The Weekly Alternative

News from Alternative Newspapers across Cascadia:

[The Georgia Straight]: Gordon McAdams wins the "Whistleblower of the Year Award" for calling out city planners, and subsequently being fired, concerning a road through Groham Narrows Provincial Park.

[Monday Magazine]: Although Victoria's needle exchange program has undeniably good intentions, neighborhood complaints have gotten the program, run by AIDS Vancouver Island, evicted from its buidling, leaving addicts without a safe needle supply.

[Cascadia Weekly]: Bellingham's efforts to court NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, got a large boost this week as U.S. Congressman Rick Larsen gave his endorsement to the city. NOAA, currently based in Seattle, announced plans to move locations earlier this year. Bellingham hopes to give it a new home on the old Geogria Pacific waterfront, handed over to the city and currently in the process of redevelopment.

[Boise Weekly]: The 6th Annual Bad Cartoon Contest has commenced and this year, the winner is, well, pretty bad. Sifting through Larry Craig antics along with a number of talking poop stories, Elijah Jensen was declared the winner. His cartoons generally revolve around teeth. Look for Jensen's cartoons for the next 52 weeks in the Boise Weekly.

[Pacific Northwest Inlander]: Not a whole lot of news going on in Spokane right now but the Inlander did produce an ALL LOCAL Christmas (sorry, holiday) shopping guide for the area. In other news, Mary Verner, the liberal (hybrid driving) mayoral candidate, was finally sworn into office. Way to be progressive Easties!

[Seattle Weekly]: In typical Seattle fashion, the Weekly ran a feature about the meatheaded idiocy of Pullman (which no doubt is true). Kyle Schott, a top football pick back in 2003, recently went to court for sexual assault charges against a Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority girl. Apparently, Schott was originally waiting, "to hear from the U Dub". I think WSU was a better fit.

[The Stranger]: No real news from The Stranger this week (except the typical rantings about development and racial discrimination in the city). Currently the paper's annual charity, Strangercrombie, is the talk of the town (or at least Capitol Hill) Hurry over to The Stranger Online to bid on some incredibly unique packages, including a personally picked cover done by the Presidents of the United States, or your very own spot on The Slog for a week! (if anyone wants to "lend" me $600 I'll happily talk up Cascadia to all the Strangerheads.)

[Vancouver Voice] What is with Cascadians and dirtying up their rivers? (see my previous post on The Duwamish) Sure, we've banned the major toxic troubles from The Columbia, like PCBs and DDT, but now even our personal hygiene products are killing The River's ecosystem. Apparently making those teeth reflectively white isn't exactly environmentally friendly.

[The Portland Mercury]: Another big 'ol auction, this time for Stumptowners. This year's proceeds will go to Sisters of the Roads, an organization dedicated to helping feed the homeless around Portland.

[Willamette Weekly]: 10 years after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol and it looks like not much has been accomplished. While 130 nations take part in more climate talks this week, in Bali, WW wonders why the hell nothing is really happening.

[Eugene Weekly]: Also bitching about global warming, Eugene is criticizing a little more locally. Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy recently cast the deciding vote for a $500 million dollar regional freeway expansion project. While Piercy signed on to Seattle Mayor Nickels' US Mayoral Climate Action Plan, many see this as a huge step backwards. Of course, Seattle itself is having quite a few road disputes of its own these days.