An illustrated guide to the fish of the Salish Sea E1
12.06.2015
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Everett, Wash.
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HeraldNet.com
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OSO MUDSLIDE
Rain a major trigger New study finds the hill broke free from a place that hadn’t slid before: a layer of clay on the bottom of an ancient glacial lake. By Chris Winters and Scott North Herald Writers
OSO — A new paper published by a team of researchers working on the Oso mudslide site reveals a growing understanding of the slide’s history, and points to further avenues for exploration. When the slide struck March 22, 2014, a hillside in the valley of the North Fork Stillaguamish River was known to have slid periodically over the decades, occasionally shifting the course of the river. The 2014 slide was orders of magnitude larger, wiping out the Steelhead Haven neighborhood, killing 43 people and forever altering how people of the valley view the steep slopes over their heads. Even if a definitive cause of the slide has not been identified — and may never be — each successive study narrows the field of research a little more. Meanwhile, the legal battle to determine whether anyone should be held responsible for the disaster has brought to light more information researchers have discovered about the area’s geology. Drilling on the site has found evidence that the 2014 slide broke loose deep within a thick layer of clay that formed on the bottom of an ancient glacial lake, according to court papers. It was in a part of the hill that hadn’t fallen before. One key piece of research to date was the publication of the July 2014 report from the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (or GEER) group, engineers and geologists who gathered as much raw data as possible from the slide area before the land began to be obscured by natural processes. The new paper distills the GEER See SLIDE, Page A8
KEVIN CLARK / THE HERALD
Logan Betts, 5, reads Elf on a Shelf at home in Everett. Nath, Logan’s Elf on a Shelf, is known for mischief and random acts of kindness.
Consider the Elf
Should it stay on the shelf or find a place in your family holiday tradition? It’s more complicated than you might think By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer
N
ath shows up in the weirdest places. Like the time “he got all tied up and was hanging upside down from Spiderman’s spiderweb,” Logan Betts said. When the 5-year-old goes to sleep, he doesn’t know where he’ll find the elf in the morning. See, every Columnist and mom night, Nath Jennifer Bardsley is and millions not a fan of the Elf, D1 of elves like him fly to the North Pole to report to Santa Claus on the kids they live with. It’s all explained in the book, “The Elf on the Shelf,” that Nath came with when Logan and his sister
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KEVIN CLARK / THE HERALD
Bella, Kennedi Palfrey’s Elf on a Shelf, has been known for mischief at her home in Arlington. Bella is handled only with tongs so her magic won’t be depleted.
Parker “adopted” him last year. Logan came up with his elf’s name. “It’s short for Nathan, I guess,” his mother, Cassie Mello, said. For millions of American families, Elf on the Shelf — which turns 10 this year — is a young tradition that adds to the
Christmas magic. For others, it’s teaching questionable lessons, such as that constant surveillance is OK, and one should behave now based on the reward you expect later. See SHELF, Page A8
TREE FARM FINALE
TRUCK STOP
Royal defeats King’s 28-7 to win Class 1A state football title. Sports, C1
A beloved family operation could be seeing its last season. Good Life, D1
A new food truck marketplace is on the map in Machias. Local, B1
Classified . . . . . E3 Crossword . . . . D6
Dear Abby. . . . . D6 Horoscope . . . . D6
Lottery . . . . . . . A2 Success . . . . . . A13
Movies . . . . . . . D5 Obituaries. . . . . B4
Sports . . . . . . . . C1 Viewpoints . . . . B7
Murky 50/45, C8
VOL. 115, NO. 297 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
SUNDAY
BATTLE OF KNIGHTS
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