The area near 10th Ave E and Roanoke Park was locked down for more than an hour Sunday night as investigators worked to determine whether a suspicious item left near Fire Station 22 was a bomb. The area was also closed around 8:30 PM according to police radio chatter. The same area was also closed on New Year's Eve when somebody reported a suspicious item on board a Metro bus. That threat turned out to be harmless. Tonight's item turned out to be luggage -- you can see the trouble-causing suitcase being handed over to the Seattle Fire Department Operations Deputy in the picture below.

The streets around the firehouse and the I-5 and 520 overpasses were reopened by 10 PM.

No word yet on who reported the item and its exact location or if Metro was again involved. Thanks to Jonah at SeattleCrime.com for the tip.

View video at C-SPAN.org

The House of Representatives tonight passed a massive overhaul of the nation's healthcare system. Here's a link to C-SPAN's coverage of our 7th District Representative Jim McDermott's speech from the floor of the House tonight:

Mr. Speaker, there are times in history that action is demanded. In 1935 we needed social security and unemployment insurance. The Democrats answered. In 1965 we needed healthcare for senior citizens. The Democrats answered. In 2010 the country needs healthcare reform, and the Democrats will answer tonight....

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Healthcare reform has just passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a three vote margin, leaving only President Obama's signature before it becomes law.

Here's the speech given on the floor by our representative, Congressman McDermott, a few hours ago:

Mr. Speaker, there are times in history that action is demanded. In 1935 we needed social security and unemployment insurance. The Democrats answered. In 1965 we needed healthcare for senior citizens. The Democrats answered. In 2010 the country needs healthcare reform, and the Democrats will answer tonight.

It was never in doubt. Business wanted a change. The medical profession wanted a change, and labor wanted a change. And the Republicans brought an economic collapse to make it clear to everybody that we all are in danger if we don't change the healthcare system in this country.

Update: And now the Reconciliation Bill has passed too. The next step is for Obama to sign the original legislation, and then for the Senate to take up and pass the reconciliation...

They're down to the last few hours at the Eastlake Red Robin, the chain's original location. The restaurant closes tonight for the last time.

Staff at the restaurant at Eastlake E. and Fuhrman E. say that after several very busy weeks since the closure was announced, it's been quieter today. I was there around 4:45 p.m. and you wouldn't have had a problem getting a table.

That situation may not hold as the closing at 10 p.m. gets closer tonight. One staff member said people have been calling, asking about getting in for one last meal.

The staff will get together one last time after they close up tonight and go out to mark the event. Many of them will be transferred to other Red Robins in the area.

Anne Marie Kriedler, the building's owner, said yesterday that she's negotiating with a new operator to take over the space and possibly run it as a sports bar. No deal has been signed, however.

The Red Robin has occupied the builiding, which was built in 1916, since 1969. Red Robin said the building needed a big...

Marjorie Nelson (Mike Siegel/Seattle Times photo)

The Life Celebration for Marjorie Nelson will be Monday starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Seattle Rep's Leo K Theatre at Seattle Center.

Nelson, a long time Eastlake resident, actress and activist, died Feb. 12 at her home on Franklin Avenue. Nelson played on stages all across the U.S. and was one of the founding members of the Seattle Rep in 1963. She and her first husband, actor Howard da Silva, were blacklisted during the Communist witch hunts of the 1950s.

She was the widow of noted Seattle architect Victor Steinbrueck.

Nelson's daughters, Judith and Rachel, have been collecting stories, photos and video for the Life Celebration. It's probably not to late to send them your memories. You can call Judith at 206-524-6699 or email them at marjorienelsonactor@gmail.com. 

Out in the suburbs, housing association rules would probably prevent something like this from happening. I'm glad we live in a neighborhood where people put interesting works of art along the sidewalk.

The Union Triangle is the kind of place where things happen that straddle the lines between what is true, what is hoax and what travels back and forth between the two and couldn't give a shit. Is Pony for real? How about Barista Boyz and their go-go boy baristas? Maybe the Maserati dealership across the street is in on the game, too.

Add to the list this weekend's Twitter-fueled reports of the Cobra Lounge -- a new hookah club that is supposedly springing to life somewhere near 11th Ave and Madison....

