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Vice President Kamala Harris headlines two Seattle fundraising events for Biden Victory Fund

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Vice President Kamala Harris headlines two Seattle fundraising events for Biden Victory Fund


It has­n’t been a month since Pres­i­dent Biden head­lined two fundrais­ing recep­tions in the Seat­tle area and already Vice Pres­i­dent Kamala Har­ris has done the same. 

Mon­ey is the moth­er’s milk of pol­i­tics, the say­ing goes, and pres­i­den­tial cam­paigns in this day and age demand a lot of it. Accord­ing­ly, the entire pur­pose of Har­ris’ quick trip up from Cal­i­for­nia to the Pacif­ic North­west was fundrais­ing. She stepped off Air Force Two, zipped over to West Seat­tle for one recep­tion, then prompt­ly left for a sec­ond in down­town Seat­tle, then swift­ly returned to Boe­ing Field for a flight back to California.

Unlike their pre­de­ces­sors, the Biden-Har­ris admin­is­tra­tion allows the press to send a rep­re­sen­ta­tive to these closed-door cam­paign fundrais­ing events. For this trip, The Seat­tle Times’ Claire With­y­combe was tasked with send­ing reg­u­lar updates (known in media par­lance as pool reports) to the White House press corps. 

In her first dis­patch, she described the scene where she await­ed Har­ris’ arrival: “The home where the fundrais­er is being held is on a qui­et street in West Seat­tle. The VP’s vis­it has gen­er­at­ed some excite­ment among the neigh­bors, but as of 3 PM, there were no crowds on the near­by block. Guests are stand­ing and chat­ting in the back­yard of the home, which has an impres­sive, panoram­ic view of Puget Sound. A few boats are glid­ing through the water. Guests stand near cock­tail height tables cov­ered in pale green table­cloths. I am in the garage, where cater­ing staff are prepar­ing and send­ing out an array of savory appe­tiz­ers, includ­ing crab cakes, short­rib and hon­eyed feta toast.”

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At 4:02 PM, with motor­cy­cles rum­bling, Har­ris’ motor­cade pulled up at the home of Melis­sa and Peter Evans, to cheers from the neigh­bors. Har­ris waved to them on her way into the fundrais­er. About a half hour lat­er, she began her observ­able remarks.

Har­ris told the small gath­er­ing of donors that the stakes of the elec­tion are high and momen­tum is on the Biden campaign’s side.

“In this re-elect, lis­ten, guys, we’re gonna win,” Har­ris said. “We may have bloody knuck­les when it’s over, but we’re gonna win and our coun­try is worth fight­ing for.”

Har­ris added that this piv­otal 2024 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion is not about what team you’re root­ing for but “what kind of coun­try we want to live in.”

“We believe in the promise of Amer­i­ca,” she said. “And we know that in order for us to achieve that promise and make it real we have to fight for it.”

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Har­ris empha­sized that the out­come of the elec­tion will impact peo­ple around the world. She warned that if Trump is elect­ed and Con­gress passed a nation­al abor­tion ban, Trump would sign it, where­as Biden would veto a nation­al ban. She tout­ed the Biden admin­is­tra­tion’s work to cap insulin costs for seniors and called the con­trast between the pri­or regime and the Biden admin­is­tra­tion “extreme.”

Har­ris’ remarks last­ed for a lit­tle less than thir­teen minutes.

Not long after that, around 5 PM, the motor­cade was rolling again. Peo­ple lined the blocks near the fundrais­er, hold­ing cell phones and waving.

With roads closed to accom­mo­date the motor­cade, the trip down­town took less than twen­ty min­utes, about the same length of time that the trip to West Seat­tle took. For­tu­nate­ly for Seat­tle Mariners fans attend­ing the sec­ond to last game of the home­s­tand, first pitch had already been thrown an hour before­hand and the Mariners were on their way to a 9–0 vic­to­ry over the Los Ange­les Angels of Anaheim. 

Har­ris’ entourage pulled up to the West­in around 5:16 PM. 

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Har­ris’ observ­able remarks began around 5:40 PM. She spoke from a podi­um with Amer­i­can and Wash­ing­ton State flags behind her. Her audi­ence for this sec­ond Vic­to­ry Fund recep­tion num­bered about one hun­dred and twen­ty peo­ple.

The Vice Pres­i­dent repeat­ed sev­er­al of the same com­ments from ear­li­er in the day at the Evans­es’ home about the high stakes of the elec­tion, oth­er coun­tries look­ing to the Unit­ed States as a role mod­el, the neces­si­ty of defend­ing repro­duc­tive rights, and cap­ping the costs of insulin for seniors. 

But at this recep­tion she also dis­cussed the Biden administration’s work on the econ­o­my, cit­ing “his­toric” low employ­ment and new man­u­fac­tur­ing jobs.

She char­ac­ter­ized the choice as super clear, declar­ing that many things in the world and in the coun­try are “com­plex and nuanced” but Novem­ber of ‘24 is “bina­ry.”

