Articles by Andrew Atkins
Days After Deadly Shooting, Seattle Tightens Security on Festivities
By the south Seattle shoreline, hundreds of people sat on the lawn as Blue Angels fighter jets did flips overhead, roaring through the air. Lovel Gibson, 50, stood with his family to watch the show this weekend. He knew that a few days earlier, gunfire had torn through a Seattle food festival about 7 miles north, killing three and wounding at least four others, but he wouldn't let that deter an outing to the city's Seafair Weekend Festival.
Days After Deadly Shooting, Seattle Tightens Security on Festivities
A recent shooting that killed three people at a food festival in Seattle did not deter crowds from the city’s Seafair Weekend Festival. By the South Seattle shoreline, hundreds of people sat on the lawn as Blue Angel fighter jets did flips overhead, roaring through the air. Lovel Gibson, 50, stood … The New York Times - Sejal Govindarao, Drew Atkins, Anna Griffin • 23m Read more on nytimes.com South Seattle Katie Wilson Seattle King County (Wash.) Western Washington State
Days After Deadly Shooting, Seattle Tightens Security on Festivities
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. By the South Seattle shoreline, hundreds of people sat on the lawn as Blue Angel fighter jets did flips overhead, roaring through the air. Lovel Gibson, 50, stood with his family to watch the show this weekend.
Ghost Gun Was Used in Seattle Festival Shooting, Police Say Original
Seattle police said Tuesday that the 15-year-old arrested on Sunday after a shooting at a food festival that left three dead and at least four wounded, including a toddler, had used a ghost gun, an untraceable firearm assembled without serial numbers. The youth apprehended in the closing hours of a food festival near the city’s Space Needle had used a weapon that included an extended 33-round magazine, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
Seattle Police Search for 3rd Shooter in Deadly Attack at Food Festival
At least three people were involved in a gunfight that killed three and wounded as many as five others, including a toddler, at a food festival near the Space Needle, the Seattle Police said Monday. A 15-year-old was detained and charged with three counts of first-degree assault. In court documents, investigators said there were at least two other people involved in the gunfight: a 19-year-old man who died at the scene and another person whose identity is unknown.
It's a scary time to be LGBTQ+. But we can't let fear win. | Opinion
I am not asking you to ignore the perils of what it means to live openly and queerly. I am saying that we have to do it scared. Drew Atkins USA TODAY June 25, 2026, 7:01 a.m. ET I can’t help eyeing headlines around backsliding support for LGBTQ+ folk with a mixture of fear, exhaustion and determination. It’s a frightening time to be openly queer. That’s why we must be so, anyway. A recent Gallup poll identified regressing support for LGBTQ+ issues after nearly two decades of growth.
It's a scary time to be LGBTQ+. But we can't let fear win. | Opinion Original
June 22, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET I can’t help eyeing headlines around backsliding support for LGBTQ+ folk with a mixture of fear, exhaustion and determination. It’s a frightening time to be openly queer. That’s why we must be so, anyway. A recent Gallup poll identified regressing support for LGBTQ+ issues after nearly two decades of growth. A 2025 survey from the Trevor Project revealed that 1 in 10 LGBTQ+ youth attempted suicide.
I used National Poetry Month to confront my fear of cringe | Opinion Original
April 30, 2026, 5:06 a.m. ET Just post it. I’m not sure if I’m saying this to the wannabe poet or the Gen Zer or millennial whose fear of invoking cringe leaves their finger quaking over the upload button, but my message is the same. At the beginning of April, National Poetry Month, I decided to get vulnerable. To embrace creativity and face any self-imposed or (perceived) external rejection, I’d write and post a poem as a daily exercise. For the past month, my journal factory exploded.
'Wicked: For Good' didn't get snubbed. It already won. | Opinion Original
Jan. 23, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET “Wicked: For Good” earned a whopping zero Oscar nods, and the presumed snub brings blessed relief for at least one clear message it sends: Let’s go ahead and pack this one up. Where the first entry earned 10 Academy Award nominations and two wins – for best costume design and best production design – its sequel earned none.
