Don Benton mailer image via the Columbian

1.  The Vancouver Columbian reports that the race for the 17th District (Vancouver) is turning nasty: A mailer funded by the Democratic Party depicted incumbent 17th District Sen. Don Benton, a Republican, as a wasteful monarch living "high on the hog" off taxpayer dollars. Benton responded by accusing his opponent, Democratic state Rep. Tim Probst (D-17), of being in the pockets of the "Seattle Democrat machine."

2.  Secretary of State Sam Reed is predicting strong primary-election turnout this year---46 percent---spurred by high-profile races for governor and other state offices, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.

3. The state's new revenue shortfall forecast casts serious doubts on gubernatorial candidates' claims that they can dramatically increase education spending without raising taxes, the Seattle Times  reports.

4. Bike-sharing is officially coming to King County. Seattle Bike Blog has the deets .

5.  A project to save lives on notoriously deadly State Route 12 has a potential unintended downside: The death of millions of native bees that pollinate local farms, whose flight path is right in the way of construction. The Seattle Times' Linda Mapes explains what's being done to save the pollinators.

6. Epicurious, the culinary megablog, writes about an innovative project to combat "food deserts" that Seattle Met covered in July: Stockbox, a popup grocery store that operates out of food containers in neighborhoods underserved by grocery stores. Check out the Met's coverage here.