First, congratulations is in order. Bravo to Seattle Times reporters Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong, who were awarded the 2012 Pulitzer in investigative reporting for their three-part series "Methadone and the politics of pain"; and an equally large bravo to Stranger associate editor Eli Sanders, who was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer in feature writing for his moving article, "The Bravest Woman in Seattle."
If you're looking for something to read after you're done with Midday Scan, you should move on to these Pulitzer-prize winning pieces. You won't regret it. Seattle Times staff has more on the prizes, including a list of other winners in media.
Congratulations aside — what the heck Pulitzer!? No fiction prize?
Unfortunately, the Pulitzer board could not come to a majority conclusion on which book to pick out of the three recommended by Pulitzer jurors — Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, and The Pale King, by the late David Foster Wallace. And while the board is also allowed to pick an alternate book, they appeared to have no such book in mind.
Salon senior writer Laura Miller — who details the selection process using her experience as a former juror — reaches a sad conclusion from this: maybe the Pulitzer board just isn't well read enough.
"By all accounts, the group could not reach a majority on any of the three titles recommended by the jury. It’s certainly unlikely that enough of them read fiction widely enough to agree on an alternate choice. In that, they truly are representative of American readers, and that bodes worse for our national literature than a year without a Pulitzer winner."
These days, to have a "news nose" is sometimes synonymous with having an innate ability to sniff out gaffes, and yesterday, news sources thought they'd caught a whiff of a big one. During Monday's King County Council meeting concerning the arena deal, Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer announced that Mayor Mike McGinn had told him he offered NBA saviour Chris Hansen KeyArena for free, according to Seattle Times reporter Bob Young. McGinn allegedly told Von Reichbauer this when they ran into each other at a baseball game.
Imagine the gaffe gold, then, that Komo News and Kiro TV thought they'd found when they ran their segments titled "Seattle offered up KeyArena site to arena investor for free" and "McGinn offered KeyArena to Chris Hansen for free," respectively. Nothing makes media as giddy as being able to take pot shots at politicians.
However, in an interview with Seattle Times, Mayoral spokesman Aaron Pickus clarified that while McGinn had tried to interest Hansen in a long-term lease of KeyArena, it wasn't for free. Shucks, Komo, you'll get 'im next time.
Good news for interns! The job market appears to be looking up for new graduates (and, hopefully, one-year-later graduates) as employers are saying they plan on hiring 10.2 percent more new college graduates than the year before. According to an article by Seattle Times business reporter Erin Flemming, manufacturing, nursing, IT, graphic design, and materials-science students are all having luck in job placement.
Sadly, for this intern anyways, the report does not mention employers eager to hire people who want to doodle letters and write snarky things for a living.
What is the color of dreams? Galaxy Gold of course, which harkens back to 1962, a time when Seattle dreamed of the future.
Today (perhaps even as you're reading this) the Space Needle is reverting to its original color in celebration of the World's Fair 50th anniversary. Seattlepi.com has a fun article about it, with some kitschy pictures.
More reading
Seattle Times, "Seattle Times methadone investigation wins Pulitzer Prize"
Salon, "Pulitzers snub fiction"
Seattle Times, "County Council hearing examines sports arena plan"
Komo News, "Seattle offered up KeyArena site to arena investor for free"
Kiro TV, "McGinn offered KeyArena to Chris Hansen for free"
Seattle Times, "Job prospects improving for Class of 2012"
Seattlepi.com, "Sorry, Prince Charles: The Space Needle is going orange again"
