Memo to the owners of the Mariners

In calling attention to some scathing advice for the team's ownership, penned by USS Mariner blogger and local author Derek Milhous Zumsteg, I'm giving short shrift to a very thoughtful, statistics-rich analysis of the poorly performing Seattle Mariners. But DMZ says what mainstream writers dare not, or at least in a way they would not, and it's worth highlighting the last three paragraphs of his assessment:

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As long as we're beating up on the mayor today ...

Seattle Mayor for Life Greg Nickels is issuing press releases fast and furiously. There are, after all, only 546 days until the election — the 2009 election. And although he has no real opponent as yet, His Excellency has only $129,639.98 in the bank for the 2009 campaign and only took in $29,430.90 in March — and hired fundraiser Colby Underwood got $3,500 of that.

So it's no wonder Nickels' staff is cranking out press releases that attach his name to everything that happens in this town.

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May Day march in downtown Seattle

Many causes on display on Fourth Avenue.

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It doesn't look like WaMu Field is terribly likely, so ...

Some great alternative names for Safeco Field are turning up in the comments on Mike Henderson's recent blog post about the implications of the Seattle-based insurance company being swallowed by Liberty Mutual. Among the suggestions: Costco Park, Taxpayer Park, Starbucks Grounds, and a no-brainer: Boeing Field.

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These not-so-little piggies went to the Market

Where they were catching rays of the springtime sun on the roof.

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Another mayoral spokesperson departs for the same nonprofit

Martin McOmber, senior communications and policy advisor for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, will leave city employment on Wednesday, April 30, to join Casey Family Programs as communications director. McOmber will feel right at home at Casey, because the managing director of communications there, Marianne Bichsel, was herself spokesperson for the mayor before joining the foundation in Seattle last fall.

Alex Fryer, communications advisor at the Office of Sustainability and Environment, will fill in until the mayor names a new comm director — though the official City Hall announcement today sure makes it sound like the job is Fryer's to lose.

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The high legal cost of practicing journalism

The demise of newspapers is a very bad thing, and anyone who thinks the Internet will quickly step up to fill the void is delusional. It's hard, for example, to envision even an influential national blog mustering the resources to uncover what The New York Times reports today about retired generals who serve as expert commentators on TV:

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

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Back to the future

Seattle's Pike Place Market.

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Big performance today at Benaroya Hall

No, wait, I was looking at the wrong day on the calendar. Let's see — oh, today is the annual shareholders meeting for Washington Mutual. And at $10 per share, everyone can afford to attend!

If you can't be there in person to weigh in, you can listen in at 1 p.m. Or express yourself in this poll. The question is: Which company is worse: Washington Mutual or US Airways?

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How to turn around The Seattle Times

Fifth of a series: Alumni of the newspaper offer their thoughts on what could be done to ensure survival of an important civic institution. Updated 2008-04-11 at 09:06

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The Seattle Times Co. will cut about 200 jobs

Washington's biggest newspaper will reduce payroll through severance and attrition and cut $15 million from the operating budget this year. About two-thirds of the job cuts would come through actual layoffs.

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Mount Rainier from the air

On the way to a hot spring vacation.

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Mayor to 'Downtown Freddie' Brown: Your arena proposal is DOA

It's April Fool's Day, and still someone announces an apparently earnest plan [234K PDF] to find financing and a location for a $1 billion basketball and hockey arena, perhaps in SoDo on Pier 46. At least, it appears former Sonic "Downtown Freddie" Brown and his partners are earnest, because Mayor Greg Nickels simultaneously issued a statement that, between the lines, characterizes the concept of Emerald City Center, which would sport a retractable shell of a roof, as half baked and dead at conception:

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Is there a problem, officer?

Yeah there's a problem. It seems you were about to drive your shiny, black Volvo wagon into the Seattle bus tunnel under downtown.

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March Madness: A rational view

Me, I don't really get March Madness. I mean, I get it as a journalist and armchair shrink, but I don't get it. But I'm happy to feed your madness. Here's a quick guide to Northwest teams and coverage.

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Editor's note: We've improved our daily e-mail

Friends of Crosscut: Starting this morning, we've redesigned our daily e-mailed listing of Crosscut articles and regional headlines to be easier to read, and we've added a text-only e-mail option for those of you who are reading us on mobile devices. And! We've added a weather forecast to the e-mail, with links to the National Weather Service. Let us know what you think.

If you don't get our newsletter, you can preview the full HTML version here and the text-only version here. You can subscribe by filling out a form here. Of course, we won't use you e-mail for anything else.

