News For Reasonable People

Buyers in the market to purchase real estate may hope that real estate prices will be cheaper and easier after the COVID19 pandemic has subsided, but many consumers should not expect to see lower prices, according to a forecast by a prominent online real estate firm. Officials at Redfin said, however, that the rise in prices won't be as fast as in previous years. “A couple of factors will cau...

The Bank of Canada is seeing “worrying” signs that some Canadians are taking on too much debt to buy into the nation’s hot housing market.  In an interview with the Financial Post, Governor Tiff Macklem said there is evidence that loan levels relative to home values are growing -- an indication that some borrowers could be overextending. He also warned people have begun to make purchases based on...

Some members of the Portland City Council have put forth a proposal aimed at combatting gun violence in the city and it does not include increased funding for police. The proposal, which KOIN 6 News obtained Thursday from the office of Commissioner Carmen Rubio, is in response to a $2 million proposal floated by Mayor Ted Wheeler for the Portland Police Bureau’s Enhanced Community Safety Team. “Wh...

The Washington state Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the recall campaign against Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant to move forward, paving the way for signature-gathering and, potentially, an election this year that could oust Sawant from office. Recall petitioners now have 180 days to collect more than 10,000 signatures from residents of Sawant’s Council District 3. If they collect the s...

Night after night, Portland's streets see more violence and police say they're overwhelmed. Three people died in three separate incidents overnight. Portland police say someone was shot at a convenience store in the 1900 block of North Lombard Street in the Kenton neighborhood around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.  The victim was taken to a hospital where he died. Police say he was a customer at t...

A growing homeless encampment is operating on the property of a Seattle School and it's left the Bitter Lake community outraged. Neighbors have been calling on Seattle Public Schools for months to remove the camp that they say has brought increasing problems to their neighborhood. It’s located directly behind Broadview-Thomson K-8 at 13052 Greenwood Ave North. Inside the school, preschool and...

Seattle’s housing market started the new year with a milestone: Housing prices here have been growing at the second-fastest rate in the nation for a full year. For the 12th month in a row, only Phoenix outpaced the Seattle area for year-over-year home price growth in January, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday. The index measures price growth in 20 me...

In 2016, Carley Jackson was living in Louisiana when a natural disaster flooded half the state. With her apartment destroyed, she was forced to move into a hotel for a month. At that moment, Jackson decided to fast-track her dream of living in a tiny house, something she had been fantasizing about for a decade. She moved to Austin - a more tiny-house-friendly city - in 2019, and while there, she s...

Our regional government has been treating our problems solely as a homeless issue, but it is far greater. It also involves mental illness, substance abuse and crime. Each piece of the problem needs solutions. Housing, especially affordable rent, is a large component, but addiction, an emerging street subculture and law enforcement are factors we have been reticent to address directly as we watch o...

A couple in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood found a stranger living in their basement and eating their food. The suspect managed to stay hidden from the homeowners for nearly two days and even told police “that he could hear voices and footsteps coming from upstairs,” according to court documents. The couple only made the discovery after they heard a strange noise and called police, suspecting a b...

You could call it art for art's sake -- plus $1,000 a month. San Francisco plans to start paying 130 local artists $1,000 a month starting in May through the fall in a pilot program announced on Thursday.  It follows other so-called "universal basic income" efforts being launched in California amid the coronavirus pandemic. "From the first day the pandemic arrived in San Franci...

A mafia fugitive has been arrested in the Dominican Republic after inadvertently tipping off police with his culinary hobby. After seven years on the run, Marc Feren Claude Biart was tracked down through a YouTube cooking channel he started with his wife, Italian police said in a statement. The alleged gangster's "love for Italian cuisine” — and tattoo ink — made his arrest possible, pol...

The remaining homeless people living along Echo Park Lake were to leave by 10:30 p.m. as police continued to clash with protesters for a second night Thursday over the clearing of the long-running encampment there.  Los Angeles police declared an unlawful assembly shortly after 8 p.m. to begin clearing a crowd of about 250 protesters and media from the area of Lemoyne Street and Park Avenue, after...