Here's where it all begins. If by "it all," you mean FoPo.

On this deliciously rainy Sunday, I've decided to pull back the FosterPowellPDX.com curtain and bring readers into the editorial process. I am a busy, busy lady, so I don't always get to write all of the stories that I want to.  I'm providing the list below both to tell you all what's coming up and to (fingers crossed) find some help writing stories.  So, let me know your thoughts. Here's the list of stories I'd like to write. Most of these were culled from the terms visitors are searching for.

1) Grandma's Funky Furniture

2) Foster Burger

3) Bob White Theater (I think Jeremy has this one covered, which is awesome, because it's the term visitors search for most often.)

4) Steakadelphia

6) Yoga classes in the neighborhood (this could be a simple listing or a review of a certain class.)

7) Powell Butte-- how the heck do you get up there? I can't figure it out, and I'm not alone. If you know, please enlighten us.  Visitors are specifically looking...

Dear Neighbor,

Seattle Parks and Recreation will be hosting a Community Open House on Wednesday, April 7 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The purpose of this gathering is to give neighbors an opportunity to meet Parks and Recreation Superintendent Tim Gallagher and other staff members to find out about the programs we provide to your community

This letter is a personal invitation for you to attend. The open house will give you and your neighbors an opportunity to meet staff members from Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, Meadowbrook Community Center, Meadowbrook Teen Life Center, some members of the Parks Board, and me to talk about how effectively Seattle Parks and Recreation is meeting the needs of the Lake City Community. You will have the opportunity to:
• Meet the staff who serve the Lake City Neighborhood;
• Have  personal conversations with these staff about what is working and what can be improved; and
• Talk with Tim Gallagher about your ideas for building community relationships, and how our programs...

Barista Boyz off Broadway -- which replaced the old Buzz Stop back in January at 1122 E. Madison -- had their grand opening on Saturday. I took a stroll down the hill to pay a visit after my partner called and said, "You have to get down here, the Boyz are shirtless!"...

We're not sure any of the proposals before the City Council to curb aggressive panhandling were designed for a situation like this. A man who says he was attacked in the Dick's Drive-In parking lot by a panhandler who had asked him for $5 ended up with a 3-inch laceration on his abdomen but was able to drive away, according to a Seattle Police Department report.

According to the report, the man pulled into Dick's parking lot late last Sunday afternoon and walked down the street to use a nearby ATM. On his way back to his car, the man said another man approached him and started asking him for a handout and trying to block his path. The man said, "I don't got nothing for you," he told police.

As the man pushed by and opened his car door, he said he heard what sounded like the click of a folding knife opening. "I'll take all your money then," the man told police he heard the panhandler say. According to the report, the man told police the suspect then attacked him and tried to stab him 5-6 times with the...

Editor’s note: we are in the process of signing up Northwest Bud Man to review the Washington State medical marijuana scene for us. Here is his first review – of Emerald Cross.

Bud Man is working overtime to create a “green job” for himself in the exploding industry here in Washington.

In the meantime, he is an “avid Seattle-area MMJ shopper” and would like to share his thoughts with fellow patients.

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Northwest Bud Man will free the plant and help end prohibition!

My first patient network review is for Emerald Cross in Seattle. For legal reasons, we don’t call pot stores “dispensaries” in Washington.

Emerald Cross has a very diverse supply of cannabis-infused foods and candies. They also had tinctures, sprays, and a bubble bath. Their #1 medicinal strain: Heaven's Scent.

These guys have the strictest orientation policy I have encountered. After faxing them your recommendation, they will verify and contact you to set up the one hour newbie mandatory introduction...

Seattle Public Schools announced the following honors for Garfield High School:

Garfield graduate Aaron Shimeles has been appointed to the Department of Education's 18-member National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. Shimeles was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the new national committee on higher education accreditation issues. Shimeles underwent a competitive application and interview process prior to his appointment to the committee. Aaron is attending Occidental College, where he was able to gain entry with the assistance of College Access Now, the first generation college entrance program launched at Garfield and now at Franklin and West Seattle High Schools....

This is it: your last chance to dine at the original Red Robin on Eastlake Ave. The chain's first restaurant, located at Eastlake and Fuhrman, is closing on Sunday.

