. → Read More
The wheels on the bus still go round and round — but things sure are changing on board
A voicemail from a King County Metro bus driver leads writer Erik Lacitis to more emails, and conversations with other drivers that reveal what we're really losing with the "voluntary separation" of older drivers. → Read More
Before our Northwest bats go into hibernation, a little sympathy. No, they don’t carry the coronavirus. They just eat bugs
It’s tough for bat advocates to get past bat prejudices, but the animals are voracious consumers of insects and pollinators of over 300 species of fruit. → Read More
Seattle-area police blotters from 1918 pandemic and 2020 coronavirus: Which is which?
If you spend a little time perusing crime reports that nearly 102 years apart, a pattern emerges. Suspects just keep doing suspected things. → Read More
At a Snohomish County megachurch, a few faithful come to be together but sit far apart
In normal times, this would be just one more religious event for the calendar listing. Pastor Dan Kellogg decided this week to start 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday services at... → Read More
‘Terrible and disgusting’: Decision to close National Archives at Seattle a blow to tribes, historians in 4 states
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget issued a decision on Friday to close the facility in Seattle's Sand Point neighborhood despite a last-minute plea by senators in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho. → Read More
At 91, after life as a pharmacist then 15 years as a grocery bagger, Chuck Elvig is finally retiring
“Keep moving and do things,” says Chuck Elvig, who spent 37 years as a pharmacist, and retired this week after 15 years as a supermarket courtesy clerk. He likes to work and he likes people. On Thursday, his customers came... → Read More
It’s austere and uncomfortable. That’s precisely the reason the ‘Portland Loo’ is finding a home in King County
Likened to a gorilla cage, the"Portland Loo" owes its creation to Seattle's public toilet debacle of 2004. → Read More
‘Hardly a ripple’: The solitary life and death of a homeless man and his dog near the 520 bridge
William Kaphaem, also known as Three Stars, lived in a 14-foot aluminum rowboat moored along Seattle's Arboretum Waterfront Trail. That's where he died, but it was eight months before his body was found. → Read More
Grant County wildfire contained; show unaffected at Gorge for Grateful Dead fans
The big news Saturday out of the wildfire in Grant County was the show at the Gorge wouldn’t be affected for all those Grateful Dead fans making it to this weekend's concerts by Dead & Company. The 20,380-acre fire was... → Read More