Today: Vote! And also: a not-so-typical music experience at the Fremont Abbey, oil and politics in Alaska, and MovieCat Trivia. more ›

Resolution 31380 will let bars serve liquor past 2 a.m. Is this awesome, or a recipe for vomit-covered streets and a city that never sleeps? 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 ›

Ballots for the primary and special election are due today, so get 'em in, folks. For reals: only 16.67 percent of all King County ballots have been returned as of last night. If you don't want to use a stamp, feel free to drop off your ballot at any of these drop boxes by 8 p.m. more ›

A KING 5/SurveyUSA poll shows Referendum 1, the 20-cent plastic bag tax, being defeated 51 to 42 percent. The tax, approved by the city council last year, was to go into effect on January 1, but now Seattle's voting on it August 18, which is what we always do and why nothing ever gets accomplished. As inconvenient as the tax is, we have to ask: Why the hell don't you just get reusable bags like everyone else? Seriously people, shit shouldn't be this hard. more ›

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Tonight, the Seattle Presbytery--the local legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)--will vote on whether or not to approve something called Amendment 08B. If the amendment is passed in a simple majority of the nation's presbyteries, it would mean that the policies forbidding gays and lesbians from becoming ordained as pastors would be what the Presbyterian Outlook calls "less specific." Basically the result would be that each presbytery would then get to choose whether or not to allow gay and lesbian ordination in their area, or could decide on a case-by-case basis, rather than having to follow national policy either way. Tonight's vote should provide some insight into which way the Seattle presbytery would swing if Amendment 08B does pass nationally. Here's the discussion paper local presbytery members will be looking at during the conversation preceding the vote tonight. [UPDATE: The amendment failed, with 91 members voting yes and 155 voting no of 248 qualified voters. Huh, not sure how to interpret that one. WTF, Seattle?] more ›

Today is the deadline to mail in your ballot for the King County special election this month. Unless you live in Fall City or Enumclaw, all you'll be voting on is the new county director of elections. Seattlest will be sending ours today, since we didn't bother to look up the candidates until this morning. We're voting for Sherril Huff, the incumbent, who is endorsed by such illustrious organizations as the 43rd District Democrats and the Stranger (she is "competent, sane, and qualified" compared to our other options, says the Stranger Election Control Board). Huff was also one of two candidates recommended as "outstanding" by the Municipal League. It may be ridiculous that we have yet another expensive election to vote on just one position--doesn't it take millions of dollars to send out ballots?--but vote anyway. Just do it. more ›

The Seattle school board voted last night to approve Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's proposed list of closures, which means that a total of eight programs will be re-located or shut down completely. The following schools will close: Genesee Hill, T.T. Minor, Mann, Van Asselt, and John Hay the Old Hay building. In addition, the following programs and school entities will be discontinued: African American Academy, Meany Middle School, Cooper Elementary, T.T. Minor Elementary, and Summit K-12. Cooper Elementary's building will house Pathfinders K-8, displaced by Genesee Hill's closure. See the Seattle Public Schools press release for more detailed information about program relocation. more ›

Yesterday, King County councilman Larry Phillips officially announced his run for the King County Executive seat--an elected position currently held by Ron Sims, who may or may not be campaigning for a fourth term. Phillips accused Sims of losing focus on King County business, though the executive has issued formal statements re-affirming his dedication to local issues. Sims is rumored to be jonesing for a federal appointment within the Obama administration. more ›

The vote on school closures is fast approaching! On Thursday, the city school board will make the official call--and emotions are running high. Parents and teachers at the schools on the final recommended closure list made sure their voices were heard this weekend at a rally at T.T. Minor Elementary, one of the schools on the recommended closure list. Though it's possible the school board will vote not to close any schools (a strategy recommended by former school board director Dick Lilly over at Crosscut), it's not likely. Money is just too tight, and something's gotta give. The complaint, however, is that the "somethings" taking the brunt of the cuts are Seattle's poorest, least lily-white neighborhoods--and some are going as far as to call the selective closures racist, flat out. The local chapter of the NAACP is on the case, though last we heard, NAACP national leadership hadn't heard about or approved any legal action. more ›

Commenter Simonian brings up an excellent point: who, exactly, is this Greg Smith who may or may not be running for mayor against Greg Nickels? Here's what we dug up: more ›

If you haven't voted yet today, what the hell are you waiting for? But just in case you need a little musical enticement to get you to the polling place and/or post office, the lovely and talented Three Imaginary Girls have put together an Election Day podcast. Featuring a smattering of Northwest/indie/pop bands, including Damien Jurado, A Gun that Shoots Knives, and (the so appropriate) These United States, the Girls encourage you to download the podcast and take it to the polls. Even better? TIG will have a new weekly podcast from now till the end of the year. You know that's one Election Day promise that will be kept. more ›

