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In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
Is Big Nanny running your town?
Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny
Space tourism is nigh, but a new space age is not
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Vision 2040 for Pugetopolis
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In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
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Seattle's money madness
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Our balls on ice
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Is Big Nanny running your town?
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A bicoastal newspaper crisis
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Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny
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Space tourism is nigh, but a new space age is not
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Crosscut most recent
Sausage Links, debating the polls edition
Washington state pollster Stuart Elway unveiled his latest poll — and it's a doozy. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is crushing GOP challenger Dino Rossi by 16 points. A SurveyUSA poll taken last week, however, showed Gregoire only up 49 percent to 46 percent — a pretty big discrepancy. Either way, voters will get a chance to refine their choices in coming months, as the two gubernatorial candidates agreed yesterday to debate at least three times before the Nov. 4 general election. So far, the debates would be in Seattle, Yakima, and Spokane. ...
Sausage Links, bag fees and phone ban edition
Plastic bag fees are so rive gauche. First, Seattle instated a 20-cent fee on disposable plastic bags. Then Portland decided to consider a similar idea. Now, the residents of Pullman say they want a bag fee, too. ...
Sausage Links, row, row, row your boat edition
Gov. Chris Gregoire spent yesterday on Puget Sound, touting her environmental record while bashing her Republican opponent, Dino Rossi. Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly rode along (you can even see him to the left of Gregoire in the Everett Herald's photo of the boat tour), but remained unconvinced of her ability to connect with voters. Here's Sound Politics' take on the story. ...
Sausage Links, pot, farms, and medicine edition
Count on the alt-weeklies to provide blow-by-blow coverage of the recent medical marijuana bust illegal search and seizure. Dominic Holden at The Stranger has the story about the incident — along with copies of the police report and the arresting officer's search warrant. According to the reports, Seattle Police officers tore down a wall while searching for an illegal pot-growing operation that didn't exist, while seizing bags of marijuana and medical records. The folks at Seattlest would like to remind the SPD that medical marijuana has been legal in Washington for nearly 10 years. ...
Sausage Links, fancy-pants luncheon edition
The Queen of fist-bumps, New Yorker cover girl Michelle Obama, is in Seattle today to headline a fundraiser for Gov. Chris Gregoire. The event is expected to bring in $400,000 for Gregoire's re-election campaign. Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman will have live coverage of the event as it develops, while Eli Sanders at the Stranger already has pictures from the WaMu Theater. ...
Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition
Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.
Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.
Sausage Links, sex, satire, and rock 'n' roll edition
At Horse's Ass, David Goldstein has a lengthy investigative story detailing a case of sexual harassment at the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR). According to a 62-page document obtained from public records, a young woman who worked at the DNR quit her job after being harassed by 68-year-old Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland. The story goes on to say:
Sausage Links, tree-cutting edition
Timber! The Seattle Times has a series of special reports about the lack of oversight in the logging industry and the cost to state taxpayers. According to the report, no one checked when Weyerhaeuser started clear-cutting unstable slopes, some of which eventually slid and cost millions of dollars to clean up. Naturally, David Goldstein at Horse's Ass blames Republican-led deregulation. ...Sausage Links, gas cards for bad guys edition
Alright everybody. Let's head to Tacoma. If we hurry, we can help Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers catch sexual predators, gangsters, domestic violence abusers, and violent criminals. Why? Because they're giving away $250 gas cards and up to $1,000 in exchange for information that would lead to arrests. Here's the list of criminals. Start hunting. After all, what better incentive is there to dodge outrageous gas prices than to catch perverts? Don't answer that.
Sausage Links, blame-game edition
David Goldstein at Horse's Ass says everyone has missed the boat about the latest mess surrounding the "top-two" primary. The Seattle Times blamed the parties. The parties blamed the state. Others blamed the lawyers. Goldstein, however, says the person to blame for what could be the "most monumental legal fuck up in state history — one which puts the legitimacy of our entire 2008 election in jeopardy" — is state Attorney General Rob McKenna.
Sausage Links, mayor-about-town edition
Oh, Greg. You are trying to break our hearts! Just when we vilify you for airballing the Sonics all the way to OKC for a cool $45 million — you show you're a real Mayor-about-town houses and plastic bag taxes.
For better or worse, everybody's talking about Mayor Nickels' proposals today. Erica C. Barnett at The Stranger says she spotted a "Plastic Monster" at last night's public-comment meeting about the proposed plastic bag tax, while Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat warns if we don't choose paper the plastic bag police will get us. Meanwhile, the folks at Sound Politics rail against Nickels for the new town house plan, which they argue will regulate affordable housing "out of existence." ...
Sausage Links, top-two headache edition
David Postman had a busy morning. First, The Seattle Times chief political writer reported the proper way to describe the death with dignity "assisted suicide" initiative. Then he dropped a political firebomb, reporting the state's political parties haven't yet given up trying to ax the "top-two" primary, with both Republicans and Democrats claiming the entire '08 election won't count. I thought that headache was over. Turns out it's just getting started. ...
