Art installation recalls pre-gentrification Central District; outdoor mask mandate (only) ends next week; city didn’t allocate funds for new SPD hiring bonuses; Amazon’s US employment tops a cool million.

At the Africatown Plaza groundbreaking; why an ‘endemic’ COVID will still be dangerous; Harrell reiterates tough-on-crime rhetoric and revives old tactics; activists claim Amazon algorithms recommend chemicals for use in suicide attempts.

Could public housing replace part of a major Seattle street?; Orcas Island’s got its own housing crisis; COVID cancels, postpones more events; state sues Google over tracking users who don’t want to be tracked.

A recently-restored Central District MLK mural appears on local TV, is defaced soon after; could ‘peak COVID’ be now?; locals wait to hear from loved ones in Tonga; Kraken end a nine-game skid in a shootout.

Author Neal Stephenson defends utopian fiction; COVID-related staff shortages affect schools, bus service, and more; three more state senators test positive; two Cascade passes still closed.

Back to regular (albeit wild) local winter weather and its side effects; school and other COVID test sites reach max capacity; UW researchers’ union drive proceeds; Duwamish Tribe gets a little more land in a community donation.

Heidelberg beer returns to Tacoma; WA hits another record in daily new COVID cases, as many New Year’s Eve events get canceled; our current cold snap may fade away at last.

Photo book recounts the Bertha tunnel project and its many complications; climate change’s role in our current cold snap; “Hoarders” reality-TV creator will work for Bruce Harrell; more proof that music streaming sucks for artists.

Local deep freeze continues; WA COVID cases skyrocket, as King County buys 300,000 home tests; would-be customer lacerates bartender who asked for vax proof; Beacon Hill Garden House saved.

Deep freeze follows snow, with expected impacts; King County COVID cases double in a week; a local law firm may open its own coffee house as it downsizes its offices; WSU football gets a bowl game after all.

Post-Xmas lights (and, oh yeah, the big snow); state sez Amazon won’t let it inspect warehouse safety conditions; PETA tries to deliver coal to Starbucks CEO in an anti-dairy protest; GameWorks stops working.

Longtime local artist Carl Smool’s got a crowdfunding drive; Tim Eyman’s assets to be liquidated; serious cold (and maybe snow) on tap for holiday weekend; state AG Bob Ferguson isolating with COVID, as omicron variant takes hold in western WA.

The ‘revered and reviled saxophonist’ gets an HBO doc; Space Needle fireworks will be back (sort-of); full hospitals can’t send folks to full nursing homes; Bruce Harrell’s niece will be his chief aide.

Trick photos of little cars in full-size places; keep-Sawant votes edge up; five people died after getting thrown out of low-income housing; one more high school can legally keep its Native-derived team name.

More floods attack the hard-hit BC interior; the Crocodile has its third grand opening; a labor group claims Amazon under-reports worker COVID cases; the city settles with Charleena Lyles’ family for $3.5 million.