Over The Hill

Capitol Hill's Cornish College of the Arts heightened recent rumors that it may be moving off the Hill ["Art Walk," Amy Baranski, Sept 27, 2001]. In a January 18 letter to students, Cornish President Sergei P. Tschernisch explained the school is in negotiations to purchase property in South Lake Union: "The new site will allow us to consolidate our campus and will, within a few years, result in new faculty offices, student common areas, and better classroom spaces." Bryan Bingold

The Daily Show

Last week, in a blatant ploy to win over editors at the two daily newspapers, Mayor Nickels made wise use of his new communications director, former Seattle Times writer Casey Corr. Corr threw an anniversary party to commemorate the end of last year's newspaper strike and invited his new boss, Nickels, to give a speech and schmooze with Times and P-I stars like Jean Godden and Dave Horsey. You'll remember, the dailies dissed Nickels big-time during the 2001 election, endorsing Nickels' rival Mark Sidran. Josh Feit

Mr. Manners

Mayor Greg Nickels' protocol bloopers are starting to raise eyebrows among city hall staffers. The mayor's latest goof-up came last Saturday, when he threw a party at the Seattle Center to celebrate MLK Day. The half-page glossy invitations advertised performances by a Vietnamese martial-arts group, a mariachi band, and a guest appearance by City Council President Peter Steinbrueck. The problem was, Steinbrueck knew nothing about the event until late Friday, when he saw the invitation. Nancy Drew

Smut Support

Mike Aivaz's controversial late-night public-access television show is up for review on January 30, on grounds that it violates obscenity rules: Aivaz's The Mike Hunt Show is infamous for airing everything from porn clips to live nude girls on channel 29, Seattle's community cable station. While Aivaz is used to going before the three-member review board (the show passed review in November 2001), he's also accustomed to bringing dozens of supporters to the meeting. But the upcoming session is closed, thanks to a change in review-board policy--and Aivaz is worried the lack of visible supporters will affect the board's decision. Amy Jenniges