The Senate just passed their revenue bill with several new amendments, and it is not the package the governor or House wanted. In short: The sales tax increase was lowered, not eliminated (as the House had wanted.)

The Senate moved from an 0.3 percent increase to an 0.2 percent increase, which will cost them about $104 million in revenue.

Bottom line: The Senate has proposed a smaller revenue package—going from their original proposal of $890 million in new revenue to $809 million. (The House proposal

Tonight:

You can look at Seattle’s BirthDIYfest, taking place at the Vera Project tonight, in a couple of different ways.

If you’re an artist, particularly someone obsessed with making your own beats, or pressing vinyl records out of your friend’s band’s mp3s, or trying to start your own weirdo arts collective, it’s like a networking event where people from a few different uber-indie record labels are going to have tables set up.

Or you can just go to peek your head into Seattle’s hippie DIY scene,

Adding density to our neighborhoods doesn’t have to mean slapping up poorly-designed and unattractive multi-family housing.

Many architects and developers do their best to maximize both form and function on odd lots and among lots of old buildings.

Bad-looking housing—whether designed for renters or owners—is such an urban issue that City Council member Sally Clark, along with architects from AIA Seattle and other concerned parties, are hosting a town hall meeting tomorrow morning in Greenwood

A 68-year-old Mercer Island man was killed Friday morning when he "dumped" his motorcycle in an intersection and slid into another vehicle in Woodinville.

The man was riding a 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650 east on Northeast 195th Street around 9 a.m. when he made a left turn onto northbound Woodinville-Snohomish Road, crossing the intersection. At the same time, a 2004 Jeep Liberty, heading west on Northeast North Woodinville Way, crossed the same intersection.

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It appears the motorcycle went

In response to my my last column on the Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation 2040, Rick Olson, PSRC director of government and communications, emailed me with two major points refuting some of the arguments made by Cascade Bicycle Club and Futurewise.

First, though, I need to start by making a quick correction. I wrote that David Hiller, Cascade Bicycle Club’s advocacy director, said the latest draft of Transportation 2040 contains less investment in transit than in the Alternative 5 option

A deal is strating to take shape between the House and Senate in Olympia over the stalled budget. Cola reporter Camden is in Olympia and will file a report momentarily.

But the basic is: The Senate is scaling back it’s sales tax proposal from 0.3 percent to 0.2 percent. As a result, they’ve got find some more cuts.

Details to come.

As Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times reported this morning, the governor said she wants the Legislature out of here by Sunday.

Wishful thinking. The sheer mechanics of passing a budget probably won’t allow it. The Senate is planning on voting their revenue package over to the House this afternoon (the first official move by either chamber during the special session to get the ball rolling on wrapping up the budget), and a capital budget still needs to be agreed on. Not to mention all of the policy

-- By Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge:

Police are asking prosecutors to file reckless driving and assault charges against a Seattle man who nearly ran down two bicyclists on First Avenue, opened his car door into one of them and then twice flipped the same bicyclist off his bike.

According to a Seattle police report released Friday, the two bicyclists were stopped at a red light near the 2800 block of First Avenue on Monday when a man in car raced up to the intersection and slammed on the

A Pierce County man accused of killing his ex-wife during a counseling session at a Federal Way church on Wednesday was charged Friday with first-degree murder, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Charles "Chuck" Parson of Lakewood is scheduled for arraignment on March 30 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Parson, 42, was attending a counseling session with his ex-wife Carol Parson, 38, at Calvary Lutheran Church in Federal Way when he pulled out a handgun and fatally

Struggling to close a $2.8 billion budget shortfall and unable to agree on how to do it, lawmakers in Olympia entered legislative overtime this week.

Gov. Chris Gregoire called the special session after lawmakers were unable to balance the state budget during the regular 60-day session. It's the first multi-day extra session since 2003, and the first time since 1994 a special session has been called when one party had control of the Legislature and the governor's office.

