In addition to Candidate Survivor, a lot of things happened last night. Among them: Charges in the shooting spree at Muckleshoot Casino and in last weekend's road rage killing, railroads, art theft, gang violence, aggressive bikini-wearing and more money to charity:water in the heartbreaking memory of a 9-year-old girl. more ›

King County Superior Court's Judge Palmer Robinson sentenced James A. Williams to a 35-year sentence for the slaying of 31-year-old Shannon Harps on Capitol Hill, on New Year's Eve 2007. "Williams pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last week rather than proceed to trial and, conceivably, mount an insanity defense," reports the P-I, which earlier took an in-depth look at how a known paranoid schizophrenic with a long history of violence and assault was walking around Capitol Hill. In 2006, the cost of prison incarceration in Washington was $26,736. At 35 years, that's $935,760. Mental health care in Washington was cut nine percent in the proposed 2009-11 budget. more ›

A man arrested for growing thousands of dollars worth of marijuana in five Snohomish County grow-houses every month has entered a guilty plea to the charges. That's big business--4,000 plants over the last five years--and he'll face up to nine years in prison for the charges. more ›

• 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.

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 ›

The Washington State Department of Corrections wants local companies to know that the prisons are open for business. The DOC has contacted local Chambers of Commerce to say that the real way to cut costs is to use workers who have no right or say in what they do...prisoners are the perfect captive workers! While inmate labor had been previously shut down by the State Supreme Court, Washington voters opted to re-open prisons to private companies for business last November. We're wondering: when did liberal Washington decide that slavery needed a new and improved modern counterpart? more ›

Seattle city planners announced today four possible locations for the city's new jail. Funny thing about jails, even the strictest "law and order" folks and the strongest proponents of the penal system have no interest in a new jail being built in their neighborhood. Jails and the NIMBY folks go hand in hand...the chorus of "yes we need it, I just don't want to see it." more ›