The airport opened for passenger service, bikini baristas took their fight to a U.S. appeals court, light rail’s approach became visible and forensic genealogy was a groundbreaking investigative tool — all in 2019.

Presented in chronological order, these are the Daily Herald news stories that defined the year, and might shape the ones ahead.

Bikini baristas: ‘Advanced math’ needed to define city rules

Employees and owners of “bikini barista” coffee stands sparred with the City of Everett in courtrooms in recent years, and the battle landed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February. Definitions of human anatomy and First Amendment rights played a central role in the legal saga, which was decided in favor of the city in July. But the bikini baristas may seek to continue the argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Russia says this valley near Arlington is a nuclear target

Arlington had an unexpected scare in February, when a saber-rattling Russian TV news broadcast featured potential targets for submarine-launched nuclear missiles. Along with the Pentagon and Camp David, there was something closer to home: Naval Radio Station Jim Creek. The radio station, surrounded by forest in the Cascade foothills about 10 miles east of Arlington, provides command-and-control communications for the Pacific submarine fleet. Stateside experts said the menacing Russian broadcast should give no reason to worry beyond the general anxiety of the nuclear-arms threat.

And we’re off! First passenger flight leaves Everett

The first opportunity for fare-paying passengers out of Paine Field came at 10:30 a.m. March 4 on a trip to Las Vegas. The first Horizon Air (a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines) plane took off to Portland around 10 a.m. that day. It was filled with dignitaries.

‘The light rail is coming’: Link brings growth to Lynnwood

As light rail construction crawls from Northgate toward Lynnwood, the city is preparing for an expected influx of more than 17,000 residents by 2035. The skyline is quickly changing to accommodate that projected growth. Along I-5, preparations were visible as trees lining the freeway were cleared and the land was flattened for light rail.

‘Barefoot Bandit’ asks judge to shorten his supervised release

Colton Harris-Moore, whose prolific crime spree ended in the Bahamas after five plane thefts and escapes on foot, sometimes without shoes, said travel restrictions were holding back a lucrative public-speaking career. The 28-year-old spent 6½ years in prison. He wrote in April to U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones, asking that his supervised probation period be shortened. The judge was not convinced.

She’d go back to prison if it would erase her $7.6M debt

Christine Hendrickson stole expensive software from Microsoft. The Bothell woman will never be able to pay off the enormous restitution, effectively giving her a lifelong sentence. In the early 2000s, she and three co-workers took tens of millions of dollars worth of software from Microsoft, where they were employed, then sold it to people across the country for personal profit. Nearly 20 years later, Hendrickson still owes $7.4 million to a company now worth over a trillion dollars for stealing software that’s long outdated.

My cousin, the killer: Her DNA cracked a 1987 double murder

For decades, sheriff’s detectives searched for the person who shot Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, and strangled Jay Cook, 20. Without knowing it, Chelsea Rustad provided detectives with the critical clue to solve the killings: her family’s DNA, which was used to identify and eventually convict her second cousin, William Talbott II.

Clare’s Place: A refuge for healing for one Everett resident

Clare’s Place, on Berkshire Drive in the Glacier View neighborhood in the central part of Everett, opened in July. It was one of three supportive housing buildings that began operating in the city in 2019. Supportive housing combines housing with services to assist residents as they move out of homelessness. Clare’s Place has 65 units for chronically homeless people and operates on the “housing first” model, which prioritizes permanent housing with low barriers for entry. Once housed, residents are connected to treatment and other assistance programs.

‘Unbelievable’ story of Lynnwood teen’s rape retold on Netflix

In 2008, a Lynnwood teen told police that she had been raped. They didn’t believe her. They were wrong. Now her story has been retold in an acclaimed Netflix series, “Unbelievable.” The show prompted Lynnwood’s police chief, who was not the chief at the time of the investigation, to write about how the department adopted a victim-centered investigative philosophy and now provides additional training to detectives and patrol staff for sexual assault investigations.

Marysville Olympian Jarred Rome found dead at 42

Jarred Rome, the two-time Olympic athlete who grew up in Marysville, was found dead in September. He was 42. His older sister said he was with friends at the Tulalip Resort Casino while he was in town to celebrate his induction into the Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner later determined he died from a fentanyl overdose, which his mother did not believe he took intentionally.

Longtime Tulalip Tribes leader Stan Jones dies

Stan Jones, who bridged cultures and generations while turning the Tulalip Tribes into one of the region’s economic juggernauts, died Nov. 5. He was 93. He aided in efforts to restore lost customs and reassert culture. He saw the tribal payroll increase from three to today’s 3,500 employees. He met presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, dined at Bill Gates’ home, served on a bank board of directors for 16 years, and once negotiated with a New York billionaire businessman named Donald Trump. No one served longer on the tribal board of directors. During those 44 years, he was tribal chairman for 26. In 15 board elections, Jones never lost. Today, his daughter, Teri Gobin, is chairwoman of the tribal board.

Voters deliver a win for Eyman and concerns for Democrats

Washington voters soundly supported Initiative 976, otherwise known as Tim Eyman’s latest push for $30 car tabs, in the November election. Close to two-thirds of voters in Snohomish and Pierce counties backed it. A lot of them likely had suffered sticker shock after passage of Sound Transit 3 and counted on getting some relief. It didn’t happen, and voters seized the chance to do so themselves.

Sheriff concedes as a sergeant gets ready to assume top job

Sgt. Adam Fortney, who has worked patrol with the sheriff’s office for 23 years, won election against his boss Ty Trenary to become the next Snohomish County sheriff. Fortney, who referred to himself as the law-and-order candidate, will oversee more than 800 employees who patrol the streets, run the county jail and carry out other law enforcement duties. He will earn an annual salary of nearly $166,000 next year as sheriff.

Skull in Tulalip woods identified as man missing since 2013

Six years after Tyler Sullivan went missing, his family knows he’s not alive. The rest is a mystery. At the time Tyler Sullivan went missing, his girlfriend was nearly eight months pregnant. His daughter celebrated her sixth birthday in November, days after authorities figured out what became of her father. A land surveyor found what was later determined to be his skull in the woods on the Tulalip Reservation in 2016. Three years passed before clues in his family tree, uncovered by a genealogist, helped investigators confirm the identity of the remains.