The disagreement between

I had a perfectly fine time at the packed King County Municipal League’s 100th Anniversary Awards Ceremony at Showbox Sodo last night: I mingled with 500 civic-minded people. And I heard Peter Steinbrueck heap praise on Futurewise and the Transit Oriented Communities report that I coauthored.

But in a lame attempt to save this from being the most boring PubliCola “Last Night” post ever, here’s what I saw after leaving the event out on 1st Ave in Sodo:

Some of those Muni-leaguers really know how

Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-44) said the governor, who has been pushing for job creation late in the session, is putting pressure on Senate leadership to make his Jobs Act of 2010 happen.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” said Karina Shagren, spokeswoman for the governor’s office. Although she cautioned that the governor still has concerns about the size of the proposal.

As we reported here, the House’s first action in special session was to pass Rep. Dunshee’s proposal to fund energy retrofits at public schools

Phillip Lopate is one of the best known essayists in the country. And one of the most well-regarded. Check out the blurbs:

“‘The Stoic’s Marriage’” is a mordantly funny brickbat tossed at every diarist egged along by big publishing dreams.”

–Jan Stuart (New York Times, review of Two Marriages)

“Lopate is a storyteller. He is always teasing, luring and guiding us with cinematic clarity into a world of sight and sound…, of characters and talk.”

–Margo Jefferson (New York Times, review of Getting Personal:

So, if King County Executive Dow Constantine is thinking (like all King County Executives do) about ever running for Governor, he got some good news last night: He outraised GOP Attorney General Rob McKenna, a likely opponent for the state’s top job.

The results of last night’s auction at the Municipal League of King County 100-year anniversary dinner are as follows:

Lunch with KC Executive Dow Constantine (at Dahlia) went for $1,000.

Lunch with City Council Member Tim Burgess (at Wild Giner) went

Seattle’s Department of Transportation has recommended the Two-Way Broadway alignment for the First Hill Streetcar, without a park loop as initially proposed. The recommendation was presented in a presentation to the interested parties Wednesday night, according to Richard Sheridan from the department.

The Two-Way Broadway alignment performed the best on most metrics the city measured; perhaps most importantly in this climate, it is expected to be

Senate Democrats are supposed to caucus on a new tax package after lunch Friday and then take a floor vote. The package still has a sales tax. Details are supposed to come out this afternoon.

Assuming Senate Democrats have the votes to pass a measure, House Democrats will take it up next. Both houses are expected to work through the weekend. The two sides have been stalled for weeks over whether to approve an increase in the state sales tax.

House Democrats have opposed the idea, but that may be changing,

Our own Dan Bertolet gets namechecked in national pub as Yimby poster child.

-- From Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge:

A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting last year of a Seattle rap performer and promoter on First Hill.

According to Seattle police, Tyrese Harrison was arrested Friday by a fugitive task force in Youngstown, Ohio and is now in custody. Police and prosecutors alleged in charging documents that Harrison shot and killed 22-year-old Max Gasoi on Ninth Avenue near St. James Cathedral on Nov. 27.

Relatives of Gasoi said

I remember, last summer, launching a minor rant on this blog about texting during movies. It's something I feel pretty strongly about -- movies are getting increasingly expensive, and nobody wants to have their pleasure at sitting in the dark enjoying "Alice in Wonderland," say, ruined by the flashing lights of some idiot three seats over who's trying to set up a post-movie hookup. But I've recently been wondering, sadly, if this ship has sailed and I'm left on the dock, sadly waving a futile hand

A hit-and-run accident around dusk Thursday night in Burien's Three Tree Point neighborhood caused a lot of damage to a parked Toyota Corolla and a protective wall outside a house, according to B-townblog.com.

"We were eating dinner and we heard this incredibly loud noise," a woman named Rachel, who lives in the house where the wall was damaged, tells B-townblog. "I was honestly afraid that someone was driving through the wall of our home."

In addition to damaging the parked car and destroying the

OLYMPIA -- Legislation to boost the state's hazardous-substances tax on oil, fertilizer and other chemicals could come up for a vote in the state House some time Friday.