Washington residents return home to extensive flood damage
Gwendolyn Corley works on cleaning her property that flooded after historically high waters from the nearby Skagit River receded in Hamilton, Wash., on Saturday. Thousands of residents in northern Washington spent Saturday assessing damage and starting the arduous cleanup process during a respite from the severe storm that lashed the region. BURLINGTON, Wash. -- The rain mercifully began to let up Saturday in Washington state, but that may have been of little solace to Liz Trujillo.
Washington Residents Return Home to Extensive Flood Damage
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. The rain mercifully began to let up Saturday in Washington state, but that may have been of little solace to Liz Trujillo. Her four horses grazed in her front yard, a few feet from the inflatable snowmen and sequined reindeer. A lone goat roamed nearby. And, in all directions, completely surrounding her house, were deep flood waters.
Washington Residents Return Home to Extensive Flood Damage
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. -- When James Cameron swept the Oscars in 1998 for "Titanic" -- the epic he called "Romeo and Juliet," but wet -- he g…
Flooding that forced people onto rooftops in Washington state 'is not over'
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Storms that dumped as much as 6 inches of rain on parts of Washington state this week, forcing dramatic helicopter rescues and 100,000 people to evacuate, left the region facing more dangerous conditions and a heavy price tag, even as rivers began to recede Friday. State leaders at an afternoon news conference said that no deaths had been reported despite the raging floodwaters but warned that although the rains have eased, the risk remains. “This is not over,” said Gov.
Flooding That Forced People Onto Rooftops in Washington State 'Is Not Over'
If Germany were invaded, just 38% of its citizens would be willing to fight for their country, according to a recent poll. Fifty-nine percent …
100,000 Ordered to Evacuate as Rivers Rise in Washington State
My researcher, Andrew Trunsky, suggested gummies as a Thanksgiving side dish. He knows the annual toast to President Donald Trump at my family…
100,000 ordered to evacuate as rivers rise in Washington State
A man crosses the Division Street Bridge as the rising Skagit River passes near downtown Mount Vernon, Wash., on Thursday. The river is forecast to crest on Friday morning after several days of heavy rain pushed waterways in the region to record levels. GRANT HINDSLEY NYT PORTLAND, Ore. - Eric Fritch surveyed his 132-acre farm in western Washington state on Thursday in the only way possible: by boat.
100,000 Ordered to Evacuate as Rivers Rise in Washington State
NEW YORK -- Sitting among a boisterous crowd of friends and family at the Hirschl & Adler Galleries on Madison Avenue in New York City, Co…
'No Idea How Long People Can Hold Out': Federal Workers Feel Brunt of Shutdown
WASHINGTON -- When Jill Hornick woke up on a recent Monday morning, her first thought was that her timecard would be submitted that day for her job with the Social Security Administration in Chicago. But this Monday was different. The federal government was locked in a shutdown, and she received a paycheck for $0.
‘No Idea How Long People Can Hold Out’: Federal Workers Feel Brunt of Shutdown Original
When Jill Hornick woke up on Monday morning, her first thought was that her timecard would be submitted that day for her job with the Social Security Administration in Chicago. But this Monday was different. The federal government was locked in a shutdown, and she received a paycheck for $0. “This is the only income I have,” she said. “And I just started crying. I had a meltdown.” Ms. Hornick, 59, is one of 730,000 federal employees working without pay because of the impasse.
'No Idea How Long People Can Hold Out': Federal Workers Feel Brunt of Shutdown
WASHINGTON -- When Jill Hornick woke up on a recent Monday morning, her first thought was that her timecard would be submitted that day for her job with the Social Security Administration in Chicago. But this Monday was different. The federal government was locked in a shutdown, and she received a paycheck for $0.
'No Idea How Long People Can Hold Out': Federal Workers Feel Brunt of Shutdown
WASHINGTON -- When Jill Hornick woke up on a recent Monday morning, her first thought was that her timecard would be submitted that day for her job with the Social Security Administration in Chicago. But this Monday was different. The federal government was locked in a shutdown, and she received a paycheck for $0.