Red Robin is closing their Eastlake outlet because the building is old (it was built in 1916) and would require too much investment to make it meet the company's needs. The lease on the building is up on April.

General Manager Jessi Klein says it will be business as usual on Sunday, but it hasn't exactly been business as usual since the closure was announced.

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Lost Parrot - liquidnight

There is a lot going on in this Craigslist Seattle Pets posting that also qualifies for the Missed Connections section. An animal lover, a parrot, Capitol Hill, the '60s:

This is a very very long shot. But I worked at Jack's Aquiary that then became Ridlow's Pet Store on Capitol Hill from 1965-1968. There was a beautiful Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot there for sale named (of course) Polly.

She had belonged to an elderly lady who had to give her up. I loved her dearly and wanted to buy her but I didn't have the money. She was sold and I was heartbroken. I have never stopped thinking about her....

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[Full Disclosure: Josh is an officer on the Capitol Hill Community Council]

Seattle Trolley Bus. Originially uploaded by Jason Rodriguez

Thursday night was the monthly general meeting (3rd Thursdays, 7pm @ Cal Anderson Shelterhouse) for the Capitol Hill Community Council. With three major topics and a packed house, there was a lot covered and discussed in the two hour meeting.

As always, the meeting started with open floor, a time for any community member to make an announcement or voice their opinion. Five comments were made:

• Friends of the Volunteer Park Conservatory asked for support on their Opportunity Fund proposal to rehabilitate the Conservatory's East Greenhouse.
...

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Only one QFC employee's opinion, but this SeattleCrime brief on yet another QFC shoplifter caught in the act seems to put words to the anecdotal evidence we've seen that the store gets more than its fair share of freeloaders:

"QFC has been victim of more frequent shoplifts as of late," the QFC employee later told officers, adding that "shoplift suspects are becoming more bold."

One possible quibble in the 'more frequent' choice of language, though. Can't recall a time when we didn't see QFC shoplifters in the SPD reports. Here's a search on past CHS posts including the terms QFC + shoplift.

The story speaks for itself.  Ted Howard has been doing a fantastic job of leading Garfield High School and deserves the award for outstanding principal.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011353728_p

Ted Howard II, principal at Garfield High, is this year's winner of the Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence, given to a Seattle secondary school principal for outstanding leadership.

...

Howard has been Garfield's principal for six years, and is a Garfield graduate. Since he arrived in the fall of 2004, the achievement of black and Latino students has risen in reading, math and writing. In reading, for example, the passage rate for black students on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning has gone from 52 percent to 80 percent.

I'm working on a story about the gray areas surrounding the "fake pot" you can buy at legalbuds.com and other sites.

Still having a hard time grasping why anyone would spend money for the "Legal Buds" promoted by
GLE, Inc. of New Jersey. I know it is used on movie sets when smoking the real shit is inappropriate and or illegal at a given location. I know that any teenager dumb enough to get ripped off with this stuff will be smart enough to only get ripped off once. More on April 14.

In the meantime, Blunt Magic Flavored Rolling Spray caught my eye - this product must be a prank, right? Who in their right mind would desecrate such a perfect thing as the female bud of a cannabis plant by spraying it with anything, let alone an unregulated, untested blueberry or grape scented substance full of mystery ingredients?

1) If you must smoke marijuana, use a vaporizer. I note that among GLE Inc.'s many sites is vaporizergiant.com and that they throw in some fake pot with vaporizer purchases.

2) Do not ever add anything...

I'm totally stoked. The vision of a library is floating in my mind like sugar plums are supposed to do. This time it's a tool library--the new SE Portland Tool Library!  For those of you who haven't discovered the joy of tool libraries, they're like a regular library... only for tools. You can check out the saws, hammers, ladders, tile cutters, etc. that you want to use, but not buy. Oh, and it's all FREE. North Portland has long sustained a lovely tool library, but (not surprisingly) they don't let outsiders come in and rent their stuff. Well, now SE has a tool library of its own, thanks to SE Uplift: the SE Portland Tool Library, or SEPTL for short. (I hope we pronounce it Seep-tul (which sounds like Eva or Wall-e), not Sep-tul (which sounds like septic.) And tomorrow they're having an event--the perfect chance to get acquainted with this new SE resource. Here's the 411, directly from the SEPTL News Site:

Our first big Event - March 20th between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm!

