About 800 tickets for the Sept. 18 nationally-televised high school football dream contest between Issaquah's Skyline High (with BYU QB recruit Jake Heaps) and California's Oaks Christian High (with UW QB recruit Nick "Son of Joe" Montana) go on sale tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Skyline High School. Cash or check only. We will be at a wedding in Buffalo--does no one check the high school football schedules anymore?

Your Seattle Storm clinched a spot in next month's WNBA playoffs with a home win over Connecticut last night. If the playoffs started today, the Storm would be the Western Conference's #2-seed and face their longtime nemeses, the Los Angeles Sparks. The Storm have six regular season games left, including a home game Saturday vs. Atlanta. Tickets!

If you're jogging near Shilshole Marina this morning, look for a couple of upended pontoons. The pilot, Roger Collins, was flying from Paine Field to Bremerton when his plane had an electrical short and had to make an emergency landing on Puget Sound. The wheels did not retract and caused the plane to flip on landing. The pilot was not hurt. KIRO has video of him, and he seems pretty calm about the whole thing. Judging from pictures, his plane’s an insurance loss, though. Too bad!

Two middle-aged men had been drinking and having good time until an argument broke out between the drinking buddies shortly after 2 a.m. this morning at Carlton Avenue South near South Bailey Street. The SPD Blotter reports the disagreement heightened when the 54-year-old suspect accused the 49-year-old victim of stealing something. Shortly thereafter, a witness hearing all the commotion stepped outside only to see the suspect stabbing the other man in the back multiple times. She immediately called 911, and the victim was transported to Harborview with life-threatening injuries. The suspect was detained by police and taken to King County Jail for investigation of assault. UPDATE: SPD Twitter says the victim died of his wounds.

On Friday, expect people flocking their lucky 7-Eleven convenience stores, gas stations, and anywhere they can take their chances on winning some big money--biiiiiiig monnnnnaaaay--in the $325 Mega Millions lottery drawing. Odds of picking the right numbers and winning one of the largest multi-state jackpots: 1 in 175,711,536. Now if "we" as in the entire 602,000 people living in Seattle go in on this, our odds are looking more like 1 in 292. And if we win the $325 million, well that breaks down--before taxes, of course--to $539.86 per person. A Seattle stimulus package--hey we'll take it! But if Friday's drawing provides no winner, the September 1 drawing will most likely become the largest U.S. lottery jackpot, ever. Ever.

It's not shoot-'em-up Friday, but still one man is dead and another on the run after an early morning shooting in the Rainer Valley area. Seattle police officers responded to multiple 911 calls Thursday morning around 3 a.m., reporting a disturbance between two men that ended with 4 to 6 gunshots fired in the area of Rainier Avenue South and South Byron Street. The victim, a 31-year-old male, was rushed to Harborview, where he later died of his gunshot wounds. Police are on the hunt for the shooting suspect, who is still at large and believed to have driven off in a pick-up truck.

How boring was last night's M's game? Until reserve outfielder Ryan Langerhans' 10th-inning homer, the loudest cheers of the night were for a seagull that landed in the outfield. (Because outfields are for PEOPLE! HA!) The home run, Langerhans' second walk-off of the month, beat the A's--exciting! Here's video of the homer, along with Dave Sims' excited call.

First the Seattle Public School teachers put a spike in the heart of summer, by agreeing to a one-year contract (not ratified until Monday, August 31, kids, so get out there and lobby). Now Shoreline's teachers have reached a "tentative contract agreement," and will vote on it tomorrow. That leaves Kent facing a strike vote at 5 p.m. today. The teachers want smaller classes, better pay. When do they want it? Now!

One Issaquah woman surely didn't get the injection's worth of wrinkle-free beauty that she bargained for, after discovering the Natural Beauty salon in Bellevue had used a fake Botox material on her face. The woman reported the salon to authorities after her face became inflamed, swollen and hard, and needed to be treated by a plastic surgeon. Sexy! Shortly thereafter, Feds busted into the Bellevue salon arresting three workers, including Xin "Faith" He, who administered the bogus injections without a license. The fake solution turned out to come from a non-FDA approved vial with Chinese characters. Now Faith could be looking at three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Publicola's ECB reports that, wrapping up a 20-minute KUOW interview, King County Executive candidate Susan Hutchison offered what sounded like a challenge to her rival Dow Constantine: three debates, come and get it. (Constantine was making hay with Hutchison's infrequent public appearances during the primary.) But Dow told Publicola that debate arrangements are already in progress, and talks are ongoing with two TV stations about the logistics. ECB quotes Dow's comeback as: "Is she going to challenge me to a primary election next?"

