Seattle Mourns Loss of Komo Anchor Kathi Goertzen

Seattle residents are mourning the loss of long time Komo TV anchor Kathi Goertzen, who passed away Monday after a 14 year battle with benign brain tumors at the age of 54. Goertzen, a Magnolia resident, celebrated her 25th anniversary on Komo back in 2005, and you can view an extensive list of her greatest moments on Komo on their website.

There will be a public memorial held for Kathi this Sunday afternoon beginning at 1pm at Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center, and doors will open at 12:30pm. Komo has reported that seating will be fairly limited, allowing room for mostly just family, friends, and co-workers of Kathi. The public can sit in the grass, and listen to audio provided for the outside service, but if you’d like a seat, Komo has advised to bring your own lawn chair.

Garbage Piling Up? Waste Management Strike Affects King County

Did you notice your garbage was still in the driveway when you came home from work yesterday afternoon? You weren’t the only one! The Waste Management Team in King and Snohomish counties went on strike yesterday afternoon against the largest refuse service over wage and benefits issues in the Northwest. According to the Seattle Times, the Local 117, which includes 153 recycling-route drivers walked out yesterday, and were joined by the garbage truck drivers of Local 174 shortly after.

Drivers began to pull service trucks into the South Seattle Waste Management yard, stepped out of their vehicles and picked up a picket sign. Their strike affects over 220,000 in King and Snohomish counties, and Waste Management could be issued steep fines should the strike drag out; up to $4,500 dollars a day for failing to make scheduled collections, and $250,000 if the strike drags out longer than a week. Drivers have been without a contract since May 31st, and are disputing the wage gap between recycle drivers who start at $17 an hour vs garbage drivers who’re starting at around $26 an hour. At this time there are no plans for negotiation in place, Waste Management hopes drivers will come back to work. For more information on the strike, visit the Seattle Times.