Obama in Seattle! Notably, his fundraising schedule yesterday included no public events, favoring fundraisers in Medina and a larger crowd at the Paramount Theatre.

In Other Obama Fundraisers Yesterday: Lady Gaga showed up as a guest to discuss bullying with the President last night in Silicon Valley, officially overshadowing the morning fundraiser in Medina.

This Seems Familiar… Congress struggles to reach (minor) compromise, threatening governmental shutdown.

Fire in North Seattle: A natural gas leak is cited as a “factor” in a north Seattle fire this morning on the 12300 block of 5th Avenue NE. Two people have been taken to the hospital and are in at least serious condition.

At Least the Fire Wasn’t Near UW: Because a man and a woman allegedly ran a stolen car into the U District fire station early this morning.

Nobel Laureate Passes: Wangari Maathai, Africa’s first female peace prize recipient, passed from ovarian cancer today. According to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who offered comment: “Professor Maathai introduced the idea of women planting trees in Kenya to reduce poverty and conserve the environment.”

Read This Story: San Francisco Castro district City Supervisor Scott Wiener introduces a law requiring nudists to put a towel down in an attempt to legislate existing common courtesy and apparently tell everyone ever that nudity is legal in San Francisco.

Tacoma Infant Dies in Hospital: He was on life support for head injuries after his mother allegedly shook him too hard. His mother, 20, has mental problems that have been known for the past five years.

Bike Watch: Another car-on-bike collision in Vancouver injured just before 6:00 a.m. this morning.

Today is the birthday of Shamu, Beverly Hillbillies, Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch, and Rocky Horror Picture Show! Here’s the most important of the five.

19 replies on “The Morning News”

  8. Some constructive (I hope) criticism: I think the verb “passes” in reference to Wangari Maathai is overly polite and a bit confusing. (My brain reading this item: “What did she pass? An exam? A gallstone? Ahhh, she died. I see.”) It’s OK to say someone died.

  10. I heard the explosion earlier this morning. The entire house shook and I was convinced that one of the trees in the backyard came down into our kitchen or something.

    I hope for the best for the two injured people.

  11. Note: the cyclist was on the sidewalk when he/she was hit! (By a car leaving a parking lot.)

    So much for the value of “separating cars from bikes on our roadways”, it would seem…

  12. @11 Sidewalks don’t separate bikes from cars, because sidewalks often open into driveways. You can’t generalize about separated bike facilities based on sidewalks.

  13. @11, 12: what’s more, note that in the posted video, Meatloaf drives _his_ bike right up the spiral handicap ramp. Which only goes to show.

  14. Do us all a favor. If you’re going to refer to Vancouver take the extra trouble to add BC or WA to your post so we don’t absolutely have to check out the article K?

  16. @9

    Not according to the city, county and state prosecutors who get asked the same fucking question every single Solstice Parade. Every year, they all say, no, there is no reason to arrest naked people because there is nothing to charge them with. Unless somebody lodges a complaint that they are actually doing something lewd, which is really a different offense, orthogonal to whether they are naked or clothed.

  17. @16 there need only be a complaint that there is nudity, which is considered lewd.

    “If someone sees the naked person and complains – the person who complains would technically be the victim – the case could go forward.”
    –http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/201…

    and under those circumstances there is a crime to charge the nudist with, even if the prosecutor rarely decides to file charges. Kerlikowske calls it a legal problem.

    the short of it is, you are likely to get a warning if you are walking around naked, and you may get arrested if someone complains (and it’s not part of some organized event). i’d hardly consider that legal.

  18. @17

    Ah, once again the Seattle Police Department, and the law. The law and the Seattle Police Department. Both great, but imagine how great they’d be if they ever did anything together?

    I’ll stick with the city attorney or the king county prosecutor’s opinion and let the Seattle cops keep their own special version of what they get to do.

Comments are closed.