Mr. Lucky's liquor license suspended

The state Liquor Control Board has issued an emergency suspension of the liquor license belonging to Mr. Lucky Lounge & Grill on First Avenue North, the scene of a triple shooting April 15. The suspension of up to 180 days went into effect at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Last Friday, Mayor Greg Nickels wrote a letter to board officials, asking them to take swift action against the Lower Queen Anne club.

According to a news release, the Liquor Control Board plans to "take action to permanently revoke the Mr. Lucky liquor license."

Cited as reasons for the suspension were "ongoing operational problems, liquor law violations and other issues relating to public safety." The Liquor Control Board determined that allowing the bar to continue operating "poses a public safety threat to the immediate community and to the city," given the frequency of disturbances requiring police to respond to the club in the past two years, the release says.

Attempts to reach the owner at the club Wednesday night were unsuccessful.

Des Moines

A 54-year-old man was found shot in a burning Des Moines home Wednesday morning. He died hours later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Des Moines police say relatives of the man called 911 around 9 a.m. to report the house was on fire, said Sgt. Bob Collins.

Firefighters did not say what caused the blaze in the 900 block of South 194th Street, Collins said.

Police are not saying whether they believe the shooting was a homicide or a suicide. The man's name wasn't released.

Nickels wants loan to aid renovations

Mayor Greg Nickels wants to use a federal grant and low-interest loan to help renovate the Alps Hotel and Hong Kong Building in the Chinatown/International District.

Both buildings are owned by the Koh family, who want to convert the Alps into 117 studio apartments with street-level commercial space, and transform the vacant Hong Kong into office and retail space, with six apartments. Nickels' proposal, announced Wednesday, would steer almost $4 million in federal assistance to the projects.

The City Council is expected to assess the public benefits and risks of the mayor's proposal in May or June. The city could be held liable in the event of default on the federal loan.

Washington, D.C.

McDermott asks court to hear appeal

Rep. Jim McDermott on Wednesday asked the full nine-member U.S. Court of Appeals to hear an appeal of a case involving an illegally taped telephone call that was leaked to reporters nearly a decade ago.

A three-judge Appeals Court panel ruled last month that McDermott, D-Seattle, violated federal law by turning over the tape recording of a 1996 call involving then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

The 2-1 opinion, by judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, upheld a lower court ruling that McDermott violated the rights of Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, who was heard on the 1996 call. Boehner was then a Gingrich lieutenant and is now House majority leader.

The appeals court ordered McDermott to pay Boehner about $700,000 for leaking the taped conversation — $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs.

In court papers filed Wednesday, McDermott said the case involved a crucial First Amendment issue.

McDermott called the March 28 ruling "both unsound in principle and unworkable in practice."

Seattle

Consultant to look at viaduct options

The Seattle City Council has agreed to hire a consultant to evaluate whether the Alaskan Way Viaduct could be replaced with a surface street.

Called an "initial scoping study," the analysis will cost $15,000 and will be completed in about six weeks.

The council will then decide whether to do a more extensive study of the plan being promoted by the People's Waterfront Coalition.

Seattle voters will be asked in November whether the viaduct should be replaced with a tunnel or another elevated structure, and some council members say a third choice, a surface option, should also be on the ballot.

The new study will examine whether city streets and an expanded transit system could replace the capacity now on the viaduct. About 110,000 cars drive on the viaduct each day.

The state Department of Transportation said the $2 billion allocated by the Legislature for viaduct replacement would be lost if the viaduct capacity can't be maintained.

Seattle

Schools official shuffles staff

Seattle Public Schools' new chief academic officer, Carla Santorno, reorganized the district's curriculum staff Wednesday, removing four administrators from her department and allowing a fifth to retire.

Santorno took over the academic side of Seattle Public Schools less than a month ago. She moved to Seattle from Denver, where she was an area superintendent for Denver Public Schools.

Santorno said she has turned to a team format to help address her top priority: closing the district's achievement gap among students of different races and ethnic groups.

Instead of education directors working individually with principals and teachers within geographic areas, the staff will be arranged into six teams that will tackle academic issues such as curriculum, family involvement and money.

As a result of the reorganization, the district will hire two elementary instructional directors, two secondary instructional directors and a person to lead the Curriculum, Instruction and Evaluation Unit.

Times staff and news services