The Stranger

Our Favorite Bowls of Hot Soup in Seattle

Julianne Bell — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 16:20:00 -0800

Don’t worry, we’ll start yelling at politicians again soon. by Julianne Bell

It’s cold. Earlier this week we saw a few tiny flurries of snow, even! And while some weather reports suggest we might soon break out of this chilly, mid-40s prison we’ve been locked in, it’ll be by just a few degrees. And probably rainy. It’s the perfect weather for soup. So we took a break from screaming about Trump and City Hall, and switched gears for a minute to appreciate some of our favorite warm and comforting bowls of soup. Don’t worry, we’ll start yelling at politicians again soon.

Isarn’s Chiang Mai

Look, this whole soup is fucked up. The curry noodle soup from Northern Thailand comes out looking like a sculpture, with a nest of fried noodles perched on top of perfectly poached chicken and surrounded by a thick curry broth—creamy and spiced so it feels like it warms you from the inside out. When it’s served, you’ll get three things on the side: raw red onion, chopped pickled veg, and a deep red chili oil. After your first bite, you’ll be tempted to roll up your sleeves and forget about these little treats. Do not be that fool. These bits and bobs are what turn each bite into its own experience. Is your palate feeling a little tired of the richness of the broth? Add a little pickle on top of that spoonful of noodles. Repeat until you see the bottom of the bowl. HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

Situ Tacos’ Soup of the Day

Yes, the Ballard oasis Situ Tacos is primarily known for its fried Lebanese Mexican tacos, but soups are one of owner Lupe Flores’s favorite things to make, and it shows. As the shop’s resident animatronic parrot, Armando, occasionally squawks: “Don’t sleep on the soups…uh, don’t sleep in the soup. Uh, the soup is super!” They rotate weekly, and there’s a meat and veggie option each day, so you might encounter molokhia (Lebanese seven-spice chicken and rice stew), chorizo potato kale, Lebanese veggie stew, fideo con bistec, vegan pozole rojo, zuppa toscana, pumpkin curry, broccoli cheddar, chicken tortilla, or something else altogether. Whatever it is, it’s sure to be soul-soothing and seasoned to perfection—you really can’t go wrong. Get a combo with tangy, crunchy slaw and/or a couple of tacos for dunking. JULIANNE BELL

Halcyon Brewing's Vegan Butternut Bisque

I first happened upon Halcyon Brewing’s vegan butternut bisque by chance. Well, sort of. I was attending Ravenna Brewing Company’s annual “Soup Battle,” where local bars and breweries go head-to-head with their best soups, mostly because my good friend runs the event. Saddled with four delicious soups, I didn’t know where to begin. But Halcyon’s yellow-y orange soup with a swoop of coconut milk and a crack of black pepper on the top beckoned. I finished my bowl. It was sweet, it was savory, and it had a nice kick of spice—the brewery’s homemade chili crisp— that warmed my insides. Something vegan had no right to be so good and so creamy. Everyone at my table agreed that it should take the top prize.The rest of the Soup Battle patrons thought so, too—Halcyon’s vegan butternut bisque won the coveted Golden Ladle. NATHALIE GRAHAM

Pho Than Bros’ Veggie Pho with No Mushrooms and No Cilantro and Extra Broccoli

I’m not about to tell you how to order pho. And I’m not going to try to convince you that Pho Than Bros is the best pho in Seattle, even though every bowl comes with a sweet little custard-stuffed pastry puff. Pho is personal, pho is sacred. How I pho and how you pho can be—and should be!—very different experiences, each one custom-tailored after years of slurping and experimenting and learning the hard way that your sriracha threshold isn’t nearly as high as you thought it’d be. And, at Than Bros, I have perfected my order. I get a small veggie pho with no mushrooms, no cilantro, and extra broccoli, then I load it up with black pepper, a fat ring of hoisin sauce, a delicate squeeze of sriracha, and as many of the bean sprouts that I can manage before my husband says, “Stop taking all the bean sprouts.” I finish it off with a squeeze of lime and dig in.

This isn’t an invitation for you to try what I think is the best pho in Seattle; this is an invitation for you to find your own. But if you’re looking for a place to start, or a change up from your usual, to me, Than Bros is perfect. It’s my happy place. And it comes with a cream puff. MEGAN SELING

Metropolitan Market’s Cioppino

Metropolitan Market’s cioppino has been there for me since I was a child, when my parents would bring home a pint of the hot seafood stew on chilly winter nights when they didn’t feel like cooking. The rich, tomato broth, seasoned with white wine, and filled with a potpourri of shrimp, mussels, salmon, and white fish, will always feel like a luxurious treat, despite coming from a grocery store’s hot food buffet. Considering that cioppino was created as a way for fishermen to use up unsold seafood at the end of the day, I would advise not making it yourself. Not because it’s difficult, but because it will cost you approximately $5 million to buy four types of fresh seafood. Instead, buy a 16-ounce cup from your nearest Metropolitan Market store for a mere $7.39, and buy yourself a nice warm cookie while you're at it. AUDREY VANN

