In Case You Missed It: The alleged connection between vaccination and autism has been revealed as an elaborate fraud.

Gregoire Proposes New State Education Department: "Under her plan, a new Department of Education would be created, absorbing responsibilities currently held by Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn. The new department would supervise the state's entire schooling system, from kindergarten to higher education," reports KIRO.

BP's Cost-Cutting Maneuvers: To blame for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to the official White House report.

Fair Enough: Elizabeth Edwards left John out of her will.

Holy Crap: Near-record number of domestic violence slayings reported in Washington State.

New Year's Resolution #45: Dump BoA: "Bank of America is revamping its checking account lineup— including some with new strings or fees attached," reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I've Never Been More Proud of My Time Zone: West Coast has highest rate of seat-belt use.

Rat Heaven: The post-blizzard trash piles of NYC.

The Days of Contended Traffic Citations Resulting in Insta-Dismissals Are Over: "King County District Court will bring in a prosecutor to work traffic cases, saying the integrity of the system suffers under the current system in which challenges to tickets are met with silence and citations are often dismissed regardless of whether the law was actually broken," reports the Seattle Times.

Apropos of nothing, a timely message from Stevie Wonder.