Seattle Bubble sees a flatline, more or less, for housing prices since this March, with a loss of 22 percent off the price peak. So the question you have to ask yourself is, is this the moment when the hero pulls himself up over the edge of the cliff and dusts himself off...or is this the moment when the branch that stopped his fall pulls loose? Barring more economic shocks, we lean towards a slow recovery. But economic shocks aren't really barred, so long as Boeing is still thrashing around, trying to get its new plane to fly.

During evening rush hour yesterday, SPD Blotter reports, the driver of a Lexus was traveling southbound on 5th Avenue nearing the intersection with Olive Way, when a male bicyclist--suspected of running the red light--also entered the intersection and collided with the car. Medics responded, taking the bicyclist to Harborview with life-threatening head injuries. A police investigation is ongoing.

During a recent state audit of the public school system, a riding lawn mower, laptop computers, overhead projectors, and a costly spool of copper wire were just a few of the items suspiciously missing from the inventory of the Seattle School District. The cost of the small electronics missing alone totaled up to $118,911 in taxpayer money gone and unaccounted for. Well, the unaccounted part was only recently uncovered, when the audit revealed--despite four previous reminders--that the Seattle School District once again failed to report the suspected or known losses and vandalism.

Early Sunday evening, KING5-TV reports, two women had taken four dogs out for a walk near the train tracks (not to be confused with light rail track) just outside of Seattle, when one dog ran off and onto the train tracks just as a Chicago-bound Amtrak train was approaching. Moments later, the eastbound train struck and killed the dog and injured one of the women who raced after it. The injured woman was brought onboard the train and taken to the Edmonds Station, where paramedics whisked her away to Harborview.

There's a feature in the Seattle Times today about the #7 bus that seems to be celebrating it as a "colorful" part of Seattle history, but also makes the claim that "most" and "many" #7 riders prefer it to the light rail. Try as we might, we can't find any numbers in the story to back up that assertion. We emailed reporter Phillip Lucas, but it bounced back undeliverable, user unknown. We've also called Metro's community relations line three times this morning, but no one's picking up. We'll update if it's the rapture and no one else is at work this morning. UPDATE: It's not the rapture. But here's Publicola's ECB, an actual #7 rider, going off on exactly how colorful the route is.

August 23 is Friends and Family Day at Boeing's Everett plant. Visitors with connections get to tour the bigger-than-Disneyland campus, and they might want to take advantage of that this year as opposed to next, because 275 Boeing employees in the Puget Sound area are getting 60-day layoff notices. Those are going to be a busy 60 days if Boeing means to hold to its 787-flies-at-year-end promise to Quantas.

We mentioned a few days ago that WSDOT is doing construction on southbound I-5 this weekend, and that a lane will be closed from Yale to Union Street from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. But we want to warn you that northbound traffic won't be all giggles and schadenfreude--they're keeping the express lanes open southbound all day to help with the lane closure, so northbound is gonna be molasses in January, too. Plus, Seahawks fans, getting near Qwest Field is just part of the fun: "WSDOT is building a bridge over the railroad tracks on S. Royal Brougham Way and a new off-ramp from I-90 and I-5 to S. Atlantic Street/Edgar Martinez Drive S. Construction is also under way on nearby city of Seattle projects and on WSDOT’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Electrical Line Relocation project. Fans should expect construction-related lane, parking and pedestrian access restrictions related to these projects south of Qwest Field."

Well, there you have it. Mayor Nickels conceded the race--well, he never actually said the word "conceded"--but he wished primary election leaders Mallahan and McGinn a good mayoral race during this morning's press conference. As for the candidate he plans to vote for and endorse? He said he's undecided. But knowing his 22 years of public office, we say just go ahead and write your name in, Greg, we understand.

We are seeing some sort of odd trend or angst recently, as more shootings take place on Friday. Once again the SPD Blotter notes another early morning Friday shooting, this time in an alleyway in Columbia City across from a hip hop show. Witnesses from a nearby bar at Rainier Ave S and S Hudson Street heard a single gunshot, the bullet striking the victim, a 25-year-old male, in the abdomen. A local citizen later drove the victim to Harborview. Police report the gang unit is now looking into this case.

