Oh, Oprah, your boundless enthusiasm for all things Seattle has turned downright dangerous. First, Groupon offered its first-ever coupon for Nordstrom. Well, Nordstrom Rack, actually, but it was a big deal nonetheless, and then you made it even bigger by talking about it on your program. Crash! went the Nordy Rack site. Crashed the Groupon site, too. Then you added the mac & cheese from Beecher's Handmade Cheese to your list of ultimate favorite things. Crash! went the Beecher's site. (And crash went Oprah's site, too, briefly!) more ›

• The bus tunnel shut down at 7:10 a.m. this morning for about 20 minutes, thanks to an automated (and false) alarm--for the third time in six months. Funnily enough, we think every time has been during morning rush hour, too.
• Publicola's newest addition, Erica Barnett, broke the news to Seattle taxpayers that we've paid over $43,000 since 2006 to send the City Council's Jan Drago to China, India, Iceland, the United Arab Emirates, and Finland.