Marshawn Lynch Expected to Play Sunday & More News

Every dog has its day. And that day has finally come for Tillie the setter, a dog that Governor Inslee will present with the Washingtonian of the Day award, KING 5 News reports. Tillie stood ground for a week after her canine friend, Phoebe, fell in an old cistern on Vashon Island. The two pups wandered off from their home in September before Phoebe had her unfortunate fall. Searchers eventually found the dogs, cold and hungry, but otherwise fine. The award honors Tillie’s bravery and loyalty.

A transplant patient from Aberdeen is the first person to try the University of Washington’s “heart in a box” machine, a device that keeps organs in good condition when they’re transported to patients, the Seattle Times reports. Experts at UW hope the machine—designed to keep the heart warm and beating during the time outside the body—will boost the number of usable organs for transplants. “I feel like a million bucks,” transplant patient Ted Daniels told the Times. “I get to watch my girls grow up; spend a couple more years with my wife … I wasn’t quite ready to check out. I’ve got so much more stuff to do.”

Recent staff reductions in the Seattle school district caused quite a stir among parents, who crashed a Seattle Public Schools committee meeting Wednesday to voice their concerns, says KING 5. Board members initially refused to acknowledge the parents—as it was not included on the week’s agenda—but this only further angered the group, whose unwillingness to back down forced members to hear them out. “You work for us, this is our school district for our kids,” one parent told board director Sue Peters, according to KING 5. “These meetings, these drastic cuts cannot happen in the dark.” Preliminary numbers from the district indicate that about 27 full-time employees will be removed from 24 schools and placed elsewhere. Parents and board members failed to reach a resolution, but several parents told KING 5 they will not give up the fight. 

Seattle Seahawks All-Pro middle linebacker Bobby Wagner is a game-day decision to play in Sunday’s matchup with the Carolina Panthers, according to the team’s website. Wagner strained a pectoral muscle in Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. “He feels a lot better than he did at game time when he was hurt,” head coach Pete Carroll told reporters at Wednesday’s press conference. “We’re just going to see how it goes. It’ll go all the way to the game, for sure.” Carroll also said running back Marshawn Lynch is expected to suit up Sunday after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury.