We haven't had to rent anything lately by perusing Craigslist, but a friend of ours was telling us the other day about a con they ran across. The scammer found an actual rental property offered through a management firm, copied it, undercut the price several hundred dollars, and said they were the owners, offering a special direct-to-you rate. But when our friend responded, they got a long reply explaining the "owners" were on a Christian mission in Nigeria and had brought the keys with them--easiest thing to do was to send a rent check, they'd send the keys. Luckily, CL has a little banner that says: "Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any arrangement involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, or a landlord/owner who is out of the country or cannot meet you in person." And so it goes. more ›

• Looks like the Rainier Valley Post has classifieds, now. We love seeing all the ways neighborhood blogs are connecting people to those around them, and introducing classifieds as a way of communicating about local resources is kind of brilliant in a year when jobs promise to be scarce and money scarcer.
• Seattlest MvB and CHSer JSeattle collaborated last night to bring you breaking (hah!) news about a fallen branch on a 15th Avenue power line. Photo included, for which we hear MvB sold the rights at $3, down from an initial bargaining price of $10,000.Capitol Hill wasn't the only neighborhood having problems with power. West Seattle Blog reports an overnight storm-related power outage about seven hours long at their HQ. Good thing they had stockpiled MacBook batteries!
• Irate commenters will be glad to hear that the City of Seattle jumped to use salt on the city's streets during the snowstorm last night. Seattle 911 has the details.