With all the rain and flooding, the most direct route to Portland is circumnavigating the globe. Here is a selection of Capitol Hill links to enjoy on the way.

• Charges have been filed against the suspects in the Chop Suey shootings that killed one man and injured two others. Slog has story but forgot to mention one important detail — the murder charge against suspect Carlos Bernardez is first degree. 18 years old and facing murder in the first degree? Ugly. Meanwhile, Roger LaBranche, the man whose feud with one of the surviving victims allegedly was at the core of the violence, was hit with drug possesion charges. Charging papers say police found 45 grams of cocaine, nearly 300 ecstasy pills, 81 grams of marijuana, a handgun and $7,000 cash in LaBranche’s car.
• Looking through the King County Jail web site to check out a rumor that LaBranche had been released from custody (he had not at the time of writing this, btw), I found that the 25-year-old Everett man was recently jailed for more than 30 days on drug and posession of stolen property charges. He was released on Nov. 28th.
• In other things Slog, the ongoing drama at Neighbours dance club continues. Claims of rent not being paid vs. claims that it has vs. rumors that club is to make way for condo development.
• Seattle Weekly calls Poppy “occasionally brilliant, occasionally off-kilter.” The review also includes some ridiculous lines — that won’t be repeated here — about north Capitol Hill mansions and financially secure renters. Weakly, you sound like a Seattle PI commenter when you talk like that.
• We fretted recently about what effect a rumored layoff at Microsoft would have on the hill. Our neighbor neighborhood blog The Southlake discusses local impact of the Big M’s decision to not pursue a plan to move some of its employees to a SOLU building.
• Wondering what it looked like to go out with the young folks of Pike/Pine on New Year’s Eve? Ask Capitol Hillebrities.
• Remember the snow? Hillku found remnants of the last snow drift on Capitol Hill. And here’s a panoramic shot of snowy Broadway for you to relive it all.
• Seattle Transit Blog reminds that January brings groundbreaking on the University Link light rail segment that will run, litterally, through the hill after eight years of digging.
• The red light cam at the intersection of 23rd and John will go into operation at the end of the month, says CDNews. Also appears to have a video camera so might be available via the Intertubes. Oh, and those flashes you sometimes see and wonder if you just got nailed when the light was green? SPD says not to worry. Just testing.
• Introducing yet another new thing — the CHS Most Viewed page. Shows you our most popular posts today. A good way to find the best posts from the last few days. Will be adding it to the tabs soon and also adding optiosn to change the date range. Stay tuned.
• And another new thing. Did this week’s Capitol Hill Times look a little odd to you? Yup, that was CHS on page 3.