Biang Biang Noodles’ Curry Tofu Dry Mix

Massive Chinese hand-pulled noodles boiled to a perfect chewiness texture, doused in a delectable yellow curry sauce and flavorful broth with chunks of tofu and cabbage, in a bowl so massive you might need two people to finish it. It’s the hearty Asian noodle dish you dream of on a frigid evening. It’s Biang Biang Noodles’ Curry Tofu Dry Mix.

If you’ve been to Biang Biang, you might be thinking, Seriously? This isn’t soup, it’s a quart of hot oil. Well, to that I say: 1) oil is a liquid, and Managing Editor Megan Seling said we could write about “anything served in a bowl that is at least 50 percent liquid,” and (2) this oil is delicious.

Call it soup, call it hot oil, call it a bowl of molten comfort—the Curry Tofu Dry Mix does exactly what the best soups are supposed to. It satisfies your savory tooth and warms you up when the weather’s unforgiving. So if you’re asking me to grab a casual dinner with you on a dreary winter day, gimme those chopsticks and a Chinese soup spoon and find me at Biang Biang. MICAH YIP

Gorditos’ Vegan Pozole

The biggest mistake I’ve made in my life was going to Gorditos for years and only ordering one thing from the menu: A veggie burrito, wet, with a side of chips and salsa. It’s no Veggie Nolasco from Mama’s, but I love it, and I have probably eaten hundreds of them in my 45 years on the planet with zero regrets. Well, zero regrets until one fated day in December. On that day, I was finally turned on to other parts of Gordito’s menu. Did you know they have tacos! And enchiladas! They even serve breakfast! What have I been doing all my life!? And, most importantly on a cold winter’s day such as the ones we’ve been experiencing this week, they have soup. Their current soup is a vegan pozole that is an explosion of flavor in your mouth. A savory red base that tastes not unlike a brothier version of the red sauce they ladle over my beloved burrito is loaded with onions, zucchini, corn, mushrooms, and hominy, which gives each spoonful a toothsome, meaty bite. The broth is salty and rich, in a craveable way, and while eight-ounces with a side of chips is definitely enough to be its own meal, I recommend opting for the four-ounce cup, adding a taco to your order, and then proceeding to use every curved chip in the bag as your spoon. MEGAN SELING

Ooink’s Spicy Vegetarian Miso Ramen

If I am going to pay to eat soup outside of my home, it’s going to be ramen. And the best ramen I’ve found, for a vegetarian such as myself, is from Ooink. There’s a Fremont location, but I can only speak for the Capitol Hill spot—the one in the strip-mall above the lit QFC on Broadway and Pike.

My order is the Spicy Vegetarian Miso Ramen (it can be made vegan, and there’s a version without “spicy” in the title). Not to worry: it has a warm kick, but is not the kind of spice that will make you cough or harsh your tastebuds.

The sturdy buckwheat noodles have just the right amount of tooth, and the miso broth has depth without being too salty or greasy—common traps that many vegetarian broths fall into when trying to overcompensate for something they do not need to overcompensate for. The toppings are correct: a springy pile of kikurage, little heaps of corn and green onions, a few sheets of seaweed, and a handful of happy baby bok choy that are blessedly not soggy and therefore retain a hint of peppery mustard flavor. This ramen also features a pat of melting corn butter, and a subtle sesame dressing drizzled onto the greens. I get mine without the tofu skin, but that’s just a personal preference (or aversion, maybe, that has something to do with its resemblance to, um, the second word there).

The star of the bowl is the house-made chili crisp. I sometimes wait until I absolutely have to stir it in because it’s such a banger taste all on its own; it’s crunchy and a little smoky and a little sweet, and the sesame seeds and spicy peanuts keep it interesting as you make your way to the bottom. Vegetarian ramens can get weird, and feel half-assed, but Ooink’s well-balanced version is the way to do it. EMILY NOKES

Slog AM: Woman Killed by Driver in Capitol Hill Identified, Dog Enters Olympic Skiing, We’re Suing Trump Again

Micah Yip — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 08:58:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Woman Killed By Driver in Capitol Hill Identified: Her name was Lilliana Moreno. On Monday night, the 27-year-old was crossing East Pike Street when she was hit by a car making a right turn from Bellevue Avenue. She was trapped under the car for 20 minutes and died at the scene.

ICE Arrests: According to the Deportation Data Project, ICE arrested 2,000 people in Washington between late-January and mid-October of last year, a 140 percent increase from the same period in 2024. Roughly 47 percent of those arrested had no criminal history.