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Updated: The mayor will unveil a KeyArena plan and basketball ownership group

The Seattle mayor's office has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. news conference. Says the press release: "Mayor Greg Nickels will hold a press conference this afternoon to discuss a new proposal to improve KeyArena and Seattle Center. The mayor will be joined by a representative of a new, local professional basketball ownership group." Earlier coverage has Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Western Wireless founder John Stanton involved. Crosscut's David Brewster speculates about a KeyArena remake in an earlier blog post. Update, 2008-03-06, 13:13: State House Speaker Frank Chopp says any notion of legislative action on a KeyArena renovation proposal is DOA in Olympia this year.

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Snow piled high

At the Cabin Creek Sno-Park trailhead in the Washington Cascades.

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Department of Journalistically Redundant News Department

I'm usually thankful we have two daily newspapers here in Seattle, but every so often I wonder why we do. Such was the case when I checked the two home pages last night, Feb. 20, after the lunar eclipse — finding the accompanying nearly-identical photographs. Maybe it really is time to junk the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970.

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Speaking for Barack Obama

At the precinct caucuses in Seattle.

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Persuasion

At the precinct caucuses in Seattle.

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International flags, local politics

At the precinct caucuses in Seattle.

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The neighborhood in one room

At the precinct caucuses in Seattle.

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Speaking for Hillary Clinton

At the precinct caucuses in Seattle.

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A pause for applause

At the precinct caucuses in Seattle.

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One corner of the room

Caucusing in Seattle.

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Crowded caucuses

In Seattle, a mob scene.

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Big caucus crowds in Seattle

This is Bryant Elementary School.

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Fair weather on the ferry

The view approaching downtown Seattle from a Washington state ferry on Puget Sound.

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Send us your campaign-related photos

We've just launched a gallery of reader and staff pictures, with one image always featured on the Crosscut home page. And as fate would have it, there's big news breaking today, tomorrow, and Saturday, what with Barack, Michelle, Hillary, Janet, and who knows who else visiting the state, plus hundreds of thousands attending caucuses.

So send us your best shots from those events or other election-related scenes you encounter.

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International marine signal flags on the ferry

What do they mean?

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Two of the Tri-Cities

Can you name them?

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I can has hamburger, please, or at least of photo of one

A reminder that Crosscut will soon launch a photo gallery, and we're soliciting your pictures at the Crosscut Flickr group. We've already had some swell submissions, including this photo of a juicy Daly's hamburger, taken by Peter Howard, who reminds us that the legendary Eastlake fast-food joint will be closing soon.

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The merger of the century

Random notes and links on the Microsoft bid for Yahoo ...

... As the day unfolds, Phase 2 of coverage will kick in for tomorrow morning's news cycle, and the focus will be on how this deal would actually work. Wait. It's already begun. Writes a BusinessWeek blogger:

But what a messy combination this will be, for months and even years to come. Maybe Yahoo is just too compelling a property for Microsoft, perennially struggling to stem the Google tide, to pass up. Clearly, Yahoo hasn’t managed to get its act together fast enough. But neither has Microsoft — even less so vs. Google than Yahoo.

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Announcement: the Crosscut photo gallery

Next week, Crosscut will launch a photo gallery and feature an image from that gallery on the home page every day. We hope you'll contribute. We know you have a number of other news outlets with which to share photography, but we can give you something they can't — front-page play along with the day's other top news.

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White highways

Here in Seattle, the ground is merely wet after overnight snow was predicted, but elsewhere the Northwest snow is falling on top of earlier snow, schools are closed, and residents are bracing for more.

As of this writing, there is a heavy snow warning and an avalanche warning for the Cascades and Olympics in Washington and the Cascades in Oregon; a heavy-snow warning for the Columbia River Gorge and higher elevations in northeast Washington; a snow advisory for metro Portland and for Whatcom County, Wash., by the Canadian border; a gale warning for the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Juan de Fuca; and a small-craft advisory for inland waters, including Puget Sound.

Here are the National Weather Service pages: Seattle and Western Washington, metro Portland, Spokane, Pendleton. A more complete list of weather and travel links can be found on Crosscut's Newsstand page.

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The Clicker Top 10: Sex sells

At the end of 2007, I wrote about the most-clicked articles on Crosscut during our first nine months of existence. A job applicant recently asked which Clicker stories were most popular. Had to do some research. Here's what the Crosscut Mother Database tells us are the most popular stories from other media that we've posted. Yes, sex and scandal, preferably both together, do seem to sell:

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