Local hero Brandon Roy and his Blazers face a must-win Game 6 in Houston tonight; the game's at 6:30 p.m. on TNT. Rockets' forward and eccentric Ron Artest, who'll be guarding Roy much of the game, paid him an incredible compliment in a slightly weird interview with TNT, calling Roy "the best player I've ever played against." The interviewer follows-up: "Better than Kobe? Better than LeBron?" Artest: "The best I've ever played against."

Seattle Weekly's Mike Seely has a book on dive bars out. The Weekly's Erika Hobart went to see "Walking with the Dinosaurs" stewed. And now the Stranger has a new Happy Hour iPhone app: Cocktail Compass. Interesting features: searches for "patio" if you want, offers one-touch cab dialing. Competition for GoTime's Happy Hour app. This recession could turn out to be toughest on the liver.

Truly anything can be sold on eBay nowadays--even Seattle's once beloved illegal-activity-producing self-cleaning toilets have a chance for a second life. Those crazy robot port-a-potties went out in a swirl of eBay glory with a winning bid of $12,549. Yes, Seattle originally purchased them for $5 million. Nice. Now the five happy toilets have a new home in Lewis Thurston County with Butch Behn, at his South Sound Speedway. The seven-ton toilets, worth literally more than their weight in gold steel have to be one of the best bargain buys around, plus it's the perfect solution for accommodating beer-lovin' race car fans.

Man, why does the state gotta hate on education? First 6,000 newbie teachers get axed and now UW unveils the $73 million worth of university budget cuts. How it looks: admin is screwed, but to help academic units, UW will dip into its $10 million "rainy day" reserve fund. Academic priority went to the university's money-making programs, surprisingly, that do the most teaching. Buh-bye law, hello psychology! Now for the five or six remaining faculty and handful of students, it's not great news. Especially for the 300+ freshman not getting into UW this fall. (Curse you, algebra!) Here are the big cuts that academic programs will leave at the guillotine: Arts and Sciences ($10.5 million), Medicine ($5.3 million), Engineering ($4 million), Business ($1.9 million), Law ($1.6 million), and Ocean and Fishery Sciences, Nursing, and UW Graduate School ($0.9 million each).

Check. Mate. The current queen of the chess is Bellevue's own Megan Lee, a 12-year-old middle school student (12!), who cleared the chess board this past weekend to win the number one spot (and a four-year scholarship to the Univ. of Texas at Dallas) in the 18-years-and-younger division of the U.S. Chess Federation's All-Girls Nationals. Be on the lookout next time you think about playing chess in the park, an innocent sweet-voiced ringer (whose last read was Bobby Fischer’s 60 Memorable Games) may take your money be watching your every move.

Seoul-bound Asiana Airlines Flight 271 that took off from SeaTac at 2:35 p.m. has safely re-landed at SeaTac airport, after reporting flames shooting out of one of its engines. With 179 people reportedly on board, the Boeing 777 dumped its fuel over Puget Sound and landed without any troubles around 3:30 p.m.

Life is not fair for teenagers--this month in particular, as they fear the demise of their favorite mall hangouts, face potential child porn charges for "sexting", and now (omg!) accept the hard reality of finding a summer job. A recent study noted a dip in teen employment and claims that fewer than one million 16- to 19-year-olds will be able to find the perfect summer job. Teenagers are so going to give us the silent treatment if we continue to ruin their social life.

Erik Bedard has a sub-par start, and the bullpen can't rescue him, as the Mariners lose the finale in Chi-Town (box). The offense squanders several scoring opportunities, leaving two runners on in the first, second and third innings. Next game Friday vs. Oakland at Safeco, 7:10 p.m.; Carlos Silva vs. Dana Eveland.

It's probably wrong of us to focus on this particular part of two recent bank robberies (hey, someone's in custody, end of story), but it just confirms something we've been thinking for years now: there really isn't that much difference between a Kroger QFC and Safeway. Now we have proof that the FBI--the FBI!--can't detect the difference either, as their Most Wanted poster for the bank robber details the robbery occurring at the QFC Wells Fargo on 15th Avenue East, and that's...a Safeway. Thankfully, CHS was happy to straighten the FBI out, but my god, we can't ask them to do that for every single customer who gets confused about which customer club card to pull out.

First came Craigslist killer No.1, then yesterday we were introduced to Craigslist wannabe-killer No. 2: Shawn T. Skelton, a 24-year-old Kent man who posted an ad seeking an "encounter" with women to have sex with and then kill. Tipped off, the Seattle police went undercover and put the kibosh on that creepy situation. Skelton is now being held on $1 million bail on investigation of attempted murder. A boycott of the erotic services portion of the site has yet to take off. Craig himself says, "It's not happening."

If you're coughing a lot, the good news is it might not be the flu. The American Lung Association has given King County a big, fat F in The State of the Air report for ozone pollution and a C for particle pollution. (Hey, we're passing particle pollution!) The report analyzed data from 2005-2007. Here we thought we were ahead of the eco-friendly ball. We hope the next survey gives us extra credit for all of the retrofitting and emissions reducing projects we've been paying for working on. But take a deep breath and put your nervous energy to good use; at least we didn't earn top pollutant honors like other cities, including Los Angeles and Bakersfield, and good ol' Pittsburgh, PA.