Seahawks for Sale: Paul G. Allen’s estate has begun the sale process, the team announced on Instagram. Allen’s will directed his sister/estate chair to sell all his sports holdings and donate the proceeds to “philanthropic efforts.” But don’t worry, the team is unlikely to leave the city.

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8 Skiers Dead, 1 Missing: On Tuesday, a deadly avalanche in California overtook a group of 15 skiers and guides in the Sierra Nevadas near Lake Tahoe. Eight are dead and one is missing. Six were rescued and one was still in the hospital last night. An avalanche warning was issued Tuesday morning. Authorities are investigating the decision to proceed anyway.

College (Re)Bound: After a pandemic-era decline, community college enrollment in Washington has rebounded. New data from the Washington Student Achievement Council shows a 7.5 percent increase in community college enrollment between 2024 and 2025. Four-year universities aren’t so lucky—undergrad enrollment only rose 1 percent last year, and actually declined 7.5 percent among first-term freshmen.

We’re Suing Trump Again: Attorney General Nick Brown and 14 other state attorneys general are suing the federal government for decimating clean energy programs created and funded by Congress. Trump is not supposed to do that!

Weather: It’s COLD! It’ll be mostly cloudy with a high near 40 and there’s a slight chance of rain and snow before 1 p.m. Tonight will also be cloudy with a low of 27.

Underdog: I have very little interest in the Winter Olympics. The only real clip I’ve watched is of this dog crashing a cross-country skiing course to join two skiers crossing the finish line. And really, it’s the only clip I need.

Ex-Prince Arrested: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested today on suspicion of misconduct in public office for allegedly sharing confidential documents with Jeffrey Epstein. The former prince was stripped of his titles in October for his association with the convicted sex offender.

Put it On My Card: Actually, don’t—I don’t want to pay extra. Starting March 1, you’ll be charged a 3 percent fee when you use a credit or debit card to pay for a Washington State Ferry fare. Added in the 2025-26 state transportation budget, the new fee is meant to offset the cost of processing card payments. Officials estimate it’ll bring in $7.4 million over the next two years.

Lunar New Year Began Tuesday: Looking to celebrate? Here’s EverOuts’ list of Lunar New Year events around the city.

Ramadan Also Began Tuesday: WBUR’s Here & Now put out this segment yesterday on the importance of the date fruit when breaking the fast, and follows reporter Hana Baba as she shops for Ramadan and talks with other Muslims about the date.

Slog AM: ICE Out of MN, Seattle Hosts Big-Ass Parade, Bondi Snubs Epstein Survivors

Micah Yip — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 09:20:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Thank Fuck: After two months of federal officers terrorizing, brutalizing, arresting, and killing people in Minneapolis, the Trump administration will end its “largest immigration enforcement operation ever,” border czar Tom Homan announced today. Homan touted the whole operation as a win that leaves Minnesota safer, “less of a sanctuary state for criminals.” A win? After two months of arresting more than 4,000 people, killing Alex Pretti and Renee Good, causing mass protests? The surge leaves Minnesota shaken, not safer. And though that operation is ending, immigration enforcement will continue, Homan pledged.

A Big-Ass Parade: I don’t give a fuck about football. But I have to say, the Seahawks’ massive party downtown yesterday sounded pretty sick. The team was paraded down Fourth Avenue in big military transport trucks, starting near Lumen Field and ending near the Space Needle, as an estimated 750,000 to 1 million cheered them on. People of all ages came from all over the state, with some claiming spots on the street the night before.

We Posted Some Rad Photos on Our Instagram Yesterday: Check ‘em out.

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DwTF (Down With the Fence): Remember when the city fenced off Seven Hills Park in September due to homeless encampments? That park will finally reopen on February 26, park department officials said at a community meeting Tuesday night. There are plans for a new sign, “human and hound fitness installations” (which sound suspiciously furry-coded), and a little facelift, fixing infrastructure and trimming trees. Why they couldn’t do that while keeping the space open is a mystery. It’s not like the fence kept people out, meeting attendees said.

Gallup Gallops Away: From tracking presidential approval ratings, that is. Gallup announced yesterday that after 88 years, it will no longer measure presidential approval. The switch comes as President Donald Trump continues throwing temper tantrums over any media outlet/poll/person/anything that’s less than fawning, reality be damned (Trump’s Gallup approval rating fell to 36 percent in December). Still, Gallup insisted its decision was “solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.” It sucks though — the Gallup Presidential Approval Rating is one of the most cited measurements of public opinion on presidents since Harry Truman was in office, The Guardian reported.

Gallup Has Scaled Back for Trump Before: In 2017, Gallup went from daily to weekly presidential approval tracking. A year later, they went down to monthly.

