The summer fire safety burn-ban will be lifted in King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Mason Counties at 8 a.m. this Friday. According to local fire marshalls, the ban is being lifted because area forests have enough moisture to "considerably reduce the risk of fire." That means if you've been partaking in President Bush's one-time favorite summer vacation activity--clearing brush down on the ranch in Crawford--you are now free to burn that brush bonfire style. But no......

Oh those wacky Republicans in Snohomish County. Geri Modrell, the chairwoman of the Snohomish Republican Party, has issued an apology after some GOP volunteers at the Evergreen State Fair sold racist $3 bills (available at conservative websites everywhere!) "depicting Sen. Barack Obama in traditional Arab headgear with a camel." Good one, guys. He's a Secret Muslim A-Rab devil, who goes by "Da Man," and he's got Ted Kennedy as his "Chief Socialism Advisor" and......

Remember in the Mission: Impossible movies, when Tom Cruise is given messages that self-destruct into a puff of smoke after he memorizes them? Normal text messages should have that feature. This ill-fated Snohomish County couple is likely to agree with Seattlest: the P-I reports that during a homicide investigation, police investigators checked out the twosome's text message histories and found incriminating evidence that led to first-degree murder charges against them. The idea of someone......

Our best shot of unincorporated Snohomish County It was getting urgent. We knew it was high time to abandon the too-familiar streets of Seattle in pursuit of sanctuary from chaotic, connected city life, or else risk losing our soul and sanity. The original plan for this weekend was to leave the state somehow--head down to Portland, or up to B.C. We informed our checking account of the plan and it began to sqwak in......

Community Transit, the Everett-based bussing group that serves commuters between Snohomish County and Seattle, is taking it to the next level, literally. According to the Times: At nearly $800,000 per bus, the double-deckers cost more than a typical bus. But with 70 seats plus standing room, three double-deckers can carry as many people as four typical articulated buses, saving on fuel and repairs. We wonder if saving on fuel and repairs also means busses......

A 10-year-old boy from Everett is in critical condition at Children's Hospital after being buried head-first in a sandbox this weekend. Cody Porter was playing in the backyard of a family friends home with his brothers and a few other children when the accident occurred Saturday afternoon. Cody and his friends were thought to be inspired by a cartoon, "Narutu," where characters use sand as a tool and weapon. Whether inspired by a cartoon or......

According to our current addiction, the Democratic Convention Watch blog, some less than stellar reporting created confusion over the status of Rep. Jay Inslee's endorsement of Clinton. Inslee, who represents Washington's 1st Congressional District (Bainbridge Island, Kitsap Peninsula, north King County and parts of Snohomish County) is a super delegate. As we all know by now, the super delegates could be the ones to decide the nomination this year if the pledged delegate counts......

Last night while having dinner at Friend A's house, the wife got a call from Friend B with whom she and A had gone snowshoeing on Friday. Friend B was calling because she had read the newspaper and discovered a story about an avalanche that happened on the trail they took.A group of youths aged 12 to 16 and an adult were hiking near Lake 22, a popular trail off the Mountain Loop Highway east......

Yippee!!!! Snow is expected over the Cascade Range from central Oregon to the Canadian border by Wednesday night. The weather service warns that the snow is likely to come in quick bursts, causing near-whiteout conditions for brief periods. A snow advisory has been issued for all the passes in Washington state except for Snoqualmie Pass. The weather service is predicting 2 to 5 inches over most of the Washington Cascades by Thursday morning, but the......

Police forces from the Snohomish County Sheriff's department and the Sultan Police department swarmed on the semi-annual Fantagraphics Shoot-out party on Saturday, shutting down the festivities after only a measly two hours of shooting, which wasn't nearly enough time to shoot all the tvs, computer monitors and lawn mowers hauled out to be shot (see our coverage of the 2005 party here). Apparently, according to these cops, it's somehow "illegal" to dump a lot......

Rarely will Seattlest agree to drive out of town for anything other than a sunny hike or a day on the slopes. Not with so much to do and so many bands to see right here in Seattle. So when Mrs. Seattlest brought up the idea to drive out to Monroe with a friend to see The Starlings, our initial response was something like, Did you just say Monroe? Really? It's not that we......

