On Wednesday, an alliance that includes Consumers Union and Ralph Nader's Consumer Project on Technology sent a letter to unlikely pal Senator Orrin Hatch, urging him to pass a "Bad Microsoft, no Biscuit" bill. The goal: to curb future predatory practices by the purveyor of PC programs. This comes just a week after kid-brother Intel (along with Netscape) invested in major Linux distributor Red Hat -- in its SEC report, Microsoft cited Linux as a major competitive threat. Dell has also started "officially" shipping Linux to corporate customers, and Compaq is likely to follow suit. In a Q&A session with the Red Herring, these were the exact three companies that Bill cited as his "partners." To add more irony to insult, IDG in New Zealand reported that the city of Medina had to switch to -- surprise! -- Linux to handle the flood of paperwork when Bill built his Eastside abode. Said house currently runs using 50 Windows NT servers, but maybe Bill could save some $$$ (for the about-to-expand DOJ case) by replacing them with a couple of Linux boxes. --Bi8fra

After the dust-up over the Pacific Place/Nordstrom parking garage and the Wright Runstad/PacMed rip-off, Mayor Paul Schell is worried that public-private partnerships are getting a bad name. So he and City Council President Sue Donaldson are forming a new entity: a panel to review public-private partnership deals. Staffed with his developer friends, no doubt. The selection process for the panel eerily mirrors the secretive deal-making behind the public-private partnership controversy. The city sent out invitations to real estate "experts," academics, bankers, journalists (how come we didn't get one?), and a few "neighborhood activists"--all very carefully screened, of course. The panel is supposed to start its work in November, when it will begin drafting guidelines for public-private partnerships; the guidelines should be finished by next May. At that time, it will likely become a permanent committee to advise the Mayor and City Council. But, as of Sept. 29, only two (so far, anonymous) people had agreed to join. To voice your opinion about this secretive and strange group--or to demand that you be included on the panel itself--call the Mayor's office at 206-684-4000.--Maria Tomchick

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the Walt Disney Co. et al. are working to weaken the GOP's "Child Online Protection Act," legislation which (supposedly) targets on-line pornography. This noxious act would prohibit commercial web sites (which are noxious in their own right) from displaying any material which some judge somewhere interprets to be "harmful to minors" (Articles from your favorite rag? Honest discussion of drugs or sex? Reproduction of the Ken Starr report? We can dream). Disney and the MPAA want to limit the bill to only target a company that harms minors "as its primary or principal course of trade or business." Goodbye Disneyland and Disney World. And what kind of side projects are out there that Disney's worried about? "Goofy goes to Greece"? "Hercules Discovers Poppers"? An animated "Lolita"? The mind boggles. --Bi8fra

KING 5 News showed its true colors again on Oct. 1. Its big leadin for the 11 o'clock news was the pending whale hunt in Neah Bay. When they finally got to the story (buried as the third one in the newscast), instead of exploring the issue and explaining why the hunt had yet to begin, it led with what really seems to matter to news organizations today. It was all about the merchants joy that the hunt had yet to begin, and their hopes that it would continue like this. Amid shots of other cameramen wolfing greasy food, quotes from the requisite cute, local waitress ("It's, um, just been really busy.") and the old, haggard motel owner ("27 people last night, usually it's just one."), a few facts got slipped in. There were no interviews with key players, no quote from the protestors "just offshore."

There certainly wasn't any insight on the issues or even any reasons given for the delay. When will the local media (KING 5 especially) realize that reporting the news does not mean maikng up collorary stories around the main issue? Stories that often have no interest or news value at all waste our time, and insult our intelligence. If the story is dead for the night and has been reported into the ground, they need to learn to give us a quick update and then use the time for more productive, meaningful newscasts. Those four minutes could certainly have been filled with a piece about one of the many initiatives on the ballot in November. Or a regular segment on the state of education/ government/race relations, in our city. Think of it: a newscast that takes the time to educate and enlighten its audience on the issues. There are plenty out there that need more coverage in the mainstream media. If they need any ideas, they could always pick up a copy of ETS! Maybe someone out there wants to buy them a subscription? --Charlie Redell

Two former employees of Martin Selig, the commercial real estate mogul, have started their own business: manufacturing anti-skateboard devices. Steve Mace and Russ Ford, who used to manage Selig's downtown properties, have found a way to keep skateboarders from eking enjoyment out of the acres of concrete and brick that cover downtown Seattle. SkateBlocks are simply three-inch, L-shaped metal studs that can be bolted to edges of curbs, planters, benches, and other abutments; the devices are designed to damage the undersides of skateboards and prevent boarders from doing stunts or slides. They sell for $22 to $36 each, and a handful of them are more expensive than, say, a really good crowbar. So far, the downtown Sheraton Hotel, the Skyline Tower, and University Village have all bought and installed them.--M.T.

Thirteen spots on the former Hanford Nuclear Reservation nuclear weapons production site have been contaminated, it was announced last week, by fruit flies, gnats, and ants. Nature, it seems, doesn't respect property boundaries, and scurries around with radioactive waste wherever it wants to go. As a result, 35 tons of trash must be taken from the Richland city landfill back to Hanford because it is contaminated with radiation. This form of nuclear proliferation has been an open secret in the Tri-Cities for decades: in the windswept desert, a little breeze and desiccated rabbit shit can do more than any terrorist to irradiate the Columbia Basin.

As new Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson meets for photo ops with the campaigning Sen. Patty Murray this week, one wonders when these politicians will pull their collective heads out of their asses and start dealing with the enormity of the problem that is nuclear contamination at Hanford. Murray, like virtually every other Washington state politician, has been all in favor of more production and waste, but has raised nary a whimper when the DoE has failed even to request from Congress the budget necessary to meet the very minimal benchmark standards legally required for cleanup. Cleanup at Hanford- -think of it as disaster prevention--has been a sick joke, endangering Hanford workers and today's environment even as it betrays thousands of future generations. Meanwhile, the politicians in charge of Hanford policy have the attention of, well, fruit flies and gnats.--Geov Parrish

Three years ago, the local FBI started looking for new office space in Seattle. Spread out among four separate locations downtown and constrained by "security considerations," they had a hard time finding an appropriate place to nest. But last week, the Puget Sound Business Journal proudly announced the FBI's upcoming move to the Northern Life Building on Third Avenue and Spring Street (activists and militia members take note!). The FBI is due to move in on floors 5 through 14 by the end of the year. Ross Boyert, chief operating officer for the company that owns the building, said that the FBI's move "is a positive event for Seattle. Its other alternative was out on a suburban campus with berms around it, and that doesn't send a warm and fuzzy signal." Evidently, I'm not the only person who has trouble picturing the FBI as a cute stuffed animal.--M.T.