South Seattle Beacon editor Erik Hansen was recently laid off; the paper will now be edited by Vera Chan-Pool, who also edits the North Seattle Herald-Outlook and the Capitol Hill Times, also produced by Pacific Publishing. The papers will compensate for the reduced staff by sharing more articles in all the chain’s papers, and running fewer stories specific to each neighborhood — Seattle P-I
Bruce Gray at Sound Transit gives us further info about the recent gas leak at the light rail station: “Our contractors were removing sound wall support footings along 17th Avenue when they struck an abandoned, unmarked gas line… The old line has now been capped at the main.”
Jacqueline just wrote to the mailing list about a major gas leak reported at 16th & Lander (presumably at the light rail station) “in case you were wondering about the smell and commotion.” Nineteen units are responding.
Update from Tri Nguyen via Twitter: “Beacon Ave S northbound blocked.” Gabe confirms: “Just drove past. Beacon Ave is all closed down.”
Update from KING5Seattle: “2-inch natural gas line break at Beacon Hill light rail station. People in area advised to keep windows shut and stay inside.” Story here.
Check the comments for more updates.
Another update from KING5Seattle: “Gas has been shut off and final repairs are underway.”
Reader mootkat has posted a video showing the wide area that was closed off:
