Following the holiday break we catch up with tales of hospital execs who really don’t want Obamacare to get gutted; the BBC discovering Seattle as a hotbed of the Resistance; Amazon’s potential future with driverless trucks; and the welcome, forthcoming return of King Donut-Teriyaki-Laundromat!

Despite the materialistic and/or post-pagan trappings of the season, the oft re-imagined, re-interpreted figure of Jesus remains at the core of our society’s yearly winter-solstice rituals. And he really is a great guy if you separate what he said and did from what some of his supposed followers have said and done.

Meanwhile, in Friday’s news we’ve got a call for an environmental study on a 15-year-old oil pier; big fines against a payday lender; more “youth jail” dispute developments; and the possible peak/slowdown of the overheated local apartment market.

We’re still experiencing the effects of WWII to our region’s environment, and not just at Hanford. Also, as we count down to the solstice, we examine disputed tales of a protest at an Olympia park restroom; a possible alternative mode of housing for at-risk adults; the connection between both would-be arena developers and a former newspaper empire; and the end of one of our fave small-biz combos, King Donut-Teriyaki-Laundromat.

Snow in Seattle is rarely forecast. Those forecasts, in turn, often don’t come true. What will happen this time? Further topics today include a victory (for now) at Standing Rock; a big “March Against Hate;” Airbnb working with the Urban League; another longtime local biz asking for your help; and Husky and Seahawk football blowout wins (albeit the latter with a price).

Howard Schultz, aka The Man Who Sold (Out) the Sonics, will step aside as Starbucks’ CEO. In further news, we peruse UW football’s next step toward a possible trip to Title-town; why remembering the Seattle of old is NOT a futile gesture; potentially huge Seattle school budget cuts; Seattle U’s student-body prez outs himself as “undocumented”; the obscure Seattle past behind a national icon; and scads of weekend events. And we just might have a little snow.

Even if there was the political will to “break up” Amazon, as one group wants, how would that apply to its bookselling operations, and would it do the book biz good or ill? We additionally ramble on about where all our construction dirt goes; an endangered butterfly living at Joint Base Lewis-McChord; memories of the local “sex industry” in the ’40s; and a tour of the Krusteaz pancake-mix factory!

Don’t think of today as a dispute between racial justice and shopping. Think of it as a potential meeting of racial justice and holiday compassion. Also: One of Belltown’s longest-running gourmet eateries threatened; art and music against the new DC regime; and Olympia’s police chief doesn’t like “fracking sand” trains through his town either.

Did Seahawks star Doug Baldwin’s testimony bring the “winning edge” when a state task force voted to make police more liable in deadly-force cases? We’ll never know. But we do know about a City Council budget vote; the potential perils of a Canadian oil pipeline; and a quiet end to one of Seattle’s oldest restaurants.

A new month, and the last week of Campaign 2016, have arrived; and we study little-kid ghost sightings; icky stuff from our road surfaces that gets into our waters; alleged racism in WSU student discipline; two more doomed local bars; and an idea to replace KeyArena with housing.

We say goodbye to John “Buck” Ormsby—a Fabulous Wailers member, a partner in a pioneering artist-owned record label, and one of the inventors of Northwest rock. We also speak of the end of the little cable-news channel that could; racists falsely claiming police support; a new deal for the Public Safety block; and Huskies and Sounders triumphing while Seahawks go pffft.

Ivan, the late discount-store caged gorilla, now stands proud and free as a statue. Among further Thursday topics: Attack ads come to local political races at last; Providence hospitals stop using religion as an excuse to stiff worker pensions; some Sonics Arena opponents still oppose it; and “socially responsible” video games.

Chris Hansen now says he can build a basketball and/or hockey arena without tax $$. Other stuff today:  Google assembles its own e-tail program; more landlords kick out Section 8 tenants; a lawyer turned slam poet; and the Old Spaghetti Factory will serve its last Spumoni in December.

Bill AND Melinda Gates as potential Vice Presidents? Ridiculous. Among our other topics today: our pal Kelly Lyles and her art-van; HALA changes; a high school requesting “pledges” of attendance only from Af-Am students; a game company responding to allegations of “enabling” gambling; and an International District institution threatened.

As the calendar turns a new page into the darker and wetter months, we can’t unsee Jeff Bezos’s (non-pocket) rocket. Plus: the feminist bookstore seen on Portlandia won’t be seen on it anymore; a lesbian pastor at PLU; how to make the police more diverse; good (non-French) press about a coffee genius; and a sorority’s “sacred secrets” get revealed (as if anyone cares).

One of Seattle’s last indie pharmacies will soon reach its expiration date with no refills. We speak as well about a UW minimum-wage analyst’s alleged conflict-O-interest; public schools filled to overflowing (again); Marshawn Lynch talking more about social justice than about his own business ventures; another potential Boeing “tax windfall”; and the Storm season’s sudden end.