Huskies in the headlines: Englund, Dhingra face off in the 45th District
A roundup of news clippings featuring alumni in Seattle and around the world.
Manka Dhingra, left, and Jinyoung Lee Englund
Facing off in the 45th
Two Huskies are running against each other in a special election for Washington’s 45th District Senate seat, which serves Bellevue and Kirkland. Republicans have chosen Jinyoung Lee Englund, ’06, a former aide to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, ’02. Meanwhile, the Democrats have endorsed Manka Dhingra, ’99, a senior deputy in the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
The winner of the November race will determine which party controls the Senate. Democrats control the House of Representatives, as well as the governor’s mansion thanks to Gov. Jay Inslee, ’73. The seat was last held by State Sen. Andy Hill, who died in 2016.
More about Englund in the Kirkland Reporter and Dhingra in The Cascadia Advocate, and they’re on Twitter at @jinyoungenglund and @dhingrama.
What will happen to the Ave?
If location can be considered a character, the Ave is the quirkiest Husky of them all. In a piece called “The Ave Is Funky, Freaky, and Facing a Reckoning,” the Seattle Weekly explores the fate of the rapidly changing commercial heart of the Seattle campus. Peter Steinbrueck, ’88, and Bulldog News owner Doug Campbell, ’77, are photographed and quoted.
Steves shares
Travel writer Rick Steves, ’78, is donating a transitional housing complex for women and kids in need. Steves planned to will the complex, Trinity Place, to the YWCA, but recently decided to donate it while he was still alive. More from KING5.
For Pete’s sake
After one of UW football’s best seasons in recent history, head coach Chris Petersen received a contract extension through 2023, as well as a raise to nearly $5 million a year. More in The Seattle Times.
Daughter of diaspora
Poet Hamda Yusuf, ’16, talks to KUOW about how she battles stereotypes while staying true to herself: “I write for people who reject the so-called necessity for defining yourself and for having to define others around you. I write for Somali girls who are annoyed. I write for Somali girls who are tired. I write for Somali girls who have ambition. I write for anyone and everyone who can connect to a piece.”
Skeleton in the open
It’s never fun to go to the courthouse, especially when you have to deal with traffic fines and small claims, but Snohomish County employee Jewel Shrout, ’13, is trying to lighten the mood a little. Last Halloween, she bought a life-sized skeleton at Home Depot, dressed it in a shirt and tie, gave it a name tag, and sat it at a computer. “People had a lot of fun with him,” Shrout said, “so I asked if he could stay up past Halloween.” The skeleton is now permanently stationed at the front desk. Read more in The Everett Herald’s “What’s Up With That?” blog.
Ghosts of Seattle past
A review of the project “Ghosts of Seattle Past: An Anthology of Lost Seattle Places” by Seattle Times arts critic Moira Macdonald, ’84. “On rainy afternoons, the Last Exit on Brooklyn coffeehouse smelled like wet wool, cigarettes and cinnamon. As an undergraduate at the University of Washington in the 1980s, I frequently sat at its narrow, marble-slab tables, drinking flowery herbal tea from thick, yellowed mugs.”
Class of ’03 coaches
Troy Ready, ’03, will be the new head coach of Warner Pacific College’s men’s soccer program in Portland. As a player, he was the Huskies leading scorer as a senior. He was named All-Pac-10 League for his efforts. Drafted in the first round by the Seattle Sounders, he opted for trials at two clubs in Norway’s 1st Division.
Meanwhile, Loree Payne, ’03, who was a sharpshooting basketball guard at UW, will be head coach of the women’s basketball team at Northern Arizona University. She previously coached seven seasons at the University of Puget Sound.
Kelsey Plum takes final bow of college career
“I think you have to start out being super aggressive,” Kelsey Plum, ’17, said when accepting the John R. Wooden Award, the highest honor in college basketball. “And then you allow the defense to choose what they’re going to take away, and then whatever they take away, you take what they don’t take away.” Story in ESPN.
Terrence Ross tries to find his footing
Former Husky basketball standout Terrence Ross, now on the NBA’s Orlando Magic, tries to adjust to a new team, a new city, and a new summer pastime: not being in the playoffs. Story in the Orlando Sentinel.
From lawbreaker to law professor
The Seattle Times: University of Washington law-school grad Shon Hopwood, ’14, once served time in federal prison for robbing banks. Now he’s accepted a law professorship at Georgetown University.
101 portraits of gun violence
Huffington Post: During his freshman year at the University of Washington, Scott Hayashi, ’77, worked part-time in a record store. Three robbers entered the store and one of them shouted something. As he turned to the man, the thief fired, hitting him in the abdomen. Hayashi is now the Episcopal Bishop of Utah.
Sports sketcher
Yahoo Sports: Keegan Hall, ’03, studied art at the University of Washington before joining the Sonics’ sales department and eventually moving into the start-up business, completely giving up his artistic pursuit. It took more than a decade for a tragic moment to draw him back.
Ron Jacobson joins CWU
Ellensburg Daily Record: Ron Jacobson, ’07, was appointed as the new executive director of the Central Washington University School of Education. Jacobson has been the dean of the College of Education at Northwest University in Kirkland since 2012.
Business leaders share secrets to success
Tacoma News Tribune: Shahrokh Saudagaran, ’86, could have worked anywhere in the country, but in 2004, he became the inaugural dean for UW Tacoma’s Milgard School of Business.
The story behind a Japanese garden
Spokesman-Review: While an art student at UW, Ed Tsutakawa and his family were interned at Minidoka in southern Idaho, along with thousands of other Japanese (Americans) from along the West Coast. The family lost their profitable import and export business while imprisoned. Ed, a natural artist, sketched the camps, designed posters to sell war bonds and served as recreation director.
A poet laureate passes
Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber: Lonny Kaneko, ’61, had a long history as a writer. He attended the University of Washington as both an undergraduate and graduate student and studied with well-known poet Theodore Roethke. Roethke greatly influenced Kaneko, whose work also included fiction and plays. He was named Vashon Island’s poet laureate in 2015, a two-year honor.