NEWS AMY JENNIGES leads off with a story about activists who mark bicycle accident sites with white-painted bike carcasses. ERICA C. BARNETT follows with a report on the political ramifications of the First Hill light rail station closure. Then, ELI SANDERS surveys Ron Sims's challenges in the forthcoming election. I haven't enjoyed not reading a Stranger news section so much in months.

SHORT FEATURE Electric City, Come Alive Last summer's Road Trips series makes a surprise comeback, kicking off with the chronicle of ERICA C. BARNETT's journey to Electric City, home of the Grand Coulee Dam. Even more surprising is how funny and entertaining the report is, given Barnett's tendency to bore readers (often literally) to death with news stories about public transportation.

FEATURE The Intermission Escape Artist In this lengthy confession, former Stranger Performance Editor DAVID SCHMADER argues that theater is largely a dead form artificially resuscitated by bad artists. Next week, an exposé about how books are made up almost entirely of words.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS This might not mean much to you, but I knew King Fahd pretty well at one time. The news reports I've read about his death fail to capture the quiet aura the man carried at all times, despite being surrounded by wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. It takes a certain something to be gracious even while presiding over public beheadings of women who don't put dinner on the table by 6:00 p.m. (or whatever crazy laws they have over there). No sir, they don't make 'em like that anymore.