Sunday Telegraph Room

... Locally, absolutely nothing newsworthy has happened so far this weekend. Life is so slow around here that Pacific Northwest magazine in the Times did a cover story about blue tarps. ...

... The Times also tells a story of a Nisqually farmer and the Mexican immigrant he hired on as a field hand. They became good friends and partners over the years—so that now the former field hand has taken over the operation from the retired farmer. ...

... This is beyond ironic. The News Tribune reports that the state Department of Health is going to issue a warning about eating salmon, but it will be directed only toward fishermen who catch hatchery-raised blackmouth chinook, which the state Department of Wildlife keeps penned up longer to inhibit the migration instinct—so they stay around so fishermen can catch them. But since the fish spend all their time in inland waters, they're contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). ...

... The New York Times has a story about how municipalities are spending a lot of money for lobbying in D.C. to get "earmark" federal dollars, and on this chart you can view Washington's list of spending by city. There's no time frame for this, but Tukwila leads with $841,000, with Seattle not far behind with $780,000. Anyone heard of Forest City? I think that one's a mistake—there's a company called Forest City Washington, a subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises. Oh, and Kaktovic, that's in Alaska. Oops, one more: St. Croix Falls. That belongs on the Wisconsin list. ...