The latest numbers from Tuesday's primary are up, and Joe Mallahan is still on top. The current figures in the three-way race: Joe Mallahan with 28126 votes (27.22%), Mike McGinn with 27586 votes (26.69%), and Greg Nickels still coming in third with 26416 votes (25.56%). The next update on the King County site comes tomorrow at approximately 4:30 p.m. (results schedule here), along with the first stats on primary results broken down by legislative district. SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Publicola's ECB has a tea-leaf reading of yesterday's ballot drop that augurs well for Dow Constantine in the King County Executive's race. While Susan Hutchison (TV) is up on Dow (D) by almost 13 percent, the later ballots are trending Constantine's way.

An old tree is to blame for last night's power outage, cutting electricity for 3,250 customers on Capitol Hill and even some over in Eastlake. As luck would have it, the tree fell in one of the most inconvenient spots, bringing down with it the main power line that just so happens to feed power into northwest Capitol Hill. Seattle City Light said the power outage began at 5 p.m., and, as of 9:30 p.m. last night, nearly 950 customers were still without power; final repairs were expected to be completed by 3 a.m this morning.

King County Elections just refreshed their tallies from yesterday's primary, and--lookie here, lookie here--Mayor Nickels is still coming in third. The current figures in the three-way race: Mike McGinn with 20880 votes (26.48%), Greg Nickels with 19864 votes (25.19%), and Joe Mallahan now has the lead with 21101 votes (26.76%). Tomorrow there'll be another update at approximately the same time; stay tuned by constantly checking the King County site (results schedule here).

Things have been relatively quiet in the U District--until last night, when a 911 call came in at 9:05 p.m. that someone or something was on fire, as flames raged from the third or fourth story of a parking garage at NE 43rd Street and 11th Avenue NE. Police say the man, riddled with the smell of gasoline, fell or jumped from the structure and landed in the alley below. KOMO-TV reports that neighbors rushed outside to the alley and discovered the man still on fire. Despite valiant attempts to extinguish the flames, the person died on the scene. Weirdly, police say the fire was not accidental, nor was it suspicious. Whaaaa?

It's being reported all over that the unemployment rate in Washington "dipped" by 0.1 percent, from 9.2 to 9.1 percent. This month-to-month non-change is far more accurately labeled stasis than a "dip"--the real news is that of the 315,000 or so unemployed, thousands are one month closer to running out of UI benefits. Unemployment figures have been politically distorted to the point of absurdity--for one thing, people who fail to find a job for so long that they give up are no longer counted as unemployed. The precision of 0.1 percent change would be laughable if it weren't for the cruel irony that making these announcements is a real job.

If King County Executive Kurt Triplett has his way, King County will see 39 county parks shut down and "mothballed" under lock and key come January 1, 2010. Currently the 2010 budget is in a world of hurt, with a $56 million budget shortfall. So for a quick $4.6 million, select parks in neighborhoods stretching from Federal Way to Bothell will be put out of commission. The new King County Executive better have tough skin--the toddler hatemail and crayon drawings are going to be ruthless--unless neighborhoods rally and create some sort of Adopt-a-Highway-Park program, or cities jump in and keep the taxpayer-funded parks open.

Talk about government incentives! The Seattle City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee is holding a special public meeting tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Dr. Blanche Lavisso Park (East Yesler Way and 22nd Avenue South). But if you get there at 5 p.m., your chances of getting free ice cream are better. The meeting is to discuss changes to the mid- and high-rise sections of the multifamily code, which Sally Clark has struggled mightily to make public in ways ("Townhouses: Can the Patient be Saved?") that might interest people. Now she's footing the bill for ice cream. Sally, next time we're voting for you twice. Nope, we are. End of discussion.

The Seattle PostGlobe's recent plea for funding very nearly reads like a script produced for an NPR pledge drive, minus all the cool giveaways. Free swag aside, the news site has re-sounded the alarm, reporting they have only one week of funding remaining in their reserves...and leaving us to wonder whether this time next week we will have to ask what the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ex-pats will be doing post-PostGlobe?

