Inaugural poem set to a local funk-rock track; waiting lists for vaccine-clinic helpers are getting as long as those for the vaccines themselves; Tacoma police SUV runs over street-race spectators; Microsoft’s developing chatbots based on dead people.

Two Bells demolished three years after it closed; SPOG head Mike Solan refuses to quit; activists claim the FBI had a role in suppressing local summer protests; a post-COVID national recession could make homelessness a whole lot worse.

Seven Gables Theater movie memories; the local COVID curve’s still ‘flattening’ for now; Seahawks clinch division title; ‘excessive force’ lawsuit against the SPD could cost the city $600,000 or more.

On the day after the Seven Gables Theater burned, we look back on some recent local arts and culture stories, trends, and tales of survival.

New kids’ book ‘Panda Demick’ looks on (and for) the bright side; state starts COVID tracking phone app; Tacoma ICE jail uses solitary confinement heavily; make your own ‘restoration of federal sanity advent calendar.’

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.

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.

Garth Stein’s graphic novel about a goat-boy on Seattle’s streets; City Council passes minuscule SPD cuts, Chief Best might quit anyway; a touring evangelist and his audience defy mask guidelines; the first use of Amazon-hosted podcasts: ‘don’t diss Amazon’.

Boutique hotel opens at the wrong time; city council votes on modest police cuts and Navigation Team defunding today; ‘community radio’ founder/advocate dies; food banks stocking up for a ‘surge’ in demand.

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.

Early primary-election votes show several progressives leading, Tim Eyman losing; Durkan and Best don’t want any significant SPD cuts; is Microsoft getting too cozy with the White House?; were violent feds sent to Portland just to appear in campaign ads?; Pat O’Day RIP.

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.

More pix of quarantiners at home; KEXP’s widened spectrum of sounds (and voices); Durkan says she’s not responsible for SPD’s actions; COVID modelers say schools should only open if case counts go down.