If you saw today's headline that Gallup will stop measuring presidential approval, they did the same thing in 2018. They do it whenever Trump is president.

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— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 11:27 AM

Two Actors Died: James Van Der Beek, known for his roles in Dawson’s Creek and Varsity Blues, died yesterday morning after battling stage 3 colorectal cancer. He was 48. Bud Cort, known for starring in Harold and Maude, also died yesterday after a long illness. He was 77.

Weather: Mostly cloudy with a high of 53. The sun will slowly break through as the day progresses. Tonight, temps will drop to a low of 43. There’s a 30 percent chance of rain.

Pam Bondi’s Testimony: Attorney General Pam Bondi hurled insults and dodged questions at yesterday’s House Judiciary hearing on her mishandling of the Epstein files. The stand out moment was when Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked Epstein’s victims in the audience to stand and raise their hands if they had not been able to get an appointment with the DOJ. All of them did.

This photo of Attorney General Pam Bondi looking down after the Epstein survivors in the room were asked to raise their hands if the current Justice Department has failed to speak with them is some fine photojournalism.

AP Photo by Tom Brenner.

Story: www.mississippifreepress.org/bondi-clashe...

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— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 8:11 AM

What I Learned About Bondi from The Atlantic’s New Article: (1) Earlier in life, she was allegedly once so kindhearted she earned the nickname “Pambi,” like “Bambi.” (2) Foreshadowing her transformation from Pambi to MAGA ghoul, she once refused to return a dog she adopted to its rightful family, even after the four-year-old grandson begged her to. She instead hired a lawyer and accused the family of abusing the dog. (3) She has called reporters crying and begging them not to publish stories about her. There’s a lot more you should read.

This is some genuinely psycho shit...

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— brian pillion (@anaphoristand.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 12:02 PM

Amtrak Death: An Amtrak train on route from Portland to Seattle struck and killed a person south of Tukwila at about 9 p.m. Wednesday evening. Nobody on the train was injured.

Jaahnavi Kandula: The city will pay a $29 million settlement to the family of Jaahnavi Kandula, the 23-year-old graduate student from India struck and killed by a speeding Seattle officer Kevin Dave at a South Lake Union crosswalk in 2023. Dave was going 50 miles over the speed limit. He was cited for negligent driving, paid a $5,000 fine, and subsequently fired from the department, but was never criminally charged. The Seattle Times has the story.

False Alarm: Or should I say “False Package”? Yesterday, the 1 Line’s Lynnwood City Center Station closed around 5 p.m. while authorities responded to a report of a “suspicious package.” Riders were asked to leave the station and the King County Sheriff’s Office dispatched its K-9 bomb detection unit to the scene. But they didn’t find anything, and the station reopened about an hour later.

To the woman I saw belting “Pink Pony Club” on a Lime scooter late Sunday night in Capitol Hill, this one’s for you:

Social Housing, Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You

Micah Yip — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:45:00 -0800

After three years, two ballot measures and Tuesday’s City Council vote, Seattle is one step closer to being a more affordable city. by Micah Yip

After three years, two ballot measures and Tuesday’s City Council vote, Seattle is one step closer to being a more affordable city.

On Tuesday night, House Our Neighbors hosted an event featuring Mayor Katie Wilson, announcing the organization will be receiving $115 million through a voter-approved tax to build and buy buildings for affordable public housing. Rent is tied to the resident’s income. And because the buildings are mixed income, wealthier residents subsidize the cost. Earlier that day, City Council voted to turn on the tap, unanimously passing the interlocal agreement for the collection and disbursement of the funds between the city and the Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD).

“There is a lot of wealth in the city, and we continue to have one of the most regressive tax systems in the country, in the state,” said Wilson. “And it is very gratifying to know that we’re going to be able to use a little bit of that wealth and put it to work building housing.”

February must be a lucky month for housing in Seattle. In February 2023, Seattle voters passed I-135, which basically asked Seattle voters, “Hey, do you want us to form a social housing developer?” and Seattle said “yes.”

Then, in February last year, the city presented voters with two options to fund social housing: Prop 1A, a 5 percent tax on companies for each employee making more than $1 million per year; or Prop 1B, which wouldn’t create a new tax, but siphon $10 million per year from the Jumpstart payroll tax for only five years. Seattle passed Prop 1A.

SSHD’s interim CEO Tiffani McCoy announced that an estimated 170 companies in the city are subject to the tax, $115 million in the 2025 fiscal year—a figure far greater than the original estimate of $50 million.

