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ARTS | ‘Odd Couple’ brings timeless jokes and quirky characters to Village Theatre production [ 15 ]
Business | Bellevue firm makes use of area’s low rents to expand its group of stores selling FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012 batteries, light bulbs [ 6 ]
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Sports | The Reporter sits down with former Seattle Sonic player Zaid Abdul-Aziz (Don Smith) [ 11 ]
‘Snowpocalypse’ a no show But freezing rain arrived Thursday to make its own mess BY NAT LEVY nlevy@bellevuereporter.com
Katie Walter (left) and Elena Becker of Bellevue East Lacrosse get in their conditioning run last Sunday at Robinswood Fields. The BELAX varsity is the defending state champs, and the club has teams for girls from all over Bellevue, 3rd grade through high school. More information about the organization, including registration, is at www.belax.org. COURTESY PHOTO
The feared “Snowpocalypse� may have missed Bellevue on Wednesday, but a new foe emerged for residents the following day: freezing rain that covered the earlier snowfall in a sheet of ice. The conditions further complicated an already dangerous commute Thursday morning. The National Weather Service in Seattle issued a Winter Weather Warning for an ice storm with freezing rains through noon Thursday and Bellevue expected to receive accumulations of up to one-half inch of freezing rain. If there was good news in the week, it was that forecasts predicted rain
showers today with high temperature into the 40s. As the storm hit Wednesday, thousands of people in Bellevue and throughout the state took the day off. “It was nice how many people heeded the advice to stay home today (Wednesday),� said Bellevue Utilities Deputy Director Mike Jackman. “It makes a huge difference in being able to get out and do the snow plowing and deicing.� Snow began falling in Bellevue at around 2 a.m. Wednesday, but crews were already out arming the city with rounds of deicing material and salt. Jackman said plows followed the city’s priority map, but the snow fell so rapidly Wednesday that many of the main roads still became covered. The
520 tolling system goes down, drivers get free ride on bridge
Interlake senior a finalist in national saxophone competition BY GABRIELLE NOMURA Bellevue Reporter
You’d be hard-pressed to find Kanye West or Jay-Z on this Interlake High School student’s iPod. Instead, 18-year-old Andrew Nelson listens to obscure classical saxophone music, among other things. The senior in Interlake’s gifted program is a finalist in this year’s North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Young Artist Competition to be held at Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, March 15-18. The musician was in All-National Honor Band 2011. He’s placed first and second at local and state competitions. In addition to his school’s jazz and marching bands, he formed his own sax quartet with his friends. And that’s not even the half of his
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accomplishments. While he normally practices 10 hours a week, he will be upping the practice time to gear up for the NASA. Out of the 19 students who applied for the competition, Nelson was one of seven finalists who will compete for first, second or third place. The saxophonist admits his beloved instrument belongs in its own niche. He says it’s not the “bright, screaming, high sound� people recognize from jazz music. He uses a different mouthpiece to create a classical music sound that’s “darker.� Nelson got into music at age 4, starting with the piano. Ever since he was in the fifth grade, he only had eyes, or ears, for the sax. But his instructors made him start off with some[ more SAX page 9 ]
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Andrew Nelson thought he’d go into jazz music, but fell in love with the classical songs he was given to build up his technique. CHAD COLEMAN, Bellevue Reporter
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Reporter received several calls complaining about conditions on 148th Avenue. Jackman called the main roads “passable but difficult� after 3 to 6 inches fell in various parts of town Wednesday. Allied Waste trash collection was delayed much of the week with residents able to put out a double load next week. Puget Sound Energy reported that more than 70,000 homes in its service area lost power as of Thursday morning. Snow and ice weighed down tree branches, causing them to fall on power lines. Customers in King, Pierce and Thurston counties may have to wait until today or Saturday for service to be restored.
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Drivers got a free ride across the State Route 520 bridge Tuesday morning following a glitch in the system that tracks drivers. An alarm was triggered just after midnight after sparks began flying from the electrical panels of the equipment, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. Crews spent much of the early morning attempting to correct the error. Tolls were taken between the hours of 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. before the decision was made to shut the system down for the team. “They were trying to work on it all night and they eventually brought it all down because it was shorting out,� said WSDOT spokeswoman Patty Michaud. Michaud said the system was down until approximately 11 a.m. before crews were able to fix it. Drivers who crossed the bridge after crews shut down the system will not be charged. Drivers who have a Good To Go account can check online to see if they were charged a toll. WSDOT said it sometimes takes a few hours for toll charges to appear in accounts. Drivers who do not have an account will need to wait a week or two to see if the toll is included on their Pay By Mail bill. WSDOT said it is unknown how many transactions were lost during the outage. The agency will investigate the cause of the issue, as well as who might be responsible for lost toll revenue. [ more TOLLS page 9 ]