Overview of Seattle news: a gastronomic marathon in a food court, questions for the Mariners baseball club, and a multimillion-dollar settlement after a student's death.
Taste of Bellevue: How I Ate 307 Dishes in One Food Court and What Came of It
Journalist and podcaster Tan Vinh undertook a gastronomic marathon that will impress any fan of Asian cuisine. Over thirteen months he managed to try 307 different items at the T&T Supermarket food court in Bellevue, a Seattle suburb. While he didn't reach full coverage of the entire menu — which numbers about 850 rotating items — Vinh believes 300 tastings are sufficient to form a comprehensive picture of the place. He shared his findings and impressions in a new episode of the podcast “Seattle Eats with Tan Vinh.”
The T&T Supermarket food court is, in the author's words, a Chinatown under one roof. It's a labyrinth of flavors featuring dishes you'd find at markets and street stalls in Hong Kong and mainland China: from dim sum and dumplings to Taiwanese sticky rice rolls wrapped in leaves. A useful tip for frugal visitors is the daily discount on perishables after 10 p.m. Thanks to it you can, for example, buy a roasted chicken for about $11 instead of the usual $15 or get 20% off sushi rolls. Vinh discusses all these details and his top culinary discoveries in the episode of his podcast on The Seattle Times website.
The “Seattle Eats with Tan Vinh” podcast is a joint project of The Seattle Times and KUOW, the NPR-member radio station. New episodes about Seattle's food culture and its surroundings are released every Thursday. This particular episode not only demonstrates the host's personal obsession but also serves as a detailed guide to one of the region's key spots for lovers of Asian cuisine, highlighting its authenticity and accessibility.
The Seattle Mariners' Big Question for 2026 — Not the Worst Problem
As spring training approaches, the Seattle Mariners look like one of the American League's main contenders for a World Series berth, backed by their deep late-playoff run last season. However, as MLB Network insider John Morosi notes in his interview for Seattle Sports, the team still has one significant question: whether the bullpen — the group of relief pitchers who replace starters in the middle or late innings — is sufficiently strengthened. Interestingly, Morosi believes this is not the most critical problem to face in February, since building a reliable bullpen often isn't finished until the summer trade deadline.
The Mariners' bullpen core consists of proven high-end pitchers: closer Andrés Muñoz, right-hander Matt Brash and left-hander Gabe Speier. They were joined by right-hander Edwin Basardo, who broke out in 2025, and new lefty José A. Ferrer, on whom the club places high hopes. That means five of eight bullpen spots are already occupied, though some uncertainty remains about the form of Muñoz, Speier and Basardo after their heavy workloads in last year's playoffs and participation in the World Baseball Classic.
Most debate will swirl around the remaining three spots. Candidates include familiar names to fans — Carlos Vargas, Casey Legumina and Emerson Hancock — as well as Troy Taylor, who shone in 2024 but struggled in MLB last season. Spring games will pay special attention to right-hander Yosver Zulueta, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds. His arsenal, featuring a heavy fastball reaching 98 mph and a slider with a high stuff+ (a metric evaluating the “raw” power and effectiveness of pitches, where 100 is average), makes him a typical Mariners “project” that the club has a track record of turning into stars. For comparison, Muñoz's slider last season had a stuff+ of 119, while Zulueta's figure in 2024 reached 121.
Morosi emphasizes that general manager Jerry Dipoto and his staff have a reputation for turning lesser-known players into key bullpen pieces by season's end. So the current uncertainty over the final relief roles is a normal situation for this time of year. A real problem would arise only if key pitchers suffer injuries, but that risk exists for any team in the league. Thus, the Mariners' main issue at the season's start is not roster weakness but incompleteness, leaving room for maneuver and upgrades as the season progresses.
Fate-Defining Settlement
The tragic death of a young student in Seattle led to one of the city's largest settlement agreements, exposing deep problems in the police department and sparking international outcry.
The city of Seattle reached a settlement of $29 million with the family of 23-year-old Indian graduate student Jahnavi Kandula, who died three years ago after being struck by a police patrol vehicle. As MyNorthwest.com reports, the incident occurred on a crosswalk when Officer Kevin Dave, responding to a report of a drug overdose, was traveling up to 74 mph in a 25 mph zone. Although his lights and siren were activated at intersections, such excessive speed in an urban setting was found to be extremely dangerous.
Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison called Kandula's death "heartbreaking," expressing hope that the financial settlement will bring the victim's family some sense of closure. "Jahnavi Kandula's life mattered. She mattered to her family, friends and our community," Davison emphasized. Jahnavi was a student at Northeastern University's Seattle campus, working toward a master's degree in information systems.
The case was inflamed by callous comments made after the woman's death. Dan Auderer, vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), to whom Officer Dave reported the incident, was recorded on body-worn camera during a phone call with the union president. On the recording he laughs and says that "she was going to be 26 anyway" and that "her value was limited," suggesting they simply write a check for $11,000. Auderer later claimed his words were intended to be interpreted "as a mockery of the lawyers," but those explanations did little to calm the wave of international outrage, especially after Indian diplomats intervened and demanded an investigation. The city's civilian oversight board concluded that Auderer's comments, as a union leader, damaged the department's reputation and undermined public trust.
Following the fallout, acting police chief Sue Rahr fired Dan Auderer in summer 2024. Officer Kevin Dave was also fired in January 2025. In addition, Dave was cited administratively for reckless driving with a $5,000 fine, but county prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges, citing an inability to prove he willfully disregarded safety measures. That decision raised further questions about the accountability system.
The case highlighted several key issues: the permissibility of extremely high speeds when responding to calls in an urban area, the internal culture of the police union, and the depth of the consequences for the city's international image. The $29 million settlement, one of the largest in Seattle's history, is not only financial compensation for the family but also a powerful signal of the need for systemic changes in police procedures and ethics.
