Serious race talk on local primetime TV; our toxic local skies might improve soon; a familiar figure and ‘repeat offender’ in a tragic murder-suicide case; some Capitol Hill apartment rents get lower.

PayPal, Archie McPhee, federal sanctions, and a strange Xmas ornament; ‘unprecedented’ toxic air in the region; William Barr wanted to prosecute Durkan for not cracking down on CHOP hard or fast enough; local COVID numbers ‘have never looked better.’

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.

The coughs just keep a-comin’ as some big fires slow down; schools might consider reopening as COVID declines in WA (except Pullman); a debt crisis looms for renters; a Black Lives Matter group voices ‘concerns’ about some City Council members.

Waiting for our worst-in-the-world air to clear as wildfires slow down; Pier 58 couldn’t wait to be dismantled; the case for state deficit spending in a crisis; Seahawks win season opener while Storm drops to #2 playoff seed; steady COVID progress continues (so ‘why does it feel like we’re stuck?’).

Posed photos depict a Black Everywoman front and center; wildfires are still as bad while toxic smoke gets worse; who’s backing the ‘Recall Sawant’ drive?; 19 years ago today wasn’t the worst thing to happen in America in our lifetimes.

Wildfires bring still more destruction and foul air; Tim Eyman sends out phony ‘recall Durkan’ petitions; Pullman cites WSU b-ball coach for a ‘mini block party’; Ijeoma Oluo on raising kids to survive a racist nation.

A horrible couple of days for fires, smoke, winds, evacuations, and power outages throughout WA; more remote-schooling glitches; City Council approves scooter rental pilot program; SPD reform efforts get a new court-appointed ‘monitor.’

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.

Amazon’s big plans for Bellevue don’t mean it’s abandoning Seattle; remote school starts with some glitches; what SPD’s cutting to add to patrols; many area arts groups could go broke before year’s end.

Confessions from a ‘guerrilla bike collective;’ alleged Portland shooter is himself fatally shot by federal agents; landlords sue against anti-eviction rules; calls to Suicide Hotline ‘surge.'”

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.

Indigenous art meets Marvel; simple ‘social gatherings’ as COVID spreader events; city rejects Bayer’s PCB-pollution settlement offer; the trouble with ‘helpful’ white people.

Coach Pete Carroll makes an impassioned speech for racial justice; a Portland ‘Proud Boy’ right-wing protester is fatally shot; local COVID infection rates are down a little; so are Seattle rents.