NEWS In a staggering case of fruitless muckraking, ELI SANDERS leads off this week's news section with an inquiry into the sexual preference of a state senator. AMY JENNIGES blows the lid off the city's negotiations with Comcast and the subsequent fate of cable access. A middle-aged stoner's ability to show free porn hangs in the balance—no wonder The Stranger is so interested. ERICA C. BARNETT finds a subject more gripping than the Monorail: a comparison between Rick's strip club and Paul Allen's Vulcan. Finally, INDIA BODIEN reports on Sound Transit's latest doings

SHORT FEATURE Unwelcome Homes My protégé, CHARLES MUDEDE, is to blame for this stultifying examination of Central District architecture—specifically, the encroachment of McMansions on neighborhoods. Makes me wish I'd never gotten him that book about Mies van der Rohe...

PULLOUT Capitol Hill Block PartyThe annual outdoor festival that celebrates music in all its forms—from garage rock to garage punk and everything in between—is, as coincidence would have it, sponsored in part by The Stranger. Interesting. Well, at least the coverage is comprehensive. I, for one, will be in Monaco.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS Listen, I know a thing or two about covering up a political scandal (you think Agnew's tax problems were discovered by accident?). But, seriously, this business of trying to divert attention from Rove's quantum snafu by nominating this Roberts jackass to the bench... It's like trying to stop a flood by throwing a tampon into a damn swimming pool: I mean, sure, it's fun; but it ain't gonna work.