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Whipping Seattle's city attorney in court isn't satisfying enough for local lawyer Dave Osgood. Osgood would prefer to be city attorney himself. The 34-year-old civil rights crusader, who shot down City Attorney Mark Sidran's added activities ordinance in federal court in 1999, has formed an exploratory committee for the office... JOSH FEIT
...Unfortunately
Stranger Personals
Osgood may not get to face off against his nemesis. Three-term City Attorney Mark Sidran has reportedly been meeting with board members of the politically powerful and business-friendly Alki Foundation to gauge support for a possible mayoral run. JOSH FEIT
Butts and Toothpaste
On January 29, Seattle Public Schools put teacher Thianesia Gaskins on paid leave for hitting two students with a stick.
Gaskins--a teacher at Ravenna's John Marshall Alternative High School--meted out "licks on the hand" (her words) to two boys (13 and 14 years old) as punishment for sneaking up on a sleeping female teacher during a January retreat and smearing toothpaste on that teacher's butt.
Gaskins says she decided to take justice into her own hands to save the boys from a harsher fate: getting expelled. MATTHEW PREUSCH
Wills and Electricity
Last week, City Council Member Heidi Wills continued nudging her colleagues to ease the requirements that govern low-income energy assistance. The current standard (125 percent of the federal poverty level) excludes thousands of poor people. For example, a family of two earning any more than $14,064 does not qualify. "You shouldn't have to be homeless to qualify," says Wills.
On February 8, Wills recommended changing the standard to 70 percent of the state median--$27,612 for a family of two. This would bring 21,000 new households into the program. JOSH FEIT
Loser Dot-Coms
Facing a 2000 net loss of $1.4 billion, struggling retailer Amazon.com introduced two new programs last week to address its profitability problem. First, as was widely reported, the company will charge book publishers $10,000 for e-mail promotions that used to be free. Second, and not widely reported, Bezos & Co. unveiled a program called "the Honor System," which identifies struggling websites and lets customers donate up to $50 through Amazon. Amazon makes 15 percent in commission, gets a 15 cent transaction fee, and oh, each site that receives a donation must display Amazon's logo. PAT KEARNEY
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