“There’s two choic­es. And let’s be clear, if you pull up the split screen, what we’re look­ing at,” Har­ris said. “On one side, you’ve got a for­mer pres­i­dent who open­ly prais­es dic­ta­tors and said he’d be a dic­ta­tor on day one, who has essen­tial­ly said he will weaponize the Depart­ment of Jus­tice against his ene­mies, polit­i­cal ene­mies, who has open­ly talked about how proud he is of what he did in undo­ing the pro­tec­tions of Roe v. Wade.”

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“On the oth­er side, you have Joe Biden and our admin­is­tra­tion, which has done trans­for­ma­tive work, which the his­to­ry books, if not the pun­dit­ry right now, will show has been his­toric in terms of what we have done to strength­en and grow the Amer­i­can econ­o­my and invest in the future of our nation.”

The Vice Pres­i­dent also addressed the issue of med­ical debt, say­ing that it affects so many peo­ple and it’s usu­al­ly incurred because of a med­ical emergency.

“What we are say­ing that med­ical debt can­not be used in your cred­it score,” she said.

Har­ris’ remarks were inter­rupt­ed on two sep­a­rate occa­sions by pro­test­ers opposed to Israel’s mil­i­tary oper­a­tions in the Gaza Strip. 

The first, in a red shirt, stood up and yelled what sound­ed to With­y­combe like “Chil­dren are being buried in Rafah,” then was escort­ed out of the room.

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“I appre­ci­ate your right to express what is right­ly a con­cern… we are work­ing to end this war as soon as pos­si­ble. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” said Harris. 

After the pro­test­er left, she said: “And that’s why we’re fight­ing for our democ­ra­cy. That’s exact­ly why we’re fight­ing for our democracy.”

Soon after, a sec­ond pro­tes­tor stood up and said: “Vice Pres­i­dent, when will you stop send­ing weapons to Israel?”

“Thank you, I’m talk­ing now,” Har­ris said as the pro­tes­tor kept try­ing to interrupt.

“You can stop this geno­cide Vice Pres­i­dent, you can stop this geno­cide,” the pro­tes­tor assert­ed. They were also removed from the reception.

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The Vice Pres­i­den­t’s remarks last­ed around nine­teen min­utes and con­clud­ed at 6 PM.

Har­ris returned to Boe­ing Field short­ly there­after, con­clud­ing her trip to Seattle. 



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Seattle, WA

Fast Start for Kraken Win, Homestand | Seattle Kraken

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Fast Start for Kraken Win, Homestand | Seattle Kraken


That stretch begins with five more home games: A skilled and successful Carolina squad Monday, followed by St. Louis (for the second time in a week) Wednesday, Ottawa next Saturday, then Nashville (just behind Seattle in the West wild-card race) on March 10 and then finishing with Western Conference leader Colorado March 12.

Stars Shine and Star-Crossed Hat Trick

Vince Dunn opened the scoring in his 600th NHL game. Jordan Eberle topped the best Kraken-season goals mark with his 21st and 22nd goals of the year, with 23 games left to flirt with his first 30-plus goals on the year since his sophomore season in 2011-12. Joey Daccord registered 27 saves on the victorious night, including nine high-danger chances in the first 40 minutes alone.

To the fans’ disappointment, the slick-stickhandling Daccord missed a historic goalie goal by inches. But the sellout crowd was rewarded when Eberle cashed in on the Vancouver empty net. Eberle now has four two-goal games this season.

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In a bizarre twist, when Eberle scored that empty-netter, Kraken fans rightfully cheered and tossed headwear for what was presumed to be a hat-trick score. But after Eberle scored, the scoring change on the Kraken’s power play goal was announced when off-ice officials realized Eberle’s shot had just ever-so-slightly deflected off Matty Beniers’ skate. So no hat trick for the second time this season. Linemate Jared McCann and hat-tossing fans thought the Kraken’s all-time leading scorer had notched a hat trick earlier this season, only to have it reversed when an offside infraction by, wait for it, Beniers, erased the goal.

Eberle joked post-game that maybe fans deserved some hats. The Kraken captain also said when Daccord missed by inches on his goalie goal, he was on the bench saying, “he got it, he got it.” Post-game, Eberle said, “It’s just a matter of time before he gets one” because he greatly admires the goaltender’s puck-handling skills.

The Kraken came out fast Saturday night with two goals, a couple of near-misses, lots of scoring attempts and pucks on net during the first 20 minutes. One near-miss was a hard wrist shot from Jordan Eberle that clanged off the far post. But no matter, Eberle scored a pivotal goal in the second period, getting in front of a Vancouver shot and chasing his own ricochet to create a breakaway with his still-elite speed. The 35-year-old Seattle captain went to his lethal backhand to beat Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen. Eberle’s tally re-upped the two-goal lead.

Good night for Kraken special teams as well. The penalty killer snuffed an early third period Canucks power play to keep the two-score cushion. Later third period, Matty Beniers scored on the power play, deflecting an Eberle shot, to push the score to 4-1. Chandler Stephenson earned his second point of the night with the primary assist. Same for Dunn, who notched the second assist. The Kraken needed just 10 seconds to score the man-advantage marker.

