As Governor Gregoire prepares for an emergency special session in November to help close (or at least address) the billion dollar budget gap, the Mayor Mike McGiin, too, will be facing the reality of too many expenses, and too little money. Because, despite the cheerful forecasts and declarations that the recession is over, the fact is, everyone's still broke. Today, we'll find out exactly how broke the city is, when McGinn presents his 2012 budget plan. more ›

Starbucks Coffee mogul Howard Schultz has a new hobby: politics. Unfortunately, the way he's chosen to get involved is unlikely to do any good, and has some disturbing implications. Memo to Congress: the last institution Schultz "helped" was the Seattle Sonics... more ›

With the American legislature unable to function properly, Washington's Patty Murray is heading a group created to do the job that Congress can't: reach an agreement on deficit reduction. Will Murray's (slightly undemocratic) elevation be a boon to Washingtonians? more ›

What's your bag? Shopping? Skanking? Snarky politics? Whatever you're into, Wednesday's got it. more ›

Dennis Kucinich, the man they used to call "the Boy Mayor" and "Dennis the Menace" has kept up his suspiciously Western Washington-focused travel schedule, encouraging already rampant speculation that he's packing his carpet bag for a run at a Washington congressional seat. more ›

It's not 2012 yet, but that hasn't stopped pollsters and journalists from trying to read the tea leaves. Here's an overview of what the insiders are saying: more ›

Workers' rights seem to be under attack around the country, but they may be on the march in Seattle, as the City Council prepares to consider a plan for universal, earned paid sick leave. more ›

Lawmakers make decisions about teacher layoffs, an Amber Alert pays off with an arrest, and a rape victim who may, surprise, not have been lying, after all. more ›

If you follow the lead singer of the Decemberists, Colin Meloy, at all in his personal blog or twitter feed (@colinmeloy) then you know he has strong opinions about a few things. Mostly to do with music, Oregon and occasionally politics. Well, all three came together recently in the form of two political decisions made in a short amount of time that could very well affect him, his band mates, and much of the musical community nationwide. more ›

In addition to his famous lineage, Seattleites know Ron Reagan from his years on the air at MSBNC and KIRO, as well as assorted other political punditry activities. more ›

Like the rest of the country, Seattlest was shocked and saddened by the plane crash that killed former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and four other passengers. Former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe was also on board, but has apparently survived the crash. more ›

he worst news of all about the election of Scott Brown - for the next six years, every time this pickup truck drivin', naked centerfold posin' does something stupid (and he has it in him) we'll all have to not quite see his schlong all over the damned Internet. more ›

The US Conference of Mayors will hold their fall leadership meeting this weekend in downtown Seattle. more ›

As the week comes to a close, it's time to relax. But before you gear up for a dreary Friday evening followed by a potentially bright weekend, take a moment to check the status of your voter registration. If you're not registered to vote -- or if your registration address needs updating, it's time to act! Monday October 5 is the last day to register online or by mail if you want to vote in the November 3rd election. Monday is also the last day to update your address if you're already registered. more ›

It would be tempting to discount Icke as a harmless crackpot, but he’s moved aggressively to cultivate an audience in the American extreme right. more ›

• "Thousands" of Seattle residents have access to Qwest's superfast VDSL2 already, says TechFlash, with a top speed of 40 mbps download/20 mbps upstream, and all for only $110 per month...when combined with your monthly phone service.
• Don't worry, reassures the Seattle Transit Blog, light rail ridership will grow like kudzu. And then the Seattle Times will write about how crowded it is.

Hey, we need more PRIDE in our Seattlest Flickr Pool! (Use "pride 2009" as a tag.) more ›

A Frenchman runs Amazon's worldwide customer service; a French-made engine powers Boeing's 737s. In all, some 600,000 Americans owe their jobs to French investment in the U.S., while American investment in France employs 600,000 Frenchies. Despite the economic crunch felt by both countries, there's still a billion dollars of bilateral trade between the U.S. and France every day, says Pierre Vimont, the French ambassador to the U.S. more ›

A revamped Seattle PostGlobe--courtesy of those crazy kids at Instivate--has rolled out, and along with it, they've rolled out a refocused mission: to be "the source for economic and local civic news." The ex-P-I crew is divvying up the city thusly: Kathy Mulady is on elections coverage; Larry Lange, transportation issues; and Kery Murakami takes City Hall. Plus they've nabbed PubliCola's Josh Feit for local politics input. But wait there's more! They've got video from KCTS 9 and new reports from KPLU 88.5 FM. We applaud their work integrating local blogs into the site, too. Now to integrate the money... more ›