We're counting awfully quickly, but we can safely say there are over 40 new "neighborhood" blogs nestled under the KOMO 4 umbrella, even some covering areas we didn't know had news, like Sammamish and Gig Harbor. Central District News is a little skeptical, and...oh look, it's officially 43, we wasted all that time counting. Anyway, 43 blogs, really? You expect us to think that's a coincidence?

All together now, "Happy Birthday to Pike Place Market, Happy Birthday to you..." Today, Seattle's iconic tourist trap turns the ripe ol' age of 102, and for those who don't want to do the math, it was 1907 when the market first opened. All of the community is invited to celebrate the historic market, during its very own birthday party. Make your way to Pike Place (under the sign and clock) by noon today, so you can snag a slice of birthday cake and hear the tunes of Seattle's The Tallboys.

Last night at 11:45 p.m. in Belltown, a man was stabbed for a) refusing to offer a cigarette when asked and b) possibly responding to racial slurs with racial slurs. The SPD Blotter narrates the contretemps: "The argument was sparked when one of the men asked the victim for a cigarette. The victim refused to give him one, and the suspect took offense, asking if the victim was unwilling to give him a cigarette because he was Black." And then: "The victim did not initially realize that he had been stabbed, but soon noticed that he was bleeding profusely."

Police gang units are on the look out for the owner of a suspicious red bandanna, seen thrown from a white Chevrolet speeding away from the scene of today's shooting in the parking lot of King County Youth Service Center on 12th Avenue and Alder. The first reports came in around 10:30 a.m. this morning that five shots were fired in the Central District parking lot, injuring one. The victim was a young male in his late teens, who suffered a non-life-threatening gun shot wound to his hip. Police believe there may be up to three suspects involved in the shooting; the case is still on-going.

For the second time in three years, mysterious crop circles just happened to show up in the wheat fields of the small town of Wilbur, 65 miles west of Spokane. The farmers supernatural forces produced five rings declining in size, plus a circle crushed into the field's ripe wheat--without a footprint in sight. The local diner must be bustling with gossip this morning. But it's the Wilbur Chamber of Commerce that really values the extraterrestrial visit the most, recently giving them (?) an award of appreciation: "Thanks to the Aliens who made Wilbur their Vacation Destination!"

Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre may miss the rest of the season after taking a ground ball to the nuts. Beltre does not wear a protective cup when he plays, he's said it's uncomfortable. Now, though, he's got a bleeding testicle that may need surgery--which would end his season. Beltre becomes the second Mariner in our memory lost to a testicle injury: pitcher Josias Manzanillo, another freeballer, suffered a similar injury in 1997.

We're sad to report that one of the Woodland Park Zoo's Humboldt penguins has died. The 18-year-old male, Chiquito, formerly of Chicago's Brookfield Zoo, "died after a brief illness related to the ingestion of a sealant material used in a concealed pipe in the exhibit’s pool." No need to worry about the exhibit's other penguins--zoo staff have since located and removed the loose pieces of sealant, and two other penguins with similar (but less severe) symptoms are being closely monitored and show no signs of GI blockage. This is exactly why we need universal healthcare, people. Pour one out for Chiquito tonight.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1190th RBI as a Mariner was a special one--a game-winning hit in the bottom of the 14th inning. Watch the highlight here. Junior's major league career may be winding down, but he's still giving us some memorable moments. The M's play the Yankees tonight in the first game of a four-game series.

A few hotheads (and fists) connected over yesterday's accident in Ballard, involving a car hitting a pedestrian crossing the street at 8th Avenue NW and NW 49th Street. MyBallard has a few eyewitness reports saying the scuffle happened when the driver's keys were snatched as he tried to flee before the police showed. Another said it was a brawl between the victim and the driver. So far we know the police have detained the driver (and his innocent dog), but once the SPD gets around to updating their fancy new toy blotter, we can hopefully get a play-by-play of who exactly was throwing the punches.

TechFlash sat in on Microsoft's Mac unit conference call this morning, thinking the surprise announcement might be about Office on the iPhone (honestly, like our phone doesn't crash enough already), but it turns out they're just getting around to burying Entourage, and will offer an Office for Mac suite that contains Outlook. Finally Mac users in an Exchange environment won't feel like a red-headed stepchild. In the meantime, current Office 2008 users can download a more Exchange-friendly Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition here.