Seba Le Toux scored two goals and assisted on the others as the Sounders won a U.S. Open Cup play-in game at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila (match report). A sell-out crowd of about 4,000 diehards watched a lineup of bench players advance the Sounders to the second play-in game next month vs. Colorado, location TBA. Next game Saturday @ Chicago Fire, 5:30 p.m.

The Mariners split a doubleheader in frozen Chicago today, suffering the dominance of Bartolo Colon in game one (box); and enjoying the dominance of Felix Hernandez in game two (box). King Felix threw eight scoreless innings, striking out nine. Yuni Betancourt backed him with a career-high five RBI. Next game Wednesday @ White Sox, 11:05 a.m.; Erik Bedard vs. Gavin Floyd.

Publicola is feeling grim about the legislative session's taxes vs. deficit paralysis, and boils down the basics with a look at Rep. Eric Pettigrew’s (D-37, S. Seattle) sales tax bill. It called for an increase of three-tenths of a percent, and Publicola says its failure—"with a $13 million cut to children’s health care, a $75 million cut to low-income care for hospitals, a $28 million cut to mental health care among other cuts—defines the 2009 session."

Family planning clinics throughout the Northwest are seeing a 50 percent increase in patients, and a noticeable change in economy-driven behavior, with requests for vasectomies and birth control prescriptions on the rise. As the economy sours with more pink slips, the idea of starting or growing a family seems to be the last thing on the minds of the unemployed and uninsured. With more pregnancy prevention alternatives available, Planned Parenthood clinics in the Northwest have seen a seven percent drop in abortion cases, while over the past three months in 2009, there has been a reported sharp increase of 14.6 men (8.6 in late 2008) seeking vasectomies a month.

It is Vancouver, our international neighbor to the North, that has been smelling the garbage piles filling up their region's landfills. To deal with the looming garbage issue, Vancouver's Metro voted to export its overflowing garbage to the U.S. (including Washington State). With easy access to rail transportation, it's no wonder why select Washington landfills are being considered as one of Canada's newest contracted dumping sites. Now will our landfills feel the brunt of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics waste, too? Here in the U.S. we have enough trash to deal with, including the nation's reported 64.5 percent of garbage which ends up into landfills--and we recycle.

Today's Mariners game against the White Sox has been postponed because of heavy rain. If teleporters existed, they could all beam back here and play under the sun; instead they'll play a doubleheader in Chi-Town tomorrow. First game is at 2:05 p.m., Chris Jakubauskas vs. Bartolo Colon. Second game is 30 minutes after the first one ends, Felix Hernandez vs. John Danks.

In previous years, Seattle's snow strategy has always been duck, hide, and hope the snow will melt away, prior to any heated debate (pun intended) began on sanding vs. salting city streets. The Snow Storm of 2008 literally left the city shaking in its boots. It was a matter of time until the city's wastewater-treatment plant was going to feel the effects trickle in, from the 12,400 tons of sand dumped on the snow-packed streets in late December 2008. Now filtering systems are breaking down as the sand continues to plug up pumps and trigger emergency repairs. Grrreat. Clean up efforts have been strong--the city has swept up 11,300 tons of sand since January--but as the filters began to fail, all the basins and pipes were ordered to be cleaned. Now that our pipes are clean(er), we look forward to the next sand-free winter.

The metal detectors at the Capitol must have been off this weekend, when lawmakers smuggled in scissors big enough to make $4 billion in cuts during Saturday's 2009-11 state budget session. The Senate approved the state's shaky $35 billion operating budget by relying on federal money, one-time transfers, and cuts, lots and lots of cuts, to make up Washington's $9 billion deficit. The grim budget reaper visited higher education, K-12 education, health care, public safety and social services. Which pretty much means: more pink slips for state workers, state universities are the new Ivy League, the worth of school teachers is questioned, 40,000 people lose state-subsidized health coverage, the jails will release more crazies and no one better "opt out," or we lose our parks.

It's heartening to discover we weren't the only ones who found it possible to envision cost overruns in building Seattle's deep-bore tunnel. Sightline's Clark Williams-Derry: "It's a potentially enormous financial burden, since even the best planning process can't anticipate things that can go wrong with such a massive undertaking." The Seattle Times' Danny Westneat: "I do think it's suspicious that this same tunnel was rejected in December by a stakeholder advisory committee on account of it being way too expensive. Only to have the costs then shrink (!) by $400 million, arriving at a size that happily fits the state's pre-existing budget." Westneat does everything but call those involved bald-faced liars. Since the alternative is that they're delusional, we're not sure which option is preferable.