The tax bill -- which would raise about $100 million a year for clean-water projects -- has prompted a last-minute frenzy of lobbying and deal making.

Oil refineries, which would pay most of the tab, have been trying to kill the proposal all session.

Friday morning, 47 agricultural groups, from the Asparagus Council to the Turfgrass

You'll pardon me for being the last to talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it -- but the reincarnation of the old Sitka & Spruce as Nettletown is now complete, and the ever-talented Christina Choi -- with help from her friend Matt Dillon -- has opened her new Eastlake cafe.

Taking the sting out of spring, at Nettletown [photo courtesy Nettletown].

If you're a regular at the Saturday University District Farmers Market or the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market, you may recognize Christina

Last year, the Governor vetoed Transportation Benefit District authority for transit agencies. As she clearly really likes that line-item veto power, we’d like to ask her to do it again – to veto the “private provider” language in SB 6381, currently headed to her desk.

Wednesday morning, Rep. Marko Liias asked his colleagues to sign on to a letter to urge the governor to veto this provision. Essentially, it’s turning out that the provision would affect more grants than originally intended, would

Earlier this week plans for the Bullitt Foundation’s Cascadia Center for Sustainable Design and Construction were presented to the City of Seattle’s Design Review Board, and the innovative project garnered front page attention from the Seattle Times. To be located at the corner of 15th Ave and Madison in the Central District, the Cascade Center is the first mid-rise building in Seattle to pursue the Living Building Challenge, a rigorous new “deep green” building standard developed by the Cascadia

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office has released more information on the shooting Wednesday morning of a man in the Clearview area of Snohomish County.

The man suspected of the shooting has been identified as Robert Scott, 36, a convicted felon. The Sheriff's Office has probable cause to arrest Scott for first-degree assault and first-degree burglary in connection with the shooting.

The Sheriff's Office says Scott is suspected of shooting the victim in

Not everyone buys the new research that says coffee is good for you.

Marina Kushner does not dig caffeine, and she has written books and started a nonprofit to tell people how dangerous it is. She also sponsors March as National Caffeine Awareness Month, which has been recognized by official proclamations in eight states and 23 cities including Redmond and Richland, WA, according to Kushner.

She is pushing the FDA to mandate that caffeinated products carry labels showing how much they have and a health

A 45-year-old woman was taken to Harborview Medical Center following a car-pedestrian accident early Friday in Seattle's View Ridge neighborhood.

According to the Seattle Fire Department, the woman was struck and critically injured near the intersection of Northeast 45th Street and 36th Avenue Northeast.

We will have more details as they become available.

The district seems unable to follow federal and state guidelines. The problem with the program was discovered in 2007 when the federal Department of Education audited their Title VII grant, a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Discrepancies in Seattle's program were brought to the district's attention,

Sarah sent me this on Monday but I’ve been having too much fun in Mexico to get online and hit publish. Sorry about that! Also, no Friday open house post today since we’re both busy…

According to Redfin, there were 19 townhouse and condo sales last week. Here are a few interesting ones:

Among the pricier sales this week is this two-bedroom townhouse at Salveo Residences in Magnolia. It sold for $510K, and Redfin shows that the price changed a few times since it went on the market in February of

1. Environmentalists are nervous that Gov. Chris Gregoire doesn’t support a budget provision passed earlier this session by the state House and Senate to end a $4 million tax break for TransAlta’s Centralia coal-powered steam plant.

Gregoire is in closed door talks with TransAlta to get the company to phase out coal, and groups like the Sierra Club worry that whatever deal Gregoire comes up with in private may hinge on her keeping the tax break in play.

Gregoire is antsy about the lack of jobs bills

I wasn’t looking forward to breaking down Pierce Transit’s new system concept and route-by-route planning pages because I don’t know the system all that well.  Fortunately, Tacoma Tomorrow has wall-to-wall coverage of developments there.

Chris and Evan wrote up a summary of planned route changes, a roundup of public feedback, and an in-depth look at PT Route 4.