Captaining His Best Kraken Season…

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It is Eberle’s 21st goal of the season. The next one he scores will set a new high as a Kraken for the teammate everyone calls “Ebs.” That makes it three of five seasons that Eberle has scored 20 or more goals. Eberle almost scored again later second period when matching cross-checking penalties on SEA forward Kaapo Kakko and VAN defenseman Filip Hronek. The ensuing 4-on-4 play was dominated by the Kraken quartet of Eberle, Matty Beniers, Brandon Montour and Ryker Evans. Beniers stood with some moves and an improv that had future Hall of Fame play-by-play man John Forslund saying, “Beniers did everything but score.” It was heartening to see Seattle flexing its offensive chops with a 3-1 lead.

The Kraken scored twice in an opening 20 minutes played to order, returning to the hard forechecking game they exhibited on a heater 10-game streak before the Olympic break. The starting goalie did his part, stopping all nine of Vancouver’s shots in the first 20 minutes to bring confidence to the first-intermission home locker room.  

Jumping Out of the Starting Blocks

The Kraken faithful were mega-decibel loud during the announcement of the starting lineups, welcoming back Olympian bronze medalists Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen, as well as Seattle teammates. This week’s two road losses forgotten, replaced by rousing cheers for starters and fourth-liners Freddy Gaudreau, centering Jacob Melanson and Ben Meyers (on the wing for the first since a road matchup in LA right before the winter holiday break).

Defenseman Cale Fleury and Ryker Evans rounded out the skaters in front of Joey Daccord. It’s not a stretch to think head coach Lane Lambert was sending a message with his fourth line and third pair getting the first shift after losing two games in the Midwest by a composite score of 9-2.

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Saturday morning, both defenseman Vince Dunn and Lambert both talked about what would be the ideal first 10 to 20 minutes in this Pacific Division showdown with rival Vancouver.

“We need to play simple and hard and direct,” said Dunn, who was playing in his 600th NHL game, 333 with Seattle. “I think we’re very connected when we can get our forecheck going. I think the way we play as a five-man unit is that we slow teams down and don’t get scrambled in our own end. We’re more patient in our own end and letting guys accept their positions and roles and areas that they need to defend in.

“Right away, we need to start shooting pucks … the past two games, the shot count hasn’t been where we wanted it to be in the first 10 minutes. So let’s get some looks and see what happens. Let’s see if we can get the other team scrambling.”



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Seattle, WA

Two local soccer scribes to discuss Seattle’s road to 2026

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Two local soccer scribes to discuss Seattle’s road to 2026


From miners, lumberjacks and seamen to the world arriving on our shores this summer, Folio Seattle will host a program Monday night, with two local soccer scribes detailing the region’s collective footy history in “Seattle’s Road to the 2026 World Cup.”

Matt Pentz, a former soccer reporter for The Seattle Times and The Athletic, is teaming with historian Frank MacDonald, executive director for Washington State Legends of Soccer and occasional Sounder at Heart contributor. The program goes from 6-8 PM at the Folio location in Pike Place Market. Donations of any amount are accepted. 

Pentz and MacDonald will dive into the state’s century-plus adoration of the game and highlight what’s changed in the last generation, since Seattle failed to land matches for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 

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Seattle Torrent put Olympic captain Hilary Knight on long-term IR – Seattle Sports

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Seattle Torrent put Olympic captain Hilary Knight on long-term IR – Seattle Sports


Olympians Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Erin Ambrose have all been placed on long-term injured reserve by their PWHL clubs after sustaining injuries during the Milan Cortina Games.

Kraken sign forwards Ben Meyers, Ryan Winterton to extensions

Knight, a five-time Olympian and captain of the United States team that won gold, will be out of the lineup for the Seattle Torrent indefinitely after sustaining a lower-body injury in Italy, the team announced Friday.

Knight had three goals and three assists for the U.S. at Milan Cortina including a goal in the 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the final. She has three goals and seven assists during the current PWHL season.

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USA comes back to beat Canada in OT for women’s hockey gold

“While we’re eager to be at full strength and recognize the anticipation of Hilary’s return, we’re focused on putting her and our team in the best position for a playoff push,” Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in a statement.

Minnesota Frost captain Coyne Schofield was placed on long-term injured reserve on Friday retroactive to Feb. 19 with an upper-body injury. Coyne Schofield scored three goals for the United States during the Olympics.

“I am incredibly proud of all our Frost Olympians who demonstrated true excellence on the world stage,” general manager Melissa Caruso said in a statement. “We are fully committed to supporting Kendall throughout her recovery, and our medical team will be working diligently to help her prepare for her return to the ice.”

The moves by the Torrent and Frost came a day after the Montreal Victoire announced that Ambrose has been placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 19 for a lower‑body injury suffered while representing Canada in the gold medal game. Ambrose had a pair of assists at the Olympics.

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The Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada’s captain in Italy, was listed as day-to-day with an Olympics-related injury.

Victoire general manager Daniele Sauvageau said of the team’s Olympians “we are confident that they will be back in the lineup in the near future.”

PWHL influence apparent at Olympics with OT medal games




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