News: July 2009 Archives

Elevators were running on generator power but everything else was candle-lit when an electrical fire at Fisher Plaza blew up the Belltown grid shortly before midnight last night. Power's back on at Seattlest International Headquarters high atop Second Avenue, but not at the various websites hosted on servers at Fisher. The P-I says KOMO Radio is broadcasting from Queen Anne, and KOMO TV is operating out of a mobile truck in Kerry Park. (One of the sites that's fried: the credit card processor Authorize.net.) The whole Fisher complex was for sale, BTW, advertising itself as the only place in Seattle to house mission critical communications; now their own website's down and out, too.

A much-needed win at Yankee Stadium gives the M's a .500 record on their road trip from hell, which now proceeds to Boston. After Jason Vargas left because he was suffering from flu, the bullpen (Batista, Lowe, Aardsma) threw five scoreless innings. Ichiro continued his mastery of C.C. Sabathia with two hits, including a 2-RBI double. M's 40-38, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Fri @ BOS, 4:05 p.m.; King Felix vs. Wakefield.

After 61 years of business, Ballard Camera officially closed their doors on Tuesday. This is just days after other Ballard shops have announced their pending closed-for-good signs. Sadly, we say goodbye to the camera shop, who was a victim not only of the economy but also our impatient obsession with digital photography.

Released via the Seattle Police Department Twitter feed, officers shot a man yesterday at Greenwood Ave. N and Holman Road, who is suspected in yesterday's Shoreline bank robbery and a string of other bank robberies. Prior to shots being fired, officers had spotted the bank robbery suspect stopped in traffic at Holman and 3rd Ave. with a stolen pick-up truck. A team of police cars quickly began to box in the truck. Trying to flee, the suspect rammed the stolen pick-up into a police car and a car carrying a father with his kids at the corner of Greenwood Ave. N and Holman Road. Police fired four shots, stalling the suspect who sustained injuries to his arm. The family of three was uninjured.

The Storm usually hold Cappie Pondexter in check, but not tonight as she nearly had a triple-double. They had issues with the refs, too, as LJ and Swin Cash both got technical fouls. Once again, the Storm got next to no production from their bench, which managed just 8 points. All starters finished in double figures. Storm 6-4, 1 GB. Box score. Next game Tues. vs. San Antonio at KeyArena, Noon.

The Sounders advance to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals, silencing 16,000 Timbers fans with a first minute goal. Roger Levesque, the goal-scorer, mocked the fans with his goal celebration, pretending to fall like a tree with Nate Jaqua pantomiming a lumberjack. Sweet. Stephen King had the other goal. Match report. Next game 7/7, U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal vs. Kansas City at Starfire Sports Complex.

A-Rod's second homer in as many nights sinks the Good Ship Mariner, as Andy Pettitte outduels Jarrod Washburn. Half of the M's offense was a solo homer by Griffey, his first in New Yankee Stadium. That's 44 major league parks Junior's homered in, one short of Sammy Sosa's record. M's 39-38, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Thu @ NYY, 4:05 p.m.; Vargas vs. Sabathia.

Pity the poor bastards at the Liquor Board, whose job is to contribute revenue to the state's general fund, which they do by selling us booze. Not too much, mind you, that would be Bad. (Which is why most stores still aren't open on Sundays or holidays.) But now, thanks to the budget deficit, they're supposed to raise more revenue, so they're going to be open on the Fourth. Trouble is, according to the Times, they can't even get the right bottles of liquor into the stores (no Campari yesterday at Lower Queen Anne, for example). We have a suggestion: form a SWAT Team (Jim, Jack, James) and send in the snowplows!

With all the audits going on around town, it's no surprise to hear the next taxpayer rip-off comes courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation. A routine payroll review of overtime accrual reports uncovered a WSDOT employee jerry-rigging the payroll system for the past two years, allowing her to snag at least $67,000 in unearned overtime and compensation time. Currently, the case is undergoing an audit and investigation for potential criminal charges. In the meantime, WSDOT has decided to update their system, so that no one can adjust their own payroll records in the future. Smart move.

Ballard's Epilogue Books is creating their very own epilogue--and their ending is a sad one for the community and book lovers. Bookstore owner Nathan Heath wrote in a tearjerker e-mail, "So with great regret and heavy hearts Epilogue Books will be closing." Apparently, the beloved book store had been having problems solving (and settling on) lease agreements with the landlord and didn't have enough time to find a suitable new storefront. Now they have 70,000 books, new and old to pull from their shelves. Starting July 5 at 11 a.m., all items will be marked down 20-70 percent off and will continue until the store's anticipated closure in August.

Nothing like a small earthquake to jumpstart the day. This morning shortly after 5:00 a.m., folks living on Whidbey Island were woken up or spilled their coffee, thanks to a 3.7 magnitude earthquake. Reports note the quake was centered two miles south of the Coupeville area, was about 36 miles deep, and did not cause any major damage or injuries, just a few strange looks from a cat.