Mt. Rainier’s a lot less snowy and icy these days; state auditor’s office sez city’s ‘Black Brilliance Project’ grants were barely within the law; Portland police allowed far-right rally members to mostly just do their thing; 15 writers in search of Utopia.

Firefighters’ determination is visually captured; there was another far-right rally (and counter-rally) in Portland; hospital workers endure the current COVID explosion; remembering the good news behind much of the bad news.

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.

Historic/kitschy Admiral Benbow Inn to reopen; Inslee mandates masking for all and vaccines for school/college workers; ICUs fill to capacity again with COVID patients; Pike Place Market turns 114.

Wing Luke group exhibit ponders Asian American beauty standards; music fest at the Gorge linked to 160+ COVID cases; wildfire smoke makes COVID worse; more on the trends seen in the new census data.

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.

Pop-art posters honor Indigenous women preserving the planet; Edgar Martinez gets a statue; WA COVID cases surpass a half million; ACLU sues to stop the city charter-amendment drive.

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘Seattle Walk Report’ sequel book is out; the SPD commander blamed for CHOP response says he was framed; the Lummi Nation’s traveling totem pole gets to DC in a drive to save sacred spaces; the NYT seems to think Seattle’s in Silicon Valley.

Local band Prom Date’s new Britney Spears tribute EP; new COVID case counts are close to last summer’s; Boeing ‘ekes out’ its first profits since ’19; southern resident orcas are finally back in WA waters.

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.

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.