
JoanJeffryThe foundation isn't yet listing this year's winners on its site, but our 2009 Stranger Genius is now a 2009 Joan Mitchell winner, too. He gets $25,000. Here are last year's winners.

JoanJeffryThe foundation isn't yet listing this year's winners on its site, but our 2009 Stranger Genius is now a 2009 Joan Mitchell winner, too. He gets $25,000. Here are last year's winners.
A man was just sentenced to 11 years in prison for beating his wife—with her consent.
Timothy Thompson, a former news reporter for Portland radio station KXL, will have 11 years and 6 months in prison to think about the severity of what he did to his wife Susan and [...]

Larry Spencer (Coeur d'Alene Press comments section): " I went to talk to Dan English about the military voter I had questions about, and the election office seems to have followed the directions from the Secretary of State, and correctly registered the former Post Falls resident using Dan'" [...]
Maybe this is really dumb question, but... would it be possible to save a piece of the Viaduct as a park/outdoor concert and performance venue? Kind of like the High Line in NYC? It could start at Seneca—walk out of the Seattle Art Museum and take a stroll to [...]

Well, isn't this just ducky. After 11 years, I got laid off yesterday. On a stress scale, I think I'm off the charts. First there was the thyroid biopsy (which turned out fine). Then there was the anemia problem. Then the failing kidneys. Then 3-days-a-week, 3.5 hour dialysis [...]
With less than a week before Thanksgiving, a family of wild turkeys parades through a Fernan Lake neighborhood, posts KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho.
Lynching of Sarah Palin/Bay Views10 places that make me thankful/Gathering Around the TableThe 70s!/It's Just MeI have ruined 2 people's lives/Simple MindTo [...]Santa Claus, also known as Patrick Farmer, at Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska, holds letters from children sent this year that the U.S. Postal Service says they will no longer deliver. Citing privacy concerns, postal officials say that generically addressed letters to "Santa Claus, North Pole" will no [...]
It can be easy for children to get their hands on cigarettes. Our cameras were rolling as 15-year-old volunteer girls try to buy cigarettes at a dozen different places in Spokane and Spokane Valley. The health district goes undercover more than 100 times a year to make sure stores are [...]

For Strangercrombie, we asked six local artists to donate one-of-a-kind piñatas—but we had no idea they would do it up like this. The piñatas are starting to come into the office today, and they are Seriously. Freaking. Amazing.
Here's a sneak peek at one of them, [...]

When the Statesman's Erika Bolstad broke a rock-solid story about bonuses awarded by outgoing and embattled Sen. Larry Craig, the detractors were quick to chime in. Their message, loosely translated: "Hey Statesman, let the Craig story die already." When Cynthia Sewell found some startling news about [...]

