The Seattle Times

SEATTLE -- Conscious Care Cooperative has a solid footing in a growing industry, with three storefronts in Seattle and a loyal customer base. But for much of the last two years, the nonprofit medical-marijuana provider has lacked one business basic: steady access to a bank.

The cooperative has bounced among five financial institutions, and four others rejected the cooperative outright, said CCC's president, Nate Chrysler. In one case, a bank closed the account without notice.

Last week's rankings in parentheses

1 Tigers (1) For Prince, best part of being on an Ilitch-owned team: unlimited crazy bread

2 Rangers (4) Which will come first, Yu-mania or Neftali-mania?

BEND, Ore. -- It was when the 20-something guest-of-honor in a beer-saturated bachelor party aboard the Cycle Pub mooned a passing limo that Bend really proved that, if anything, it's not boring.

If there's any doubt that this Central Oregon city of 81,000 has become the ultimate destination for combining outdoor recreation with beer tourism, the Cycle Pub should cinch it.

This common sight around downtown Bend combines the elements of a bicycle and -- yes -- a pub. Six bike seats, each with a set of pedals, face inward on each side of a bar counter. There's a big tire at each corner, a canopy overhead and a non-drinking driver. Bike meets beer.

Cycle Pub builder James Watts, a Bend local, saw a similar contraption in Germany two years ago, and "I just knew the minute I saw it, it was a perfect cultural match for Bend."

Pregnant with her first child, and with her husband in Iraq, Karilyn Bales took advantage of what seemed like a sure thing -- tapping into their home equity to help stabilize the family's finances.

But Bales and her husband, Robert, fell into the same refinancing trap in 2006 that dragged the U.S. economy into recession and left millions of Americans facing foreclosure.

SEATTLE -- Second-degree manslaughter charges have been filed against a mother and her boyfriend in connection with the accidental shooting of the woman's toddler at a Tacoma, Wash., gas station earlier this month.

By filing assault charges against the two adults he claims ultimately were responsible for last month's shooting at a Bremerton, Wash. elementary school, the county prosecutor acknowledges his office is making an unprecedented legal move in Washington state.

MONTESANO, Wash. -- Grays Harbor County sheriff's deputies are searching for a man who stabbed Superior Court Judge Dave Edwards and shot a sheriff's deputy at the county courthouse in Montesano, Wash., Friday afternoon.