Blame the rain if you lost power yesterday or couldn't get your Fleet Foxes fix; meanwhile, in unrelated news, the Committee for Sunshine may be dismantled, and a fat lot of green was seized in the southeast, all in today's headlines. more ›

The last word in news for the day: a fire in Redmond, a hazmat situation in Tacoma and plenty of gnarly traffic in Seattle. Oh, and urine in the drinking water. more ›

An old tree is to blame for last night's power outage, cutting electricity for 3,250 customers on Capitol Hill and even some over in Eastlake. As luck would have it, the tree fell in one of the most inconvenient spots, bringing down with it the main power line that just so happens to feed power into northwest Capitol Hill. Seattle City Light said the power outage began at 5 p.m., and, as of 9:30 p.m. last night, nearly 950 customers were still without power; final repairs were expected to be completed by 3 a.m this morning. more ›

There is no question this week is going to be a hot one, as temperatures reach into the high 90s and perhaps even 100 degrees. As many people crank up the power and seek an air conditioned refuge away from the heat, Seattle City Light--here's their energy-saving tips to beat the heat--warns that their old equipment may fail as temperatures climb. Customers need to be prepared for potential outages. Grrreat. more ›

• It was just another case of the slow-going Mondays when a power line pole--and a live wire--came down early this morning after a garbage truck slammed into it. Power was shut down and Aurora Ave. was closed while crews cleaned up the busted pole strewn across the corner of Northeast 84th Street and Aurora Ave North.
• This weekend's street closures were for a just cause, as 2,513 dedicated people walked, jogged, and pedaled their way throughout Seattle in the LIVESTRONG Challenge, which raised over $1 million to fight cancer.

No alarm clocks (excluding cell phones) went off this morning after 1:30 a.m., when nearly 3,000 Beacon Hill residents lost power. A large tree fell, bringing down surrounding power lines and stopping all four lanes of traffic on South Columbian Way at 25th Ave South. The cause of the tree's fall is unknown police said. Power is expected to be restored by noon today, but look at this way, the entire neighborhood has a real reason to be late to work this morning. 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.

• Since doing your civic duty (not to mention voting in a historical election) might not be enough to get you to vote today, the Big Blog brings you 7.5 things you can get for free on Election Day.
• Capitalizing on tragedy, local gangs are in the midst of a string of retribution shootings, presumably in response to the shooting we mentioned in yesterday's Neighborhood News. What's that saying? It seemed so trite, but now so true: "two wrongs don't make a right."
• If you live in Phinney Ridge, Wallingford, or Fremont, and you didn't have power yesterday morning, you can blame it on a goose. The bird paid the ultimate price for flying too close to your neighborhood power lines.

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• WaMu really can't catch a break. The Belltowner and PhinneyWood report that their neighborhood WaMu branches were robbed over the weekend.
• Mid Beacon Hill explores "cheap South End fun," including a place that should be on the hipster street-of-dreams, and the Museum of Communications. Being a tourist in your own city is totally fun, so the idea of being a tourist in your own neighborhood strikes us as completely delightful.
• So that's why we didn't have power on Saturday night in the CD. Of course, since we had no power we couldn't log on to check Central District News for updates, but it's nice to know now.

We hear the power's out on 15th Ave this morning. Seattle City Light estimates it'll be back up by noon; they found a tree growing into a powerline. (That seems like a pretty fast-growing tree, to us, but we're not experts.) The outage area is from E Roy to E Pine, and from Summit to 29th, affecting about 4,000 people. We had thought the power outage might be storm-related, and this whole "tree, growing" angle sounds like "dog bites man." Sigh. UPDATE: "Crew has been able to isolate the problem and restore power to about 3,717 customers. There are approximately 400 customers still waiting for the crew to finish its work. The outage was caused when a large tree branch fell across a main feeder line." more ›

Yesterday's stormy weather left over 35,000 homes in Western Washington without power. Nearly 20,000 of the homes affected were in Seattle and South King County. The National Weather Service warned of gusts of over 55 mph yesterday and, while it's no scientific measure, the windows of our house were rattling and the power flickered more than once last night. Thankfully, it never went out. The Washington State Ferry Service reported "steady winds at nearly 40 mph" off Alki Beach, which must have made for some unpleasantly rough weather on the Sound. more ›

We've heard that people commit suicide by jumping off of bridges instead of going a less spectacular route like pills or closed garages precisely because it does create a spectacle. Going out with a bang, so to speak, after failing to make an impact in life. Well, the person who jumped from the Aurora bridge late this morning succeeded in the spectacle-making department above and beyond the usual depression in the Adobe parking lot. The guy landed on some wires causing a transformer in Fremont to blow and power is currently out to some homes in the Center of the Universe. more ›

Our own Madame Hooky divines whether it's worth calling in sick Friday and heading for the slopes. She'll conjure your excuse and tell you where to go. more ›

Is it just us or is Grey's Anatomy turning more into Yang & O'Malley's Anatomy? Or even McDreamy & Nazi's Anatomy? Or really, Anyone Except Grey's Anatomy. Yeah, we know. Those names, catchy though they may be, don't happen to have the handy synergy of a medical guide named after them, but still. Don't kid yourself, viewers. Those docs are carrying the show. more ›

Events this past Saturday night had astronomists, seismologists, public utility watchers, and conspiracy theorists well occupied. Seattlest feels bad for those individuals that belong to two or more of those... more ›