Things over at the Slog are currently retarded--and we mean that in the clinical sense of the word. We suggest you avoid the site entirely until further notice. more ›

• Capitol Hill Seattle covered the breaking news of a police stand-off that closed Cal Anderson Park yesterday.
• Ballard institution Zesto's passed their health inspection this go-round after last year's epic fail.
• George W. is in elite company for sucking. He's surpassed Nixon's unenviable record of the worst performing market since Herbert Hoover.

SEE SEE ME RIVER: If you can get yourself to walk beneath the frightening-toothed clown, nothing should stop you from checking out See Me River at The Funhouse tonight. Led by former Das Llamas front man Kerry Zettel, See Me River offers an audial version of American Gothic, crafting haunting acoustic songs that at once drone and soar. more ›

• A couple of Seattle's finest neighborhood blogs are also covering Nickelsville. Blogging Georgetown and West Seattle Blog are both giving thorough coverage to the story.
• Did someone say gumbo? Honest to god, Louisiana-made gumbo in Seattle? Hallelujah! The Central District News has a glowing (tummy-grumble-inducing) review.
• Ballard High graduate Jean Smart won an Emmy last night and MyBallard celebrates the news. In other once-local celebrity news, according to the Big Blog, UW Alumni Anna Faris will host SNL this weekend.

• MyBallard clears up the confusion about when it is actually okay to drive in 15th's bus lane.
• PhinneyWood has photos to show what happens when a car gets t-boned by a metro bus, careens into a parked car, and sends the once-parked car crashing on to a Phinney Ridge porch.
• Ron Sims twitters about what good shape Dan Savage is in, the P-I's Big Blog reports it, and now we're linking to the P-I. We really are all connected.

The Slog decided to do their version of "Are You Smarter Than the Standardized Test You Support?" with State School Superintendent Terry Bergeson, and she failed. Bergeson was given three sample questions from Port Angeles WASL tests. One from each WASL group tests 3rd, 7th, and 10th graders. The Superintendent only answered two of the three questions, and she answered them both wrong. Realizing she was busted, Bergeson signed the test with a frowny-face...how very 7th grade of her indeed. more ›

• The Slog, with the help of the McLeod Residence, is debating if grilled cheese will be what brings foodies around to American cheese. The McLeods assert that American cheese is the unquestionable king of grilled cheese--we're not so sure. Sure, American cheese melts like plastic, but we've always actually found that a bit telling. Give us Tillamook sharp cheddar any day of the week.
• The Kirkland Weblog complains that an outbreak of local graffiti is making Kirkland look like something straight out of The Wire. We highly doubt that. Highly. In reality, Kirkland looks a bit more like Agrestic from Weeds, if we're going for cable show comparisons.
• Capitol Hill Seattle is feeling a wee bit concerned about the increased number of both abandonded buildings and panhandlers on Broadway.

Seattlest had heard rumors about the beautiful B&O Espresso a few months ago, but we were hoping the recent lack of talk meant it had all just been nasty unsubstantiated gossip. Unfortunately, according to a post on The Slog there's much more to the whisperings than nasty rumors. more ›

We respectfully disagree with our colleagues. Having gone into our second caucus as undecideds, we emerged firmly decided: the caucus stinks. And we weren't even invested in any candidate this time around. The Slog's Erica Barnett makes a good case against it. We'll concede that it was nice to see some neighbors; however, we don't really care to meet our neighbors in this particular context. Block parties, barbeques, chats across the fence, and pleasantries exchanged while taking walks are far better community builders. Politics doesn't build community; it builds cliques. At best, caucuses are just echo chambers for them, like mega-churches in which people get caught up in the moment. At worst, they intimidate. more ›

At the moment, Seattlest is an Enemy of Slog, due in part to this critical post on Seattle's aging weeklies. (In retrospect, we should not have implied that Dan Savage was getting older. He's evergreen, like many of our trees.) more ›

So we'll begin, the guy at the podium said, the huge black blast door in the Microsoft Auditorium at the Downtown Library eased down its track, slowly cutting off our view of the lobby, and we shivered. more ›

We’re only going to be in our twenties for the next three weeks, so lately we’ve been trying to feel younger--and there is no better place to accomplish this than at a local district Democrat meeting. Once again we were one of the youngest people in the room. We love you sweet, sweet democracy. more ›

Last week, Governor Gregoire displayed punting skillz we hadn't suspected she had when she told Seattle voters she was forming a new band called The Deciders and good news, we were all in it! It got us musing about how what to do about the Viaduct has bogged down into name-calling between fractious camps. (Here we wave merrily at the Slog, David Sucher, and WSDOT.) more ›

We finally listened to the great estate tax debate between Bill Gates' daddy and Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen (audio here). more ›

The names of all of the victims of Saturday morning's shootings are still not being reported in the press. Christopher Williamson, Jason Travers and Jeremy Martin (pictured above) have been widely reported. It can be inferred from this Seattle Times article that Suzanne Thorne, 15, is also dead. Two victims, then, are still unknown and no names have been released by the police as of this morning. more ›

The man who brought the Space Needle to Seattle is resigning his position as City Councilman. Jim Compton, who was elected to the City Council in 1999 because he used to be on the TV, is stepping down to teach in Egypt and Romania. Or maybe after a heartwarming montage, it will be his students who teach him---how to love again. more ›