New plays address racial-justice struggles (here and elsewhere); downtown business leader sees signs of recovery; Meta/Facebook has another big round of layoffs; remembering the first modern bank failure to hit Seattle hard.

New Peter Blecha book links ‘40s-‘50s Seattle R&B to ‘50s-‘60s Northwest garage rock; more on Rep. George Santos’ alleged link to an alleged Seattle ATM thief; 1st & Pike cherry trees to be replaced; Silicon Valley Bank crash’s local effects.

‘Salish Geek’ artist fights for his life; Constantine wants to redevelop county-owned downtown blocks; ‘missing middle housing’ bill passes state House; should port commissioners care about social justice?

Suquamish basket maker gets a national arts award; Nordstrom’s quitting Canada; more resignations at the Seattle Human Rights Commission; what’s missing from Comic Con this year.

Hyping rain as a reason to visit Seattle; Starbucks white-collar staffers diss its labor policies; Seattle’s lost many trees (many of them on city land) in recent years; the death of an infamous woman who lived pseudonymously around here.

Coalition tries to help street people (not just scatter them); protest wants county jail closed due to ‘inhumane’ conditions; could Bezos want to buy the Seahawks?; no, affluent white males are not today’s biggest victims.

Textile and ‘soft art’ exhibits around town; more folks’ downtown revival ideas; Councilmember Dan Strauss will run for re-election; Steinbrueck Park’s totem poles (probably) aren’t going away forever.

Previewing a back-to-basics Bumbershoot festival; Harrell’s ‘State of the City’ speech mostly generalities; strippers organize for steady pay and better conditions; why a CEO wasn’t charged in a domestic-violence case.

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?

A jazz legend and other influential Black Seattleites of the past; down to the wire for social-housing initiative; could tech layoffs being another Seattle slump?; 777 almost crashes in Pacific.

Japanese American artists’ visions of past struggles; judge rejects suit by 737 MAX crash victims’ families; three teens’ destructive car chase; why we should look at struggles in other cities (and not just THAT one other city).

Vintage store enters the ‘metaverse;’ WA schools are now ‘majority minority;’ feds say city can’t just sit on unspent City Center Collector trolley grants; UW researchers say ‘love’ really is a drug.

Seattle crime stats beyond the scary headlines; Microsoft adds AI shticks to searches (as expected); a traffic death is allegedly due to a DUI forklift operator; a downtown cineplex might not close after all.

Airing a seldom-heard voice in the homeless crisis (that of an actual homeless person); works by local Black artists you can see (and some you can’t yet); FTC may sue Amazon; another hunger strike at the ICE jail in Tacoma.

Love expressed for Taco Time NW, while Beth’s Cafe reopens at last; Tammy Morales wants to stay on the City Council (unlike four colleagues); is Amazon trying to de-emphasize direct online sales?