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FEBRUARY 1, 2023
EMERGING FROM THE ASHES
Fundraiser set up to help QA business owner, others affected by devastating fire
By Jessica Keller Queen Anne & Magnolia News editor
A GoFundMe account has been set up to benefit a Queen Anne business owner and resident who lost almost everything in a fire on West Crocket Street on Upper Queen Anne last week. The fundraiser has since been expanded to include other residents and pets who were affected by the fire, as well. The blaze took place shortly before 7 p.m. Jan. 23 at Minx Designs hair studio in a building at 603 W. Crockett shortly before 7 p.m. Jan. 23. The hair studio owner, Lani Nutt, has been at that location
Photo by Peter Fleisher Firefighters put out the blaze that started inside a business on West Crockett Street the evening of Jan. 23. Minx Designs hair studio owner Lani Nutt lost her business in the fire, as well as most of the contents of her upstairs apartment. A GoFundMe has been established to help Nutt start again, as well as her neighbors who were displaced.
for 17 years, a business owner in Queen Anne for 25 years, and lived in an apartment above the business. Friend and Queen Anne resident Dana Bamshad, who organized the GoFundMe, said on the evening of the fire, Nutt went down to her hair studio to feed the fish in her large tank when she heard crackling noises coming from
SEE FIRE, PAGE 4
@qamagnews VOL. 104, NO. 5
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FALLING AWAKE
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NEW PRESIDENT PAGE 8
Kohl-Welles announces upcoming retirement from Council
Courtesy Kohl-Welles office
King County Councilmember Jeanne KohlWelles on Wednesday announced in a letter to constituents that, after more than 30 years in elected office, she will not seek re-election and will retire at the end of this year. Kohl-Welles has represented District 4, which includes most of northwest Seattle — Queen Anne, Magnolia, Interbay, Belltown, South Lake Union, Ballard, Fremont, Phinney, Greenwood and much of Green Lake — on the council since 2016. “I’ve loved serving on the Council. I’ve absolutely loved it,” Kohl-Welles said in her announcement. “But at some point, it’s time to pass the torch for others to get involved. My entire time in public office has been immensely gratifying; however, there’s a time for everything and I feel really good about this being the time to move on to something new.” Kohl-Welles’ career record includes wins on harassment and discrimination, gender and domestic violence, human trafficking, educational equity, tenants’ rights, homelessness, arts, culture and science funding, the environment and transit. She shepherded round upon round of emergency funding as the budget committee chair for the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic,
including eight COVID budgets as well as the 2021-22 biennial budget and four omnibus supplemental budgets. Kohl-Welles earned a bachelors and master’s degree at Cal State Northridge, following in her mother’s footsteps to become a publicschool teacher, and later a master’s in sociology and a Ph.D. in the sociology of education, both at UCLA. Later, she participated in the Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University. TITLE IX CHAMPION A major focus of her career has been Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded schools and colleges. She cofounded a consulting firm to assist schools in the new law’s implementation and then went on to work as assistant dean of students and coordinator of women’s programs at the University of California, Irvine, as well as a desegregation and educational equity specialist in a contract with the U.S. Department of Education and later as a consultant with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights. It was these experiences that set her on a course toward politics and public
SEE COUNCIL, PAGE 4
File photo King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, center, participates in a blessing ceremony for the United Indians of all Tribe Foundation’s future canoe-carving center in January. Kohl-Welles was instrumental in getting the County Council to allocate funds to build the future center. She announced last week that, after more than 30 years in elected office, she will retire at the end of this year.
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