So now we know who’s responsible for Lou Dobbs. It’s the American Legion. Before announcing his resignation from CNN last week, the Rupert-bred commentator told the Legion that his experience with itsnationwide oratorical contest at Minico High School shaped both his world view and choice of career. Dobbs, [...]
The Corner of Sweet and Bitter at Open SatelliteThis morning the video artist Meiro Koizumi got on a plane with his wife Yuka and went back home to Japan after having spent two months [...]
At last night's Post-Election Analysis forum sponsored by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Governor Chris Gregoire announced that, unlike last year, she expects there to be at least some new revenue to soften the expected cuts to balance the $2.6 budget deficit. Political operative Nigel Herbig tweeted this from the event:
At [...]
After only a few weeks in Alaska, I'm convinced of one fact: If Sarah Palin is a racist, it wasn't from her childhood in Wasilla. (What am I doing in Alaska? This.) By most measures, the Anchorage area is more ethnically diverse and integrated than most places I've' [...]
This is pretty delicious...
I guess the Noblesville, Indiana Going Rogue book signing didn’t go very well yesterday because 300* or so of the 1000 people with wristbands were asked not to tread on Sarah Palin and then she tried to make a getaway with Baby Trig and several duffel [...]
Is this the future of the internet?
The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it's perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the "three-strikes" rule that allows your entire family [...]
Sure they do. But why do they hang low? And why don't they hang lower? Why isn't your scrotum bright red? Why doesn't your scrotum have feathers? Science has the answer.
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' [...]The Milky Way spreads across the night sky over Mormon Row, an historic settlement, in Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, Wyo., Thursday night. The light in the distance is the city of Driggs, Idaho, on the west side of the Teton Mountain Range. (AP Photo/Jackson Hole News&Guide, Bradly J. Boner) [...]
I met a guy about two months ago through weird and serendipitous circumstances on my last visit back home to Tucson and he's great in so many ways. We get along really well, have a lot of common interests, his friends and family that I've met so far I like' [...]
In this film publicity image released by Summit Entertainment, Robert Pattinson, background left, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner, right, are shown in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." Movie review here. (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Kimberley French)
Question: Should Bella have picked Jacob over Edward?
[...]Is the subject of a profile in the NYT... travel section? The article doesn't say much about Seattle theater except that it exists, it includes/ed people like Bart Sher, Kurt Beattie, et al.
Also: "Offbeat delights abound."
In the "offbeat" category:
Teatro ZinZanni, for instance, offers a five-course meal and a European-style' [...]
Vote-by-mail advocates have long argued that the system increases voter participation, particularly in traditionally low-turnout off-year elections, and this recent general election certainly doesn’t provide any evidence to the contrary. Indeed, when compared to other cities, Seattle’s off-year turnout is simply off the charts.
HA comment thread regular N in Seattle, [...]
Move over risky-business-underwear-girls. Little Channing's about to out-viral your asses...
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[...]
For those keeping score at home, Mike Kralicek, the former Coeur d'Alene police officer who was critically wounded in the line of duty a few years back, supports Councilman Mike Kennedy 100 percent. I just got off the phone with Kralicek. He told me that he called Mike Kennedy,' [...]
"I AM A FISH AND I LUV BOOBZ"Hello, dudes and dude-enthusiasts. The dudes of Broken Lizard are in town for a live show at the Moore tonight, and while they're at it they're doing a little promotion for [...]

JeanineAnderson / Stranger FlickrThanks, Fish Fry!
It's back, tonight and every third Friday of the month forever and ever!
Free fries and $2 Fat Tire pints: Happy hour is especially happy this evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pike Street Fish Fry and [...]
All the people who rail against Republicans in general and Sarah Palin specifically for ignoring the facts (about abstinence-only education, about global warming and industrial pollution) should take a deep breath and actually read the science about breast-cancer screening.
The articles from the United States Preventive Services Task Force, published in [...]
On the eve of a big senate vote to open debate on health insurance reform, Washington Senator Patty Murray explains the stakes:
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[...]As you know, I'm deeply indebted for the terrific job that CindyH does filling in for me while I'm on vacation. But saying thanks doesn't seem to be enough. So I figured I'd post this photo (monster hat tip to Sue) of a fundraiser planned by the Festival at Sandpoint. [...]
What in tarnation motivated Seattle Police to descend on Ballard last night with dozens of officers, hostage negotiators armed with bullhorns, and a SWAT team? “This was a high-risk search warrant,” says SPD Sergeant Sean Whitcomb. “A person had barricaded themselves in and that requires a lot of personnel [...]
Film
'Stingray Sam'The American Astronaut is the world's best space-Western movie musical. A black-and-white masterpiece, the movie is like Jules Verne with a rock 'n' roll soundtrack, where space is filled with roughnecks and kooks, and men and women are segregated to their own planets. Cory [...]

Learn how to make your turkey look just like this one!For the past couple of days some fantastic local culinary experts (including Tamara Murphy of Brasa/Elliott Bay Cafe, Quill Teal-Sullivan of Oddfellows, and Jamie Boudreau of [...]
The latest installment of The Daily Show's Gaywatch. You will cheer.
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' [...]
There are maritime-based readings, there are self-help readings, there are landscape painting-type readings, and there are celebrity chef readings, too. And then there are three readings I'm going to tell you about.
Barbara Kingsolver is at Third Place Books tonight. The Lacuna is her first novel in a' [...]
Spoiler alert: Here's a photo of the postmodern driving-range experience. Yes!
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[...]He's still looking good,
he's still looking fine,
but a little bit worse
than at age fifty-nine.
The Bard of Sherman Avenue
[...]I'm with flat top here. Colby pretty much sucks as far as robots go. He doesn't even know what games are, and all he does is make up songs about scripture. Boooring! Flat top says: "Who ever heard of have a computer for a friend?" Agreed, especially if it's Colby.
[...]
I hit the Big 6-0 at about 1:30 this morning -- and the sky didn't seem to fall. I've received a number of condolences from friends, family, and co-workers. Betsy Russell tells me that 60 is the new 40. But I can't remember as many nicks in the chassis when' [...]
Despite its rocky start, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe refueling depot in Huetter received a nod of approval from the Kootenai County commissioners on Thursday. Continuing the conditional five-year compliance hearing that was tabled last week, the commissioners voted unanimously that the massive depot is in compliance with the conditions [...]
Listening to KUOW's Weekday just now, on which Governor Christine Gregoire is talking about the dramatic cuts that are going to be needed to deal with the state's $2.6 billion budget shortfall. Among the programs she says are on chopping block: Basic Health.
Host Steve Scher asked Gregoire [...]