Social housing is a new concept in Seattle, deviating from our profit-driven housing market that’s widely inaccessible for low- and middle-income people. Rents are meant to remain permanently affordable, with a target goal of around 30 percent of a person’s income. And it’s been successfully implemented in places like Vienna, Austria, Finland and Singapore. In the United States, only Seattle and Montgomery County, Maryland have taken the leap.

“Our main objective isn’t profit and we’re not determined by the markets that other, private landlords are,” SSHD spokesperson Lilly Fowler told The Stranger.

Maybe you’re wondering if you can be one of those hundreds benefitting from social housing this year. You could be, if you make anywhere up to 120 percent of the area’s median income (AMI). Fowler says they estimate the first building will open in about six months. You can register to stay updated here.

“In a moment when housing costs continue to rise and displacement pressures remain real, social housing is going to give us a tool that can match the scale of the problem,” Wilson said.

Correction: This article has been updated since publication. We incorrectly stated the Seattle Social Housing Developer hosted the event, when it was House Our Neighbors. We also stated that the city had collected $115 million in the last month of 2025. It had begun collecting funds from the 2025 tax year last month (January 2026). We also inaccurately stated that rent for these buildings would be capped at 30 percent. The target is around 30 percent of a tenant's income, but it's not legally mandated. We regret the errors.

Rivera Introduces Bill to Protect Immigration Information

Micah Yip — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:05:00 -0800

Unfortunately, nothing in government is simple. While police are regulated under state law, local law, and department policy, there’s still a conflict between city code and state law Rivera’s bill does not address. by Micah Yip

Councilmember Maritza Rivera has done something right.

This morning, the Public Safety Committee passed her bill that protects immigrants from our own municipal code. It strikes language that says city employees (including police) must “cooperate with, not hinder” federal immigration enforcement, and adds a section clarifying that they are not to share personal information with federal immigration agencies, either.

Yay! Thanks, Rivera!

Unfortunately, nothing in government is that simple. While police are regulated under state law, local law, and department policy, there’s still a conflict between city code and state law Rivera’s bill does not address.

Let’s start with the language repeal. Rivera’s bill removes that “cooperation” line, which originated in 1986 from an initiative passed by Seattle voters (what the hell, ’80s Seattle voters!). Excellent first step. Rivera’s bill also creates a new section in the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) blocking city employees and officers from sharing personal information—like someone’s address, phone number or social media handle—for immigration enforcement, except if required by a court order. Good second step.

Both changes align city code with state laws like the 2019 Keep Washington Working (KWW) Act and the 2020 Courts Open to All (COTA) Act, which place information collection and sharing restrictions on local law enforcement, judges, court personnel and prosecutors. The bill also aligns the city code with the city code. In 2003, a “don’t ask” policy was added to the SMC—city employees can’t ask about someone’s immigration status.

Except officers if they have “reasonable suspicion” that (1) a person has been previously deported, (2) that person is again in the United States and (3) they’ve committed or are committing a felony.

SPD has its own policies separate from, but governed by, city and state law. According to Council Central Staff, the department has “chosen to enact a policy” for immigration situations that is “quite a bit narrower and does not contemplate any of the criteria” described in current city or state law. Even though there is a discrepancy, SPD tells its officers, “Just don’t ask.”

It’s unclear enough that Councilmember Eddie Lin abstained.

“I don’t want to hold up the important bill and good work that you brought forward, Councilmember Rivera,” he said. “But it just seems like there’s still a bit of confusion, at least in my mind.”

Rivera acknowledged the shortfalls. She said KWW likely overrides the SMC code, but said they’d need to do further legal analysis before amending that section. She was adamant—passionate, even—that the bill should still be passed.

“One doesn’t preclude the other, so we can move this bill forward,” Rivera said. “[We can] take this what I deem to be an important step, all while then having the conversations about what else.”

The bill passed, with Rivera, Committee Chair Bob Kettle and Vice Chair Rob Saka voting yes. Councilmember Debora Juarez was absent. It’ll go before the full City Council at the February 17 meeting.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated that SPD policies undermine Rivera’s bill. The language of SPD policy, the Seattle Municipal Code, and Washington State Law conflict, but SPD policy will be expected to conform to changes in the municipal code.

Slog AM: Homan Pulls Out, Anti-Trans Hate Crime Trial, Harris Returns?

Micah Yip — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 09:55:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Pullout Game Weak: Border Czar Tom Homan is withdrawing a quarter of the immigration officers in Minnesota in exchange for immigrants in the state’s jails. Roughly 2,000 agents and officers will continue to Surge the Metro.

Big Brother: The Washington State Senate passed a bill to regulate automated license plate readers yesterday. Cops use ALPRs like those made by the company Flock Safety to grab plate numbers from passing vehicles, data they sometimes share with feds hunting immigrants and abortion seekers. A University of Washington report last year found that at least eight local law enforcement agencies shared their ALPR data with Border Patrol. The House will take up the bill later this month.