Jarrod Washburn absorbs his first loss (box), allowing six runs in 5 1/3 innings. Washburn also doesn't strike out a single batter. The M's offense staggers against Jered Weaver, managing just five hits, all singles. Griffey and Beltre both still hitting under .200. Next game Monday @ Chicago White Sox, 5:11 p.m.; Chris Jakubauskas vs. John Danks.

Kasey Keller sets a new MLS record for perfect goalkeeping, extending his scoreless streak to 389 minutes in the win (match report). Steve Zakuani, getting the start in midfield in place of Seba Le Toux, scores his second MLS goal just before half. The Sounders get another just after the break, with Brad Evans finishing a breakaway in the 50th minute. Next game Tuesday vs. Real Salt Lake at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.

Russell Branyan's three-run homer helps the M's survive a shaky night from their pitching staff (box). Carlos Silva battles upper back tightness to throw five innings and qualify for the win, his first since last June. Next game Sunday @ L.A. Angels, 12:35 p.m.; Jarrod Washburn vs. Jered Weaver.

Your Seattle Seahawks selected Aaron Curry, a 6-1, 254 lb. linebacker from Wake Forest, with the fourth overall pick in today's NFL Draft. Curry, who grew up poor and fatherless in North Carolina, got only two scholarship offers out of high school, but blossomed into an All-American in college. Curry will replace Julian Peterson as the Hawks' starting strong-side linebacker.

The M's score six in the sixth, with the big blow a bases-loaded double from Adrian Beltre (box). Erik Bedard pitches into the seventh to get his second win. Russell Branyan homers in his return from a back injury. Next game: Saturday @ L.A. Angels, 6:05 p.m.; Carlos Silva vs. Anthony Ortega (who's making his MLB debut).

Bloomberg is reporting that Regal Financial Bank, headquartered at the 4th and Madison Tower, is being "sued by a group of more than 4,000 Indonesian investors over accusations it helped operate a $600 million Ponzi scheme." The suit alleges that Regal Financial Bank President Jesse Tam and an advisory board member, Danny Wong, assisted in soliciting funds for an investment company, but that the funds were used to pay previous investors, while Tam "Madoff" with some of the funds for Regal. Regal says the allegations are "baseless," says the PSBJ.

It's a downright scary hassle when your wallet is stolen--the wrongdoer now has access to your ID, credit cards, family photos, and more. We've heard the identity theft spiel a thousand times over, but now hospitals and insurance companies are fearing the worst--a rise in medical ID theft. A reported 3,000-6,000 medical ID theft cases a year are showing up, with mysterious charges of medical procedures billed to the unassuming insured. With a spike soon to come--thanks to the rising number of the unemployed and uninsured--local hospitals and clinics will be requiring photo ID in an effort to step up ID theft prevention.

Washington State University says they've ended negotiations to move the Apple Cup to Qwest Field, saying they couldn't agree with Paul Allen's minions on how to "maintain the neutral-site atmosphere." Allen, a former Wazzu student, is now forced to suffer the inconvenience of flying to the game in his private jet instead of emerging from his secret underground Qwest Field batcave just before kickoff.

The tourists are coming, the tourists are coming(!!), we knew it was going to happen sooner or later, as today marks the opening day of the cruise ship season. This year is a Champagne bottle-breaking moment, for the Port of Seattle as the first ship pulled into the $72 million new Smith Cove terminal on Pier 91 this morning. With an expected 801,000 passengers to filter through Seattle, the new terminal will provide a swanky on-land introduction for over 200 ships. Most importantly, the new terminal will finally stop the hot-mess of traffic congestion in front of the old cruise ship docks at Pier 30.

Ichiro leads off the first with a homer, and that's all King Felix and the M's bullpen need (box). Hernandez throws seven scoreless innings--despite three M's errors--to get his third win. David Aardsma throws a scoreless inning, he hasn't allowed a run this season. And Brandon Morrow gets his fifth save. Next game: Friday @ L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m.; Erik Bedard vs. Shane Loux.

Construction projects are synonymous with spring, and this season it is no different, as the Pike Place Market's $73-million, much-needed renovation begins to get underway. The first phase of projects will start with the the foul-smelling, long-winded Hillclimb entrance, a stairwell off Western Avenue. Now, before you start complaining about cranes and construction eyesores, the Market is taking a lesson from the blueprints of Bob the Builder and asking the public to "Name That Crane." What better way to deal with the effects of a soon-to-be erected, 150-foot crane inhabiting the city's skyline for nearly a year, other than humanizing construction equipment. Brilliant. Deadline to submit names, June 1, 2009.

Parents of high-school students--who would prefer torture over opening an advanced algebra book again--will be holding their breath for the next month as Seattle's School Board has delayed the heated vote on new high-school math textbooks. Who knew math teachers could stir up such a debate? The stalled vote is hung up (in obtuse angles?) over the textbooks, Discovering Geometry and Discovering Advanced Algebra while a tense discussion grows around the parents' (and others) ability to help the students with their homework. Parents, start studying, the next vote is May 6.