Starbucks--and Babeland, and Krispy Kreme, and Ben & Jerry's, and Irwin's, and Cupcake Royale, and probably other places we haven't heard about--got a lot of publicity when they offered to give away free coffee to anyone who voted today. (And maybe more Facebook publicity than they hoped for. ) Turns out, though, that bribing rewarding voters with free stuff violates some of those pesky election laws. Never fear, though: You can get a free tall brewed drip coffee at Starbucks just by asking for it, whether you've voted or not. The invaluable Big Blog is staying on top of the status of all those promotions. more ›

• 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.

For many Seattle residents, the Death With Dignity Initiative (I-1000) gets a heartfelt, fairly immediate vote of approval. P-I columnist Joel Connelly is not so sure. Today's paper includes Connelly's long-ish rant about I-1000 supporters' misguiding ads on the radio, and he awards the initiative his "Sheer Gall Award" for its advertisements' "anti-Catholic" "landslide of distortions." We suggest you read his fact-checks and decide for yourself. more ›

Tera will be catching the Saturday evening premiere of Spring Awakening at the Paramount. Saturday evening will be followed with a leisurely plane ride to Orlando where she’ll be trying out for the Mickey Mouse Club, or riding rollercoasters--however you want to look at it. more ›

King County absentee ballots went out yesterday! Here's the Wash. State 2008 Online Voter Guide for this election. Here's your King County voter's information, including a beautiful video about how to fill out your absentee ballot: more ›

The deadline for registering to vote in Washington State is this Saturday, October 4th. We know all of our readers are well-informed, politically savvy, perpetually active voters, but you still might want to make sure your voting status is up-to-date. If you don't mind using a partisan website, Obama-affiliated VoteForChange is a super-easy tool to verify and update your registration status and address of record. The other options are the Washington Secretary of State's MyVote or the King County voter guide, where you can also update your address. Either way, it doesn't hurt to check. Then, just make sure your poll tax is paid and brush up on that literacy test, and you'll be all ready come Election Day. more ›

Well, that was fun! Absentee ballots are still pouring in, but yesterday's (rather predictable) primary results have been announced. Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire are neck and neck and by far the top two gubernatorial candidates, so settle in for a truly American-style bloody campaign this fall as they race to the finish line. Check out Slog's exhaustive coverage, starting here with the percentage results. And KIRO 7 has post-election interviews with both Gregoire (with words on "the hopes and the dreams of every Washingtonian") and Rossi (he talks a lot about money, and calls his campaign a "citizen's movement"). more ›

After a committee vote yesterday, the full City Council is set to decide on Monday if Seattle will adopt a 20-cent fee for plastic bags at grocery, drug, and convenience stores, as well as a ban on polystyrene food and drink containers. If passed, the fee and ban will go into effect on January 1, 2009. Stores that use the plastic foam containers to package meat will have a year to figure out an alternative method. (May we suggest butcher paper? We imagine that is how it got its name.) While it might be annoying to get charged a few bucks for plastic bags after a big shopping trip, it will hopefully remind us to always bring a reusable bag, which is a benefit to everyone. more ›

With Oregon and Kentucky going to the polls today, Obama ready to take over an even clearer lead in pledged delegates, and Hillary poised to trounce him in whiteland, there's a lot of discussion on the interwebs about whether or not Hillary's supporters will get behind Obama when it's all said and done. more ›

The intrepid and dedicated bloggers over at My Ballard.com have been providing nearly minute-by-minute coverage of the Seattle Landmark Preservation Societies vote on the old Denny's building on 15th and Market. According to their pain-staking notes, around 6:30 the board's final vote of 6 to 3 in favor of landmark status, was met by gasps and cheers by supporters in the audience. The vote means that the building cannot be demolished and replaced by condos which were already planned for the space. more ›

Urban travel blog Gridskipper is in the final round of their search for the -iest cities in the world. And in this case, all the -iests are sex-related:

By Friday of this week, the world shall unequivocally know which city is the fetishest, which city is the lesbianest, which city is the gayest, which city layeth with the minions, which city is the least-sexiest; which city ye shall call Man and which ye shall call Woman. And how? By your vote, Gridskipper readers. By your vote. Some of these finals we've started last week, some we're rolling out today. They're based on the semifinal round tallies. We've taken the top two contenders in each category for a tête-à-tête to the superlative death.