• Enjoy the end of the work week by tasting wines from 12 different wineries tonight, at South Lake Union Block Party's Discover Wine with proceeds going to help-out Seattle's Junior League. Where else can you drink AND help the community at the same time?
• A Bothell home was raided today and animal control officers removed six matted dogs who had been severely neglected by a woman who is suspected of hoarding animals.
• Excited as they are about a fighter jet-inspired Light Rail station on Capitol Hill, CHS blog looks at the more worrisome logistics that aren't nearly as cool. Like the 24 hours a day of construction noise.

It turns out that it's not such a good thing to be a PC if you want to be prepared for disaster. At the Montlake Community Club disaster and crime preparedness fair last night, representatives from the Seattle Police Department, Animal Control, and the Red Cross were there for presentations and to answer questions. The Red Cross presentation, given by a young AmeriCorps volunteer, was set to be a riveting, 60-minute, all-you-need-to-know showcase about disaster response. Trouble was she couldn’t get the PowerPoint presentation to load. "Are you a Mac or a PC?" yelled some wag in attendance. "I’m a Mac at home, but I had to use the agency’s PC, and it’s got some kind of virus," replied the volunteer. She thought about that a moment and added, "I guess I wasn’t prepared for this disaster." more ›

The King County Animal Care and Control department is far too understaffed to check up on dogs running loose, even aggressive ones, reports the Seattle Times. Animal control officers have reiterated--after a pit bull attack on a 71-year-old SeaTac woman last Monday--that they can't do much until after you've got bite marks. Bottom line: as it's hard to dial with a pit bull hanging off you, hands-free phone technology is clearly more important than ever. For those who enjoy fact-based argument, in 2007 pit bulls represented four percent of licensed dogs in Seattle and 22 percent of reported dog bite attacks. Poodles didn't bite anyone, but we still advise keeping an eye on them. more ›

In other Washington State primate news....a Spokane family's illegal pet monkey, escaped from their home Thursday and went on a biting rampage. A group of friends walking their dog first noticed the monkey running down the street. more ›

-People are still pretty pissed about Mooie, the puppy that was found with acid burns all over it recently, and they should be pissed. There's a reward for information leading to the culprits and King County Animal Control is getting a lot of crap for how they handled the case. more ›