The FloodGates Open: The latest Epstein drop included a curious email ol’ Jeff sent to himself about computer man Bill Gates. The email implied Gates contracted an STI from Epstein’s “Russian girls,” and had asked Epstein for antibiotics for his then wife Melinda French Gates, in case he passed it on to her. Gates denied this Wednesday. The day before, his now ex-wife French Gates told NPR the email stirred up “very, very painful times in [her] marriage.”

Shooting Victims Identified: We now know the names of the high schoolers shot and killed in South Seattle last Friday: Traveiah Houfmuse, 17, and Malik Stewart, 18. Police haven’t made any arrests. Houfmuse and Stewart were shot standing at a bus stop near South Shore K-8 and Rainier Beach High School.

Hate Crime Trial: Andre Karlow is in court for allegedly beating a trans woman in the University District last March with a group of other men, bruising the victim and breaking her teeth. Another trans woman Karlow attacked while at her Sound Transit job in 2024 will testify against him today.

This Group Beatings Was Part of a Pattern: As Vivian reported last year, the Seattle area saw a spate of men in groups viciously attacking trans women. The county’s bias crimes prosecutor told Vivian at the time: “I don’t have any other category, I don’t have any other protected status, I don’t have any other marginalized group that is being attacked in this pattern, in this egregious way where a group joins in.”

Weather: The day started very Twilight, but the lifting fog has shifted the vibe to a sunny 10 Things I Hate About You, with a high near 60.

Kamala Harris Faked Me Out: Former Vice President Kamala Harris posted this cryptic clip yesterday:

pic.twitter.com/SuJgYZ64XV
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) February 4, 2026

I thought she was going to announce her campaign for California governor or something. I was wrong. Under the updated handle, a new video of Harris was posted, where she announced the account will now be a “new Gen-Z led progressive content hub.” …That’s it? Harris flubs the election, disappears for a year, and comes back with new social handles and “content”?

Welcome to Headquarters, the new Gen-Z led progressive content hub. pic.twitter.com/7EQyz3DFpd
— HQ (@headquarters_67) February 5, 2026

Oops: Washington’s decision to tax digital ads, IT, temp staffing, and live presentations is screwing over the K-12 schools that depend on them. Highline School District alone is facing a $500,000 loss tied to one special education staff contract. The Leg is working on a solution to either partially or fully exempt schools.

Can You People Do Anything?: The spineless Democrats backed off their promise to unmask ICE. At a press conference yesterday, House and Senate Minority Leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer said agents could wear masks in "extraordinary and unusual circumstances.” What those are we do not know. They’ll lay out their formal demands today.

Annoying: Republicans in Olympia held a hate-filled “listening session” on the two conservative ballot initiatives to ban trans girls from school sports and hand over kids’ school counseling records in the name of parent’s rights. Those who spoke shared Republican-friendly, hateful views.

Florida Man Campaigns for Governor on Tinder: Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback is “[meeting] young female voters where they are,” on Tinder. He claims to have matched with 2,000 potential voters before Tinder banned him, which was, of course, “ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”

I’ve joined @Tinder to meet young female voters where they are, and share my plan to make it easier for them to get married, buy a home, and raise a family. pic.twitter.com/9y2VgP7is2
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) February 2, 2026

Here’s Some Music:

Julie Kang Is Running for City Council District 5

Micah Yip — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:00:00 -0800

Immigrant and advocate Julie Kang thinks she's the best City Council candidate for Seattle's "neglected child," District 5. But can she make up her mind on how she'd handle surveillance, homelessness and policing? by Micah Yip

Julie Kang slid a small plastic bag across the table at the downtown library coffee shop. It was an ICE alert kit containing a whistle and a short pamphlet, the kind she helps assemble with Common Power every Friday.

“It’s one thing to share information,” she says. “But I really think it’s important for us to be leaders and not just be bystanders.”

Kang, a Korean American immigrant and the cochair of the King County Immigrant and Refugee Commission, is running for Seattle City Council District 5, which stretches from the bay west of Broadview to Lake Washington on the east, with I-5 running down the middle, and hasn’t had an elected representative since Cathy Moore resigned last year, one year into her term. Longtime District 5 councilmember Debora Juarez stepped in to take Moore’s place. Just when we thought she was gone for good.

Where Kang fits in on the spectrum of Juarez and Moore isn’t totally clear. She’s never held elected office before. She’s resting on the laurels of her decades of education work, advocacy, and community organizing, as well as her lived experience and “take action” spirit—that all makes her the best candidate to lead what she called the “neglected child” district.

But it didn’t seem like she could make up her mind. In our interview, Kang saw both sides so often I couldn’t always tell where she stood on surveillance cameras, homelessness, and law enforcement. She insisted councilmembers must take in all sides, all data, and all stories before making a decision. Really, Kang, all sides?

