The Seattle PI gets a minor facelift today. They've moved the banner nearly to the top of the page with just a single-line headline above it. The teaser boxes that were above the banner for both PI and Times now get thick, colorful boxes below the banner in the PI. (I don't have an older copy handy, but I believe the banner itself might be slightly larger.)

The dominant teaser block will distract from the paper's main headlines, but it's been a long time since those headlines provided any significant reason for buying the paper. The main advantage of the slight change is that it distinguishes this paper from the Times.

It's yet another sign that, threatened with extinction, Hearst's paper is now trying to make itself matter.