In which we check in with King County detectives, Rick Steves, and several elected officials. more ›

John McKay grabbed headlines for standing up to the politicization of the Bush Justice Department. Now, he's helping to lead a very different fight for the legalization of marijuana. more ›

Marijuana's three amigos, car thefts on the rise, the Chamber of Commerce speaking up (and calling the kettle black), and a couple looking for photos of their indecent proposal, all in today's final news roundup. more ›

Wednesday's headlines bring you a sampling of law-breakers: A Seattle anarchist collective runs afoul of the city & neighbors, Washington gains a dubious distinction as a leader in car thefts, and a marijuana law reform supercoalition kicks off today that features what Seattlest is officially dubbing "The A-Team of Weed". More news under the jump. more ›

Seattle is making headlines in the Media & Advertising section of the New York Times this week because of a locally made commercial. The spot had a budget of less than $100,000, features poor vocalists singing the UW Fight Song and highlights BECU, a local credit union. So why all the fuss? Two jazzy words: more ›

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATSY CLINE!: The Triple Door will be hosting Sweet Dreams, an evening celebration tonight on what would have been Patsy Cline's 77th birthday. Featuring local Northwest singer/songwriters such as Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs, and Rachel Flotard of Visqueen, the show will be a great opportunity for longtime fans to hear their favorites and pay tribute to the legendary singer. The earlier showing is all ages, and $2.00 from each ticket sold will go towards the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. more ›

We just got this email from KCTS inviting us to stop in next Saturday, January 10, for a 3 p.m. sneak preview screening and discussion with Rick Steves about his new travel special, Rick Steves' Iran: Yesterday and Today. more ›

BAILAMOS: Yes, yes, today is bright and sunny and lovely outside. But, the rains are coming, we're certain of it. And, if you want to beat the winter bummers this year, there are few things that could light up your life more than dancing all about. So, why not take a dance class through the UW's Experimental College? Tonight kicks off a nine-week class at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, where you can learn Cuban folkloric dance. Fun! more ›

You've got just one week to register for the World Affairs Council's second annual Transnational Trivia Championship. Brainiacs from around Seattle will gather and compete at 7pm on Friday, October 10, at the Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion. more ›

We're not afraid to admit it, we kinda have a thing for Rick Steves. Steves has gone beyond local travel guru and bespectacled PBS travel host to become an outspoken advocate against the criminalization of marijuana and the U.S.'s "War on Drugs." He has done so while still coming across as sensible and trustworthy. Steves is the antithesis of every stoner stereotype in mainstream culture, but much more like the responsible adults we know that choose to smoke a bowl in their free time. more ›

Well, now, we're not going to try to put this up at exactly 4:20 because that would be, you know, predictable. more ›

more ›

The Washington State Chapter of the ACLU and local travel guide guru Rick Steves have joined forces to reform marijuana laws in the United States. Steves has long been an outspoken advocate of marijuana reformation. He sits on the board of the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and has been a featured speaker at Seattle's annual Hempfest. Steves and The ACLU are comparing the criminalization of marijuana to the failed prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's and say it's time to have a national conversation about marijuana. more ›

The last time we went to see Rick Steves at Town Hall, he was arguing how important it was for "regular Americans" to get out and see the world, to find out how other countries work, how other people see the U.S., or what really useful mass transit looks like. more ›

Seattlest mentioned in one of our posts about Rick Steves' Town Hall appearance two weeks ago that a friend of ours was racing through Europe with Rick's tour company at the time. Meanwhile, the "Rick Steves' Politics Through the Backdoor with Rick Steves" thing at Town Hall was great (actual title: "Travel as a Political Act"), but we wondered who, exactly, he thought he was converting with it. Rick's a liberal, he was in front of a liberal crowd at Town Hall and, we assumed, his tour groups were made up of similar liberals who were looking to sample some foreign culture and maybe pat themselves on the back a little for their openness to wacky Euro ideas, but weren't necessarily in need of a high colonic to their red white and blue lower intestines. more ›