So far, two other people have filed in this race: Silas James, an unknown, and Nilu Jenks, who ran for the position in 2023 and is Kang’s biggest competition so far. But Kang’s betting her behind-the-scenes civic work will matter more than Jenks’s name recognition.

To go from community organizer to councilmember, Kang will have to adapt and work hard. She’s no stranger to either.

Kang and her mother came to the US from Korea when she was 7 years old. They were poor. Her mother made ends meet making computer chips on assembly lines in Los Angeles. They never left the city, but hopped from apartment to apartment 23 times in 11 years.

In college, Kang became her family’s breadwinner. She entered a career in education—first as a paraeducator, then as a classroom teacher. She was 20.

“I couldn’t get a glass of wine or a beer, but I was given 32 children to teach Spanish,” she jokes.

Kang kept learning. She earned a masters in education, a doctorate in philosophy. Most recently, she held directorial roles at Seattle University and the University of Washington. And she’s had her fingers in lots of advocacy pies like leading the Korean American Coalition of Washington or being on the King County Citizens’ Election Oversight Committee.

She’s smart and determined, but does that mean she’d be good on the city council? Great question.

Kang’s priorities are what you’d expect: more housing, better transit, public safety, community engagement, and protection against ICE. That’s all well and good if she can back it up.

For instance, Kang wants to figure out how to manage the intersection of homelessness, public safety, and small business ownership, that familiar throuple from hell. So, when it comes to something like the tent city in Lake City, Kang says she supports it, but she’s also weighing the perspectives of small business owners who don’t want unhoused folks outside their storefronts.

“I think humans, our unhoused neighbors, have to be the center of decision-making,” Kang says. “But I am working out who is working in the best interest of unhoused and small business owners.” She didn’t know how she’d manage that.

Kang says she’s excited about the recent expansion of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department, the city’s alternative public safety response. She says homeless people shouldn’t be swept without the city connecting them to resources and a place to go, which the city already often does.

Her other worries include empty storefronts in North Seattle and grocery stores packing up and leaving the area a food desert. She’s floated ideas like small-business rental vouchers to help retailers with startup costs. She believes mixed-use development, with stores on the ground floor and housing above, should be easier to build.

That housing? She wants more of it. “As an immigrant, we aspire to have secure housing, and that’s what we should aim for for everyone,” Kang says. “We all should have a roof over our head and not worry about, ‘Do we have to move next year because my rent is going to increase?’” She didn’t have a plan to manage that, either.

But housing is nothing without solid transit infrastructure. District 5 doesn’t have that, she says. The district has two light rail stations—Northgate and 148th Street—and a third planned station at 130th Street. But neither side of the district has an easy route to get to them; she’s led walking groups to test them. Parking is limited. Bus routes don’t line up.

“How can we not get rid of bus lines, but add to the bus lines, so we can all get there?” she asks. She doesn’t yet have an answer.

On the topic of Aurora Avenue—mainly the Seattle Police Department’s CCTV surveillance program—Kang has opinions, but is cautious, again, of both sides. The CCTV is a growing concern among Seattleites, immigrant rights organizations, and public officials who know the Feds could subpoena the data for immigration enforcement. Kang agrees: expanding data collection at a moment when ICE is unleashing terror across the US isn’t safe.

“At this point, I’m not interested in collecting data for it to be available or forcibly handed over. I’m not,” Kang says firmly.

But she also won’t dismiss the concerns of small business owners who say the cameras make the streets feel safer.

“People wanted it, so I think at the same time, we do have to consider the input and desires of our constituents,” she says.

It’s a similar story for her on SOAP and SODA, the “Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution” and “Stay Out of Drug Areas” zones put forward by Republican City Attorney Ann Davison. Kang says she was hesitant when council first passed the zones in 2024, and still leans toward opposing them. But then again, she says that as a councilmember, she’d have to consider other perspectives and data that might conflict with her opinion. That includes “positive” data, like from the Chinatown International District, where SOAP/SODA have been implemented as well.

If Kang becomes a councilmember, constituents can expect her to collect data, see all sides, and consider the “sociopolitical context” ad nauseum before making a decision. Expect to hear from the dais, “I think XYZ, but at the same time, XYZ” a lot. Expecting her to take a hard stance, however, could take time. For now, she insists she’s a “doer.”

Slog AM: Liam Conejo Ramos is Sick, State Senators Vote to Lower BAC Limit, 12saquah Returns

Micah Yip — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Liam Conejo Ramos, the five-year-old taken by ICE in Minneapolis, is sick behind bars, according to his school’s superintendent. Liam reportedly is vomiting, feverish, experiencing stomach pain, and doesn’t want to eat, his mother told the superintendent. All this is due to the abysmal conditions and bug-infested food at the South Texas Family Residential Center, where Liam is being held with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. The father and son entered the country legally.