The magical winter of 2006-07 continues: Beginning very soon, wind gusts of up to 40mph. Parked near a tree? You might want to change that. This afternoon, heavy rain. Overnight tonight, snow. 1-3 inches expected in Seattle, but 5-8 inches is possible in Northern King and Snohomish County. As the snow begins, a cold front will move in, so the snow will stick. Wednesday's morning commute could be an icy one. So Wednesday, Thursday and......

From the P-I:EVERETT, Wash. -- A man sought for the dismemberment killing of his girlfriend has a history of mental illness, an expertise in martial arts and an affinity for edged weapons, Snohomish County sheriff's deputies said Thursday. The guy, Michael Ray Faler, is in on the loose somewhere in California.......

Do you like working outdoors? Do you like a little bit of excitement? Do you own your own rubber gloves? If you answered yes, yes, yes, you may be perfect for a job in the growing field of stealing downed copper power lines after winter storms! From the P-I: Scrap metal thieves, emboldened by high copper prices, pounced on thousands of feet of downed power lines following snowstorms last month despite the risk of electrocution,......

Another in a string of online sex stings recently caught ex King County Prosecutor's Office employee Lawrence Corrigan trying to meet up with a 13-year-old for sex. You asshole, Lawrence. Undercover detectives targeted Lawrence after learning that he was communicating with young girls online. A detective contacted him and Lawrence emailed a bunch of porn and set up a meeting outside of a Capitol Hill video store and when he showed for that meeting he......

Brown Bear Car Wash is so happy that media and public attention has helped them retrieve 25 of more than 40 bear statues stolen from its Fife location that it's washing cars for free today at these 19 drive-thru locations: Snohomish County\Everett 3523 Broadway Ave, Everett North King County 16032 Aurora Ave N, Seattle Seattle 5111 15th Ave NW, Ballard 1800 15th Ave W, Seattle South & East King County 22706 Marine View Dr., Des......

Tuesday night, Seattlest decided to ratchet up the difficulty level on the quiz at the Old Pequilar. And we think that worked well. We heard bitching, but it was good, brain-smacking bitching, not lynch-the-quiz-host bitching. A record 14 teams signed up to play, which meant nice, large prizes: first place took home $100, second $25, and third $15. Round 8, our "identify the picture book by its cover" round, brought out some of the most......

-This is a Detroit newspaper complaining about the lack of Starbucks cafes in their city. We shit you not. It looks like the Detroit airport has more Starbucksi than the city. -There are tomes to be written about Seattle drivers, but don't look for a chapter on road rage. We're cool as cucumbers behind the wheel. "You go." "No, you go." "No, I insist." -A guy in Snohomish County was arrested last night after......

No, not a spoonerism (complete with granola and strawberries), but an imperative! It is Seattlest's confirmed opinion that not enough of us Yurt. Yurting is an activity enjoyed by the upper classes in Mongolia. A yurt is a kind of large boat, featuring massive engines, diving platforms in the back, and a man in a Ghengis Kahn hat, smoking a pipe. In it, posh Mongols cruise through their vast waters, raping and looting and having......

It's happened to all of us...you're sitting quietly at a bar, when some meathead has the audacity to suggest that baseball's Earl Torgeson is the greatest sports figure in the history of King County's neighbor to the north, Snohomish County. "What about longtime NFL quarterback Chris Chandler?" you shout, your blood boiling. "Or Olympic silver medalist Rosalynn Sumners?" And then, from across the room, "Hey--don't forget George Wilson, hero of the 1926 Rose Bowl...ya pencil-necked......

The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train that goes from Renton to, well, Renton by way of the Columbia Winery in Woodinville is perilously close to having the track yanked from under it. Seattlest doesn't think that The Spirit of Washington Dinner Bus has quite the same ring, but if Ron Sims' plan of purchasing the 47 miles of track from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway comes through the train might be out of business. King......

It almost happened in Snohomish County a few months back, but fell apart when public funding wasn't forthcoming. When has that ever stopped a stadium from being built in Washington, though? Seriously. International Speedway Corp., the group behind the push to get a NASCAR venue into the state, is making another pass at a racetrack here, this time in southern Washington. The ISC is working with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to get a 75,000......

National news came out of the Seattle AP bureau this morning when they released the findings of the Snohomish County Public Utility District's internal Enron investigation. From the PUD report: “Beyond the illegal nature of Enron's gaming of the energy market, its insensitivity to human suffering is reprehensible,” said PUD General Counsel Michael Gianunzio. “Countless consumers and businesses lost thousands of dollars during blackouts. This new evidence reaffirms that FERC should require Enron to disgorge......