The post we wrote yesterday about Rick Steves ("Rick Steves. The man lives in a pleasant world.") seems reasonable if you only know the man through his travel shows on PBS. He was on the Town Hall stage for all of about four seconds last night before destroying that illusion. Actually, he lives in a few different worlds; one here, in Edmonds, Washington, U.S.A., and another in Europe where he spends a third of every year, and the conflict between those two equal something other than "pleasant." Steve was pissed last night during his "Travel as a Political Act" talk. It was an angry, wrathful travel guru working the microphone--A much different animal than the "This is reeeealy great" PBS guy in sensible shoes. more ›

Rick Steves. The man lives in a pleasant world. The voice, the haircut, the folksy European dinners with friends one after another after the other. Just once we want to flip to PBS in time to see Steves in Friedrichstraße going berserk on a ticketing agent, but it won't happen because the world is his oyster. A friend of Seattlest's is currently on a 5-week Rick Steves tour of Europe, which we love telling people because it invariably inspires good feelings. Really, any situation can be dealt with by referencing Rick Steves. "Hey, get your arm out of my car, gringo!" "My friend is in Italy right now with Rick Steves!" We all want to live like Rick. In fact we've paid him a ton of money to teach us how to live like him. Furthermore, he's a good ambassador. He's not loud, rude or otherwise obnoxious. He's not going to go berserk in a train station or turn up on the news in relation to some bizarre hooker-stabbing incident. Further-furthermore, he just seems like a genuinely good guy. The man lives in a pleasant world, and wouldn't it be nice to inhabit it for a while? more ›

We've thus far deferred on shipping news to Editor Dan, primarily because we are lame and don't contribute enough. Yet his last post about one of our favorite shows got us to thinking. We've tried to figure out why we find the show so compelling --maybe because it's reality/documentary about real people rather than people who want to be stars. We have in the past jokingly ranked the show more interesting than some of our own friends. more ›

That's how Mayor Ole Hanson described the beginning of the general strike that was held in Seattle February 1919, one of the few general strikes ever attempted in the U.S. The Bolsheviks had just won their revolution in Russia two years earlier and the Red Scare was coming into play in our country. Add 35,000 striking shipyard workers. Subtract the city's more moderate labor officials - They were in Chicago for a vote. Those left behind broached the subject of a general strike with other unions and the city was shut down on February, 6, while rumors of poisoned water, blasted dams and union heavies en route from Chicago kept everyone else either locked in their homes or fleeing for the country. In an effort to keep the peace, or kick a lot of union ass anyway if the peace got queered, the mayor brought in soldiers from Fort Lewis and deputized 2,400 frat guys and student organization members whom he armed with clubs and guns. The city teetered towards open war in the streets. more ›

The announcement on Dec. 29 that San Diego-based Advanced Marketing Services is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection could have big effects for Seattle's tiny book publishing world. more ›

Gothamist posts on the capture of a NYC perv thanks to Little Brother and a camera phone. They also scour the city for vodka martinis and Shamrock shakes and spot the friend from the Wonder Years at a city law firm. New York police think that Littlejohn is their man. more ›

European travel guru Rick Steves has reefer madness. His best girl is named Mary Jane and every once in while he gets a visit from Puff the Magic Dragon. Face it, people, the man you've relied on to guide you through the historic wonders of the old world is one lost Europass away from becoming this guy. more ›

-Fans and admirers gathered at the grave of Bruce Lee on Sunday to honor what would have been his 65th birthday. There may be four or five residents of Seattle who still aren't aware that Bruce Lee is buried here. Now you know. more ›

Local literary enthusiasts should plan on staking out Elliott Bay Books for the next three nights. They're hosting readings by a debut novelist, a well-established novelist, and a local journalist/author visiting Italy (but not Rick Steves). more ›