We've moved on: The Seattle sports love affair has changed teams, never to love professional basketball again, our hearts now belong to another (Go, Sounders!), as the bill to renovate KeyArena and fund additional projects--taxes and debts owed--failed to get any traction with state legislation. With the bill officially benched, the city stands to lose out on $30 million from Clay Bennett, the NBA owner of the Sonics Oklahoma City Thunder. Bennett contractually agreed to pay off the city's lease with KeyArena, but only on the condition that the state would first approve the KeyArena bill this year and not find a replacement NBA team over the course of the next five years.

A crummy performance in all facets: batting (4 hits), pitching (allowed 15 hits and 8 walks), fielding (2 errors, and 3 more that ought to have been), managing (caught stealing second down five runs?). This game wasn't nearly as close as the score, could've easily been 11 or 12 to zip. And--we write this thawing out next to our heater--goddamn it was cold. Next game: Tomorrow, 3:40 p.m. vs. Tampa Bay, King Felix vs. James Shields.

This afternoon, bigwigs from the other Washington announced that $750 million from the stimulus package will be dedicated to restore and repair the national parks across the country. Washington's beloved Olympic National Park is on the government's laundry list of projects and will receive $54.7 million in funding for dam removal and other park projects. Talk about some happy trees. Other national parks will also receive funds, including: the National Mall ($55.8M), New York's Ellis Island ($26M), Dinosaur National Monument ($13.1) and Philadelphia's Independence Hall ($5M).

The Greenwood community was left a little uneasy after an early morning assault on Tuesday, when 44-year-old Todd Boettger was brutally attacked, robbed, and left to fight for his life on the sidewalk in front of a local bar. Facing life-threatening head injuries, medics transported Boettger to Harborview Medical Center. The attack--which is currently being investigated by the police's homicide/assault unit--occurred on the same day Seattle's City Council voted to approve $1.3 million of funding for violence prevention. Maybe the initiative to prevent the rise in violence among Seattle's youth should be given a second look to include city-wide violence prevention.

The fellas Jim, Johnny, and José must be shaking their heads as the House passed a bill to increase liquor (wine and beer) license fees for Washington's restaurants, bars, taverns, and even trains. The booze business, is one of the few industries that is somewhat recession proof, which can be very attractive for a state that is $9 billion in the hole. Pending final approval, the bill would raise fees (and probably drink prices) nearly 10 percent, making it even harder for the local "little guys" to hang on.

Local researchers and science geeks are totally geeking out right now, as $21.5 billion of the stimulus dollars, dedicated solely to research and development, is now up for grabs. Scientists from across Washington, including the big shots at UW, WSU, Children's, and Fred Hutch have all applied for funding, and will continue to keep their fingers crossed for months until they hear who gets a slice of the stimulus research pie. Signs point in a positive direction, as one local laboratory focused on energy efficiency research was awarded $124 million in stimulus bucks already. The Pacific Northwest is expected to receive some funding (=more jobs), including dollars for biomedical research, volcano monitoring, and earthquake studies.

Well, the folks in Wallingford would like to know, as they have been seeing a sharp increase of car break-ins and theft lately. In a united blog front, Wallyhood and its readers bring valid concerns and even links featuring their stolen GPS on Craigslist, to the attention of their local police teams, prompting a lackadaisical response--if any at all. Is it really too much to ask the designated neighborhood police team to do their job? Apparently it is. Go get 'em Tiger.

The warm spring weather must be going to the heads of the folks in the State House, those busy little worker bees passing House bills left and right, and last night their attention was focused on state parks, as they passed a bill that will add a $5 opt-out fee on driver's license renewals. We're not upset about the $5 itself, but how those tricksters are trying to get it, placing the fee there in the "hopes" that we don't notice and select to opt-out. (You know it would be written in size 8 font.) The bill is now off to the Senate, where we hope it becomes opt-in.

Opening Day for boating season is just a few weeks out, but the news stories are already starting to come in from off the water. This morning, ferry workers had a rough start to their day as they discovered a body of an adult male around 8:30 a.m. under the Pier 52 Colman Dock. On Saturday, a tugboat sunk to the bottom of Lake Washington--near Kenmore--spilling 40-50 gallons of diesel fuel into the lake; they refloated the tug on Sunday. Don't worry, the state's Department of Ecology is on it. Over by the Ship Canal, one guy realized that the sky wasn't falling on his car, but parts of the Ship Canal Bridge were. Thankfully for him, yesterday proved to be a great day for a sun roof.

Chalk one up for the SPD narcotics unit and Belltown's spandex-clad bike teams this weekend, as they brought down a large and highly organized Honduran drug dealing ring that had been corralling the crack-cocaine market in the neighborhood. Known to hide the packaged drugs in their mouths--gross--the small army of Honduran drug dealers had been pushing out the Belltown "regulars," and commanding the street corners since January 2009 (apparently they began in Queen Anne, clearly not their scene). Typically, we tend to bitch about Belltown, but for good reason, the crazy bums, the lack of police presence, naaaasty garbage dumpsters and oh yes, drug trafficking. So, it's relief to see serious action being taken. Current score: 30 dealers arrested, 22 left to go.

