Captive orca Tokitae dies in Miami; fires scorch parts of Eastern WA while Seattle gets smoke; Julio Rodriguez and Mariners on a massive roll; after a ferry-building contract’s collapse, now what?

Developer wants 3rd Ave to be a pedestrian plaza (no buses); Inslee sued over ‘gender affirming care’ law; wildfires shut down two City Light dams; the Seattle connection to a ‘racial’ (and racist) ‘brain collection’ at the Smithsonian.

Blind painter’s touchable works; heat wave drags on at least one more day; UW report exposes ‘use of force’ incidents at Tacoma ICE jail; state claims O’Reilly Auto Parts discriminated against pregnant workers.

Kamala Harris talks in Seattle (and Dolly Parton in Tacoma); heat wave leads to stage 2 burn ban; ‘quick fix’ to Seattle drug-possession law turned down; the ice cream flavor you never knew you wanted.

Vital, historic African-American art from a sorority’s donated collection; almost every D1 council candidate endorses Megan Costa; new state drug law starts; one threatened north-end tree survives, one doesn’t.

AI-written travel books with bot-posted rave reviews; historic Wedgwood tree saved; ‘stabilization workgroup’ proposes several new city taxes (not all of them legally available); right-wingers want to close one WA county’s only library.

UW bails out of a sinking Pac-12 Conference; Seattle’s ‘urban heat island’ grows; Pierce Co. brush fire destroys nine homes, kills two residents; rival online-psychic networks in a legal dispute.

Museum of Museums closing forever (partly due to faulty plumbing); UW Regents ponder what to do if Pac-12 Conference collapses; City Council approves studying new I-5 lids; my annual defense of the hydroplane races.

Biopic about ’70s eastern-WA musicians whose LP’s ‘discovered’ decades later; updated vote totals don’t change much; short-staffed youth jail teeming with detainees; how rich must you be to buy a Seattle house?

The Kraken and a player’s wife don’t like explicit online sex-talk about the player; few surprises (and few incumbents) in first primary-election returns; Sawant’s rent-control bill fails; WA’s suing to stop ID’s ‘abortion travel ban.’

Three Thai-born Seattle filmmakers get noticed at Cannes; Bellevue finally has a permanent men’s shelter; Harrell announces revised drug-crackdown bill; the Pee-wee Herman legacy.

Fatal fire destroys a former U District theater; a ‘more potent fentanyl’ is now on the streets; the state’s court trial on Amazon-warehouse safety begins; ‘X’ marks the what?

A Ukrainian-born artist’s animations of solidarity; small town holds Pride event despite heavy right-wing opposition; state tries out combo-treatment ‘hubs’ for addictions; Seattle survives combo Canadians/Swifties onslaught.

Ol’ punk pix on a winery’s walls; honoring Bruce Lee on his death anniversary; Inslee vows to probe oil-biz profits; among many other happenings this weekend, a certain singer’s in town.

Seahawks hope to sell lotsa ‘throwback’ jerseys; this year’s Seattle Art Fair to be more local than ever; court says Seattle’s doing too many encampment sweeps without advance notice; in Seattle becoming ‘a trans haven’?