A recent review of care standards at Pierce County Jail indicates that the county jail failed to meet national standards in 18 areas including adequate staffing, management of chronic diseases and mental health screenings. County officials have responded with claims that standards set forth by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care are nothing more than guidelines. This is an old battle for the county, resulting from a class-action suit filed by inmates who alleged in 1996 that the county did not meet constitutional standards of care and living conditions. The inmates won in spirit. Until court-ordered improvements are made: MINUS 2



This week, Dan Voelpel reported in his News Tribune column that the Gintz Group has partnered with Portland-based owners Williams & Dame to convert the beloved and historic Elks Building into … senior housing. Just because the public outcry is going to be damn funny to watch: PLUS 1



The Rotary Club of Tacoma #8 awarded $27,000 in community service grants to the following Tacoma area nonprofit organizations: Catholic Community Services, The Children’s Museum of Tacoma, Toy Rescue Mission, Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, Communities in Schools of Tacoma, and Habitat for Humanity. Rumor has it that this is the most money Rotary #8 President Jeff Rounce has ever been in charge of giving away at one time, under any circumstances, without taking several shots of hard liquor or being held at gunpoint. PLUS 1



Last Thursday — a day that will live in infamy for many Click! subscribers — the Weekly Volcano’s cable inexplicably disappeared, for hours and hours and hours. What were we to do without The Office, Grey’s Anatomy and seventeen versions of CSI? Read a book, you say? Try curling up in the fetal position and begging for a return to couch-potato normalcy. That’s how we coped. Never again, Click! Never again. MINUS 2



When the funding runs dry, condo construction stops. This was the case at the two-thirds completed Midtown Lofts this week, as workers were laid off and completion of the 50-unit building at 1142 Fawcett Ave. now seems uncertain. Of course, there are many condo haters out there probably grinning a little at the news of a high-end monument to gentrification hitting a roadblock, but in truth 50 construction workers losing a gig and another unfinished building in Tacoma are good for no one. Unless, of course, you’re a squatter. Then, maybe, this new luxury unfinished housing option is music to your street sleeping ears. MINUS 2



Bellarmine Prep went into lockdown yesterday as a precaution after a burglary occurred in the area. The bad guys ditched their car and took off on foot in the vicinity of the school probably checking out the parking lot for a ridiculously silent uber-cush ultra-lux Valium-on-wheels hunk of $75,000 Lexus LS birthday gift. MINUS 1



Total Pluses:  2           



Total Minuses: 7



This Week’s Total:  MINUS 5       



Last Week’s Total: MINUS 4