Ferry crash and truck explosion (at separate places) snarl traffic; the heat wave now comes with a side order of air pollution; Amazon loses $2 billion (Wall St. loves it); Cranium creator dies of COVID.

Artist Romare Bearden’s conservative modernism; all the heat (and heat clichés) you can stand; City Council passes ‘abortion sanctuary’ bill; Beacon Hill to get a French language K-8 school.

Local startup’s fake coffee put to the test; how Amazon is and isn’t different under Andy Jassy; local Audubon Society wants a less slavery-connected name; a milestone of sorts for this li’l e-missive.

‘Amazon vs. Microsoft’ employee art show scrapped; feds investigating Amazon warehouse conditions; WA GOP’s misleading campaign ads and other schemes; the most dangerous place in town for walkers and bikers.

Seattle Art Fair (and big ‘alternative’ exhibits) return; competing voting-reform measures on city Nov. ballot; COVID subvariant case counts keep growing; are Starbucks’ ‘safety’ closures really anti-union moves?

MoPOP exhibit shows the more diverse aspects of feminist punk; man threatens to shoot Rep. Pramila Jayapal; Starbucks closing five Seattle stores over ‘safety’ claims; is Amazon getting into cancer vaccines?

‘Story map’ shows local racial struggles, SPD responses in the 20th century; local Proud Boys member says he’s (wrongly) cited in Jan. 6 probe; unions say Amazon used ‘cherry-picked’ worker-safety data; a second unofficial Banksy show’s in town.

Locally-made web series depicts a high school gay/straight alliance club; first little-kids’ COVID vaccines get injected; city’s JumpStart payroll tax survives in state court; Amazon’s top-exec ranks get even whiter. 

Vito’s is closed indefinitely after a massive apt. fire upstairs; SPU grads give its prez Pride flags at commencement; more on the attempted Patriot Front violence in Idaho; timber baron George Weyerhaeuser RIP.

G. Willow Wilson reinvents an oft-reinvented comics character; have folks stopped worying about COVID?; HS student arrested for holding a ‘realistic’ BB gun; the drive to save an apt. building with a Bruce Lee connection.

Pride returns live and in person; ex-SPD Chief Best may have known about East Precinct evacuation; did Starbucks close a store because it unionized?; mere ‘awareness’ of gun violence isn’t all we need.

Artist Joey Veltkamp’s life-affirming quilts; Harrell’s homelessness plan is, unsurprisingly, big on data; city council passes minimum wage for app workers; local home prices rise 5.6% in just one month.

A student’s post-shooting plea for safety; Starbucks workers win in an anti-union town; waiting big news from City Hall today; 2020 Portland protesters allege multiple cases ofThey police brutality.

Artist combines Japanese theatrical ‘war masks’ with vaginal symbolism; ‘PayUp’ bill weakened in City Council committee; students protest school shootings (and politicians’ non-reactions); SDOT erases a ‘guerrilla crosswalk.’

Amazon Labor Union’s head as a style icon?; Councilmember Tammy Morales and others share their abortion stories; Cleveland High students walk out to protest principal’s firing; a ‘Star Trek’ lesson about modern politics.