Sausage Links, "freedom to get drunk and blow stuff up" edition
Chris Mulick at the Tri-City Herald has today's top story, reporting this morning that Tim Eyman's Initiative 985 and the Service Employees International Union-backed Initiative 1029 would — if passed by voters in November — increase the state's budget deficit by an estimated $300 million.
Sausage Links, hammer-time edition
Tri-City Herald reporter Chris Mulick digs deep into Washington state's bungled attempt to land a $2 billion uranium enrichment plant, along with its 400 high-paying jobs. According to Mulick, Gov. Chris Gregoire chose not to pursue bidding for the plant, deciding instead to play it cool politically. As a result, Idaho got the plant. Washington lost the money. And Dino Rossi just got more ammo for his campaign. Still, Gregoire's got a sizable lead in the polls, at the moment. ...
Sausage Links, gun-ban edition
It's too soon to tell if gun enthusiasts will henceforth consider June 26 "Possess a Pistol Day," but here's the immediate reactions to the Supreme Court ruling rejecting the D.C. gun ban, from both sides of the aisle: Goldstein, Earling, Obama, McCain. ...
Sausage Links, media-bashing edition
Lefty blogger David Goldstein at Horse's Ass has been battering the local media lately. Yesterday, he unleashed on Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Chris McGann for his coverage of Gov. Chris Gregoire's now infamous state gambling compact. Today he asks Crosscut's Ted Van Dyk to apologize to Gregoire for his own coverage of Casino-gate. ...
If this man gathers 1,500 signatures and $5 from each of those folks, he can have another $192,500 to bankroll his campaign for mayor.
In Portland, the public is asked to bail out a hotel
That sound you heard early this morning was thousands of mouthfuls of coffee being blown out Portlanders' noses as they got to the story in the Oregonian headlined, "Hotel above Macy's overshoots its budget." And that projectile coffee didn't happen because the readers were laughing, trust me.
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Land rush on top of the world
The search for the Northwest Passage spurred the European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. With global warming, Arctic land claims are heating up as the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Russia, Iceland and Norway vie for sea lanes, the seabed and once ice-bound islands. Finally, there's a great visual to sort out these competing claims.
Seattle's money madness
Travels with Charley and GPS
The visual iconography of 'Yes we can'
Tallis in Seattle
Former Seattle Symphony violinist Ralph Heino is dead at 91
Sausage Links, money for nothing edition
Was the latest Elway poll a little off? Released Monday, Aug. 4, the poll showed Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire leading Republican challenger Dino Rossi by a whopping 16 points. Today, Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly says Elway "may be wrong." Meanwhile, both candidates are still sparring over Gregoire's recent accusations of racism in a Republican attack ad. Rossi, however, has responded by saying: How could the ads be racist? I'm part Native American myself. ...
In outsourcing baggage handling, Alaska Airlines violated a union contract, an arbitrator rules
The U.S. Commerce secretary stumps for John McCain at Piecora's Pizza in Seattle
John Edwards: I had an affair and lied about it, but I didn't father that child
Sausage Links, money for nothing edition
People for Puget Sound responds
Sidewalk crack addict
The Fearmongers, Definers, Swiftboaters, and Borkers square off
Losing your favorite Starbucks? The five stages of grief
Private beach
Sheriff: 'Matter of time' before someone was killed due to lax forest safety laws
The Navy Blue Angels return to an Air Force town — landlocked Spokane
Ron Judd at the Olympics: 'I'm a ceremony geek, through and through'
Visit Oklahoma City!
An Everett Herald columnist apologizes for plagiarism and resigns
BC Ferries offer better fare
Even though I'm a Washingtonian, if I had to choose between the Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the BC Ferries, the Canucks win by a kilometer. Granted, BC Ferries has had its share of mishaps. In 2006, the Queen of the North sunk while cruising the Inside Passage on its 18-hour journey between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert. One hundred and one passengers were on board, and two are still missing and presumed dead. Human error was blamed for the sinking. Two years later, the Queen of Oak Bay lost power and plowed through dozens of boats at a marina in West Vancouver while attempting to dock at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
How good a deal is Costco, really?
Must be a recession: Whole Foods now stresses bargains
BC Ferries offer better fare
Even though I'm a Washingtonian, if I had to choose between the Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the BC Ferries, the Canucks win by a kilometer. Granted, BC Ferries has had its share of mishaps. In 2006, the Queen of the North sunk while cruising the Inside Passage on its 18-hour journey between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert. One hundred and one passengers were on board, and two are still missing and presumed dead. Human error was blamed for the sinking. Two years later, the Queen of Oak Bay lost power and plowed through dozens of boats at a marina in West Vancouver while attempting to dock at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
Boutique shopping guide
Princeton Review confirms Evergreen's status as a tree-hugger's school
Ron Judd at the Olympics: 'I'm a ceremony geek, through and through'
Visit Oklahoma City!
In outsourcing baggage handling, Alaska Airlines violated a union contract, an arbitrator rules
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