Noon update: Rex has been found.

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Sharon emails:

Our little dog Rex dug a hole under our gate at Northeast 96th Street and Eighth Avenue Northeast and escaped yesterday. He is a corgi-chiuaua mix with collar and red tag that says ginger’s pet rescue. Please call (425) 213-6178 if found!!!

We’ve asked Sharon if she has a photo of Rex. In the meantime, want to know more about this breed? Wiki entry is here.

Known specimens have shown the intelligence and friendliness of the Corgi and the laid-back lap dog attitude of the Chihuahua.

Update: In comments, below, Miriam has provided a link to raw KIRO 7 helicopter news footage of the suspect being placed in a police car, and the victim being interviewed.

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Police arrested an armed robber this afternoon after he attacked a woman on Roosevelt Way Northeast at Northeast 71st Street.

Update: From a Seattle Police news release:

Police arrested a man armed with a knife in Roosevelt Tuesday afternoon after he stole a woman’s purse. The arrest comes after a string of similar robberies in nearby North Seattle neighborhoods, and detectives are investigating whether the cases may be connected.

At about 2:20 p.m. today, police received a report that a man in a windbreaker had cut the purse off the woman’s arm and ran through the yards of several homes near Northeast 71st Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast. Officers caught up to the man and arrested him.

Detectives were already working five similar robberies reported earlier this month.

The first robbery was reported on February 2nd, by a 91-year-old woman, who said a man armed with a knife had stolen her purse as she was walking up the steps to her home near Northeast 75th Street and 39th Avenue Northeast.

Almost two weeks later, on February 14th, a robber armed with a knife cut open the back pocket of a 77-year-old man and stole his wallet near Northeast 60th Street and 35th Avenue Northeast. After stealing the man’s wallet, the robber shoved the man to the ground and fled.

On February 20th, a robber cut the strap off a woman’s purse near Northeast 72nd Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast—just a block from the scene of today’s robbery.

A half-hour after that incident, a robber armed with a box cutter sliced the strap on a woman’s purse near Northeast 65th Street and 35th Avenue Northeast, cutting the woman’s hand in the process.

Finally, on February 25th, a man grabbed a woman’s purse right off her shoulder as she was walking near Northeast 75th Street and 35th Avenue Northeast, as she was on her way home from the grocery store.

All the robberies, including today’s incident, took place between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Robbery detectives are now transporting the man arrested today back to police headquarters, where they will interview him. Again, detectives haven’t yet determined whether these cases are connected, but we’ll post any additional details about these robberies as we get them.

Bring your thinking cap and your appetite for the next class at The Wandering Cafe, 7533 Lake City Way N.E., which is offering “The Chicken and the Egg” cooking class and dinner from 3-7 p.m. March 3.

In the first half, you’ll learn how to to quickly and easily break down a whole chicken and put it all to use, i.e. skin, stock, roasting and pâté. You’ll also about the egg, including proper storage, uses for fresh vs. older eggs, and how to poach a perfect egg.

And you’ll see how it’s all used at the following three-course dinner, which will include:

• For starters: Brandied chicken liver mousse on toast, crispy chicken skin chips
• Main dish: Roast chicken, spring vegetable cianfotta, semolina dumplings, poached egg
• Dessert: Vanilla bean frozen custard, boozy seasonal fruit compote

Wine and sparkling water will be served with dinner, but you’re also welcome to bring your own wine or beer.

Cost is $85, and you can reserve a spot by emailing owner Kristine Pottle at [email protected].

Despite the spate of more violent crimes in our area, one recent report shows that we still get our fair share of (kind of) high-brow crime.

According to the Seattle Police Department Blotter, a man accused of stealing a $55 bottle of wine from the Pinehurst Safeway on Saturday night attacked staffers who tried to intervene.

Police showed up shortly afterward and arrested the suspect, who was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of robbery.

This weekend, schoolchildren from Lake City’s Olympic Hills Elementary at risk of hunger were able to bring home a little extra food thanks to the nonprofit Hunger Intervention Program, which added the school to its “Healthy HIP Packs Program” on Friday.

Through the program, 40 North Seattle elementary schoolchildren go home each weekend with a backpack full of nutritious and kid-friendly foods. The program started with John Rogers Elementary in Lake City, which has been involved for the past year and a half, with the addition of Olympic Hills Elementary and Viewlands Elementary in Greenwood on Friday.