Carlos Silva drops to 4-17 as a Mariner; he allows four runs in five innings. The bullpen fails to keep things close, as Miguel Batista allows three runs in an inning (all were unearned, due to errors on consecutive grounders by Yuniesky Betancourt). 20-year-old sinkerballer Rick Porcello earns his first MLB win over the M's, who ground into two double plays. Next game: Tuesday vs. Devil Rays, 7:10 p.m., Jarrod Washburn vs. Andy Sonnanstine.

Sounders defender James Riley kicked the ball into his own net in the 34th minute, and Chivas added a goal late. The Sounders had more scoring opportunities than Chivas, but couldn't convert. Next game Saturday vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 7:30 p.m. at Qwest.

Both Detroit runs score on a comically inaccurate throw by Ichiro; the Mariners' offense can't do anything against Tigers' fireballer Edwin Jackson. Next game: Tomorrow, 1:10 p.m. vs. Detroit, Carlos Silva vs. Rick Porcello.

After Justin Verlander retires the first 12 Mariner hitters, the M's explode for five runs in the fifth to overcome a 3-0 Tigers lead. Well, not so much "explode," as they have two bunts in the inning, and score on an error and a wild pitch. Felix Hernandez fights through early struggles to get the win, and the bullpen provides three scoreless innings. Next game: Tomorrow vs. Detroit at 6:10 p.m. Erik Bedard vs. Edwin Jackson.

We've been complaining a lot about the local press lately, so here's a kudo. Congrats to Seattle Times reporters Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry for their prestigious Michael Kelly Award, bestowed for their series exposing the criminal histories of members of the Rose Bowl-winning U-Dub football team. The judges were impressed by the reporters' "commitment to truth" despite the obvious risk that dinging the Huskies would piss off readers, alienate advertisers and, yea, besmirch the Times' reputation. For its gutsy stand in support of the series, the Times gets a boost to its cred at a precarious time.

Mario and Luigi seem to be having a tough economic level to get through, as their coin count and the rest of U.S. video game industry sales have been slipping. The beginning of 2009 looked promising, until March when sales were down 17 percent from last year--which happened to be a big year for local game companies--proving the once booming game world is not immune to the recession or those sneaky Goombas. Eyes are on the falling shares, but no reset button needed--just yet--for local companies, as Nintendo's Wii leads console sales with 601,000 units sold, while Capcom's horror shooter "Resident Evil 5" is a best-selling game for the Xbox 360.

For a while we were nursing the small hope that Peter Steinbrueck might make Mayor Nickels' rerun election interesting, but Joni Balter at the Times has snatched that from us: "Steinbrueck will be spending the first of the next four years in Cambridge, Mass. He landed a prestigious urban design fellowship at Harvard University, as he says, 'researching the politics, principles and plan for urban sustainability of U.S. cities.''' What is it with Harvard stealing our mayors, anyway? (H/t to Publicola)

Asparagus, known to many by its alternate monikers; green trees, "No Mom, I'm not going to eat those," a food superhero, and the vegetable that makes your pee smell (eww) will start showing up in local farmers markets so fresh--and so clean--as the harvest gets underway. The Washington Asparagus Commission (yes, we have one of those) says asparagus fields make up over 8,000 acres in the state and can produce 30-50 million pounds worth of those little green trees. For some Friday fun, how many smaller words can you create from "asparagus"? Game on.

Chris Jakubauskas, making his first MLB start at age 30 (as his parents looked on in matching personalized jerseys), was the hard-luck loser, after reliever Roy Corcoran fell flat in a five-run Angels sixth. Angels starter Joe Saunders, featuring a fantastic change-up, allowed only three singles over seven innings--one to Ichiro, which gave him the all-time record for hits by a Japanese player. Next game: Tomorrow vs. Detroit at 7:10pm, King Felix vs. Justin Verlander.

We welcome you to the fold, we really do. Times are tough all over, and we typists of da nooz and teh blogz have to stick together. (Although, we note, Seattlest doesn't have a "donate" tab begging for monthly contributions of $10 to $20.) Is it bad form to note as well that it's been 36 hours since you launched? Guys, it's time to get a life.

No less an authority on exercise than the weight-dropping New York Times is covering the Dutch Bike Company's expansion: "So, with 170 miles of new bike lanes in New York, it makes sense that the Dutch Bike Co. in Seattle should be opening a branch in the city this summer, its third in the United States." Actually, the Dutch bike story is in their fashion section, because apparently the real trick is to look manly while cycling. Money quote: "The only person I know who has a Dutch bike is a girl."

You know times are tough when it affects the long-standing tradition of collegiate football. Word is, the gritty football rivalry between Washington and Washington State may take their annual Apple Cup football game to Seattle's Qwest Field. With the anticipated UW lay-offs and WSU cutting out the freshmen, it's no wonder why they are in talks to move the game, as it will allow the schools to split the millions of dollars generated from beer sales the game.

