This man neglected to pay his Bellevue storage unit fees, and when the owner tried to auction off his belongings, the cops found out about his precious hidden illegal crates of military weapons. Whoops! Ronald Struve pled guilty to all five federal charges in court this morning. His lawyer says Struve has "unusual political beliefs" (no!) and, with regards to the guns, was "apparently keeping them anticipation of Armageddon." This man needs more sunshine, puppies, and donuts in his life, all stuff he'll get zero amounts of in prison, which is where he's likely to end up. more ›

The Seattle City Council has overwhelmingly passed a measure to charge a 20-cent fee for every disposable bag--paper or plastic--starting January 1st, 2009. Yesterday, the council voted 6-1 in favor of the bag fee and to ban plastic foam food and drink containers. more ›

After a committee vote yesterday, the full City Council is set to decide on Monday if Seattle will adopt a 20-cent fee for plastic bags at grocery, drug, and convenience stores, as well as a ban on polystyrene food and drink containers. If passed, the fee and ban will go into effect on January 1, 2009. Stores that use the plastic foam containers to package meat will have a year to figure out an alternative method. (May we suggest butcher paper? We imagine that is how it got its name.) While it might be annoying to get charged a few bucks for plastic bags after a big shopping trip, it will hopefully remind us to always bring a reusable bag, which is a benefit to everyone. more ›

We just sent this MSNBC story about fees to a friend of ours, via IM. It's about AT&T Wireless charging a fee for accepting cash payment. (Which apparently is going up from $2 to $5.) We both read Gotcha Capitalism lately, so our radar beeps when we see this kind of thing. more ›