According to a news release from the Hunger Intervention Program, the newly added schools have some of the district’s highest numbers of children relying on free or reduced-price school meals.

“We’re excited to be able to begin expanding our Healthy HIP Packs Program to better address hunger in our local communities,” Kate Murphy, HIP program manager, said in the news release. “This program is such an important resource for children when school meals are not available. I credit this expansion to our collaborative work with north Seattle elementary schools, community supporters and businesses, and our volunteers.” (more…)

The year-old senior “village” that supports seniors in their own homes is celebrating its anniversary next month with an evening with Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl.

In its first year providing services, 55 people between the ages of 60-98 have become members of North East Seattle Together (NEST).

Esther, a 77-year-old Ravenna resident said, “I feel so relieved since joining NEST. Over the past year, I have gained confidence in asking for help. Now I am developing a list of things that I am not going to do on my own. I feel confident in calling and asking NEST for help.”

Transportation, social connections, technology assistance and household maintenance are members’ top requests. To date, more than 100 volunteers have been trained to support NEST members with errands, household tasks, and rides to medical appointments, the hairdresser, or the grocery store.

Volunteer Sharon Greenberg says, “NEST members do not sit around watching TV all day.”

NEST, a 501(c)3 non-profit, serves seniors in the area roughly from Northgate Way south to the ship canal, and from Interstate 5 east to Lake Washington.

NEST is celebrating its first anniversary with “An Evening with Nancy Pearl” held from 5-7 p.m. Sunday, March 24th. For more information about NEST or this event, contact Judy Kinney, NEST executive director, at [email protected], 206.525.6378, or visit www.nestseattle.org.

Disclosure: Mike, the author of this post, is also a NEST board member.

A purse-snatcher armed with a silver knife attacked a woman walking on Roosevelt Way Northeast on Friday afternoon, police report. It was the third such incident reported nearby so far this month.

About Friday’s armed robbery, police report:

On February 22nd at approximately 2:15 p.m. officers responded to the 7200 block of Roosevelt Way NE for the report of an armed street robbery involving a knife. Preliminary investigation indicates that the 50-year-old female victim was walking southbound in the 7200 block of Roosevelt Way NE on the east side of the street. She was carrying her purse strapped diagonally across her chest when she felt tugging on it from behind. As she began to shout the purse came away from her body. She grabbed it and pulled it back toward her.

At that moment the suspect circled around her and she saw that he was holding a silver-colored knife in his hand. Seeing the knife, the victim let go of her purse and the suspect ran off with it eastbound on NE 72nd Street and remains at large. The victim was not injured.

There is no suspect description available at this time.

Police were already searching for an armed robbery suspect who cut a woman’s hand with a knife and stole her purse Wednesday about 3 p.m.

That attack, on 36th Avenue Northeast at Northeast 65th Steet, was similar to one that occurred on Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Day – at 32nd Avenue Northeast and Northeast 60th Street, according to a police report.

For more details see this posting at our sister site, Wedgwood View.

Police patrols in north Seattle have already been increased after a series of four sexual assaults nearby.

Our news partner The Seattle Times has an interesting story today on which neighborhoods use bikes to commute to work.

Bottom line: Maple Leaf bike commuters are right at the citywide average. We’re 2.46 percent, the average of ride-to-work residents is 3 percent. (Use the interactive map on the Times story to see more.)

This is interesting for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that it’s actually kinda hard to bike commute from Maple Leaf.

In our previous post, It’s all uphill to here, we pointed out not only that Maple Leaf is the third highest hill in the city, but that Fifth Avenue Northeast, a very common route between Maple Leaf and downtown, is a whopping (that was our word) 11 percent grade at its steepest section.

The Times says the highest percentage of bike commuters are just north of the U District, at 9.46 percent.

What we’d like to know, though, is how they know. The story is by their librarian, the “FYI Guy,” and he says he analyzed 2012 bike commuting estimates from data provider Experian. It’d be good to know what those estimates are based on.

Update: It was embedded about an inch into the utility pole, about 6 feet off the ground.