A skating rink in Los Angeles set to be converted into a homeless shelter will bear the name of the late Alex Trebek, the famed host of "Jeopardy!" Trebek, who hosted the popular game show for more than three decades, made a donation to the California-based Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission back in November, when the organization was attempting to purchase the closed Skateland rink, CNN...

Seattle police arrested a suspected carjacker Thursday night, after he was alleged to have driven the stolen vehicle through a crowd of protesters. Roughly 100 people gathered around 6 p.m. Thursday at Cal Anderson Park, as part of a call to defund the Seattle Police Department and “invest in Black communities.” The group  — which included Seattle council candidate and local activist Nikkita Olive...

California's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that it is unconstitutional to keep people behind bars simply because they cannot afford bail. The unanimous decision signals that going forward, California judges will be required to assess a defendant's ability to pay bail when they set it. "What we hold is that where a financial condition is nonetheless necessary, the court must consid...

In a public hearing Wednesday afternoon, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and city commissioners said they never intended to allow temporary shelters in city parks as a way to ease Portland homelessness, and pledged to remove language that might have done that. The promise follows a week of outcry directed at City Hall, including from former elected officials, at the idea of using parks as shelter sites...

It’s more than a year after the pandemic cut downtown tourism to ribbons and forced many of Seattle’s homeless shelters to empty out or relocate, but on Wednesday, the city will begin leaning into a strategy that brings those two problems together: putting homeless people up in hotels. Almost 140 people will be moving into the historic Executive Hotel Pacific downtown starting Wednesday. They’re j...

Seattle narcotics detectives executed a major drug bust in Bellevue on Tuesday, resulting in 410,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills, which actually contained fentanyl.  The investigation also yielded 77 pounds of meth, 908 grams of heroin, 787 grams of cocaine, two handguns and nearly $250,000 in cash.  Seattle Police Department (SPD) detectives and Homeland Security’s Narcotics Taskforce carried out...

As more of America is vaccinated and returns to something resembling normal, the “Superstar Cities” of the 2010s are expected to lead the way. It’s evident around the country. For example, even if more people work from home than before 2020, young professionals are rushing to rent a Manhattan apartment at a (relative) bargain after the pandemic exodus. It may take time, but most companies are eage...

A Seattle City Council committee on Tuesday did a double-take on cutting the budget of the Seattle Police Department by another $5.4 million. Instead of approving the spending reduction, the committee voted 3-2 to substitute a version that would allow police to spend some of that money on other SPD-related items the council approves of. But the committee did not vote to forward the bill to a vote...

San Francisco is dealing with its homeless epidemic by spending $16.1 million for 262 tents  — an investment that breaks down to $190 a night or $61,000 per tent per year. The tents will be placed in empty lots around the city, creating what officials are calling “safe sleeping villages.” The city will also provide food and other services. Join your host Sean Reynolds, owner of Summit Properties N...

Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has issued an emergency rule prohibiting insurers from using credit scoring to set rates for personal property for three years after the current coronavirus pandemic is declared over. The rule comes after a bill that would have permanently banned the practice stalled in the Legislature after being amended. The commissioner's decision drew...

The Seattle City Council on Monday approved new funding to house the homeless, with the hope that Mayor Jenny Durkan's office will lease 200 hotel rooms and build some tiny homes to provide shelter for the homeless. With a 9-0 vote, council members unanimously approved $12 million for the project with the anticipation that the city will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency...

On Dec. 7, Los Angeles County swore in its newly elected District Attorney George Gascón. Gascón immediately pledged to make Los Angeles a sanctuary for criminals by announcing his refusal to enforce the most basic state laws designed to address serious, violent and repeat offenders. There’s a catch though, his authority only extends to Los Angeles County. Here in Kern County, you’re stuck with me...