All of the conservatives must have been teabagging protesting the government's tax increases so passionately (and creatively) yesterday, that they missed The House pass SB 5688, a bill expanding the rights of same-sex domestic partners. The bill provides domestic partners the basic benefits, rights, and financial security given to the State's married couples. It isn't a marriage certificate folks, but once Gov. Gregoire passes this into law, Washington could be well on its way to proceeding with a marriage bill next year.

Devastating news for most adolescents as their favorite malls--and parent-free hang-outs--are facing bankruptcy. General Growth Properties Inc., the nation's second-largest mall operator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which owns local mall properties: Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham, and Westlake Center in Seattle. With their stock prices cheaper than an on-sale pack of gum, financial reorganization will be key, for what's been claimed as the largest real estate failure. We just hope it can turn around, so it doesn't force a void (and access to the Monorail) in downtown.

Ken Griffey, Jr.,'s 400th homer as a Mariner gave the M's the lead, and Ichiro's grand salami broke it open. (Welcome back, Ich!) The homer was Ichiro's 3,085th hit between the Japanese and U.S. leagues, tying him for the most by a Japanese player. Jarrod Washburn gets the win, the 100th of his career--all these milestones!--with a six-inning, two-run performance. The only bad news: Kenji Johjima left the game with hamstring tightness in the fourth. Next game: Tomorrow vs. Angels at 7:10 p.m., Chris Jakubauskas (replacing the injured Ryan Rowland-Smith) vs. Joe Saunders.

KIRO TV has a slideshow of the light rail collision, shot from their copter. The accident happened at MLK and South Dawson, and their photos show the car's occupant being wheeled off in a stretcher. This is why we can't have nice things. The damn thing's not even officially running yet and it's already all scratched up.

Moving beyond the easy teabagging jokes, Publicola has a nice report on the anti-tax demonstration in Olympia today. Top honors for hyperbole go to State Sen. Janea Holmquist of Moses Lake for her zinger: "You know what, being a little bit Socialist is like being a little bit pregnant...Pretty soon you give birth to a full blown Marxist." See here for the full report.

Do you prefer one or two lumps of conservative sugar with your tea? Today, around the nation, conservatives are joining together for the Tax Day Tea Party, (TEA stands for "Taxed Enough Already") to protest the government's spending and tax motives. Naturally, Seattle (and many other Washington cities) will be holding myriad tea party rallies throughout the day. While the group of conservative Seattle bloggers, who claim to have ignited the new "revolution" nationwide, will be drawing crowds (and singing tax songs!) in Olympia.

The Sounder's beloved all-star, Fredy Montero will be back on the field scoring goals--and keeping the soccer ball away from our Keller-less net--soon, but not soon enough for fans. Montero's recent lady troubles landed him in the King County Prosecutors "penalty box," up until yesterday. Citing insufficient evidence to support allegations of rape, the prosecutors announced they were not going to file charges against Montero.

Are we beginning to see gang violence rise again within Rainer Valley? Seattle Police Department's gang unit was brought in to investigate the drive-by shooting--injuring one man--that occurred last night around 10:30 p.m. on the 7400 block of Rainier Avenue South. With the help of witnesses, the officers found the identified car, recovered a gun and took five people in the shooting into custody (go SPD!).

Clearly, unemployment is the new black these days, as Washington's unemployment rate crept up to 9.2 percent in March. The nearly one-percent increase from February came from the 20,000 jobs lost and lack of growth in the state's major industries, making this the first time Washington surpassed the 8.5 national unemployment rate. There is hope--we aren't in the double digits and job seekers can make the best of it with Seattle Job Social, a new schmoozing (and boozing) alternative job resource. Obviously, we prefer the glass-half-full attitude.

The drug-resistant infection MRSA--a potentially deadly "superbug"--had to face the bacteria-fighting Washington legislature on Monday, as they unanimously passed a bill requiring Washington hospitals to screen (via nasal swabs) for MRSA in high-risk patients. The MRSA bill now awaits Gov. Chris Gregoire's signature. If passed, hospitals would begin screening on January 1, 2010. Washington would become the fifth state to mandate MRSA nasal swabbing...err, testing.

Hey, Seattlest doesn't have any bestsellers, gay or straight, banned or otherwise, but "software glitch?" C'mon. Even if it wasn't a deliberate wardrobe malfunction, Amazon's response was just pitiful, akin to the woman in charge of snowplows leaving town during December's storm. Twitter's out there pushing conspiracy theories, and Amazon's all "Nevermind." You'd think the company that pioneered online book sales would do a better job of managing an online crisis. Jeff Bezos, where are you?

Seattle's transportation projects and politics tend to be the Achilles heel of progress in this city. Ironic, isn't it? On Friday, the state House passed a $4.9 billion two-year transportation budget, with the intentions of funding select mega transportation projects (ferries, viaducts and the 520 bridge, oh my!), as well as restoring the funds (per voters request) to move I-90's HOV lanes to prep for the East Link light-rail route. A win in Sound Transit's column, although we are beginning to see those pesky politics and pet-projects--yes, House Speaker Frank Chopp and your one or two billion dollar 520 Tunnel idea, we're talking about you--try to take precedent over the November 2008 voter-approved transportation initiatives. Here we thought a complete transit system was in our foreseeable future (sigh).