Come check out the fledgling Southeast...

We already reported on one good reason to get your census survey response in the mail -- here's another. Organizers of Saturday's All OUT for the COUNT event say they are planning to fill Pike/Pine with fun and promotions to reward you for doing your part to be counted. We can't find a list of participating businesses but we saw the posters in a few windows around the neighborhood on Friday. If you know anybody behind the event, tell 'em to let CHS know what's up so we can spread the word -- we didn't even see anything (unless we missed it!) on our usual go-to for Seattle's LGBT events SeattleGayScene. We'll check in with the GSBA and Cap Hill Chamber of Commerce to see if we can find out more before Saturday night.

UPDATE:
It took a little doing, but we talked with the folks from the US Census who are behind tonight's event and finally have a roster of all participating businesses. Check out the attached map or the deal list below.

Here's more on the event and why this year's count is so important for...

An 81 year old Florida man is in trouble for marijuana-related activities. During the Summer of Love alleged drug dealer and firearms enthusiast Carlton Griggs would have been a robust 39 years old.

There has been a plague of "fogie toker" stories lately around the mainstream media. Throw a bunch of firearms into this one and a great mugshot and you have an instant "fogie toker" classic for this popular new genre.

re:

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Police: 81-year-old had pounds of pot, a gun under pillow

"Officials found a total of 10 guns.

They then found a trap door in a laundry room that led to a cellar. There they found marijuana in a cooler."

http://www.ocala.com/article/20100319/ARTICLES/3191006

By Austin L. Miller Staff writer

Spring is definitely in the air, but the economic picture for many is not so rosy.  According to Hunger in Idaho 2010, a landmark study released by the Idaho Foodbank this month, 34% of Idahoans choose between paying their rent or mortgage and paying for food.  Blaine County is no exception.  As with the rest of Idaho, and the rest of the nation, many are facing critical decisions on a daily basis.  Do you buy groceries or pay the electric bill?  Which is more important, the car payment or the health insurance?  Difficult choices for difficult times. 

Considering this, who has anything leftover to donate?  This is the serious dilemma facing The Hunger Coalition today.  Numbers are steady and the demand for help is constant, but donations are down.  They are in need of food and cash donations to keep their operation running.  Owing to partnerships with statewide agencies, The Hunger Coalition can leverage their purchasing power. 

Every $10 cash donation...

Urban farming has been growing in popularity of late.  Four scores from now, historians may identify the apex of this trend as the year 2010.  I first became aware of the possibility of urban farming after reading Novella Carpenter's Farm City.  Now, we have Cherry Hill Urban Farm and Alleycat Acres bringing chickens and farming to Capitol Hill and bordering neighborhoods.  Another parallel trend that may hit its stride in 2010 has been restaurants sourcing their produce and herbs from their own gardens.  The originator and most notable practitioner of this trend in the Seattle area has been The Herbfarm.   More recently, Tamara Murphy's conception of Terra Plata for the Melrose Development (now facing a cloudy future) had included a rooftop garden. 

At the convergence of these trends lies Volunteer Park Cafe. Last week, they secured a free chicken coop (where else but) through Craigslist.   We asked them about their plans for the chicken coop, and here is what Kristen...

Seattle Police arrested a man this afternoon after an alert neighbor reported seeing the man breaking into a home in the 900 block of 19th Ave E.

Multiple patrol cars and officers descended on 19th Ave just before 2 PM after a man working on the building he owns next door called 911 to report the break-in at the neighboring home. The neighbor told CHS he watched the person who was arrested tap lightly on the door of the home to determine if anybody was inside before breaking in. Another witness reported seeing the man driving in the alley behind the home prior to the break-in.

At the home, officers were collecting evidence from the suspect and rounding up property collected at the scene to try to determine if it belonged to the homeowners or was taken from another burglary.

Earlier this week, we reported on residential burglary trends as part of our monthly look at Capitol Hill's crime hotspots. There were no reports of residential burglaries in this part of the Hill in February.