"King County Executive Along for the Ride" by Seattlest Flickr Photographer HonuPhoto White Center Now reports that King County Executive Ron Sims has proposed two staggered fare increases for Metro buses on his blog. In other news--Ron Sims writes a blog?!Yesterday's late afternoon thunder and lightning struck a little too close to home for a West Seattle Blog reader. A cedar tree in their neighbor's back yard was split in two by a lightning strike,......

There are 13 weeks until Election Day, and 13 issues in our state's gubernatorial race (14 if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. This Week: Small Business. Gregoire: She will continue to help business owners. Gregoire Website: “[Washington is the] Fourth best state for starting a business.” Rossi: He will do more to help small businesses owners. Rossi Website: “Washington has one of......

Apparently we're not the only ones with hope for Microsoft! Wired Magazine published an interview this morning with Mary Jo Foley, author of the cutely-titled book Microsoft 2.0, about the future of the company as Bill Gates leaves the day-to-day ops in the hands of Steve "I walked away from Yahoo" Ballmer. Her verdict? "It's dangerous for companies of any size to count them out. They're still good at figuring out how to come......

BURLESQUE BENEFIT: Jet City Burlesque appears at the Columbia City Theatre in a benefit for animals in animal shelters. You're supposed to bring dog and cat "items" to the show, to help the shelter experience seem less like prison. Join the Swedish Housewife and the Shanghai Pearl, among many other luminaries, for a warm-hearted celebration of the slightly indecent and intoxicatingly indecorous. And don't forget the squeaky toy. For the animals. 7 p.m. doors,......

Until about 30 minutes ago, we were excited about our switch to Clearwire, a provider we'd never tried before. But as we were signing up for their ~$35/mo. Premium (1.5 Mb/s) plan, we discovered whoops some extra costs not mentioned before: the modem was either $99 to buy or $5/mo. to lease. And of course there was a $50 installation fee. (You know, for the service you just plug into a outlet.) Just to set......

The big news today in the brewing world is that northwest staple Pyramid Brewing will be bought by a Burlington, VT brewery. The deal should not have much of an effect on the consumer here in Seattle, but we will hopefully start getting Magic Hat brews sometime soon. Magic Hat #9 has been a popular pale ale in the Northeast for quite a few years, and it would be a welcome addition to the......

While the city goes about with itself, Seattlest spends countless hours in an ivory tower somewhere between Pike Place Market and the Lusty Lady. We pace the floor with a hunched back, wringing our hands, wrinkling our nose and whispering, "what, what, what... is the meaning of this?" Location: 2nd and Pine. Old purpose: parking lot next to Macy's Garage. New purpose: Huge gaping hole. For at least six months now, we've walked past this......

Last night there were tons of Ron Paul's people outside the Showbox Sodo. Before, during, and after Barack Obama's fundraising event/rally, the Paul supporters waved their signs and interacted with anyone who would give them the time of day. Too bad they couldn't afford tickets to the event due to the current tax structure--if only someone would abolish the IRS and the Federal Reserve.... Meanwhile, inside the venue was a crowd of teens, twenty-somethings,......

We have it on good authority -- namely, the UnSpun list of Best Pub Quizzes in Seattle, which we created last week and which has been voted on by a whopping 4 people -- that the quiz at the Old Pequliar is the 9th best trivia quiz in Seattle. Imagine how much better it will be this week, when we're not hosting! Instead regular player Kevin hosts. He's part of a team that regularly squashes......

This morning's commute is pretty bad, but as this rain is expected to last well into the evening, by then Duck Tour may be the only way to navigate the city. Already (as of 8:35 am): --Amtrak service between Eugene and Vancouver, B.C. is suspended because of mudslides. --Sounder service was also cancelled. --Most highways and roads on the coast are closed. --Stevens Pass is closed. --Westlake Ave. in Seattle is blocked between Galer and......

Are you a seasoned editor with online media know-how, management experience, a passion for the news, and an appreciation for life's absurdities? If so, Grist may be the place for you.... Grist.org is the country’s leading online source of environmental news and analysis, reporting daily on the events, issues, people, and trends that affect our planet. We shape the nation’s conversation around all things green, educating, informing, inspiring -- and eliciting guffaws -- from our......

On our walk back up from the Pike Street Victrola the other day, we noticed a new store has arrived in the space that used to be a...what?...ethnic foods, was it? We always meant to go in and see. But we didn't. Not even during the "Going Out of Business" sale. God, it was awful. Some days the owner would come out and stand there, looking downhearted. Eventually we started looking for reasons to cut......

It seems Puget Sound Business Journal writer Jeanne Lang Jones might be a bit upset as she writes, “Now there's a further blow to Seattle fashionistas. The Bellevue Square Nordstrom is getting Prada (designer clothes as part of its remodel; the Seattle flagship store is not).” Jimmy Choo and Neiman Marcus will also be squatting in Bellevue, Jones notes. Honestly, do Prada, Jimmy Choo and Neiman Marcus really feel like Seattle brands? Does Seattle want......

We want to know where's the scariest place to live or hang out within Seattle city limits. (Sorry, Skyway and White Center. Check again after annexation.) Recent news stories have pushed several neighborhoods into contention: Rainier Beach: The Safeway parking lot is "plagued by thugs", disgruntled patrons firebomb a video store, and gangs patronize the library. Broadway: From Slog today: "Broadway has turned into a 1st Class GHETTO. Why is nothing being done about it?......

If we were a building older than sixty years or so in Seattle right now we'd really think about going on the lam, laying low for the next few years, maybe sending the wife and kids off to her sister's lake cabin, although they'll probably come for that, too, eventually. It's just not safe for an old landmark building in the current environment. Next up on the block is the Rainier Cold Storage Stock House......

