• Are layoffs coming for city employees? Mayor Mike McGinn has recommended consolidating the Office of Housing and the Office of Economic Development—saving the city $338,000 a year—but his office won't reveal how many city employees would get pink slips until September 26.

• Blame Kurt Cobain for the recent uptick in violence and drug use at Cal Anderson Park. "We've heard rumors that this is where Kurt Cobain took his last hit," says a park ranger. "That's supposedly why drifters like to shoot up here."

• The Washington State Democratic Central Committee voted 75–43 last weekend to endorse Initiative 502, which would legalize and tax marijuana if voters pass it in 2012, saying that the measure "will generate an estimated $215 million in new tax revenues each year."

• Expressing his disappointment in the current mayor, former mayor Greg Nickels told Q13 on Monday, "I might run again someday."

• A poll released over the weekend by Strategies 360 found that Republican Rob McKenna has a seven-point advantage over Democratic congressman Jay Inslee. Inslee campaign spokeswoman Jaime Smith tried to downplay the finding by saying that McKenna is better known for his eight years as state attorney general. "It's all name recognition and name ID," she said, "so we're not surprised."

• The same poll found that Washington State voters support gay marriage by a 54–35 margin, which Equal Rights Washington's Josh Friedes says is "completely consistent" with the group's recent internal polling. "For the first time, marriage equality is winnable in Washington State," he says.

• That last sentiment terrifies anti-gay pastor Gary Randall, who fears the state legislature will approve a gay-marriage bill in 2012. "If the bill should pass, we will take an appropriate initiative action to repeal it," he wrote on his evangelical blog. The aforementioned polling also indicates that most voters would uphold gay marriage. So there.

• A group of downtown residents are protesting Seattle Steam's switch from natural gas to wood-burning incinerators, claiming it produces pollution "so lethal it can kill" someone the same day of exposure, according to flyers. "We have people going to the doctor with respiratory problems," says Matt Smith, the group's spokesman. But Puget Sound Clean Air Agency spokeswoman Kimberly Cline says that the plant's air quality controls are "significantly more stringent than what is required for residential woodstoves or fireplaces."

• During a September 15 press conference on bike and pedestrian safety, Seattle Police Department spokesman Sean Whitcomb got applause when he announced "a warning to those who drive aggressively on our streets." Looking directly into the TV cameras, he said, "You will be stopped and you will be cited."