🏆 Seahawks win it all!

Seahawks’ Redemption Arc Ends With a Win

In 50 seasons as a franchise, the Seahawks have been to the Super Bowl just four times, and now we can say they’ve won half of those games! Seattle took down New England last night with a final score of 29-13. MVP went to Kenneth Walker III, which was well deserved, but truly the entire Seahawks defense and their kicker, Jason Myers should be credited for that win as well. What a team!

• JSN Named Offensive Player of the Year: The Hawks’ third-year receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, was named the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year. He helped to make Seattle's offense the No. 3 scoring offense this season, and he is the second Seahawks player to win this award, following Shaun Alexander in 2005. [My Northwest]
• Bad Bunny Takes Over Seattle: If you’re like me, you’re tuning into the Super Bowl specifically for Bad Bunny. And Seattle businesses are leaning all the way into his star power. Pacific Science Center is holding a “Laser Bad Bunny” show every Saturday night in February. Chop Suey hosted a Bad Bunny Dance Night. And Capitol Hill’s Bonito Café y Mercadito quickly sold out its Bad Bunny inspired vinyl night, Benito de Noche. [Seattle Times]
• Party On, But Stay Grounded: In headlines that had us 😆, the Seattle Police reminded Super Bowl partiers not to drive drunk and… not to climb century-old, fragile structures. Apparently, in 2014, some fans climbed up the Pioneer Square pergola: a cast-iron and glass archway at the corner of Yesler, First, and James. “Let’s just keep the partying on the ground,” Patrick Michaud from the Seattle Police Department told KUOW.

Multiple Student Protests Call for ‘ICE OUT’ of Seattle Schools 🪧

Hundreds of Seattle-area students walked out of school Thursday and Friday to protest ICE and its immigration enforcement tactics. The students who walked out on Thursday gathered at Seattle City Hall downtown. SPS notified parents about the planned walkouts, sharing guidance on student walkouts from the district’s website. [KUOW]

ICE Facility Detainees Sue Group For Alleged Assaults 🚨

The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma holds roughly 1,600 detained people and is one of the largest detention centers in the country. It is now the subject of a lawsuit by three detainees saying the guards "engaged in sexual assault, violent beatings and retaliation" and that the Tacoma Police Department deferred abuse complaints to GEO Group (the private, Florida-based company that runs the center), allowing the company to investigate itself. This practice is backed up by data from the UW Center for Human Rights. [KING 5]

Seattle Athletes Competing In the 2026 Winter Olympics 🥇

The Winter Olympics started over the weekend. If you’re feeling the post-Super Bowl blues, never fear! There are plenty of Seattle athletes to cheer on, including several Torrent players, skiers, and curlers. [Seattle Times]

UW Technology Used In New Vaccine Candidate 💉

A candidate vaccine that fights multiple coronaviruses, including COVID-19 and related, deadly respiratory diseases, is starting human clinical testing in Australia. The vaccine was developed using technology from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design. Unlike most vaccines that target a single virus or strain, this vaccine, called GBP511, aims to protect against multiple coronaviruses at once. Results from the study aren’t expected until 2028. [GeekWire]

WA’s Third-Thinnest Snowpack in 40 Years 😬

Yes, this is bad for skiers and ski resorts alike, but it is also bad for the upcoming spring and summer. Though there has been more snow in the forecast over the last few days, Washington is still headed toward a fourth year of low snowpack levels. Time remains for winter weather to dump inches of snow on the region’s mountains, deputy state climatologist Karin Bumbaco told the Seattle Times, but the current trends aren’t bringing much optimism for the weeks ahead. [Seattle Times]