Woodland Park Zoo’s new walk-thru light show; where most new COVID infections occur in King County; Amazon Web Services has a big outage in the east; a street sign honors a late local Black theater producer.

‘Cascadia’ group wants four big, all-new cities; City Council passes budget with some SPD cuts; a massive (but multi-day) state COVID case count; an appropriate Christmas carol for this ‘bleak” year.

Big new book captures old local metal bands; Seahawks’ stadium has its fourth name (but only one ‘name sponsor’); SPD budget to be cut but not ‘defunded;’ West Seattle Bridge to be fixed (but it won’t be quick).

The Crocodile’s hosted its last live show at 2nd Ave but will eventually reopen on 1st; (potentially big) restaurant layoffs follow new state restrictions; Tim Eyman goes on trial; you don’t have to hoard toilet paper (again).

New statewide closures and restrictions announced as COVID cases skyrocket; Inslee may be sticking around; Microsoft says Russian hackers seek vaccine-research data; lotsa little earthquakes on Vancouver Island.

The 50th anniversary of the ‘exploding whale’ film; Inslee wishes you’d spend T-Day at home; where I want new arts spaces to go when we can have them again; UW football season starts (finally) (maybe).

A joint march marks 150 days of local protests; experts’ advice on COVID winter survival; T-Mobile joins the TV ‘streaming wars;’ violent shootings are up locally and nationally.

Right-wing talker Dori Monson loses Seahawks game-day gig; Seahawks respond with the comeback win of the year; Microsoft workers can largely stay home-based into next year; deputies may have shot Tommy Le when he was already face-down.

A local sci-fi author imagines transforming ‘oppressors’ into ‘kin;’ a techie dad parses the tech glitches facing remote schooling; a wildfire destroys a small eastern-WA town; a local sports broadcasting legend dies.

Amazon’s big plans for Bellevue don’t mean it’s abandoning Seattle; remote school starts with some glitches; what SPD’s cutting to add to patrols; many area arts groups could go broke before year’s end.

SAM and (later) Frye Museum to reopen; more COVID cases among the unhoused; why the Seattle public-safety status quo isn’t working for many; authors and publishers complain to Congress about Amazon’s power.

Statements in the streets (visible only on your phone); protesters arrested outside police union office; Seattle schools will start two days late; still more Boeing layoffs to come.

Temporary ‘Black Lives Matter’ art/slogans adorn a UW statue’s base; a virtual community meeting about SPD gets testy; the same city councilmembers issue differing statements about police chief Best’s departure; a very hot weekend’s coming.

Tri-Cities composer honors atomic bombings’ 75th anniversary; Cliff Mass goes anti-anti-fascist, loses radio gig; UW researchers’ ‘protein scaffolding’ could help make better vaccines; SPD responds to critics with a new web site.

A Washington COVID survivor tells her grueling tale; Microsoft wants to buy TikTok’s US operations; it’s not all peaceful again in Portland; Pac-12 football players make safety and other demands before they’ll play in the fall.