Judge tosses shelters-and-sweeps charter amendment initiative; Seahawk-turned-doctor hospitalized with COVID, as cases exceed region’s hospital capacity again; Oly protest derides mask/vaccine mandates.

Rare/important John Coltrane Seattle live set unearthed; UW team predicts a not more US COVID deaths; trouble for Puget Sound’s underwater ‘forests;’ what the homeless crisis isn’t (or shouldn’t be) really about.

The ex-Baltic Room’s got a new name; the ‘Nirvana Baby’ resurfaces; determining the ‘pandemic’s toll on kids’ brains;’ Microsoft AI software’s programmed to impersonate a local writer.

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.

Mudhoney bassist (and Harborview ER nurse) Guy Maddison tells COVID tales in a podcast; area health leaders blame public gatherings for COVID resurgence; Amazon now outsells Walmart (sort-of); Afghan refugees are headed our way.

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.

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.’

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.

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.

New life (and maybe a new club) in R Place’s old building; Jeff Bezos had his costly li’l suborbital space trip; the Kraken’s about to have its Expansion Draft party/telecast; OR’s Bootleg Fire is so big, it ‘makes its own weather.’

Beth’s Cafe reopens; smaller-scale music fest to take Bumbershoot’s place this fall; King County councilmember tries to prevent huge light-rail project delays; yes, climate change had a role in the recent heat wave.

Locally-written opera explores Tacoma’s 1885 anti-Chinese expulsion; more music clubs and other spots reopen; payroll-tax opponents appeal the court dismissal of their suit; the pandemic slowed but didn’t stop local population growth.

Thoughts on the re-released ‘Streetwise’; the regional heat-wave death toll climbs; a heat-stricken BC town succumbs to wildfire; Microsoft rebrands itself as ‘the anti-Apple.’