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BUSINESS | ‘Titanfall’ release draws on Seahawks pride [17]
SPORTS | Bellevue boys, girls basketball teams ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | Chuck Armstrong gains notice as half of finish season with third place trophies at 3A sketch duo Charles. [22] state tournaments. [20] FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2014
Bellevue SWAT members cleared in 2013 shooting death BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
A six-member jury found members of the Bellevue SWAT team who shot a Seattle man to death in March 2013 were justified in their actions at the conclusion of a fourday inquest on March 13. Russell Smith was shot inside his Mer-
cedes Benz on the early morning of March 22, 2013, after Bellevue SWAT members approached his vehicle on the 5000 block of 43rd Avenue South in Seattle to serve an arrest warrant and search his property. He was suspected of at least three robberies in Bellevue and two in Seattle going back to November 2012. The 51-year-old Seattle laborer is alleged
to have backed out of his driveway, striking a pickup, before accelerating forward at several SWAT members who fired on him after they reported fearing for their safety. Three officers collectively fired 21 times and Smith was hit eight times, one bullet entering his brain. King County Executive Dow Constantine ordered an inquest into the shooting
BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
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Rachel Lingenbrink used her savings to purchase equipment and set up shop in her neighbor’s commercial kitchen. COURTESY PHOTO
Newport High student hopes to turn dough into money BY DANIEL NASH BELLEVUE REPORTER
Senior year is a busy time for collegebound high school students. After months of picking schools, touring campuses, sending applications, waiting patiently for “the big envelope” and laboring over a final decision, there’s still the small matter of
payment. One Newport High School student hopes to use the spirit of entrepreneurship and her love of baking to write her tuition checks come fall. Rachel Lingenbrink, 17, will open the online store for Shine Bakery on Sunday.
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Garbage rate increases coming
Council gets update on Downtown Livability Bellevue city councilmembers received their first update Monday on the progress being made by a citizen advisory committee exploring how to enhance living downtown while also bracing for substantial population growth by 2030. The Downtown Livability CAC has reached a "milestone," finding direction on alternatives for updating the downtown subarea's land use code, said Dan Stroh, deputy director of planning and community development. The original LUC has been on the books since 1981. But the landscape is changing fast. The downtown population is expected to double by 2030 from its 10,500 residents currently, said Emil King, city strategic planning manager, and there is about 50 percent of the downtown area left to be developed. The boundary of focus is
back in June. The hearing before a sixmember jury was set to start in early December, however, it was pushed back twice after Smith's family retained an attorney. Jacob Bement, Casey Hiam and Jacob Childers, identified as the officers responsible for the 21 shots that struck the
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Bellevue officials say upcoming double-digit rate increases for solid waste won't be an annual hit to city residents under a new seven-year contract with Republic Services, which is seeking to recover $19.8 million annually during that time. City Council approved staying with Republic Services for solid waste collection in October, choosing a sevenyear service contract of $19.8 million annually over a competitive bid of $17.9 million from CleanScapes. That was a 14 percent increase over the city's last contract. Shortly after, the council voted to have Acting City Manager Brad Miyake complete negotiations for garbage, recycling and organic waste collections. "After that, then staff worked with Republic Services to say, 'How do you want to spread that total revenue requirement across all of the rates?' " said Nav Otal, city utilities director. "We have our objectives as a city. For example, we want to increase recycling and diversion?" The city reported it negotiated new services valued at $610,000 at no additional cost for residents and businesses. That includes an in-city customer service center, unlimited recycling for commercial customers and commercial and multi-family organics collection (96 gallons weekly). New rates taking effect June 29 mean increases for all cart sizes, not including new 10- and 45-gallon options. Otal said the new options will allow residents to lower their bill and focus on recycling. With the 10-gallon option and added cost of collecting such a small cart, she said some of that cost had to be spread to other cart rates. Twenty-gallon carts will see a monthly rate increase of 17 percent to $14; 32-gallon carts will increase 14 percent to $23.87; 64-gallon carts will increase 10 percent to SEE GARBAGE RATES, 5