Yesterday, after Publicola was reporting that mayoral hopeful Joe Mallahan had donated $200,000 to his own campaign, Sandeep Kaushik, Nickels' spokesperson, sent out a response: "The voters of Seattle are going to see through what is an obvious attempt by a wealthy individual with little experience in public service to buy their way into elected office. In contrast to our opponent putting hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money into his campaign, we have raised our campaign funds from over 1,000 donors across the city of Seattle." Greg Nickels, defender of the little guy. Or course this is also the same Nickels whose $300,000+ campaign war chest was keeping people from even bothering to run against him. Even funnier? About 26 percent is from donors outside Seattle. Keep on keepin' it real, Mr. Mayor. more ›

For a while we were nursing the small hope that Peter Steinbrueck might make Mayor Nickels' rerun election interesting, but Joni Balter at the Times has snatched that from us: "Steinbrueck will be spending the first of the next four years in Cambridge, Mass. He landed a prestigious urban design fellowship at Harvard University, as he says, 'researching the politics, principles and plan for urban sustainability of U.S. cities.''' What is it with Harvard stealing our mayors, anyway? (H/t to Publicola) more ›

The city faces a $43 million budget shortfall. An unprecedented number of eyes (many of which belong to Seattle journalists and political watchdogs) are trained on the city's every budgetary move. We're just beginning what already smells like a contentious mayoral race towards elections later this year. What better time for Nickels and the city council to start meeting behind closed doors to work out the "very dull" budget-balancing process? Let media report on whatever they see fit, so the public can decide what's boring and irrelevant. That model works for hyperlocal blogs and it will work just as well for government. more ›

When former governor Gary Locke accepted Obama's Commerce Secretary appointment, he had to leave a cushy job at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and move to DC. Now, he's expected to divest all of his Microsoft stock as he continues to adapt to the heavy demands of his new national role. Boeing and Microsoft both contributed the maximum amount allowed to his re-election campaign, and now watchdog groups have their eye on Locke to make sure he's not unduly fond of Washington businesses. Here's hoping his heart never hardens entirely towards Washington; we want him back someday! more ›

• Considering doing the CSA thing this year? CookLocal has a great list of what you should consider when choosing which program to join.
• Farmers markets and schools are a match made in heaven, especially in the Southend. Rainier Valley Post reports on a new partnership.
• The Seattle Transit Blog lets you in on how to divorce your car and get a life.

Publicola says Sally Clark's office isn't denying that the politician will run for mayor at some point. Investigative fiend Josh Feit was investigating a rumor he'd heard and ran into surprisingly soft resistance to his inquiries; whether or not that means anything other than a spokesperson having a mischievous day is yet to be determined, but this is an interesting scoop. Hmm. Sally Clark in charge doesn't sound awful. It doesn't sound awful at all. more ›

Washington may have sky-high sales tax, but the absence of any income tax has always been a consolation for citizens calculating just precisely how they could afford to live here. This morning, however, Democrat Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles re-introduced a bill that would change that by imposing a state income tax. (Check out Political Buzz' reporting on the bill, including a response from Kohl-Welles.) The proposed 1 percent tax would only affect those making more than $500,000 a year, so maybe the image of budget-traumatized, poor citizens eking out an existence is not the best to conjure. If you're making over $500,000 a year, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it: you can afford the 1 percent income tax, and we're terribly sorry if it requires you to liquidate one of your vacation homes or, god forbid, drive a car more than two years old. more ›

• Seattle Transit Blog is mad as hell about the legislature backing out on I-90 light rail funding and they don't think you should take it anymore. East side! West side! Let's make a light rail rumble!
• Will fancy eats joint Sitka & Spruce really move from Eastlake to Capitol Hill? CHS polls readers, fans flames of rumor.
• Publicola's Morning Fizz abandoned links and announced that a "dynamic woman" had joined the Mayoral race. April Fools!

Newly minted mayoral candidate Mike McGinn has already provoked an awkward situation. While McGinn didn't want to get into Nickels-bashing at his press conference, his campaign fired off an email critical of mayor Nickels' green credentials today, so Publicola's Josh Feit got Nickels' man on the horn for a response. Only thing is, Nickels' man is Publicola's Sandeep Kaushik. Kaushik responded, “Nickels has an excellent environmental record,” and “I’m surprised Mike McGinn is going negative so early in this race," and did not say, "This is an untenable position, and I can clearly have no comment." more ›

In announcing his run for mayor of Seattle [video], Michael McGinn wanted to say three things: schools, broadband, buses. But staying on message isn't easy when you have a whole press conference to fill, and McGinn, despite his Greenwood Community Council and Sierra Club past, looked like a rookie early on. He whiffed on what should have been softball questions in the Q&A: "Why are you running against Greg Nickels?" and and had no public safety plank. more ›

And if so, win what? Yesterday we got this terse message: "Michael McGinn will be making an announcement tomorrow at Piecora’s Pizza on Capitol Hill. Please join him at 11:30 a.m." Which we are planning to do in case there is free lunch pizza. more ›