• A homo headed to Fox News? C. R. Douglas, the bang-up former political host on the Seattle Channel, has a new gig. He'll be the chief political analyst for Q13, the local wing of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, beginning August 8. "I won't have a show like I did before, but I will have a chance to play to a larger audience and do more analysis," says Douglas.
• Initiative 502, which would tax and regulate marijuana, is off to a strong start. A ballot summary from the attorney general's office unequivocally states that legalizing pot will generate tax revenue, fund substance-abuse prevention, and do away with "prohibition"—the sort of statements that would win over voters in 2012. The petitions hit streets last week while the campaign, New Approach Washington, told state officials they'd already raised a quarter-million dollars.
• If you search for "Cannabis in Ballard," the first return on Google is Top Pot Doughnuts.
• When city council member Sally Clark was asked at a July 27 forum if she's ever broken from the council majority to vote for a progressive cause, she responded by explaining that she was one of three council members to vote against funding bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure improvements in 2007. "I lost on that one," said Clark. Progressive people hate bicycles, apparently.
• The board of Sound Transit approved a tunnel for light rail under downtown Bellevue on July 28. One problem: The project still lacks $150 million in funding from Eastside transit districts. Where will the dough come from? Folks tell The Stranger that, according to staff briefings last week, Sound Transit staff want to snake the funding from a region that does have the money: Seattle.
• Crime is down in 2011 compared to this time last year, according to the Seattle Police Department. Property crimes are down by 12 percent and violent crimes by 1 percent. That last figure is the result of robbery dropping by 8 percent while aggravated assault is up by 6 percent.
• The supporting cast of Porgy and Bess at the Seattle Opera upstaged the stars of the show on opening night with lively vitality. A grim-faced Gordon Hawkins (as Porgy) looked "positively sepulchral" at curtain call, said one audience member.
• Ads on Metro buses to discourage smoking have to come down. Featuring a little girl who asked, "Why can't my park be smoke free?" the ads directed people to a website that told them to ask government officials to ban smoking in parks. But Metro officials say the ads violate new bus rules banning ads that might spark political debate.
• The Seattle Times is ramping up its rhetoric to support a multi-billion dollar tunnel under downtown Seattle, saying it's a decade overdue, the funding is waiting, we need the north-south mobility, and any alternative will cause congestion. As it turns out, in a 39-year-old clipping uncovered this week, the Seattle Times made the exact same arguments in 1972—for a six-lane freeway running though the Arboretum. Citizens rejected that freeway.
• Wayne Johnson, the chef at Andaluca, lost Iron Chef America last Sunday night.
• The Seattle PostGlobe, a blog started by former Seattle P-I employees when the daily transitioned to online-only content and fired most of its staff, has gone tits up. "Ads have generated no meaningful revenue—ever," they write in a moribund post-PostGlobe post.