Some Lynnwood residents may have had a different church-going experience on Easter Sunday, when a 2.5 magnitude "micro" earthquake occurred just before 10 a.m. This was just one of the many "micro" quakes that have been shimmy-shaking throughout Washington this year. Researchers worry that if these "micro" quakes turn into anything bigger, say a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, it would be catastrophic for Seattle and its skyline. If that does happen, we know the Alaskan Way Viaduct is a goner and so would be many of the old high-rise buildings (Hello, Columbia Center), built before new earthquake friendly regulations were enforced in 1994.

As Cliff Mass was pointing out during our monsoon yesterday, Sequim (pronounced "skwim" for the newbies) sits in a rain shadow and gets less rain, more sun. But before you move, owners of this Seattle house, check out the neighborhood--KOMO has a story on Sequimmers' distaste for lavender and fuschia paint. The extra sun doesn't seem to be translating to sunny dispositions.

In times of economic need, one must shoulder certain new responsibilities, such as crockpotting. Reduce, re-use, make things at home; if the world can't magically provide you with luxuries like, say, law enforcement anymore, then buy a gun and take matters into your own hands. And we have reached that point, so get thee to your nearest pawn shop. At least, that's what Mason County's commissioner Tim Sheldon seems to recommend, given recent Sheriff's Department budget cuts. Great, the Northwest definitely needs more people waving guns around in fear because they feel the government doesn't have the resources to take care of them.

Yesterday, we spoke up early against closed city council budget-cut discussions. Later that afternoon, the Times published an editorial agreeing with us--and this morning, they've published opposition to the meetings from the Seattle city attorney and the Washington state attorney general's office. The Times also tried to send a reporter into one of the closed meetings, and has this to report: "A Seattle Times reporter was denied entrance to a budget briefing on Thursday afternoon. Tom Von Bronkhorst, a legislative aide to Councilmember Jean Godden, physically dragged the reporter away from it by the strap of her bag." Holy crap.

So we've been reading in the Seattle Times that Governor Gregoire thinks a 28 percent tuition hike over two years is firm but fair, the editorial board seconds the motion (Ryan Blethen is a Cougar, we note in passing), and the UW's Mark Emmert praises this kind of "flexibility" on tuition because the UW is currently "one of the best bargains in the country." The actual tuition price would shoot up between $1,300-$2,000 over two years, though there's the usual promise of financial aid to defray, etc. We want to point out two things: 1) student loans don't make things less expensive, they make them more expensive, and 2) it's awesome that the primary stakeholders here, the students, are being circumvented in this discussion.

A teenager was shot by a gun his stepbrother both obtained and stored at Highline High School. So can the Highline school district be held partially responsible for his death? How about the stepbrother's family? The victim's mom, Michele Lucero, thinks so: long-distance from New Mexico, she's suing the district, her kid's father, and his wife for failing to divine the future. Er, technically she's calling it "failing to secure the gun" that issued the bullet that killed her son. This is a fascinating twist in what has been a complex, emotional case since Michael Miller was shot by his stepbrother nearly three years ago. What will it mean for the district, we wonder, if Lucero wins her lawsuit? Will it change anything?

The city faces a $43 million budget shortfall. An unprecedented number of eyes (many of which belong to Seattle journalists and political watchdogs) are trained on the city's every budgetary move. We're just beginning what already smells like a contentious mayoral race towards elections later this year. What better time for Nickels and the city council to start meeting behind closed doors to work out the "very dull" budget-balancing process? Let media report on whatever they see fit, so the public can decide what's boring and irrelevant. That model works for hyperlocal blogs and it will work just as well for government.

Yesterday, Newsvine CEO Mike Davidson was quoted on TechFlash as saying newspapers don't have a future: "And there isn't even a present, unfortunately." Which is not to say that the digital platform is all pixels and rainbows. While the Seattlepi.com is busy reinventing itself, the Post-Globe posse might take a cue from our sister site Torontoist, who have been reinstalling themselves since last December, when they almost went dark: Three investors are now backing the costs of Torontoist's local operations--as Canadians, they're more evolved than we are--though the site will remain affiliated with the Gothamist network.

When Culinary Communion closed last month, they announced that their Lunch Counter and Swinery elements would remain open. However, Beacon Hill Blog reports that the Lunch Counter just lost its lease--and the Swinery is in an increasingly tight spot as it tries to sell its last month's worth of delicious bacon legally. Sad, but there's an upside: The Swinery is selling "Bacon Pimp" t-shirts, free with your purchase of 50 or more pounds of their bacon. Early stocking stuffer idea? We emphatically believe so.