Reading through Lucas from Neighborlogs' coverage of a King County Metro budget meeting, we're left with the uncomfortable feeling that we read the phrase "deferred maintenance" one too many times. Besides fare increases (to $2.25) and bus service suspensions, Metro's Kevin Desmond says "Metro will greatly reduce the number of buses it purchases, and speed, reliability and asset maintenance programs will be cut." [Emphasis added] We know! Reads like a line cut from Drag Me to Hell, doesn't it?

Thank the gods of Olympus! Amtrak's twice-a-day Seattle-Vancouver train service starts a week from today, on August 19, 2009. (UPDATE: Seattle Transit Blog says Thursday the 20th. Here's the current train schedule.) Seattle rail passengers will be able to depart at 7:40 a.m. or 6:40 p.m. and arrive in Vancouver, B.C., at about 11:35 a.m. or 10:45 p.m, respectively. From Vancouver, the southbound Amtrak Cascades train will leave at 6:40 a.m., hitting Seattle four-ish hours later, and arriving in Portland at 2:45 p.m. We get the train to help us get to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games, with no promises for after the Games are done.

Imagine it: You're coming off the field after a baseball game, and a reporter asks this question: "How d'ya like the two-hole?" Rather personal, wouldn't you say? We can't tell whether Russell Branyan is playing along in his response--listen for yourself if you've a taste for exceedingly juvenile humor. We know we do. The audio of the encounter was capture by the Tacoma News-Tribune's Ryan Divish.

Neighbors in Kirkland's Juanita neighborhood first heard an argument stirring last night around 10 p.m., later followed by the sounds of gunshots fired outside a residential home. Police responded to find the victim, a 30-year-old man covered in blood with gunshot wounds to his face. He was later rushed to Harborview and is in serious condition. Police took into custody a twenty-something male from the scene, who both knew the victim and is suspected of shooting him. The scene and the motive of the shooting is under investigation by the tight-lipped police department.

It's the first day of real rain after a loooooooooong dry spell, and UW weather sage Cliff Mass says: Watch out! "During the dry period oil, dust and other debris collect on roadways and the addition of water produces a slippery emulsion." It certainly does, and you notice it taking the corners, or on a hill. That said, at the moment traffic flow looks pretty good.

It's the typical jaywalking case we've seen for years: Unsuspecting tourists who come to Seattle from larger, walkable metropolitan cities (i.e., NYC, Chicago, and Boston) think of jaywalking as a healthy, daily practice. On the road, they assume it's okay to do the same in Seattle. Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams found out the hard way last night that it's not, after he was issued a $56 jaywalking ticket outside Safeco Field for illegally crossing the street away from a crosswalk. Apparently, Williams tried to finesse his way out of the ticket, saying Chicagoans cross anywhere. We can practically hear the authoritative chuckle in the SPD officer's response, "Not in Seattle."

Probably worth the eight seconds it will take you this morning to watch this highlight of Russell Branyan's violent homer last night in the M's win over Chicago. The "Las Vegas" sign below the Hit It Here Cafe is still shaking, we're sure. We would give an arm to be able to hit a baseball like this just once.

Around 6:30 a.m. this morning a jogger discovered a male in his mid-20s lying lifeless on the sidewalk outside the Extended StayAmerica hotel in the 13300 block of Stone Avenue North. Police responded to the scene shortly thereafter, only to discover the young man had been shot and killed. Homicide detectives are still investigating.

In fairness to the Seattle Times, whose stodginess makes us crazy at times, we want to quote the first bit of this unstodgy story on the state making it easier to change your gender on your driver's license: "It's hard to say for sure how many of the 80 or so transgender Washingtonians who change their driver's-license information each year might be terrorists. But just in case, the state was ready." We ran across that this morning, and had to read the whole thing. Go on, it's worth it.

Seattle's publicly traded big businesses have only eight more days to announce their second-quarter results by the SEC-mandated August 14 deadline. Already, it seems that the Puget Sound Business Journal has nearly used up an entire thesaurus-worth of words that can describe losing a ridiculous amount of money. So far, we've heard: Jones Soda loses $2 million, Costco July sales fall, ZymoGenetics loses $27M in Q2, Nordstrom's July sales slid and Radio, TV ad dips hurt Fisher in Q2. Well, here's to hoping for better third-quarter results and positive, uplifting descriptors.

