BEACON HILL State senator Margarita Prentice (D-11, Renton) chose a controversial position at the table last weekend when she attended a meeting of Latino community leaders at El Centro de la Raza. She sat next to two representatives from Moneytree, a Renton-based payday-loan chain. The payday-loan industry is controversial for its practices of concentrating in low-income neighborhoods and offering paycheck advances at high interests rates (or fees, as the industry prefers to call them). Mario Paredes from Consejo Counseling and Referral Services asked the senator if she worked for Moneytree. In fact, no. But Prentice has received $950 in political contributions from Moneytree CEO Dennis Bassford. Prentice was one of several advocates on hand, like those from the Latino business community, who support Moneytree. Antagonists of Moneytree, such as Aiko Schaefer from Statewide Poverty Action Network, spoke in favor of legislative restrictions like caps on interest rates and offering payment plans. The more than $1 billion in Washington payday loans in 2005 came with a typical annualized interest rate of 391 percent. The group did not reach a decision on whether to back new legislative limits on the industry. LOWER QUEEN ANNE Mr. Lucky—a hiphop nightclub (and the setting for several shootings over recent years) that has inspired a healthy portion of Mayor Nickels's anti-nightlife zeal—has reopened with a new name: Avenue One Sports Bar. The nightspot's temporary license, secured while owner Kyriakos Kyrkos appeals the city's April decision to shut him down, expires December 31. —AV