The AP wrote an interesting article about Pastor Robert Jeffrey and his two-year struggle to bring healthy, organic food to his Central District neighborhood, historically a low-income and predominantly African American neighborhood. While farmer's markets grow more popular in some Seattle neighborhoods, organizers say many low-income people stay away, for reasons that include perception, price, location and problems such as the inability to accept electronic food stamp cards. A farmer's market in a low-income area south of Seattle closed about two years ago. So Jeffrey came up with the idea to let the community grow the produce itself, which would create jobs and increase community involvement.

H&M finally opens this weekend at the Westfield Southcenter mall. There's been much hype about the retailer, but what hasn't been mentioned is that it's part of a much larger remodel. On Friday, Southcenter debuts 75 new stores, five new eateries, a movie theater and a three-story atrium with views of Mount Rainier. All the upgrades make it the largest indoor mall in Washington and Oregon. Wow.

So says the owner of Red Apple grocery stores in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He's talking about a proposed 20-cent fee for paper or plastic bags at grocery stores in Seattle, saying: "We are talking about putting a tax on people, and most of them don't know it's coming ... It is going to be a huge education process, and it is going to cause a lot of grief." But it would also provide some relief for our ecosystem. On Tuesday, a City Council committee passed the proposal, and on Monday it goes to the full council for vote. If enacted, it would go into effect Jan. 1, after a 90-day educational campaign. 15 cents from each bag sale would be used for waste prevention, recycling and other clean-up efforts. Sounds good to me. In addition to being hard to recycle, plastic bags occupy landfill space and are blamed for killing marine life.

The Mariners just announced plans to offer peanut-free seating zones for two home games this summer, where folks with peanut allergies can sit without fear of reactions. The two sections are located down the right field line in the upper seating area, and Mariners promise they'll be thoroughly cleaned before games. Signs will alert fans of the restrictions, and nearby concession stands will not carry peanut products. Apparently the Mariners are one of only a handful of Major League Baseball teams that offer this service. 150 tickets are available for each of the games, scheduled for August 5 and September 9.

Here's another addition to the dumb burglar list. Police were investigating a break-in at a Fred Meyer store in northeast Seattle two weeks ago. They followed a trail of stolen pillows and backpacks, which led them to two sleeping men, one snoozing in a stolen hammock, the other on a pile of stolen pillows. Police photographed the men before waking and arresting them. Both men were charged with second-degree burglary. Police say alcohol was a factor. (Via KING5.com)

It seems most people want to just move on after the whole Sonics saga. For those still interested in the team, a report by KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City says an unnamed source close to the former Seattle Sonics' ownership group claims the team will be called "Thunder." KOCO checked Internet domain names and discovered okcthunderbasketball.com and okcthunderbasketball.net were reserved on July 10. Considering Oklahoma City sits right in the heart of Tornado Alley, maybe a more appropriate name would be the "Tornadoes."

People looking to attend a funeral without having to attend a funeral should look into Tacoma's Gaffney Funeral Home. The funeral home recently has begun offering webcasting services where memorial services are recorded, broadcast and saved electronically. This feature is nice for out-of-town relatives who can't travel to attend a funeral service. "It can be viewed live or recorded, and viewed when friends and family wish to - sometimes over and over again," said Corey Gaffney. "The broadcast is password protected, so the service is as private as it originally was." (Via The Biz Buzz)

There's SoDo, Allentown and the ID. Now, Seattle neighborhood Beacon Hill is promoting their own catchy nickname: BeHi. Police cars are sporting "BeHi' bumper stickers in the south precinct and neighborhood students have been using the nickname at schools, reports the Times. The name is even used at local coffee shops. Not everyone is convinced of its cleverness though. "It just sounds so wrong," reads one post in an online discussion. "It just looks silly and sounds too much like 'beehive,'" another wrote. No one knows how BeHi got started, but there's much discussion on whether it's catchy or just too gimmicky. (Via Seattle Metblogs)

Ever since Starbucks announced last week the 600 locations they are closing, several cities have embarked on a mission to save their local Starbucks store. From small towns like Bloomfield, N.M. to big cities like New York, customers and city officials are writing letters, making calls and circulating petitions, reports The Wall Street Journal. Several "Save Our Starbucks" petitions online have even cropped up for stores in San Diego, Dallas and New York City, pleading with the company to change its mind. (Via Starbucks Gossip)

Canadian police have linked one of five feet that mysteriously washed ashore in British Columbia over the past year to a depressed man who disappeared a year ago, reports MSNBC.com. DNA testing helped to identify the man, say police. The man's identity has not been made public at the family's request. Police have reviewed almost 300 missing persons files and haven't been able to match any other DNA from the feet to any missing people.

Friday night means bike races at the Group Health Velodrome, located at Marymoor Park. And plenty of people turn out for the show. I recently spent some time out there for an article, and I had a ball. Marymoor is home to the only velodrome in the state - and there's a beer garden, too. Learn more here.

That's the question we're asking on a KING5.com poll this morning, in honor of "The Dark Knight" premiere. So far Michael Keaton is running neck-in-neck with Christian Bale (my personal favorite). But nobody seems to like George Clooney as Bruce Wayne.

Sounds a bit crazy, but quite possible says a Puyallup couple. Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat interviewed authors Ron and Pat Forman about their yet-to-be-published book on the legendary skyjacker who disappeared in the Northwest in 1971. Their book suggests D.B. Cooper spent 43 years as a man, then underwent a sex-change operation. The Formans said in the mid 1970s they met Barb Dayton, a UW librarian who was a weekend pilot and lived in West Seattle. She told tales of adventures: sky diving, gold mining, boar hunting in the Phillipines. Then in 1979, she told them she was D.B. Cooper, describing in detail how she jumped from the plane over Oregon and hid the ransom money at a farm. The Formans didn't know whether to believe her, but when she died in 2002, they started researching her life. Documents revealed the sex change operation and proved her stories true - all except D.B. Cooper, which only had circumstantial evidence. So far the FBI don't think she's Cooper, citing a height discrepency and mismatched DNA evidence. Still, it's an interesting story. (Via West Seattle Blog)

First Denny's, then Gordo's. Now Olsen's Scandinavian Foods, another Ballard institution, could close at the end of the month, says Ballard Gossip Girl. Sisters Reidun and Anita Endresen, who've owned the shop for the last 12 years, tells My Ballard they're struggling with rising food prices. So they plan to sell Olsen's to a friend. If the purchase goes through, the new owner will likely keep the traditional stock of Scandinavian foods and sundries. If the buyer can't secure a loan, then the sisters will put Olsen's up for sale.