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.

Mudhoney bassist (and Harborview ER nurse) Guy Maddison tells COVID tales in a podcast; area health leaders blame public gatherings for COVID resurgence; Amazon now outsells Walmart (sort-of); Afghan refugees are headed our way.

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.

A city puts its masks back on; state, county, and city workers will all have to get vaxxed; famous local chef to close his last Seattle restaurant; finally-released report details systemic racism at Seattle Children’s.

What we know (and don’t know) after the primary election’s first ‘ballot drop’; local COVID conditions return to ‘substantial transmission’ level; rain’s brief return may re-return; an old (but fake) totem pole is taken down at a Tacoma park.

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.

Familiar Pike/Pine flower vendor recovering after being struck by a car; more responses to last weekend’s many shootings; more counties want everyone back in masks (at least while indoors); rural schools have more anti-LGBTQ bullying, and more faculty apathy toward it; Mariners go down 6-0 in first inning, go on to win.

Remembering the pandemic with tattoos; everybody’s asked to mask up again (at least indoors); racism/sexism claims at Amazon Web Services and Seattle Park Dept.; differing responses about cruise ships’ return to Seattle.

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.

Photos of COVID health-care workers shown big on a building wall at night; Sue Bird’s latest honor at the Olympic opening ceremonies; the Seattle Kraken’s finally a team (almost); eastern WA’s wildfire smoke blows all the way to NY.

Performers and others re-gather in Chinatown-International District; Canadian border reopens Aug. 9; some of Durkan’s ‘missing text’ recipients identified; Bezos will go into space today (and, yes, come back).

Ste. Michelle wines sold to a private-equity firm; Kshama Sawant would rather face a recall vote in November than in a primary; who gave the word to shut the East Precinct last year; Hoquiam police post ‘jokes’ about a troubled man who jumped from a bridge.

Fifty years and change since the ‘turn out the lights’ billboard; 2 (of 6) SPD officers are cited for being part of the DC siege; heat-wave death counts are still rising; a tireless advocate for the homeless dies.