• A staffer in state senator Mike Hewitt's office reportedly told Seattleite Jay Castro that "gay people can just grow their own food" if a bill Hewitt (R-Walla Walla) is cosponsoring passes. The bill would allow businesses to refuse service to some customers (read: gay people!) if their refusal is due to "sincerely held religious beliefs," and Castro was inquiring what rural gays should do if the only grocery store for miles won't sell them food. After a few follow-up calls from The Stranger, the first couple of which ended in the staffer—who refused to identify himself—hanging up on us, he offered "apologies for a poorly handled call," said that "half" of Castro's account was accurate (but wouldn't say which half), and said that "patience was lost, mistakes were made, and that's it." Hewitt has yet to return calls for comment.
• After an NBA committee on Monday unanimously rejected Seattle's bid to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle, would-be investor Chris Hansen said he has "absolutely no plans to give up. Impossible is nothing but a state of mind." But Seattle's state of mind, according to a reader poll on Slog, is that the NBA can go fuck itself.
• Mayor Mike McGinn joined six challengers for the city's first mayoral candidate forum on April 29. In one of the oddest moments, Charlie Staadecker talked about having a photo of a "naked girl" (his newborn granddaughter) on his iPhone. After that, Tim Burgess claimed to be tracking the fetus that is currently growing inside his pregnant daughter. It's about "the size of an heirloom tomato right now," Burgess said.
• Washington State Democratic Party chair Dwight Pelz has been telling colleagues that he plans to retire after the 2014 election cycle. There are no rumors of state party members pleading with him to stay.
• Jim Pugel, interim chief of the Seattle Police Department, was among the group of cops acting like drunken homeless people in a 1986 training video released last week. Officers in the video sang to the tune of the Drifters' 1964 hit "Under the Boardwalk," but with lyrics including "Under the viaduct/Down by the bay/We'll be drinking our T-Bird all through the day." One officer who asked not to be named said, "I've seen worse." For his part, Chief Pugel—who chose to release the video—unequivocally apologized, saying, "I regret that I did it, and I regret the embarrassment it caused the department and the profession."
• A coalition of religious leaders has filed an initiative to require criminal background checks for everyone who buys a gun in Washington State. Father Michael Ryan of St. James Cathedral calls the legislation "a solemn moral obligation." Eighty-seven percent of the state's voters support background checks, according to a Washington CeaseFire poll in January. 
