CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUP: Murder charge filed in Junction woman’s death
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 25-year-old Solomon D. Whitt with first-degree murder in the death of his roommate, identified by authorities as 41-year-old Jana Layman. As reported by Seattle Police yesterday, Ms. Layman died January 13th, three days after she was taken to the hospital after Whitt claimed she had fallen down the stairs in the Junction home where he lived with her and her two children. He was arrested six days later. The charging documents say he attacked her after she asked him to move out. Prosecutors say Whitt has no criminal history but asked that his bail remain at $2 million because of “the danger he presents to our community.” He remains in jail awaiting arraignment. The charging documents say the defendant and victim met while working in a youth-sports program, and that he moved in a little over a year ago to help with her children. A commenter following our Wednesday report says donations are being accepted via this church website – choose “Jana’s Family Care Fund.”
PHOTOS: Southern Resident Killer Whales, visiting West Seattle
Through the morning and afternoon, we published updates on Southern Resident Killer Whales in the area, first southbound, then northbound before sunset. Tonight, some photos! Thanks to David Hutchinson for the first and third photo, Kersti Muul (today’s original tipster) for the one directly below:
Kersti says members of all three resident pods were in the area today; her photo above shows Onyx (L87) and Nugget (L55).
We just missed the whales by the time we got to Alki to have a look, but Donna Sandstrom of The Whale Trail was there, assisting with land-based viewing, which is one of TWT’s missions.
Traffic, trails, camping, LEAD, and more @ HPAC
Also meeting this week for the first time since October: HPAC (which now encompasses Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge). For one, the group voted on a new logo, created by Dina Lydia of Digital Genie:
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Other topics:
DISCUSSION WITH POLICE: Southwest Precinct operations commander Lt. Steve Strand was there, and encampment-related issues were a big topic, as was traffic.
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FOLLOWUP: Speed-limit cut to bring thousands of new signs
When Kyle told us last week about the removal of the unauthorized speed-camera signs in Arbor Heights, he observed that ideally SDOT would have installed one of the new lower-speed-limit signs while there. It’s been more than a month since the announcement that all arterials would go to 25 mph – with our part of the city among the first to get new signage – so we asked SDOT for an update. The reply:
We are underway with necessary preparation work to enable us to install the new speed limit signs. We installed new speed limit signs on Rainier Ave S in December, and expect to drastically ramp up installations in February. We are prioritizing reducing speeds in Southeast Seattle first, and will then move on to West Seattle and the Central District. It will take us several months to complete this work in these neighborhoods, and up to a year and half to complete sign installations citywide.
Over the past month, our maintenance crews and planners have been working to prepare for this project. We have begun manufacturing the new signs and have also been working to determine the most effective locations for new signs on arterial roads in South and West Seattle. This requires planners to analyze crash data and scout out every arterial road to determine where signs will be most visible based on the landscape ahead of issuing work orders.
In addition to reducing speed limits, we also plan to greatly increase the number of speed limit signs in order to increase awareness of the change. Today, many arterial roads have speed limit signs roughly 1 – 1.5 miles apart. Increasing the frequently of signs makes them more visible and improves their effectiveness, so we are planning to place new signs approximately every 0.25 miles citywide. This will be a very large project, requiring us to manufacture and install about 2,500 – 3,000 new signs throughout Seattle.
P.S. We have another SDOT-project followup on the way, tonight or tomorrow: What’s left to do on the Avalon/35th/Alaska project, and how long it’ll take; we went downtown for a snow-delayed interview with project leaders.
TAKING THE TEST? Local SAT prep course planned
If a student in your family is planning to take the SAT – you might be interested in this announcement:
Seattle Lutheran High School is hosting a SAT Prep class February – April – and you need to sign up fast:
WSHS and CSIHS students (or any other high school) are invited to join SLHS students in taking a SAT Prep course taught by a Kaplan instructor and held at Seattle Lutheran HS in The Junction. The target audience is juniors but sophomores are welcome to join if they’d like to get a head start on preparing for the SAT. Please click here to see the flyer with dates and times and to register online. The registration deadline is January 24. Keep in mind that the class often fills before the deadline in past years. Please contact Tami Clark with any questions at tclark@seattlelutheran.org
WHALE-WATCHING: Orcas in the area (AFTERNOON UPDATES)
8:28 AM: Southbound orcas, south of Fsuntleroy, with “more coming,” reports Kersti Muul. Let us know if you see them!
9 AM: Kersti says a NB group is heading out of Colvos Passage (west side of Vashon).
2:16 PM: The now-NB orcas, mentioned by Kersti in a comment, are passing Three Tree Point south of here, but visibility on the water is poor as the rain/fog persists.
2:40 PM: Kersti is on the shore just south of Fauntleroy and says they ARE visible, even without binoculars, as they continue heading slowly north.
3:39 PM: Donna Sandstrom from The Whale Trail says they’re south of Alki Point now, putting on the best show in a long time!
TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday watch
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7 AM: Good morning. 2 problems reported right now – a stalled vehicle on NB 99 at Lander, and a crash on the westbound West Seattle Bridge at Delridge. Texters also mention an eastbound crash, but we aren’t seeing a dispatch on that so far.
7:05 AM: Now SDOT is mentioning the eastbound WS Bridge crash – and SFD has corrected its dispatch log to reflect it’s responding to the EB bridge, not WB.
7:20 AM: Multiple texters/tweeters describe it as a six-vehicle crash No major injuries, apparently, as most of the SFD dispatch has been dismissed.
7:34 AM: Crash scene not cleared yet; city map shows, unsurprisingly, feeder routes backed up.
8:29 AM: Finally clear.
10:15 AM: Thanks to David for the tip. If you’re headed to I-5, heads-up on an embankment fire just north of the bridge.
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