The Kraken’s real (away) debut at last; state, county, and hospital workers are almost all vaxxed; the Sawant recall drive has many national counterparts; a man at a convenience store buys Laffy Taffy with counterfeit money.

County Councilmember race-baits a (white) election rival; SPD prepares for firings of unvaxxed cops, while Inslee might impose a private-sector vax mandate; Melinda French Gates joins ‘Forbes 400’ on her own.

Heatwave-decimated snowpacks on Mt. Rainier; King County to require vax proof for many indoor and outdoor public spaces; waiting for the big rain/wind storm to show up; Inscape art studios endangered.

Montlake highway ‘lid’ project to get bigger in nine years; WA hits another cruel COVID mark with over 7,000 deaths; is Rep. Jayapal a cruel boss or a victim of sexist double standards?; how ‘hesitancy’ can be manipulated, exploited.

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.

The new ‘Skid Road’ book’s parallels to the older one; more institutions impose vaccine requirements; controversial PCC president quits; city attorney Pete Holmes is out of the general-election race.

Tech tycoons hype a buzzword from a dystopian (local) novel; an unnamed live-music gig was a ‘superspreader event’; Sound Transit salvages its rail-building plan; incumbent city attorney Pete Holmes drops to #3 in the latest vote count.

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.’

Banksy ‘repurposes’ an old Mt. Rainier painting as a climate protest; day one of WA’s ‘reopening’; a Seattle cop shoots a suspect in a Puyallup home; a GOP politician compares vaccine guidelines to the Holocaust.

A big picture book of local storefront murals; a major heat wave’s still on the way; an early state reopening’s unlikely; a longtime social worker’s past and present battles.

The meaning(s) of Juneteenth; Portland wants our tourist $ (and a more positive image); Durkan extends eviction moratorium; has the Gates Foundation’s money/influence hurt global vaccination drives?

Jazz Alley, other live-music spots reopening; city reaches 70 percent fully vaxxed; new downtown PCC grocery won’t open until next spring; hunger strike closes Casa Latina’s job center.

Will Central Disrict’s library ‘Soul Pole’ come back?; 100,000 drivers’ licenses to be restored; Idaho’s battle between the far-right and the farther-right; KingCo’s small-business contracts ‘overwhelmingly’ go to white-owned companies.

St. Mark’s Cathedral lights up names of people killed by police; most city mass-vaccination sites to close; racism/sexism claims made against Bill Gates’ money-management company head; what Amazon is/isn’t getting by buying MGM.

SU law prof’s book exhorts ‘mutual aid’ efforts (and anti-capitalism); one Mariner has COVID; a network news story’s ex-SPD ‘spokes-cop’ has a history of harassment; Amazon expands its ‘executive’ ranks for better diversity stats.