My dad was an artist and alcoholic. I didn't understand him until he died. | Opinion
I wasn’t sure I really wanted another box of my dad’s things. That’s not true. I knew I didn’t want them. His friends and family, historically, tend to give me what once belonged to him. His memories. His jokes. His artwork. They think I want these because I’m his son.
My dad was an artist and alcoholic. I didn't understand him until he died. | Opinion
I wasn’t sure I really wanted another box of my dad’s things. That’s not true. I knew I didn’t want them. His friends and family, historically, tend to give me what once belonged to him. His memories. His jokes. His artwork. They think I want these because I’m his son. I’ve always resented that. I saw it differently – more of a one-way transaction of a burden. “Take these off my hands,” they seemed to say.
Do you celebrate pride? Are you worried about Trump's impacts on it? Tell us. | Opinion Original
Do you ever stop to think how much wisdom and guidance is lost when a generation dies? A project in college opened a mental window into the vibrant tapestry of LGBTQ+ history. It helped me contextualize, for the first time, what pride was. During the Stonewall riots, under the advocacy of icons like Marsha P. Johnson – a trans woman forced into survival sex by society’s rejection of people like her – our predecessors demanded a better tomorrow for the LGBTQ+ people who would come next.
Judge Blocks Trump’s Plan to End Funds for Trans Youth Health Providers in 4 States
A federal judge in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction late Friday blocking the government from withholding federal funds from hospitals in four states that offer gender-transition treatment for people under 19. The decision dealt a setback to a key part of the Trump administration’s broad effort to limit the official recognition of transgender identity. The judge, Lauren J.
Judge Blocks Trump's Plan to End Funds for Trans Youth Health Providers in 4 States
A federal judge in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction late Friday blocking the government from withholding federal funds from hospitals in four states that offer gender-transition treatment for people under 19. The decision dealt a setback to a key part of the Trump administration's broad effort to limit the official recognition of transgender identity. The judge, Lauren J.
The Best SWFL Family-Friendly Restaurants That Parents Love Too
We want our children to be ‘good eaters’—adventurous diners who eagerly accept all forms of fruits and veggies and never protest at a host’s table. But, forcing new foods on picky diners is never the answer. You want to entice them. The first step to cultivating a love of varied foods is exposure. Fortunately, some of the best restaurants in town offer ideal conditions to introduce young ones to global cuisines and fine-dining-lite settings.
Local eateries expand young palates with global flavors
We want our children to be “good eaters”—adventurous diners who eagerly accept all forms of fruits and veggies and never protest at a host’s table. But forcing new foods on picky diners is never the answer; you want to entice them. The first step to cultivating a love of varied foods is exposure. Fortunately, some of the best restaurants in town offer ideal conditions for introducing young ones to global cuisines and fine-dining-lite settings.
Valentine’s Day dining in Southwest Florida
It’s peak romance season in Southwest Florida, and dining institutions from Naples to Fort Myers are turning out for the perfect date night on Valentine’s Day. Read on for specials, below. COLLIER COUNTY Baleen prepares a three-course meal for $145. Make Reservation Bicyclette Cookshop plans a Valentine’s Day menu, including roasted octopus and beef Wellington. Make reservation Edgewater Beach Hotel offers a four-course menu for $120.
Five Key Takeaways from the 2024 Naples Winter Wine Festival
The 2024 Naples Winter Wine Festival enjoyed yet another glittering success, drawing an international roster of chefs, vintners and attendees that cement the festival among the world’s most recognizable. In the span of about five hours, the festival’s expansive auction lots—including an electric Rolls-Royce and a star-worthy tour of Music City—shattered records on an unprecedented scale. Here’s what to know. The 2024 Naples Winter Wine Festival’s live auction raised over $33 million.
2024 SWFL Wine & Food Fest raises more than $2 million
The SWFL Wine & Food Fest has raised more than $27 million in support of pediatric care in the region, and the Jan. 20 live auction in Fort Myers added another $2 million to that total. The SWFL Wine & Food Fest is the fundraising arm of SWFL Children’s Charities, Inc., which relies on a cache of sought-after pours, plates and prizes to drum up our region’s signature generosity for kids.