Did the idea of catching swine flu (H1N1) have you down and hiding from both public spaces and children last spring? (We told ya you'd be fine.) Well, now researchers at Seattle's Group Health Cooperative have introduced an experimental swine flu vaccine in preparation for a possible resurgence of the H1N1 flu come fall. Oh, great. Seattle--selected as one of the few cities for the H1N1 trial--is set to begin the experimental vaccinations on brave volunteers today at Seattle Children's Hospital and the University of Washington. But if you're allergic to eggs, this shot is not for you.

Two pesky little chipmunks probably never even saw the nail gun coming--until it was too late. Oh, the HORROR!! Earlier this week Thurston County's Animal Services were alerted to an incident involving two construction workers who killed two unsuspecting chipmunks with a nail gun at a job site. The young workers, who admitted to the nailing, are now unemployed and possibly facing animal-cruelty charges.

If you've spotted another Leif Bearickson or even a cougar--not that type of cougar--lurking in your backyard, feel free to give the Washington State Fish and Wildlife critter-catchers a call. But as for a bobcat? You are on your own, say Fish and Wildlife officials. They recently told a Bellevue woman she had to fend for herself and hire a nuisance control company to remove the furry bobcat that's been hanging out behind her home.

King County jail inmate Shawn Clark, 20, was recently caught hustlin' on a jail-monitored phone ordering a female prostitute to start working for him, so she could pay for his $250,000 bail. This makes judge not happy, judge MAD! Clark, who is currently awaiting trial later this month for (surprise!) promoting prostitution, was told on Friday by a King County Superior Court Judge that not only is he banned from the telephone, but his bail was raised to $1 million.

The Seattle Times has broken a story about a Port of Seattle construction oopsie that has cost $200,000 and may eventually cost $1 million. Puts that $40,000 bonus for Carrasco for doing things right in a new light, doesn't it? "Clearly the contractor should've built the trench at 2.52 inches and it's 2.5," said newish Port Commission President Bill Bryant, proving that it doesn't make much difference who you vote for for Port Commissioner, you're still going to be faced with someone saying really weird things after things go awry. The Port requested a trench's width to the hundredths of an inch? We're of the mind that anything wider than the cable would have been fine. (PS to Bob Young: Is Tay Yoshitani on vacation? Why no statement from the Port CEO?)

Over here at Seattlest we are constantly amused by the stream of emails that come from the non-stop nagging, insulting--we don't need lipo! (yet)--or downright crazy types of people, although it does provide great inner-office banter. Well, now all those crazy emails have a home at Emails From Crazy People, the new site from those funny Seattle guys who brought you LOLcats and FailBlog. Besides airing out the crazy neighbor emails, tweets, texts, and other oddities, they'll be sharing voicemails, too!

"After yesterday's count, a little over 10 percent of the petitions have been processed and the error rate is 13 percent," says the Seattle Weekly, adding that to pass, "the measure needs an error rate closer to 12 percent." R-71, a referendum to "Preserve Marriage, Protect Children," by opposing the rights of gays to get married or even get legally partnered, has gotten big ups from "Bible-believing" rural churchgoers. In some ways, we're torn, because if bigots didn't try to keep marriage all to themselves, who'd marry 'em?

With a staggering state unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, proving your worth--even going above and beyond--in today's job market is essential. However, not in the case of Key Bank's Queen Anne branch teller, Jim Nicholson, who was faced with a robber demanding the bank's money. With no weapon visible, Nicholson called the robber's bluff and with a single rule-breaking leap chased away and then tackled the would-be robber. Two days after Nicholson chose not to hand over the bank's cash, he was fired for violating the bank's security policies. And now we know where all the real-life heroes go--to the unemployment line.

This morning shortly after 2 a.m. two men from the "Drama Boyz" motorcycle club were involved in a fatal motorcycle crash after they hit something and lost control of their bikes at 9000 Block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. The crash left one man dead at the scene, while the other victim was taken to Harborview with critical injuries. The impact of the crash sent one of the motorcycles onto the Light Rail tracks, suspending service at the Othello Station in Rainier Valley for several hours. Police say the investigation is ongoing, and it will be some time before they know what happened.

Publicola got their hands on a UW research poll that shows leftward-leaning Mike McGinn "leading" in the mayor's race among Republican voters. McGinn's got 15 percent to Nickels' 10 percent. McGinn says the appeal is due to his "fiscal conservatism" in being against the deep-bore tunnel. That said, the poll's 600 people surveyed left Nickels in the lead, with Mallahan, Donaldson, Drago, and McGinn each divvying up about 10 percent.

