Seattle Children's nurse Erin Martin is headed to her second Winter Paralympics in para-Nordic skiing — just seven years after first trying the sport.

The big picture: The 2026 Winter Paralympics begin Friday in Milan-Cortina, where Martin will compete among 68 U.S. athletes on the world's biggest stage for winter para-sports.

Flashback: Martin sustained a spinal cord injury in a climbing accident in North Bend more than a decade ago.

• She was introduced to para-Nordic skiing in 2019 by fellow Seattle Children's nurse Heather Galeotalanza.
• The next year, she raced in her first national championship and made her World Cup debut in Germany.
• Within three years, she had qualified for her first Paralympics in Beijing.

Between the lines: Martin trains six days a week, 11 months a year, according to Seattle University, her alma mater. That involves balancing elite competition with her work at the hospital, where she works as a care manager.

What she's saying: "Snow is the least accessible thing on the face of the Earth for wheelchair users," Martin, 39, said in an article for the university. "And so it's pretty fun to be able to get out and explore in the snow. It's very empowering."

Zoom in: She is set to compete in the 1-kilometer sprint, the 10-kilometer race and the biathlon, where athletes race a ski circuit and stop to shoot an air rifle at targets.

• "There is something really cool about the combination of a really hard endurance sport with the highly structured, very precise effort that it takes to shoot accurately," Martin said in the Seattle University article.
• "You have to shoot as quickly as you can because I can't spend two minutes waiting for my heart rate to come down."

What's next: The Paralympics run through March 15. All events will stream on Peacock and broadcast channels USA, CNBC and NBC.

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Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson proposed legislation this week aimed at helping meet her goal of opening 1,000 shelter and emergency housing units citywide this year.

Why it matters: The plan looks to speed up shelter development and expand capacity as Seattle works to reduce the number of people sleeping outside.

Driving the news: Speaking at the Hope Factory in SoDo on Wednesday, Wilson said the city must treat homelessness "like an actual emergency."

• "We're moving faster than ever before, but I want to see the ground start breaking, the hammers start swinging, and fewer people left to sleep in doorways and tents," said Wilson.

What's inside: Her proposal, if passed, would:

• Allow the city's Finance and Administrative Services director to directly sign leases for new shelter sites.
• Raise the current 100-person cap on shelters — including tiny home villages and RV safe parking lots — to 150 people, with one site per council district allowed up to 250.
• Allocate $4.8 million from existing city funds to support new shelters and supportive services.

What they're saying: Stacy Hummons, who was displaced from a Ballard encampment cleared last month, told KOMO that most relocated residents received little help after the move.

• If you want to stop homelessness, give people places to live, Hummons said.

State of play: The plan has support from several council members, including Rob Saka, who said the scale of the crisis "demands action" and that "tiny home villages work," KOMO reported.

• Downtown Seattle Association president and CEO Jon Scholes tells Axios that the mayor's proposal is "the type of bold first step needed to meet the urgency of the homelessness crisis."

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🛣️ All northbound lanes of SR 99 First Avenue South Bridge will close next week from 5 a.m. Monday to 8 p.m. Wednesday for urgent but temporary repairs.

• This is part of a three-phase repair project: temporary steel plates now, limited grate replacement in mid-to-late April, and a full northbound deck fix in 2027. (WSDOT)

🔌 Seattle's push for denser, all-electric housing is facing obstacles under new City Light rules requiring small projects to bury power lines to avoid overwhelming existing poles. (Seattle Times)

🎾 The former Joann Fabrics in Ballard could become a five-court indoor pickleball club, with plans to reopen its parking garage and potentially open by fall pending city approval. (My Ballard)

Seattle has the second highest babysitting rates in the country, according to new UrbanSitter data.

The big picture: Nationally, average sitting rates rose nearly 5% last year, hitting $26.24 per hour for one child,

• Parents are paying nearly $30/hour on average for two kids, the sitter-finding platform says.

Rates tend to be higher in places with steeper costs of living.

• Seattle — at $27.70/hr for one child and $30.79 for two — is eclipsed in sitter costs only by San Francisco ($29.63/hour for 1 kid and $33.70 for two, according to the UrbanSitter report.

Flashback: In 2016, the average cost of babysitters in Seattle came in at $15.17 for one child, $16.77 for two and $19.16 for three, per the data.

See the report

Calm between two shores

White coats gather up the hill

Sit still. Hold on tight.

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