The Immokalee Nonprofit Mitigating Food Insecurity
It’s a steamy July afternoon. The sun is blistering, and early evening storm clouds are bubbling on the horizon. Lupita Vazquez is on a ladder, plucking young shoots and tender leaves of chayawhile inspecting for quality—is it yellow and chewed up? Or is it lush and verdant? She’s perched at the rear of a lush oasis behind the long, squat building of pastor Miguel Estrada’s Misión Peniel, an offshoot of Peace River Presbytery on Boston Avenue in Immokalee.
Southwest Florida's Best New Restaurants 2023
I spend most of the year nose down, researching, writing and editing stories about the restaurants defining our region and the food enriching our lives. Every so often, I stumble across a place that sends me into a sort of stupor: a restaurant prompting me to rethink my preconceived notions of what food could and should be. This year, I can count on one hand—four fingers, to be exact—the places that prompted such a paradigm shift. This is the metric by which we’ve chosen our best new restaurants.
5 Best New SWFL Restaurants for Friends and Date Night
As we prepared our list of Best New Restaurants for 2024, one thing was clear—there’s an elevated focus on gathering in Southwest Florida. After all, food is a primary vehicle for understanding and connecting to our communities. What and how we eat transcends cultural boundaries and languages and builds bridges. In a single recipe, you connect to a people, a history, a culture—or all three—via decades of fine-tuning and generations of guidance.
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples' grand return
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The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, returned to majestic form in July with its long-awaited reopening after being shuttered since May 2021. The renovation and expansion are fitting for the location, which is considered the national crown jewel for The Ritz-Carlton, opening as the second resort for the brand in 1983. Architect Cooper Carry and Parker-Torres Design worked to honor the property’s history while keeping the future in mind.
By Southwest Floridians, Andrew Atkins Verified
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Gulfshore Life (Bonita Springs, Florida)
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Bonita Springs’ music scene heats up
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Bonita Springs continues to grow into a veritable culinary and arts destination, and the latest brainchild from the minds of the well-loved Sugarshack Music Channel and Maine-based Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co.—a hybrid music venue and gastropub between the groups—marks the next great chapter in Bonita’s storied history. For Sugarshack founder Eddie Kopp, the space is a place for the community to rally around local talent. “It’s tough to find a good gig around here,” he says.
By Southwest Floridians, Andrew Atkins Verified
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Gulfshore Life (Bonita Springs, Florida)
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Meet Cape Coral's Cocktail Maven
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“She’s the genius behind every cocktail that goes out of here,” Ralph Centalonza, owner of Cape Coral’s Sage on 47th, says about Brittany Bowman, Sage’s bar manager. You’ll spot Brittany lining up libations behind the expansive bar, her nonchalance belying how crucial she’s been to several Cape-defining dining institutions.
By Southwest Floridians, Andrew Atkins Verified
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Gulfshore Life (Bonita Springs, Florida)
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The Dish to Try at Naples' The MED
At The MED, in Naples’ Bayshore Arts District, the partnership between chef Tommy Francavilla and hospitality doyenne Mary Brandt (of Veranda E and Hotel Escalante) yields dish after irresistible dish. Case in point: the fiocchi allo zola, which arrives in front of you with a ceremonious clatter of tableware. The pear-and-cheese-stuffed pasta undulates in silken ripples, swimming in a lush gorgonzola béchamel.
Your Guide to Southwest Florida Stone Crabs
Here are the claw spots we love to dive into. Get cracking! Go For: Boat-to-table claws (the owner is a crabber), waterfront views, open-air seating and the salty breeze among Florida’s untamed wilderness in Everglades City. Don’t Miss: The rich Key lime pie milkshake—the perfect oh-so-Floridian pairing for stone crabs. Love This: The Blessing of the Fleet, which honors the beginning of stone crab season, is held at the restaurant on September 30.
