George Freeman resurrects ‘The Monastery’ as a colorful church/event space; COVID numbers coming down in western but not eastern WA; local grocery workers’ ‘hazard pay’ to continue; workers at two more local Starbucks want a union.

Heidelberg beer returns to Tacoma; WA hits another record in daily new COVID cases, as many New Year’s Eve events get canceled; our current cold snap may fade away at last.

A new book pays tribute to Seattle architect Paul Hayden Kirk; we’ll get very cold temps (and maybe also snow); Seattle grocery workers’ ‘hazard pay’ won’t end after all; UW modelers predict a massive COVID wave by February.

Lava Lounge, and its historic building, going away; what state Sen. Doug Ericksen did besides opposing vaccines; man living under sanctuary in St. Mark’s won’t face deportation now; a sex-workers’ activist remembers the Green River Killer’s victims.

A local Japanese American painter’s posthumous comeback; anti-vax state Senator dies of COVID; Seahawks, Kraken games postponed; Boeing sells its Longacres office complex for ‘transit oriented development.’

Dina Martina signs with Sub Pop; OL Reign women’s soccer moves back to Seattle; Inslee wants $812 million for state housing programs; Blake Island dinner tours suspended for all of 2022.

The ‘revered and reviled saxophonist’ gets an HBO doc; Space Needle fireworks will be back (sort-of); full hospitals can’t send folks to full nursing homes; Bruce Harrell’s niece will be his chief aide.

‘Recall Sawant’ early returns are as predicted (and as incomplete); Seattle’s population growth outpaced the ‘burbs in the 2010s; Amazon Web Services had a big outage; more homeless folk are ailing from a highly preventable condition.

More floods attack the hard-hit BC interior; the Crocodile has its third grand opening; a labor group claims Amazon under-reports worker COVID cases; the city settles with Charleena Lyles’ family for $3.5 million.

People rising from the streets are shown above the streets; town of Sumas is flooded again; an ‘invasive European green crab’ teems in local waters; Seahawks almost pull off a last-minute upset.

Another ‘only from Archie McPhee’ product at Xmas; Christian schools with ‘lax protocols’ lead in student COVID cases; Pacific Place ‘goes indie’ amid ‘ghost malls’ tide; remembering WA’s first Black (and non-Indigenous) settler.

The hidden history of a local jazz hall as it’s about to be commemorated; Seahawks, coach Pete Carroll hit a new nadir; SPD keeps full funding for unfilled jobs; Amazon, MS can bid again for a redrawn Pentagon cloud contract.

A true-crime podcast depicts a Boeing engineer turned master bank robber; Seattle schools take an extra day off this week; KEXP boss retires after three decade; Re-bar to become a piano bar.

A local kids’-TV legend dies at 101; Canadians can finally come here again; should hotel-based shelters stay open?; UW football coach caught shoving a player on the sidelines.

New book on the ‘underside’ of Seattle history; Tim Eyman’s (unwelcome) comeback attempt; Constantine starts the process to (eventually) close the new youth jail; business interests want more cops and sweeps downtown.