Some news making headlines in nearby neighborhoods:

• Hazel Heights P-Patch opens in Fremont on Sunday
• Dim sum coming to Wallingford
• Campaign aims to keep Ballard friendly
• Interbay P-Patch opens food bank garden
• Maple Leaf’s Waldo Woods preserved

The Seattle Times reports that an animal rights organization, In Defense of Animals (IDA), has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, claiming that Woodland Park Zoo’s elephant breeding program violates the federal Animal Welfare Act.

The complaint, filed Wednesday, comes after the zoo announced it had artificially inseminated its elephant Chai.

“It is grossly irresponsible for the Woodland Park Zoo to continue breeding elephants, knowing that any infant born there faces a high risk of disease and death,” said Catherine Doyle, IDA campaign director, in a release. “IDA is calling on the USDA to stop the reckless breeding of elephants in herpes-affected zoos.”

Read reporter Susan Gilmore’s full article here.

The Green Bean Coffeehouse, which has been sharing space with Greenwood Sip & Ship for the last few months since its former building was burned down by an arsonist, will soon move into the old McDonald’s building.

The building, on Greenwood Avenue and about North 86th Street, has been empty for several years and many people have complained about it being an eyesore, with frequent graffiti markings. The lot will someday be developed by Greenwood Shopping Center Inc., the same folks who built the new Piper Village mixed-use development and who own the land under Fred Meyer. In the meantime, the property developers had hoped someone would lease the building for a few years.

You can read all about it in Sanctuary Church’s newsletter. The church owns the Green Bean.

If you were walking or driving down Phinney Avenue at North 62nd Street this morning, you may have noticed that the street sign in front of Sully’s Snowgoose Saloon has been changed.

I called Sully’s this morning and spoke to Owner/Proprietor Timothy Patrick Sullivan (“Sully”), who said he had no idea who changed the sign.

“Must have been some prankster,” Sully said. “It was probably a leprechaun.”

Thanks to Marina for the tip and photo!

Several PhinneyWood readers report that a large tree limb is down at 57th Avenue and Palatine Avenue, just a couple blocks west of the Woodland Park Zoo.

Police have crime scene tape up to block off the area. The limb appears to have landed right next to a vehicle. And yes, there were television choppers overhead.

Thank you, James, for the photos. Thanks to Alex and Jeff and everyone else for the tips!

Shelley wrote this morning that there was a loud boom at Third Avenue Northwest and NW 89th Street about 1:40 a.m. This morning she and neighbors noticed a fine white coating of dust on their house and vehicles.

I did a little exploration and the dust seems to have settled primarily in the five or six houses surrounding ours. It blew off my car easily as I drove and seems to be a fine clay or similar. Can’t imagine what that sound was but it woke up my baby and was definitely at least a few houses away.

SeattlePI.com has a great article today about the changing nature of journalism, especially the explosion of hyperlocal news websites such as ours.

In the old days of print journalism, people got all their basic news from their local newspaper and maybe a national paper such as the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. But, in the last few years, everything has changed as newspapers go out of business (the P.I.’s presses fell silent one year ago tomorrow) and media companies consolidate and try to figure out how to do more with less.

In today’s article, Journalist/Blogger Monica Guzman interviewed the owners behind a number of Seattle-area sites, such as West Seattle Blog (which can be credited with creating the whole hyperlocal phenomenon), Techflash, Neighborlogs, Next Door Media (which owns PhinneyWood, MyBallard, etc.), PubliCola, InvestigateWest and Crosscut.

If you’re at all interested in where your news comes from, check it out.

Given the growth in PhinneyWood’s readership and the increase in the number of commenters, we want to point out the rules of the road here on the site.

We believe in vigorous debate, with a few ground rules for Comments and the Forum.

1. Do not use obscene or offensive language. You may not post or link to any material that could be considered obscene, indecent, lewd, pornographic, violent, abusive, insulting, threatening, harassing or in violation of the law.

2. Tell the truth. You may not post or link to any material that could be considered libelous, defamatory or false.

3. Respect the privacy of others. Do not harvest or otherwise collect names, email addresses or other identifying information from other participants. Do not post anyone’s personal information.

4. Do not steal. Post only those materials for which you have copyright. You may not post material that infringes the rights of others including copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, personal or other proprietary rights.

5. Don’t misrepresent yourself as someone else.

Thanks to all our readers and please keep sharing your comments.

Boy Scouts will be out in a number of Seattle neighborhoods, including ours, this Saturday to collect food donations for the Food Lifeline Food Bank. A group of Scouts will be at the QFC on Holman Road, accepting donations from grocery shoppers.

Thousands of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are visiting neighborhoods…in one of the largest food collection campaigns ever mounted by troops in the Puget Sound area.

Record numbers of people are visiting local food banks in the wake of news that Washington state’s unemployment rate rose to 9.3 percent in January. 373,000 children living in Washington state households struggle to put food on the table, according to Children’s Alliance and USDA reports. To meet the increased food shortage locally, the Chief Seattle Council is teaming up with the Pacific Harbors Council of Boy Scouts of America making this the largest food collection campaign ever done by them. The two councils represent up to nearly 46,000 Scouting youth participation.

PNA Kids! is now signing up children for its summer programs, including the second year of its preschool summer camps.

After the success of its first year, PNA Kids! will once again be offering Preschool Summer Camp at its Whittier site from July 6th – August 27th. The preschool staff has pulled together a great summer curriculum that includes engaging activities and fun for all preschoolers ages 3 – 5. “A Green Thumb” and “Kids in the Kitchen” are just two of the weekly themes this year. For kids 5 – 12, our Summer Safari is the way to go with two locations at the Phinney Center and Whittier Elementary. Daily field trips and themes such as “Travels in Time” and “Go! Go! Go! In the H2O” will keep the kids entertained. Check it out online or come by the Phinney Center and pick up a brochure.

The Phinney Neighborhood Association’s Greenwood Senior Center is tackling the issue of “aging in place” through the “Village” concept.

“Villages” are membership-driven organizations that coordinate access to affordable services including transportation, health and wellness programs, home repairs, social and educational activities, and other day-to-day needs enabling individuals to remain active, independent and civically connected to their communities throughout the aging process. They are community based organizations that address the rapidly growing demand among elderly to remain socially connected and fulfill their needs related to aging in a setting of their choice.

If you’re interested in how this could work for Greenwood/Phinney, you may want to attend a PNA Village Leadership Visioning Meeting from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. this Saturday.

We need your participation and input, coming from your personal experiences, your creativity and your diverse interest to help outline the process to develop the structure and the concept of our unique Village. This will be an interactive opportunity to participate in the beginning conversation of how you want the Village to look and to be. By coming to this meeting you will directly have a hand in a program that will help to ensure your health and well-being long into your life.

If you are interested in participating in this visioning process, please RSVP to Marianne Rupp at Marianne@greenwoodseniorcenter.org, 206-297-0875, by March 15th.The Greenwood Senior Center is located at 525 N. 85th Street in Greenwood.

The first Village was created several years ago in a Boston neighborhood.

Dozens of protestors walked Greenwood Avenue Saturday afternoon for the annual Pluto is a Planet protest. The rally started at Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., went down Greenwood Avenue several blocks, then crossed over and back down to Neptune Coffee.

We weren’t able to make it, but Examiner.com has a nice write-up with a slideshow of pictures. My favorite picture is number eight, with the kid holding the sign reading, “Pluto is more of a planet than Uranus will ever be!”