Bill Gates the Elder passes; Inslee bashes climate denial from the White House; Durkan-friendly ‘activist leader’ gets high-paying city job; Ms game called on account of smoke.

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.

Stage and live-event workers rally for ‘restart’ help; new police chief shuffles staff; a false COVID rumor spreads quickly from a local Twitter post; yet another bombastic White House threat against Seattle.

Sending WWII-era Japanese souvenirs back to Japan; Cal Anderson Park ‘swept’ again; police-oversight cases skyrocket; making a ‘City of Literature’ that tells more people’s stories.

A new Amazon wrist band warns if you’re not ‘happy’ enough; comparing our age to a cheesy BDSM movie (NOT ‘50 Shades’!); the Storm joins the pro-sports strike; CHOP murder victim’s dad sues for $3 billion.

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.

Senator (and fishstick-family scion) Gorton’s legacy as Seattle’s baseball savior and a sane Republican; Inslee declares a wildfire emergency; a lot of mail-sorting gear’s been removed in the region; the Mariners win a game for once.

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.

Chris Cornell’s daughter opens up about anxiety and depression; Pramila Jayapal opens up on Jeff Bezos; federal ‘agents’ slated to leave Portland (in stages); Olympia militia dude wanted to overtake CHOP by force.

We’ve got a hockey team name (just not a team yet); federal agents land in Seattle, but Durkan says don’t worry; more lawsuits and investigations over Portland anti-protester violence; WA restaurant/bar reopening rules will be re-tightened.

Video montage exposes SPD/Durkan spin tactics; county youth jail to close (eventually); ‘moms’ and leaf blowers on Portland’s front lines; high school football won’t resume in WA until March.

Is graffiti still graffiti if it’s installed in a gallery?; a sort-of City Council/’Star Trek’ crossover; differing opinions on SPD defunding; judge rules Durkan recall petition drive can proceed.

Driver rams into marchers, killing a nonbinary Black Lives Matter supporter; Lake View Cemetery’s Confederate memorial toppled; 121 COVID cases now at UW fraternities; two recall-Durkan petitions go before a county judge.

Imagining future human behaviors as current COVID conditions drag on; not all of the rise in COVID diagnoses in the region can be attributed to more testing; another fatal near-CHOP shooting and the now-usual reactions; the state’s population’s still rising.

Amazon pays to give new hockey arena a ‘climate’-theme name; Black drivers and mechanics allege racism at Metro; COVID cases soar in parts of the state; ‘Real Change’ vendors now have their own brand of hand sanitizer.