Today's Flickr pool pull: Out of Business by nancyo23. Wah wuh. Got shots? You should be sharing, too.......

Pearl Jam capped off this year’s three-day Lollapalooza blowout on August 5, and as anyone who knows much about the band might expect, singer Eddie Vedder badmouthed Big Government (Mr. Bush) and Big Business (BP Amoco) on stage. If you weren’t lucky enough to be there (as we weren’t), but caught AT&T’s “live” Blue Room webcast of the band’s performance, you missed some of Eddie’s poli-sci jabs because they were strategically removed. What did......

"Mercer Island Business District and Seattle" by acordova. Another great shot snatched up from the Seattlest Flickr Pool.......

The story so far: Two years ago, amid trumpets and fanfare, the City of Seattle sold the 15-story Alaska Building to developer Kent Angier, to be used for "affordable workforce housing." The selling price was $8.5 million dollars -- $500,000 to $1 million less than offers from developers interested in turning it into office space. The City says it had an unwritten understanding with Angier that the building would be used for housing. Recently, Angier......

All of the worst ideas in the history of the world come out of of undergrad business classes. Remember "Bumvertising?" UW School of Business. That's up there with the XFL as far as bad ideas go. As business class projects go, though, a "Girls of UW" calendar doesn't seem particularly bad at first. It's kind of a guaranteed winner, even--It'll sell in spite of you and if you can get free models you'll profit. There......

Amazon says it's going to launch an online music store sometime this year and we say it's about time. We've been putting up with iTunes forever now while secretly hoping that someone in town would come up with a competitor. Microsoft has something, but, c'mon, a Microsoft music store? Obviously no. If they'd ever done a thing online we'd have been on the lookout for Starbucks launching a store, but their inexperience in online retail......

When the possiblity of a H&M of our very own was mentioned on this site a few weeks ago there were a few different reactions, but most people were more than happy to drink the lingonberry juice with Seattlest, take the rumors as gospel and begin speculating on where to start lining up. U Villiage Key Bank? Or over by the Blue C? Or the U Villiage Abercrombie and Fitch? Downtown Barneys? Northgate? The much......

How to tell Jon Rowley's dating service from Deborah Jean Palfrey's: Business entity • Palfrey: Pamela Martin & Associates • Rowley: Taylor Shellfish Farms Business activity • Palfrey: as DC Madam, offers adult fantasy service • Rowley: as lifestyle guru, offers sensory compatability research Client base includes • Palfrey: Department of State • Rowley: Department of Ecology Operating environment • Palfrey: hot water • Rowley: cold water Locations include • Palfrey: Washington DC • Rowley:......

Last time out, we succumbed to the power of the unappealing Entertainment Book. Could things get worse? Apparently so. Elsewhere in the car we found a soon-to-expire gift certificate for Applebee’s. In case you don’t know, Applebee’s is a growing chain of nearly 2,000 restaurants in 49 states (Hawaii is the holdout) and 16 countries. Seattle (so far) is blessed to be without one – in the city proper, at least. Business trips, though, take......

According to our inbox, Norsemen have taken our local broadband/VoIP provider! Minnesota's Best Buy just announced it dropped $97 million on the purchase of Speakeasy. But as Speakeasy CEO Bruce Chatterley says in the email to us loyal Speakeasy customers: It is important to note that though Speakeasy will now be a wholly owned subsidiary of Best Buy, we will continue to operate as a standalone, independent operating division with headquarters in Seattle. That's......

Microsoft held a small business contest recently and it's obvious that none of their VC or Acquisitions people were involved because all of those guys know that as soon as you see "poetry" and "business" in the same sentence together you throw away whatever you're looking at. It's just incongruous, like "Multinational poetry conglomerate based in Dubai." You just don't see those these days. Kyle Sutton and his Mayhem Poets won Microsoft's Ultimate Challenge and......

Bill Virgin, writing in last Thursday's P-I Business section, shed light on memo sent out by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (courtesy here of Starbucks Gossip). Since then, news of the memo has traveled the internet a few times over. On the one hand, the wiseacre in us says, "you made decisions to expand from 1,000 to 13,000 stores and nobody thought about the dilution and commoditization of the experience???" Please. Even at 1,000 stores,......

MUSIC: For the nine millionth time, get your ass to Easy Street to see Aqueduct's all-ages in-store performance. 7pm // Easy Street Queen Anne, 20 W. Mercer St. // Free OPERETTA: The Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society presents their production of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow. Expect lots of romantic entanglements and disentanglements rife with misunderstandings and mistaken identities. 7:30pm // Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave. // $26 DANCE: Get your rumba on with......

MUSIC: Dancing on the Valentine features wall-to-wall Duran Duran songs covered by local bands, including Say Hi to Your Mom, Valu-Pak, Speaker Speaker, and Peter Parker, all to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 8pm // The Crocodile, 2200 2nd Ave // $10 -- to fight disease! MOVIE: Age of Consent, a rare Michael Powell film featuring James Mason (Eddie Izzard's voice of God) slurring his lines and Helen Mirren as an incredible young hottie,......

Monday A NADER REMEMBERS: Recalling his childhood in Winstead, Connecticut, former presidential candidate and longtime political and social activist Ralph Nader offers 17 values a child should learn to become a conscientious adult. Not helping elect neo-fascists was, unfortunately, #18. 7pm // Third Place Books // FREE Tuesday EROTICA: "One Foot on the Floor: A Reading of Erotica." Jennifer D. Munro (aka Dawn O'Hara) -- whose work has appeared in many collections, including "Best......