Being a Vandal, I like to reduce the difference between the University of Idaho and Boise State University to a glib one-liner: they win football games, and we won the National Medal of Arts. But again, that’s glib, and does a disservice — we win football games too, [...]
Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance. Here's a heartbreaking video list of 2009's Trans deaths around the world.
Here are the International Transgender Day of Remembrance Day events planned today in Seattle, at the University of Washington:
“Die-In” rally (12:00-12:30) Red Square meet at noon by the obelisk [...]
The newly male Chaz Bono makes his debut on Good Morning America...
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[...]
Oprah Winfrey knows how to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. In the last 10 minutes of her show, Winfrey confirmed that she will be ending her syndicated "Oprah Winfrey Show" in September 2011. "After much prayer and months of careful thought, I thought that next" [...]
According to Publicola, Gov. Chris Gregoire told a Seattle audience last night that she would not accept an all-cuts budget in 2010… a 180-degree turnaround from her position heading into the difficult 2009 legislative session. What’s changed her mind?
Well, obviously, the $2.6 billion projected revenue shortfall is nearly impossible [...]
At least a hundred people have forwarded me a link to this story, suggesting it for Slog since it has so many hilarious details. A morbidly obese man in South Carolina who couldn't get out of the recliner in his living room, his wife of two years who cleaned' [...]
"It takes about a month to finish" said Coeur d'Alene Resort landscaper Chris Winter as he worked to string lights on a tree in front of the Coeur d'Alene Resort recently. The much anticipated Coeur d’Alene Holiday Light Show Opening Ceremony will be on Nov. 27, starting at 5:30 p.m., [...]
A crane removing an oak tree from the yard of Michelle and Kevin McCarthy is seen after it toppled into the house Monday afternoon in Santa Rosa, Calif. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Mark Aronoff, The Press Democrat)
[...]BBC reports:
Riot police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, pushed back a violent demonstration near the Algerian embassy in the early hours of Friday.
Egyptian protesters reportedly hurled firebombs at police protecting the embassy and overturned a police van.
Egypt's Interior Ministry said 35 people were injured.
The clashes stem from [...]
Item: Group recommends fewer Pap screenings: Report unconnected to recent mammogram advice/Shari Roan, L.A. Times
More Info: Only days after a federal panel scaled back on breast cancer screening recommendations for many women, another organization – the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – has done the same for a screening credited [...]
Item: BNSF depot in compliance: Commissioners agree to propose additional conditions for facility/Alecia Warren, Coeur d'Alene Press
More Info: Despite its rocky start, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe refueling depot in Huetter received a nod of approval from the Kootenai County commissioners on Thursday. Continuing the conditional five-year compliance hearing' [...]
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
[...]16 Killed, 23 Injured: A suicide bomber hit a busy city square in western Afghanistan.
No More Oprah: Oprah Winfrey will end her talk show after 25 years.
And Sadder Still: A man has been charged with raping and killing the five-year-old North Carolina girl. Her mother's still being [...]
On Wednesday the Metropolitan Democratic Club hosted a lunchtime panel that discussed bills now being considered by the Washington Legislature to decriminalize marijuana possession. House Bill 1177 and Senate Bill 5615 would reclassify possession of small amounts of marijuana from misdemeanor status to infractions more like driving [...]
Editor's note: Monte Enbysk, an experienced (but not elite) runner, was thrown off his Seattle Marathon training schedule by an injury last month. He's chronicling his comeback effort and — if he makes it — his race day for Crosscut. His previous installments are available here.
As I finish my [...]
In a November 6th interview, Sky News Australia’s David Speers spent about 35 minutes with the CEO of NewsCorp, Rupert [...]
