• The Rainier Valley Post has photos of the landslide that shut down the 9700 block of Rainier Avenue for most of the yesterday's business hours. Around 5 p.m. yesterday, the block re-opened to cars--this time with concrete barriers in place, just in case more earth thought it would be fun to interrupt traffic flow.
• King County jails are shaking things up in light of the budget crisis sweeping the state. The Daily Weekly reports that inmates will have to start wearing their orange jumpsuits all the time, now, to save on laundry costs.
• There's a new local music and arts site in town--ReignCity has arrived! We've been super-psyched for launch. What's online now is exactly what the urban arts needs in Seattle: a sortable, easy-on-the-eyes calendar, a music news blog, and event spotlights.

The King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention will double its book budget by ditching their librarians and having inmates and correction officers deliver books within the jails instead. That's how it is in the movies, so we're assuming the new set-up will work just fine. And more money for books is a wonderful development! The P-I's article is warm and fuzzy, and we love us some books, so it's unknown at this point if there even is a downside to the end of the librarian contract. Suffice it to say that if we ever land ourselves in jail, the doubled variety of books to choose from will be much appreciated. more ›

Since 2003, those convicted of a non-violent crime in Washington state have had the potential to half their prison time by virtue of "good behavior" during incarceration. The law allowing this to occur was set to expire in 2010, but now it looks like it will be extended, thereby saving the state something like $10,000 per released inmate. The savings, doubly attractive in these lean budget-cutting years, are matched by the policy's overall positive impact on Washington's rates of recidivism, or how many ex-convicts end up right back in jail. Of course, some people (lawyers, natch) hate happiness and freedom and are opposing the extension of the law. more ›