County Councilmember race-baits a (white) election rival; SPD prepares for firings of unvaxxed cops, while Inslee might impose a private-sector vax mandate; Melinda French Gates joins ‘Forbes 400’ on her own.

The history and possible future of WA’s oil refineries; A Day Without Facebook; some state workers will get a vax-mandate extension; SPD overseers find no official wrongdoing from last summer’s East Precinct abandonment.

Digital studio creates CGI still backdrops for drag and other performers; nonprofits’ troubles holding to diversity pledges; Real Change cofounder’s new ‘street paper’ venture; what it means when local candidates say they’re ‘abolitionist.’

A concept for a ‘car-free Aurora Avenue;’ the state predicts our current bad COVID wave will continue; mayoral candidate Lorena Gonzalez reveals her big homelessness strategy; the Kraken is born.

‘Black Lives Matter’ street mural installed at City Hall; UBC psychologist predicted the pandemic-reaction nonsense in 2019; crowded hospitals again delay non-COVID-related surgeries; Seahawks drop home opener in OT.

Heatwave-decimated snowpacks on Mt. Rainier; King County to require vax proof for many indoor and outdoor public spaces; waiting for the big rain/wind storm to show up; Inscape art studios endangered.

Seattle’s ‘biggest band’ (by number of members) has never all met in person; COVID hospitalizations ‘level off’ at a still-too-high mark; big construction-workers’ strike starts; Macklemore’s golf-themed apparel brand has a pop-up store.

Montlake highway ‘lid’ project to get bigger in nine years; WA hits another cruel COVID mark with over 7,000 deaths; is Rep. Jayapal a cruel boss or a victim of sexist double standards?; how ‘hesitancy’ can be manipulated, exploited.

A Tacoma park’s old storybook statues are up for auction; Cafe Racer’s ready for its re-re-reopening; Microsoft’s keeping office workers at home for ‘the foreseeable future’; and, yes, there’s that grim anniversary.

New nonlinear film explores Billy Tipton’s life and secrets; hospitals overflow with COVID patients again, as local sports teams demand attendees be vaxed; Rep. Jayapal wants to declare Amazon an ‘illegal monopoly.’

Remembering a local icon of cartooning and TV; why one Black activist won’t back Bruce Harrell for mayor; court upholds state ban on forced ‘conversion therapy’ against gays; Pacific Galleries antique mall might be saved.

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.

Historic/kitschy Admiral Benbow Inn to reopen; Inslee mandates masking for all and vaccines for school/college workers; ICUs fill to capacity again with COVID patients; Pike Place Market turns 114.

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.