Locals respond to big ugly bill; assessor John Wilson arrested for stalking; Youthcare cutting programs in a ‘budget crisis;’ many fireworks-related fires and injuries, including a severed hand.

KEXP DJ’s book on 101 vital Seattle-connected songs; city neuters Renters Commission; new Starbucks CEO gets to essentially work from home (unlike company staff); Charles R. Cross’s last article.

WA wine biz still needs fiscally-troubled Chateau Ste. Michelle; ‘white powder’ scare at election offices; tire makers sued over salmon-killing chemicals; new City Council could just mean (big) business as usual.

Cal Anderson’s memorial tree suddenly removed from state capitol campus; wildfire smoke’s coming back here; 22 counties sue DSHS over ‘mental health failures;’ Republicans won’t believe Seattle’s not a burnt-down hellhole.

Computer imagery of potential civic mega-projects; air quality dips while wildfire season’s well underway; Sodo RV encampments swept just prior to All-Star Week; could Microsoft hit $3 trillion in stock value?

The simple beauty of ‘soul chains;’ social-housing initiative passes, now what?; federal judge says Starbucks can’t fire union organizers; should Alaska chinook-salmon fishing be banned to save the orcas?

Author Neal Stephenson defends utopian fiction; COVID-related staff shortages affect schools, bus service, and more; three more state senators test positive; two Cascade passes still closed.

Annex Theatre’s double-miracle of survival; who gets the Gates mansion?; the ranch land of the ‘phantom cows’ is up for auction; a pitcher has a career milestone at an Ms’ game (alas, not our pitcher).

The Viaduct’s end becomes a big cruisin’ scene; KIRO-FM ‘talk bros’ axed; the Legislature starts minus one embattled member; why the Bezos’ split was announced when it was; the Seattle music scene’s founding mother dies.

Partial election returns for a night of partial victories; are two Amazon HQ2s good for Seattle?; was an immigrant deported for talking about his detention conditions?

The original Shorty’s has held its last pinball tourney; Amazon may pick two ‘HQ2’s; the ‘Lid I-5’ drive gets some major support; one last (desperate) election plea.

How Sub Pop triumphed; some places we wish weren’t demolished; Matt Manweller rants against #MeToo and ‘liberals’; David Meinert’s business world shrinks some more.

We begin with three lists totaling 100 all-time Northwest indie-rock records. We continue from there with (alas) false state-income-tax allegations; anti-Muslim bigotry hitting home; what the costly homelessness consultant didn’t directly look into; a former “Drunk of the Week” (or was she?) suing; and the Mariners’ streak continuing.

Sooper Toosday finds us blathering about a racketeering suit against Mars Hill Church’s top brass; how to properly describe an alleged adult-woman/teenage-boy relationship; just how hard Russell Wilson’s “Good Man” clothes will be to find; and that ridiculously big container ship.

• Seattle artist Ellen Ziegler’s mom was a ballet dancer—and a onetime girlfriend of the great Mexican comic actor Cantinflas. Ziegler’s turning this story into a very-limited-edition art book.
• In other news about local women and art and books and images of hotness, Charlotte Austin and Ciolo Thompson have created The Better Bombshell. In it, a variety of writers and artists of both genders contemplate that age-old issue of female role models and what they should be now.
• Online “cyber-bullying” isn’t just for teens anymore. The disgraced now-former Snohomish County executive did it too.
• The Oatmeal explains why “How to Suck at Your Religion.” (Essentially: if you preach brotherhood but practice bigotry, etc….)
• The drive to preserve the Bauhaus coffeehouse’s building, by getting it named an official historic landmark: rejected.
• The lawsuit challenging the Sonics arena scheme: rejected.
• Even Republicans believe Tim Eyman’s “lying whore” comment against Gov. Inslee went too far.
• PONCHO, granddaddy of Seattle arts fundraising groups (and inventor of the “charity auction”), is no more.
• Can private tech colleges, charging $30,000 or more for degree programs, really solve Wash. state’s learning gap?
• Eastern Washington, now with more radioactive sludge.
• Life imitates Portlandia, at least 30 times.
• Chuck Thompson at the New Republic derides microbrews, and the brewpubs who sell them, as icons of silly urban gentrificaiton. But they’re really, really tasty icons of silly urban gentrification.)
• The sad tale of the “food critic on Food Stamps” finally has a happy ending. Ex-Tacoma News Tribune restaurant reviewer Ed Murrieta finally found a job, after spending years among the long-term unemployed. He now writes blurbs for Sacramento’s tourism board.
• In Virginia, a white mom wants white kids not to have to read books about past racial violence.
• I know I’m not the only one who still remembers LaserDiscs, those 12-inch analog video discs that were the best way to see movies at home in their day.
• Here’s an artistic vision of a future car-free Manhattan, funded by (who else?) a car company.