Where Priorities Meet Pavement: Meet the $10 billion state transportation package that would gradually raise the gasoline tax to 47.5 cents a gallon over the next five years. Incidentally, the freeway funding package includes a bicycle tax that Washington State representative Judy Clibborn says, "was my idea." But when asked if she supports that bicycle tax she repeated: "I don't. I don't."

Freedom of Speech for Wasteful, Virtually Useless Phone Books Prevails! The city of Seattle will pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit brought against the city by three major yellow-page companies over our progressive phone book opt-out system, after the 9th Circuit court ruled that the thick commercial books are protected by the First Amendment.

Des Moines Police Will Pay $51,000 for Shooting Loose Pet: "After the dog was shot once, one of the officers is heard shouting 'Nice!'”

Good Samaritan: An observant driver rescues two little girls, ages two and four, from the roadside crash that killed their mother.

Bad Samaritan: An Everett pastor allegedly tried to pay for sex with a teenage girl, authorities say.

Fucking Monsters: Three young Indian sisters—aged six, nine, and 11—were raped, murdered, and thrown into a well last week. As if that isn't horrific enough:

Villagers in Maharashtra state protested that police had failed to act after the girls' grandfather reported them missing last week. When officers found the three girls' bodies on Saturday, with their school bags and shoes in a well near Murmadi, two miles from their home in Lakhni village, they initially recorded their deaths as accidental.

At Least 42 Dead in Damascus: After a car bomb exploded near the ruling Baath Party headquarters.

Pistorius Investigator Charged with Murder: "The South African detective leading the Oscar Pistorius inquiry is facing seven charges of attempted murder, police have confirmed," reports the BBC. It's unclear if Detective Hilton Botha will continue working on the Pistorius case.

They're All but Growing Mold in Their Vaginas! Meet the educated "leftover women" of China who are socially censured for still being single in their late 20s.

A Million Fish in the Sea: Study finds that about one-third of fish for sale in grocery stores and restaurants is mislabeled. Here in Seattle, the rates were lower—roughly one in five samples was mislabeled.

Print Your Own Ear: The technology may be only five years away, says a scientist who's been busy printing his daughters' ears and implanting them on the backs of rats.