When former governor Gary Locke accepted Obama's Commerce Secretary appointment, he had to leave a cushy job at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and move to DC. Now, he's expected to divest all of his Microsoft stock as he continues to adapt to the heavy demands of his new national role. Boeing and Microsoft both contributed the maximum amount allowed to his re-election campaign, and now watchdog groups have their eye on Locke to make sure he's not unduly fond of Washington businesses. Here's hoping his heart never hardens entirely towards Washington; we want him back someday!

Publicola says Sally Clark's office isn't denying that the politician will run for mayor at some point. Investigative fiend Josh Feit was investigating a rumor he'd heard and ran into surprisingly soft resistance to his inquiries; whether or not that means anything other than a spokesperson having a mischievous day is yet to be determined, but this is an interesting scoop. Hmm. Sally Clark in charge doesn't sound awful. It doesn't sound awful at all.

A man arrested for growing thousands of dollars worth of marijuana in five Snohomish County grow-houses every month has entered a guilty plea to the charges. That's big business--4,000 plants over the last five years--and he'll face up to nine years in prison for the charges.

The latest in the plastic bag saga: Edmonds might ban them before Seattle does, thanks to quick and decisive work by their city council (now that's a foreign concept!). According to HeraldNet, Edmonds is well on its way to already implementing what could be a quick vote on the issue--the major Edmonds grocery store has already stopped using plastic to bag groceries, except for the small bags used to separate meat and fish packages, and in their version of the ban, the sanitary bags will remain legal. If they manage to ban plastic bags before August, that would make Edmonds the first city in Washington to regulate them. We always have thought of Edmondsians as trend-setters...!

Now that Ken Bone has been named the head coach at Wazzu, we implore the students to name their section The Bone Zone. They will definitely surpass the Cameron Crazies and Romarville. Oh, and we demand full credit at all times.

Seattlest's father now knows who Dan Savage is, thanks to the Stranger editorial director's short-lived publicity stunt of a mayoral campaign. We suspect that was kind of the point. Savage isn't running anymore, thanks to the burdensome piles of paperwork associated with a real campaign, and we're grateful that whole shenanigan is done with. Piles of paperwork, we salute you.

Over at TechFlash, John Cook reports that Alaska Airlines misspoke when representatives gave what many interpreted as an announcement that they'd be offering free wi-fi to Alaska travelers at SeaTac gates. The airline will be extending the offer to travelers in Oakland for the three-month promotion, but not here. Seriously? Seattle would be the perfect place to run that deal. This reminds us to ask why we don't already have free wi-fi available at our airport. Anyone have a compelling explanation for this pitiable situation?

The Emerald City ComiCon is this weekend (!!), so graphic novel and comic book enthusiasts of all stripes will be gathering at the Convention Center downtown to celebrate their passion. The Times just leaked that an intriguing announcement will be made there this weekend: the son of the man who arrested the Green River Killer is working on a 120-page graphic novelization of the dramatic story to be published by Dark Horse Comics sometime next year. The Pacific Northwest has a dark fascination with the saga, so we won't be surprised if it sells well. Still...weird.

The Times' Nicole Brodeur addresses the latest round of food-related conspiracy theories in her column today, with quotes from PCC's director of public affairs Trudy Bialic to help debunk the rumor that a current bill moving through Congress would somehow ban organic foods and decimate farmers' markets as we know them in one giant win for Monsanto. Some of our acquaintances went so far as to claim to us that HR 875 would outlaw nutrients. (What?) There is a Food Safety Modernization bill, HR 875, but it's not at all what the crazies are claiming. Thanks for doing our research for us on this one, Brodeur--we'll point people towards your article.

Fredy Montero, the Sounders FC forward who won Seattle's affections last month for helping our new MLS team stay undefeated for our first two games, is probably going to be under formal investigation for an alleged sexual assault and consequent stalking incident involving a 23-year-old woman on the Eastside. Though the Bellevue Police Department won't name names about the subject of their investigations until they've filed charges, SeattlePI.com did get a confirmation that the woman called BPD with her allegations about Montero. Yikes--this one came out of the blue! The Sounders say they fully expect the player to be on the field with the team for this weekend's next week's game.

So much for the idea of having separate Costco stores for home furnishings: the company just announced they'll be closing their two home stores in Kirkland and Tempe, Arizona this summer. The whole point of Costco, in our experience, is that all the great wholesale deals are under one roof. We can buy exorbitantly large bags of frozen potstickers, twelve-pound sacks of Jolly Ranchers, the latest Harry Potter book, a new shelving system, a couch, and a diamond tennis bracelet for our beloved, all in the same fluorescent-lit warehouse for cheaper than just about anywhere else, and then we can go home and cry over our debit card balance. Lesson learned, right, Costco?

Lights & Sirens, Tacoma News Tribune's crime blog, reported this morning that a 68-year-old Lakewood man was killed by his own van at a gas station late last night when the vehicle rolled forward, knocked him down in front of the van, and pinned him under the wheels. According to Lights & Sirens, "the man's death is being investigated as accidental" and "investigators will be checking over the van to see if a mechanical failure prompted it to roll over the man" (as opposed to...malicious intent on the part of the vehicle?). What a brutal, random way to go.