Stalking Kurt Vonnegut, and so on: In 1973, on road trip to see Nixon's America, Mossback decided to seek out the country's greatest living writer. And he found him. Hi ho.

How dense can they be? Many Seattle enviros are tied to a political machine and a brand of urbanism that is helping to make the city unaffordable, less diverse, and more elitist. And as cheerleaders of density, they often ignore the downsides of regional role models like Vancouver, Portland, and San Francisco.

The Democrats try to restrain themselves for the sake of the kittens: Frustrating for some, Speaker Frank Chopp's moderate agenda is designed to leave no one vulnerable when election time rolls around.

Seattle will remain a two-newspaper town for at least 10 more years: The day of arbitration, Hearst and the Seattle Times Co. announce a deal to keep the printed Seattle Post-Intelligencer alive.

Drunken Seattle: There's plenty to do in the Emerald City while intoxicated.

Reporting live from the protest march: Journalists, demonstrators – everyone's got a role to play, and they always play it.

For Columbia River windsurfers, a massive new sandbar to contend with: Hood River, Ore., is making adjustments after last winter's storm deposit.

An illuminating Light: Intiman's Seattle-born Light in the Piazza comes back to town in a savvy and enchanting production at the Paramount.

Viaduct redux: King Couny Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels decide to work together, and the shape of a grand compromise begins to appear.

Washington House members answer to a higher authority: the piggy-bank cop: Meet Speaker Pro-Tem John Lovick, former state trooper.

What killed Kate Fleming? Engineers say an unprecedented rainfall and a failed retaining wall are the main culprits in the tragic drowning of a Madison Valley woman during the 2006 Hanukkah Eve storm.

Bookish Oregon's got a big library problem with roots in federal timber money: Funding to mitigate the economic effects of spotted-owl protection has expired. The congressional delegation is rallying, and so are rural voters.