NOAA has announced that they're hauling anchor away from Lake Union, and relocating their center-Pacific operations to Newport, Oregon. Seattle City Council's Jean Godden has already fired off a response, noting that Seattle has the UW (Newport doesn't), fresh water (Newport 0), and the Duwamish River (Newport FAIL). Godden says Seattle still looks to her like the best choice for NOAA, but that "Clearly the selection committee felt differently, perhaps influenced by millions of dollars in state subsidies offered by the Oregon legislature." ZING!

The AP whipped up a story on the Bonvicini hire prior to the official announcement, but we waited for the Twitter confirmation before we went with the story. People say bloggers post first, ask questions later. But that's not us, man. We're here with the facts! And the fact is that Joan Bonvicini is one of only 18 coaches in Division I history with more than 600 victories. Go Redhawks!

This week (August 2-8) is the Federal Highway Administration's "Stop on Red Week." No, they mean seriously, full stop, it's the law! West Seattle Blog alerted us to the Seattle Police Department's participation in "Stop on Red Week"--it's designed to provide a firm reminder to red-light runners and coasters, urging drivers to actually stop at a red light (right turns included), and to also promote the SPD's partnership with American Traffic Solutions, who created the city's new fancy-schmancy photo-enforcement cameras. We'll finally see all 30 red light safety cameras in action, issuing $124 tickets at new(er) locations throughout the city by the summer's end.

It's not murder on the Holland America cruise ship Zaandam, says a spokeperson, but it may be suicide. Alaska state troopers say Washington's Amber Malkuch, 45, went missing Monday morning while the ship was visiting Glacier Bay National Park, northwest of Juneau. A woman's body was found in the 57-degree water at 4:30 p.m. Monday, but hasn't been positively identified.

The post office is a storefront that we'd never expect to see shut down, but because of recent hard times the U.S. Postal Service is dealing with a $7 billion potential loss this fiscal year. Not even the 2-cent price increase for stamps can save the day. Curse you, online bill pay (shaking fist!). Thousands of post offices nationwide are getting the once over, even Seattle's Federal Station, which is one of six Washington offices on the list of 700 expected to close.

A 20-something Rainier Valley Beach man suffered critical injuries on Sunday evening, after a failed jump from a three-story-high balcony into Lake Washington. The young man's alcohol-infused plans for a successful jump into the lake below were foiled after striking his head on the second story balcony and, seconds later, the water below. KOMO-TV reports that neighbors pulled the unresponsive man out of the water and began CPR, until medics arrived at the 9600 block of Rainier Avenue South. The victim, rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, is listed in critical condition.

Assigned to pick up the lunch run? If so, avoid the Aurora Bridge at all costs today till 2 p.m. The Seattle Department of Transportation has closed down the two northbound lanes on the Aurora Bridge, leaving the right lane open for traffic. The bridge's expansion joints are undergoing an emergency round of temporary repairs.

Damon Agnos at the Weekly reports on the the coalition suing to prevent I-90 light rail from happening, a weird last-ditch attempt to keep Seattle from driving its train deep into the Eastside, again and oh god again, via tunnel. The suit--claiming light rail can't use I-90 because that would besmirch its use by upstanding automobile drivers--is ridiculous, as are most of Kemper Freeman's suits. Personally, we can't wait to pull on our flip-flops and stained wife-beater, hit the light rail, and terrorize the hell out of Bell Square while drinking our Volvic out of a brown paper bag.

Our August 18 primary is being held entirely by mail--we got our ballot last week. If you're still scratching your head over the mayor's race, check out Publicola's interviews with the mayoral contenders (scroll down to item #5).

The clock is ticking, and at 10 a.m. expect office productivity to come to a halt for a few minutes as single game tickets go on sale for the 2009 Seattle Seahawks football season. No field trips to Qwest Field Box Office are necessary, because tickets will only be available at www.seahawks.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. This season brings a slew of Midwest teams westward (Lions and Vikings and Bears, Oh my!), so Midwest transplants, be prepared! There is a maximum purchase of six tickets per game. The Seahawks' first pre-season home game is August 22, against the Denver Broncos.