Critics question rollout strategy of Seattle company’s Disney collectible card game; Cal Anderson memorial tree replaced in Oly; WA’s next no-longer-affordable place to live; Tacoma as the next great radical hope.

‘American Junkie’ author/musician Tom Hansen’s cancer death; big T-Mobile layoffs; city tells free-pantry organizer to scale back her operation; wildfire smoke coming back this weekend.

Developer wants 3rd Ave to be a pedestrian plaza (no buses); Inslee sued over ‘gender affirming care’ law; wildfires shut down two City Light dams; the Seattle connection to a ‘racial’ (and racist) ‘brain collection’ at the Smithsonian.

Blind painter’s touchable works; heat wave drags on at least one more day; UW report exposes ‘use of force’ incidents at Tacoma ICE jail; state claims O’Reilly Auto Parts discriminated against pregnant workers.

Kamala Harris talks in Seattle (and Dolly Parton in Tacoma); heat wave leads to stage 2 burn ban; ‘quick fix’ to Seattle drug-possession law turned down; the ice cream flavor you never knew you wanted.

Vital, historic African-American art from a sorority’s donated collection; almost every D1 council candidate endorses Megan Costa; new state drug law starts; one threatened north-end tree survives, one doesn’t.

The rise of POC-centric arts and crafts fairs; serious heat (and wildfire smoke) arriving; Seattle Muslim leader says he’s unfairly on a secret FBI ‘watchlist;’ Northwest volunteers helping the Maui rescue effort.

NPR explores Seattle’s hip-hop heritage; Rainier Beach anti-violence activists resume their work after last week’s shooting; could the feds want to ‘break up Amazon’?; America’s worst wildfires this year aren’t here (tragically).

AI-written travel books with bot-posted rave reviews; historic Wedgwood tree saved; ‘stabilization workgroup’ proposes several new city taxes (not all of them legally available); right-wingers want to close one WA county’s only library.

Excavating a former Japanese American commercial nursery; AB selling Redhook, other beer brands to a ‘cannabis-lifestyle’ co.; Smith Tower for sale (again); what is and isn’t in MoPOP’s Laika Films exhibit.

Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe put up a Seattle artist’s works in their fancy new NYC abode; wildfire threatens big City Light dams; SPD officers may have detained a Black delivery driver at gunpoint; what street sex workers really need.

UW bails out of a sinking Pac-12 Conference; Seattle’s ‘urban heat island’ grows; Pierce Co. brush fire destroys nine homes, kills two residents; rival online-psychic networks in a legal dispute.

Museum of Museums closing forever (partly due to faulty plumbing); UW Regents ponder what to do if Pac-12 Conference collapses; City Council approves studying new I-5 lids; my annual defense of the hydroplane races.

Biopic about ’70s eastern-WA musicians whose LP’s ‘discovered’ decades later; updated vote totals don’t change much; short-staffed youth jail teeming with detainees; how rich must you be to buy a Seattle house?

A couple of faves at the Seattle Art Show and its satellites; violence strikes at an anti-violence event; Amazon doesn’t want a light rail stop at Westlake & Denny; the real meaning of the Seafair parade.