A Tacoma park’s old storybook statues are up for auction; Cafe Racer’s ready for its re-re-reopening; Microsoft’s keeping office workers at home for ‘the foreseeable future’; and, yes, there’s that grim anniversary.

The ex-Baltic Room’s got a new name; the ‘Nirvana Baby’ resurfaces; determining the ‘pandemic’s toll on kids’ brains;’ Microsoft AI software’s programmed to impersonate a local writer.

Art-world celeb and UW grad Chuck Close dies; frustration among doctors, nurses as delta variant rages on; why encampment residents don’t want to move into shelters; Redhook (and the Seattle microbrew scene) turn 40.

Historic/kitschy Admiral Benbow Inn to reopen; Inslee mandates masking for all and vaccines for school/college workers; ICUs fill to capacity again with COVID patients; Pike Place Market turns 114.

Wing Luke group exhibit ponders Asian American beauty standards; music fest at the Gorge linked to 160+ COVID cases; wildfire smoke makes COVID worse; more on the trends seen in the new census data.

New magic-themed bar prepares to open; Census data reveals how much we’ve grown around here; state Supreme Court rules in favor of vehicle dwellers; non-teaching Seattle school workers will need vaccines this fall.

Pop-art posters honor Indigenous women preserving the planet; Edgar Martinez gets a statue; WA COVID cases surpass a half million; ACLU sues to stop the city charter-amendment drive.

The new ‘Skid Road’ book’s parallels to the older one; more institutions impose vaccine requirements; controversial PCC president quits; city attorney Pete Holmes is out of the general-election race.

Henry Weinhard’s beer to vanish; few real changes in latest the primary-vote update; why Amazon likely won’t demand its workers be vaxxed; local anti-ICE activist says she’s being targeted for retaliation.

Seattle Deconstructed Art Fair returns; feds find ‘improprieties’ at Alabama Amazon union vote; city eviction moratorium extended two months; Seattle Rep to stage a musical named after the mechanical shark from ‘Jaws.’

Water-themed playground coming to new Waterfront Park; does Seattle’s ‘urban village’ zoning perpetuate inequality?; the heat wave sickened Columbia River salmon; nine bars are or were temporarily closed due to COVID exposures among staff.

Big touring exhibit of African-American art and history comes to Tacoma; state, federal eviction moratoria end, while COVID cases and hospitalizations explode anew; huge Oregon wildfire now mostly contained.

‘Seattle Walk Report’ sequel book is out; the SPD commander blamed for CHOP response says he was framed; the Lummi Nation’s traveling totem pole gets to DC in a drive to save sacred spaces; the NYT seems to think Seattle’s in Silicon Valley.

Local band Prom Date’s new Britney Spears tribute EP; new COVID case counts are close to last summer’s; Boeing ‘ekes out’ its first profits since ’19; southern resident orcas are finally back in WA waters.

One man’s search for free, public ‘writing spaces;’ COVID testing’s in demand again; a subdued Olympic hype this time around; The NY Times discovers we make and like beer in Seattle.