Officers responded to a call that a person had been shot outside a nightclub on the 1200 block of Westlake Ave N. at approximately 1:35 this morning. Police found no indication that someone had actually been shot when they arrived on the scene.

According to club security, there had been a fight inside and those involved had been removed from the premesis. Reportedly the fight continued outside the club, where one participant used a handgun to club another in the head. It was reported that at this time the gun discharged into the air, and the participants left the scene in separate vehicles.

Officers found a shell casing at the scene which was submitted into evidence. So far nothing else is known about the incident.

Several Queen Anne bars are helping a former UW basketball player in her fight against ALS.  Melissa Erickson was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 2006.  She first noticed symptoms back in 2004 while playing professional basketball overseas.

On Saturday, August 29, Ring Around the Needle will raise money for the Melissa Erickson Foundation to help her pay for medical costs.  Tickets for the pub crawl are $35 if you buy in advance and $45 the day of the event.  You get a drink ticket for a beer at each of 8 participating bars, a T-shirt and merchandise coupons.  The group hopes to raise $15,000. 

Registration begins at 11:30am at Jabu’s Pub with the official “crawl-off” at 1pm.  From there, crawlers will be divided into groups and start at different points (so as not to swarm each bar) before making their way to Bandit’s, Buckley’s, Floyd’s Place, Hula Hula, Jalisco’s, Ozzie’s and T.S. McHugh’s.

The Seattle Storm are also offering $15 tickets (normally $34) to anyone attending the pub crawl to watch them take on the Atlanta Dream that night.  20 percent of all ticket sales sold to Ring Around the Needle participants will be donated to the Melissa Erickson Foundation.

If you can’t make the event, donations are welcome via Melissa’s web site.  You can also get updates on her progress there.

This Thursday, August 27, Seattle-based Brown Bear will be offering free cars washes all day (from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) as part of their 52nd Anniversary promotion.

Brown Bear has been a family-owned company in the Puget Sound area since 1957, when they opened their first location on 15th Ave West.

The nearest location to get your “Bear Essential” car wash will be 1800 15th Ave W, right on the west side of the Hill. For a list of all participating locations, click here.

For the past four weeks, MTV crews have been spotted at various clubs and bars around town shooting episodes for its scripted reality show “$5 Cover”.  Today was Queen Anne’s turn to be featured.

The series follows a cast of up-and-coming musicians “as they fight for love, inspiration, and money to pay the rent”.  On Sunday afternoon, crews shot a live performance by The Moondoggies at Easy Street Records.

Seattle native Lynn Shelton is directing the second season, which will center around 12 Seattle bands.  Crews have one more week of shooting, at locations in the U District and Capitol Hill.  The bands still to be featured are The Spits, The Lights, Correspondence, and Champagne Champagne.  Rumor has it they’re still looking for extras but don’t just show up.  Click here for more info on how to apply for a spot.  No word yet on when Season 2 will begin.

Crews began repairs on the Aurora Bridge at around 5 p.m. today, restricting traffic to one lane in each direction until midnight.

Repairs will also take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Traffic will be down to two lanes in each direction during those times for the rest of the week.

For more information, click here.

MagnoliaVoice reported this morning that last night a couple returned home to find burglars in their Magnolia home. According to the police report, officers responded to the burglary call at approximately 7:40 p.m. yesterday, Friday, August 21, at the 1500 block of Thorndyke Ave W.

The couple had entered their home a few minutes earlier through the garage door, when they heard another door slam and saw someone running inside the house. The victims’ next-door neighbor saw the suspects and provided a description. They were described as two white males traveling apparently on foot.

Several items were stolen from the victims’ home. For the full police report, click here.

Last night at approximately 9 p.m. officers responded to a call at 9th W. and W. Galer, where they found a 3-year-old boy wandering alone. The child was fully dressed and wearing wool socks. According to the police report, “he appeared to be in good condition and was quite rambunctious.” However, the boy was too young to be able to communicate with the officers or give any information about where he came from. After canvassing the neighborhood for the parents, the officers returned to the west precinct with the boy and notified 911 operators, eventually turning him over to Child Protective Services.

At 11:40 p.m. the boy’s grandparents called 911. According to his grandmother, the boy was put to bed earlier that evening and the grandparents went to watch a movie. The boy then crawled out of his bedroom window, on the ground flood, and wandered three blocks from home before anyone noticed him. Meanwhile, when the grandparents finished their movie they went to check on him, finding him gone and the window open.

After conducting an investigation and an extensive interview, the officers contacted CPS and the boy was returned to his grandparents.

Don’t miss the last show in the summertime Concerts at the Mural series, put on every week by KEXP and Seattle Center on the lawn of the Seattle Center Mural Amphitheatre (305 Harrison Street).

The final show is tonight, Friday, August 21, from 5-8 p.m., and is free to the public and open to all-ages.

Join KEXP DJ Hannah Levin, along with the Fruit Bats, The Moondoggies, and Johnny and the Moon, for this final summer series event.

The Beer Garden opens at 5 p.m. Call (206) 684-7200, or click here for more information.

