Former KIRO Newsradio Reporter

Josh Kerns

Josh Kerns was formerly a reporter for KIRO Newsradio.

Local cops use dance, other unique ways to keep kids out of trouble

When Shoreline Police Officer Dahlia Corona got called to Shorewood High School because of gang problems, it struck her that there had to be a better way to help kids stay out of trouble than just lecturing or arresting them. And rather than tell them what to do, she asked them what they thought would help.
14 years ago

New bus challenges Amtrak in Seattle, Portland

A hip new bus line will begin offering service between Seattle and Portland, challenging Amtrak and the airlines with low fares and modern amenities.
14 years ago

Harley-Davidson found on BC shore could be from tsunami

A Canadian man has made an amazing discovery on the BC shore: A Harley-Davidson that likely came all the way from the Japanese tsunami.
14 years ago

Dan Savage in new controversy for calling parts of Bible BS

Seattle sex columnist and gay rights advocate Dan Savage is embroiled in a new controversy after calling parts of the Bible bull—t during a profanity-laced speech at a high school journalism conference in Seattle. “We can learn to ignore the bull—t in the Bible about gay people the same way we have learned to ignore […]
14 years ago

EMP goes “Back in Black” with exclusive AC/DC exhibition

Angus Young, AC/DC, Atlanta, Georgia, 1978 . Photograph by Rennie Ellis Courtesy of Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive "Highway to Hell", "Back in Black", "You Shook Me All Night Long".

14 years ago

Bored kids? Get them a ‘no whine’ kit

Several services are offering fun in a box for bored kids and parents struggling to keep them entertained. But they're sparking a deeper parental debate within the Seattle's Morning News crew.
14 years ago

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says ‘no back room deals’ for him

Seattle mayor Mike McGinn says he doesn't have time for backroom deals with the city's rich and powerful, and insists that's a good thing.
14 years ago

Planned Parenthood flap taking huge toll on local Komen chapter

Officials with the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation say donations and participants in their biggest fundraiser of the year are down significantly because of the Planned Parenthood funding controversy.
15 years ago

Bullying follow up: Should special needs kids be integrated into regular classrooms?

There’s plenty of outrage over recordings of a New Jersey teacher bullying an autistic student, but it’s also sparking a troubling discussion about integrating special needs kids into public school classrooms. “Should we be sending our profoundly disabled kids to some school to be taken care of by a bunch of strangers as opposed to […]
15 years ago

Washington whooping cough epidemic reaches record levels

State health officials warn a record outbreak of whooping cough could be the most in over six decades.
15 years ago

SPD insists drones won’t be used for spying

The Seattle Police Department insists it won't be using new remote controlled aircraft to spy on people, despite concerns raised by the ACLU.
15 years ago

Powell debate: Do the ends justify the means?

Should the evidence in the Steve Powell child porn case be allowed even if it wasn't what police were looking for?
15 years ago

Capitol Hill Block Party lineup revealed

The Capitol Hill Block Party has grown into one of the most anticipated events of the local summer concert season. And the lineup has just been released, promising to make for a whole lot of happy hipsters to the three-day festival.
15 years ago

Navy band rocks out in the name of national defense

Petty Officer Cliff Murray performing with the Navy rock band "Passage" (image courtesy Navy Band NW) When you think of military music, marching bands, Taps and Sousa usually come to mind.

15 years ago

Meet the man who’s made 1 million Wikipedia edits

Whether it's a history of baseball or a bio of Luke Burbank, you can find out about nearly anything on Wikipedia. But who actually does all the posting and editing of the information on the open source site? Mostly volunteers, but none more dedicated than Justin Knapp.

The 30-year-old Wikipedia devotee just became the first person to complete 1,000,000 edits on the site. And in an interview with Ross and Burbank, he says he does it simply out of a desire to share knowledge with others.

It's a dedication that borders on obsession for the Indiana University nursing student pursuing his third college degree.

"Some days if I'm not busy and if I've got nothing going on, back when I was living with my parents, I would spend the whole 16 hours, the whole waking day and I would just periodically come back to Wikipedia."

Knapp says on average he spend about two hours a day editing others work as well as articles he created himself. Among his highlights, he says a proud achievement was building the bibliography for the Wikipedia entry on George Orwell, which he says is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.

Knapp also has an affinity for music (especially R.E.M.), politics and religion.

Some question whether Wikipedia can survive with just donations and volunteers like Knapp, and the site is said to be perilous financial condition. But Knapp isn't willing to write its obituary.

"As long as there are persons out there who are interested in sharing, and community and openness and liberty and knowledge then of course it will survive."

So what qualifies someone like Knapp to be a Wikipedia editor? Turns out, not much.

"The thing that qualifies me is I make quality edits, I do things that are helpful," Knapp says.

"I have a basic competence in English, I have an idea, a little bit about technically how some of these things work but barring that I have an Internet connection and I want to help and that's all that it really takes."

Knapp is getting plenty of media attention because of his recent accomplishment, but in a somewhat cruel twist there isn't a Wikipedia page about him or his contributions to the site (now the sixth most-visited on the Internet.) And that's just fine with him.

"I'm not the sort of person who really likes the spotlight," he tells Ross and Burbank.



15 years ago

Why Death Cab’s Gibbard didn’t cheer for perfect game against M’s

While plenty of Mariners fans were cheering the perfect game tossed against the team Saturday by Chicago’s Philip Humber, Death Cab for Cutie leader Ben Gibbard wasn’t one of them. Listen to Why Ben Gibbard isn’t cheering perfect game The hardcore M’s fan and frontman of the best-selling Seattle rock band tells Ross and Burbank […]
15 years ago

Should we worry about Seattle Police flying remote eyes in the sky?

The ACLA is raising red flags about privacy concerns after word surfaced last week the SPD has received FAA approval to deploy several unmanned drone aircraft to patrol the skies over the city.

15 years ago

UW professor on mission to clear out space junk

A University of Washington professor says space junk is threatening our satellites, which means our GPS, mobile phones and cable TV could be in jeopardy. But he's come up with a futuristic way to clean it up.
15 years ago

Seattle’s largest Catholic church won’t join anti-gay marriage signature drive

Seattle's largest Catholic church will not be taking part in signature-gathering to stop same-sex marriage, despite a recent call by Western Washington's Catholic leaders.
15 years ago

Seattle teacher loses cool, attacks unruly student

A Seattle high school teacher faces felony charges after losing his temper and attacking an unruly student.
15 years ago

Catholic Church steps up local efforts to stop gay marriage

Catholics in Western Washington can expect to see plenty of signature gatherers on Sundays as Church leaders push to stop same sex marriage.
15 years ago

Group seeks to help families of injured soldiers at JBLM who need place to stay

A new community-wide effort is underway to provide a badly needed place to stay for families of injured service members hospitalized at JBLM.
15 years ago

Microsoft needs to gain traction with latest Windows Phone

Is it Microsoft's last, best chance to become a player in the mobile phone market? Some analysts say the company's much ballyhooed launch of the new Nokia Lumia 900 smartphone over the weekend is a make or break moment for the company's future.
15 years ago

Do server farms in Quincy stink?

The huge buildings that house thousands of computer servers for tech titans like Microsoft and Yahoo have become a cash crop for Quincy.
15 years ago