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A neighbor says he found this - dart? - Friday sticking out of a utility pole at Northeast 88th Street and 12th Avenue Northeast Roosevelt Way Northeast.

It was imbedded a little over head height. I looked online - hardly cupid’s arrow - it appears to be a crossbow bolt!”

The neighbor says he took the bolt, which is 6-7 inches long, to the Seattle Police North Precinct, but officials said there was little they could do without catching someone in the act.

Update: Max has been found!

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A neighbor emails that Max, a doe-colored dachshund who moved to Maple Leaf on Jan. 1, went missing Tuesday from Northeast 97th Street and 20th Avenue Northeast.

“No collar, but yes, chipped. Answers to ‘Max’. Missing between 8:30 a.m and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb 19.

Spot Max? Call (206) 790-1867 or (206) 599-9484.

(This is a sponsored story written by John Madrid, Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate).

“A house, a house, my kingdom for a house”. If you are in the market for a new home you can probably empathize with Shakespeare’s King Richard III. Single-family homes, townhomes, and even condos are all in short supply throughout most the city.

For Northeast Seattle (including Maple Leaf, University, Wedgwood, View Ridge, and Laurelhurst) there is now less than a 1 month supply of single-family home inventory which is definitely favoring home sellers with the result that homes are really hard to come by. We will continue to see more pre-inspections, multiple offers, and bidding wars on the fewer listings hitting the market.

(more…)

If you’ve been avoiding Northgate Way since construction began last summer, you may now resume your regular travel routes — but don’t get too used to it.

The Seattle Department of Transportation last week announced that all lanes again are open to traffic, and that all of the planned intersection and pedestrian improvements are completed at Northgate Way and Fifth Avenue Northeast. What it means for you:

To help ease traffic congestion, two turn-lane improvements were made. The crews added a left-turn lane from westbound NE Northgate Way onto southbound Fifth Avenue NE, and also extended the right-hand turn lane from northbound Fifth Avenue NE onto eastbound NE Northgate Way. They also built a landscaped median with trees on NE Northgate Way just west of the intersection, created decorative crosswalks on all four sides of the intersection, installed a new traffic signal system, and improved drainage and water quality.

But this spring, SDOT is planning another Northgate construction project along North 105th Street and Northgate Way, all the way from from Greenwood Avenue to Lake City Way. Completion is expected in spring 2014. In a nutshell:

This project will improve the corridor along N 105th Street and N/NE Northgate Way from Greenwood Ave N to Lake City Way NE. Improvements will include roadway repaving, new sidewalks and curb ramps, drainage improvements, street lighting and traffic signals, and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) components.

But more importantly:

This project will have considerable impacts on traffic and the public.

Northeast 85th Street at Roosevelt Way Northeast this morning.

Cliff, at Art Tile, emails:

“The north side of our building was tagged last night. Green spray paint. Tried to report it on line but I don’t think the system took the report.

“Keep an eye out.”

In fact, in addition to Art Tile, at 8511 Roosevelt Way Northeast, several other walls were marked on the west side of Roosevelt between 85st and 86th streets.

Update: Sue asked us to post this link to personal safety information from Seattle Police.

Seattle Police this afternoon released a sketch of the suspect who attacked a woman near Northgate, and said he could be a suspect in other attacks.

The Seattle Police Department has assigned extra officers and tactical units to patrol the North Precinct as detectives continue to investigate a series of weekend attacks on women in North Seattle.

Since Friday evening, police have received four different reports of sexual assaults and attempted sexual assaults on women—all in their mid 30′s to late 40′s—at locations near the I-5 corridor.

Police have developed a sketch of the suspect who sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint Friday evening near Northgate—the first of several attacks now under investigation—but detectives have not yet developed any leads conclusively linking the four incidents.

However, while police have yet to link the crimes, three victims described their attacker as a white male, 20 to 30 years old, between 5’7 and 6’0, 140 to 160 pounds, with short brown hair.

The Northgate attack suspect pictured in the sketch also had sunken light blue eyes, a tattoo under his left forearm, and a gravelly voice.

A new neighbor - in this case a feline one - is missing after moving here this month.

See the attached flier for details, but the cat, with a red collar, has been missing since Sunday from Northeast 89th Street and 12th Avenue Northeast.

The owners are offering a reward. Call them at 425-359-1577.