Chef Vincenzo Betulia's New Endeavor: Tulia Catering
Imagine a five-course meal catered from the kitchen of a Port Royal mansion, yachts bobbing in the bay out back. Here, Vincenzo Betulia—alongside his trusted roster of chefs (including company pastry pro Maria Selas and chefs Shane Rossbach and Amado De Paz)—prepares lobster with burrata and pickled eggplant. He spoons dollops of housemade ricotta for a runny egg yolk ravioli before moving to Wagyu steak, finished in a red wine reduction and paired with a round of layered spun potato.
Your Guide to Nonalcholic Drinking in Southwest Florida
Sage on 47th is something like a love letter to the community that’s bolstered chef-owner Ralph Centalonza through his more than three decades in the local restaurant industry. The Cape Coral restaurant—named after Ralph’s daughter—has remained packed nightly since its late-April opening. “One of the best problems in town,” Ralph says of keeping up with the rushes.
2024 Naples Winter Wine Festival chefs and vintners announced
The Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF) announced its high-powered list of revered vintners and Michelin-starred chefs participating in the 24th annual Naples Winter Wine Festival in January. This year’s honored vintner, Veronique Boss-Drouhin, and chef de cuisine, Paul Bartolotta, will be joined by an impressive roster of international talent to bring the theme, “Generosity in Full Bloom,” to fruition.
Top Naples Chefs Recreate Historic Recipes
Food is a powerful vessel for memories. And for food columnist and Naples’ first official historian, Doris Reynolds, the city’s past was embossed in her mind as the smell of dishes wafting from her first Thanksgiving in town at the old Gulf Hotel in 1952; dinners at Kelly’s Fish House, Naples’ oldest restaurant; and the impromptu parties with bountiful spreads in her eclectic 13th Avenue South home.
Nutrition: Food as Medicine
Lisa Brown was burnt out. As an EMT. As a competitive powerlifter. As a student earning her master’s in forensic psychology. She found herself getting sick with hormonal imbalances, insomnia and cysts. She turned to medication without paying attention to how diet and lifestyle affected her health. That made things worse. In time, she shifted to holistic health practices, accumulating tiny change after tiny change that snowballed into a sea of change for her health.
Lisa Brown's ingredients for maximum health
Food pro, personal chef and yoga instructor Lisa Brown of Free Flowing Health offers a primer on how to optimize your life through food and mindfulness practices. Getting your healthy-eating journey started doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing, Lisa says. “Approach this with a beginner’s mind and know that we weren’t born learning how to run.” A great place to start is right in your pantry. Optimize your Pantry Reset.
Southwest Florida's Flourishing Functional Fungi
Mushrooms are having a moment—on TV; in decor and fashion through T-shirts embroidered with sayings such as ‘I have good morels’ and ‘Let that shiitake go;’ in white-tablecloth restaurants, and on farms. In recent years, growers have been maximizing fungi’s anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties by harvesting ever-rarer varieties.
July 4 Events and Things to do in Southwest Florida
Fireworks, live music and fresh barbecue are American staples. Check out these local Independence Day celebrations boasting all that—and more.
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples Reopens July 6
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, reopens on July 6 as it debuts its ‘Evolution of an Icon’ project, with new pools, bungalows and cabanas, in addition to redesigned rooms and suites, and a new resort lobby bar offering a Champagne tasting curated by Master Sommelier Elyse Lambert. Club Level guests (who get a dedicated concierge) can find the new Vanderbilt Tower—featuring more than 70 rooms—with an expansive The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge and five complimentary food offerings daily.
Naples' New Mediterranean Gem is in East Naples
My first trip through The MED’s azure front door marks my umpteenth time visiting the Bayshore Arts District. This moment feels as familiar as it does new. My partner and I sit at the table, where we clasp flutes of bubbly. We toast, sip, and I close my eyes, losing myself in memory.
Wine Bars Pop Up Across SWFL
The aperitivo pre-dinner-drink culture may have started in Italy, but the ritual transcends regional boundaries. The idea of gathering with friends at dusk to raise a glass conjures romantic notions of lazy afternoons and time well spent. Originally intended to ignite your appetite with a low-ABV sipper and morsels of olives and cheeses to tide you over until the main event, the tradition has become more about the experience of communing.
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