This morning, almost 29,000 signatures supporting a referendum putting the proposed deep-bore tunnel to a public vote were turned in, well over the 16,500 required. The King County Elections office will verify the signatures and have the results in a couple of weeks, but in the meanwhile, tunnel supporters and city officials are thinking of alternate ways to block the referendum. We're on the edge of our seats. more ›

• The P-I reports that Washington unemployment hit 9.3% last month, up from 9.1% in May.
• The Big Blog says that Allstate has found what we all already knew: Seattle drivers are amongst the worst in the nation.
• The Magnolia Voice has info on the "Admiral's House" up above Smith Cove that the Navy plans to sell off. If you have need of a two-story, eight-bedroom house on four acres of land with one of the best views in the city, apparently you should look into it.

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. more ›

We almost classified this as breaking news: prostitution does not, after all, usually follow what City Attorney Tom Carr calls the Pretty Woman model. In all the 21st-century mish-mash of interactive culture, infotainment and news media increasingly focused on Hollywood's mind-games, we're grateful for the reminder; lately, when we drive around South Lake Union in the evenings, we squint at every prostitute on the sidewalk, hoping we'll run into Julia Roberts. That would make a really great morning news item, unlike the boring but true report that now real prostitutes and their johns are going to have to pay for their own group therapy because real life is even messier than TV. more ›

The way Seattlest's routine works out we're afforded precious little time down in Tacoma, so we're particularly unqualified to speak to the panhandling scene there as opposed to here. Maybe someone more familiar with the City of Destiny can explain the need for the panhandling ban there, though? We do spend a significant amount of time downtown Seattle, and there are panhandlers around, but they tend to either be so consistently present as to become familiar (hey "smile" guy) or passive almost to a fault. Or both. Still, hardly ban-worthy. Seattlest does have a slightly different experience whenever we happen to be downtown on a weekend. Around Westlake--particularly now, holiday shoppers--the crush of people makes it hard to identify panhandlers that aren't ringing a bell and standing next to a cauldron of some kind. In Pioneer Square when there aren't many people around, you can get approached somewhat aggressively by people asking for money. more ›

, "Seventeen bouncers, bartenders and other nightclub employees were arrested Saturday night for allegedly violating state liquor laws." more ›

Maybe we’re taking our democracy for granted. I mean after all we live in a country where we can vote for whoever we want to, be it a Yale-educated male millionaire or a taller Yale-educated male millionaire. However, looking at this fall’s civic elections there are still three races where, as of now, we will have no choice in the matter. more ›