And while you’re at it, check out this writeup of Tacoma Link extension options.

Police in Port Angeles are wondering if $4,000 in funny money is floating around town.

A man suspected of passing counterfeit money, Nathan Wayne Terry, sent a text message indicating he had tossed $4,000 in fake bills in a trash bin in downtown Port Angeles, according to the Peninsula Daily News. Terry was later arrested but the bills haven't turned up despite some Dumpster-diving by police.

"We checked all the Dumpsters and recycle bins and so forth," Port Angeles Detective Bruce Knight tells the

WASHINGTON -- First he received the presidential squeeze. Now Rep. Brian Baird is getting pressured to support the upcoming vote in the House on the health-care bill from the other Washington.

In a letter sent to Baird on Thursday (PDF), two top lawmakers from Olympia urged the Vancouver Democrat not to waste a chance to fix health care and to bail out busted state budgets.

"We cannot afford to wait before making fundamental changes to our health care system," wrote Sen. Karen Keiser and Rep. Eileen

WASHINGTON -- First he received the presidential squeeze. Now Rep. Brian Baird is getting pressured to support the upcoming vote in the House on the health-care bill from the other Washington.

In a letter sent to Baird on Thursday, two top lawmakers from Olympia urged the Vancouver Democrat not to waste a chance to fix health care and to bail out busted state budgets.

"We cannot afford to wait before making fundamental changes to our health care system," wrote Sen. Karen Keiser and Rep. Eileen Cody.

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire scolded fellow Democrats in the Legislature Thursday afternoon, saying lawmakers need to finish their work and go home by Sunday.

Asked about progress of the ongoing special session, Gregoire paused for several seconds, and then expressed her "frustration" with the pace of the legislative overtime.

"We've got to get out no later than Sunday... the talk about going another week to me is inexcusable," Gregoire said.

In calling the special session, which started Monday,

Starbucks hosts its 15th Hot Java Cool Jazz concert at the Paramount Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are $15; $8 for students and seniors.

Proceeds support music education programs for the schools that participate, which this year are Garfield, Roosevelt, Edmonds-Woodway, Newport and Mountlake Terrace. The first three bands are among only 15 nationwide that will compete in the 15th annual Essentially Ellington competition and festival in New York City, May 8-10. Garfield and Roosevelt each

Word in Olympia is that Senate will consider dropping their temporary 0.3 sales tax increase if the House, which adamantly opposes the sales tax increase, matches the Senate’s longer list of B&O (business) tax increases.

Here’s the Senate’s list of service-based businesses subject to the tax increase:

Accounting

Legal

Business support services

Computer systems design

Data processing

Facilities support services

Investment advice services

Management, scientific, and technical consulting

Cohousing – “intentional” living communities where residents occupy their own houses or condo units but otherwise share everything from potlucks to P-Patch duty with neighbors—is resurfacing in metro Seattle for the first time in more than a decade. Currently, two new developments are seeking members in advance of ground-breaking on Capitol Hill and in Newcastle on the eastside.

In addition, there’s more cohousing on the market than normal: West Seattle’s Duwamish Cohousing is offering up a rarely-

Earlier today I linked a PI story about yesterday’s labor rally at Westlake Center where Mayor Mike McGinn was booed by building trades union members for his positions on 520 and the waterfront tunnel (re-work the 520 plan for rapid tranist, ie light rail, and Nope on the tunnel, respectively.)

Mayor Mike McGinn, Photo by Josh Feit

I called McGinn this morning to get his reaction to the less-than-friendly reception, and he called back this afternoon to have his say.

“We know from the campaign thet

WASHINGTON -- A bill to expand Alpine Lakes Wilderness east of Seattle cleared the U.S. House by voice vote Thursday, bringing the conservation plan tangibly close to fruition nearly three years after Rep. Dave Reichert first proposed it.

The measure would grow the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area by 22,000 acres as well as designate the Pratt River and the 27-mile middle fork of the Snoqualmie River as wild and scenic. Such status would enable the federal government to work with local authorities and