The game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos is expected to bring 45,000 to Qwest Field on Saturday night. The game starts at 7:30 p.m., so watch out for pre-game traffic.

Expansion joint repairs on the Aurora Bridge will kick traffic down to one lane each way on Sunday night, from 5 p.m. to midnight., and two lanes each way from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the rest of the week. More on that here.

The Battery Street Tunnel on the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed for cleaning of the stormwater collection and treatment systems between 10 p.m. on Sunday, August 23, and 5 a.m. on Monday, August 24. Detours will take traffic off the Viaduct at Western Avenue, and then back on the 99 just past the tunnel.

At 7:30 p.m. on Sunday over 400 participants will gather for the Lake Union 10K race. The race starts and finishes at Westlake Avenue N and Aloha Street, and goes clockwise around Lake Union on sidewalks, bike trails and streets. Although there will be no street closures, traffic is expected to be congested around the lake-side course.

Word on the street is, there’s a new cupcake king in town: Wink Cupcakes, a boutique catering company based out of a commercial kitchen on lower Queen Anne, will be opening its very own shop right here on the Hill.

Owner Deanne Ederer Emmons, who purchased the company from founder Zoe-Ann Bartlett in April 2008, is opening the shop at 1817 Queen Anne Ave., right between Cinderella Tailors and the complex that houses El Diable coffee and Queen Anne Books. (The perfect location for strollers looking for a sweet fix in between sipping their Mexican mochas and browsing for books).

Wink’s is set to open this November (we’ll definitely keep you posted when we pin down the date). For now, take a moment and salivate over their many enticing flavors.

Today is the deadline to take the Seattle Planning Commission’s neighborhood plan survey.

Queen Anne has really stepped it up in the last week, with 140 participants taking the online questionnaire as of yesterday, August 20. If you haven’t had the opportunity to take the survey yet, this is you last chance. The survey can be found here.

It only takes a few minutes, so go out and tell the city what you think of Queen Anne. Community involvement just might speed along some of the neighborhood plan projects that have been ten-years in the making, like the Ship Canal Trail that would encircle Queen Anne with an accessible bike path, or the electric trolley service at the Counterbalance, which would provide a strong transportation link between Upper Queen Anne and Uptown.

We’re down to two mayoral candidates, environmentalist Mike McGinn and T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan, who will compete for office in the November 3 general election.

This morning Mayor Greg Nickels announced his concession at a City Hall news conference after two terms in office. Although King County still has around 30,000 ballots left to count, the mayor was trailing 1,170 behind McGinn for the third-place spot after Thursday’s count.

For the whole story, see the Seattle Times article.

The Queen Anne Farmers Market was a big hit this week. Beyond the usually scrumptious organic produce, fresh eats, chef demos and book signings, yesterday’s theme brought another element to the weekly event: Melon Madness!

A watermelon carving competition left one creative market-goer with first prize: $100 gift certificate to Canlis!

Behold the winning turtle!

We did, however, catch the winner and runners up of the kids competition. The porcupine on the left garnered its maker a $20 cash prize. The melon muncher on the right and the watermelon cage below (note the lemon-head hostages) received gift certificates for ice cream.

These carved melons almost look too good to eat (almost!)

According to our friends over at Magnolia Voice, this weekend some Queen Anne-ers may be in for some festive fireworks. A wedding party on Saturday, August 22, is having a big grand finale over Elliott Bay according to the wedding planner.

The fireworks show is scheduled for around 10:10 p.m. on Saturday, and will last around 15 minutes. According to the party planner, the shindig is happening at the SW corner of Discovery Park, and should be visible over Elliott Bay.

We’ll keep an eye out for the show tomorrow night and put up some pictures.

A rollover crash closed the southbound lanes of the Aurora Bridge on the Fremont side at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night.

Fremont Universe was on the scene and posted a story here.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, crews will be repairing expansion joints on the Aurora Bridge on Sunday, August 23, from 5 p.m. until midnight.

The bridge will still be open, but will be down to one lane in each direction. So if you’ve got to get somewhere fast, try to avoid Aurora Sunday night.

Bridge crews will also be doing maintenance work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the rest of the week (Monday, August 24 to Friday, August 28). Two lanes will be open each direction, but heightened traffic is still expected.

Easy Street is throwing another free show your way tonight. Pete Yorn will be in the shop at 6 p.m., before heading over to his final show at the Showbox at the Market. More information here.

The deadline to let the Seattle Planning Commission know what you think about Queen Anne and its progress in the neighborhood plan is tomorrow, August 21.

Queen Anne has had 121 participants so far! Still interested in taking the questionnaire? Click here.

This week the Seattle Animal Shelter is bringing you Frank, Dean, Sammy and Joey, a quartet of critters who are looking for loving homes.

According to the shelter, rats are extremely intelligent, and love to socialize and play. These four male rats, the shelter says, are uncharacteristically tame and very curious. And it only costs $5 to adopt one!

To see a video of these four frisky friends, click here.

For a list of other animals currently available for adoption at the Seattle Animal Shelter, click here.