Mask Off: Law enforcement officers in Washington state may soon have to show their faces while performing public duties. Yesterday, a bill banning face coverings for on-duty officers advanced out of the state Senate. The Democrat-backed substitute Senate Bill 5855 is meant to unmask masked federal agents in Washington state. Federal authority takes precedence over states. Enforcing the law could be difficult, possibly rendering it useless, reports the Seattle Times.

Want to Support Minneapolis Protests? These 30+ Seattle businesses are donating their proceeds to support restaurants in Minneapolis participating in a nationwide economic blackout tomorrow to protest ICE.

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Trump Insults Denmark, Part Infinity: On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Denmark removed the 44 Danish flags placed in planters outside the building meant to honor 44 Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan (about 9,500 Danish troops were sent to Afghanistan). Danish veterans placed them there after President Trump, fixated on taking control of the semiautonomous Danish territory of Greenland, said in a recent interview that the US “never needed” the country’s help. A State Department spokesperson claims there was no ill intent—just regular, post-demonstration maintenance.

Weather: It’s kinda rainy, pretty gray, about 50 degrees…what more is there to know?

Buzzed: The state might lower its legal blood alcohol concentration limit for Washington drivers from 0.08% to 0.05%. Yesterday, the state Senate passed SB5067—the result of a years-long effort by Democratic Senator John Lovick, a former state trooper and county sheriff. If the House passes the bill, Washington would lower the threshold on July 1. The only other state with such a low legal limit is Utah, but from a global perspective, 0.05% isn’t low at all. Last year, The Stranger conducted a semi-scientific experiment using alcohol and Mario Kart 64 to test the difference between the current limit and Lovick’s limit.

A vacant lot in West Seattle could become a “religious-controlled emergency transitional housing site.” A proposal submitted to the city on January 16 includes space for 20 tiny homes and parking for up to 72 recreational vehicles. The Low Income Housing Institute would operate the site. District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka says it’ll be a “common-sense solution to help bring people indoors.” A formal permit application needs to be filed before any actual change happens.

12saquah: That’s what Issaquah Mayor Mark Mullet has officially renamed the city 12saquah—a nod to “the 12s” nickname for Seahawks fans—to honor the Seahawks return to the Superbowl. Issaquah changed its name to 12saquah in 2015, the last time the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl.

The Broadview Six: The six protesters who blocked an ICE vehicle outside an immigration processing facility last fall were charged with federal conspiracy during Operation Midway Blitz, the massive ICE operation in Chicago. Yesterday, their attorneys argued to keep evidence in their case public, against prosecutors' proposed protective order that would limit access to discovery materials. The defense argued that growing national scrutiny of ICE warrants the materials to be public, and that secrecy makes little sense in a case centered on protest, policing and free speech. The judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to preserve five days of surveillance footage from the Broadview ICE facility surrounding the protest. The case is headed to trial this spring.

Tech So Bad Even Techies Are Worried: Amazon has been dumping billions of dollars into its artificial intelligence infrastructure. Worker advocacy group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice issued an open letter to the company, saying employees are worried that the company’s push for energy-guzzling AI push is detrimental to its goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. “The AI race is widening this gap,” read the letter.

This song has been stuck in my girlfriend’s head, which means it’s been stuck in my head, which means I must pass it on to you. Sorry or you’re welcome.

Slog AM: ICE Detained 5-Year-Old Near Minneapolis, Chicago Children’s Hospital Pauses Trans Care, Anti-ICE Protester Arrested for Disrupting Church Service

Micah Yip — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 09:58:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

ICE Detains a 5-Year-Old near Minneapolis: And tried to use him as bait to catch his family. On Tuesday, Liam Conejo Ramos had just been picked up from school when masked agents apprehended him and his father in the driveway. MPR reported that another adult living at the house begged agents to let the boy stay. The agents then marched Liam up to the door and made him knock, hoping this would lure his family members out of the house. Nobody answered the door, and ICE took Liam and his dad away. Their lawyer thinks they’re in a family holding cell in Texas, but isn’t entirely sure. Liam is one of four students in the same school district north of Minneapolis that have been detained by ICE over the last two weeks.

ICE at Our Own Schools: Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is dealing with the aftermath of at least six schools sheltering-in-place Tuesday after unconfirmed reports of ICE activity in South Seattle. At last night’s school board meeting, half a dozen parents, teachers and community members spoke about how stressful that day was. Interim Superintendent Fred Podesta said district policy tells principals when they should order a shelter-in-place, which has worked well for local law enforcement activity. But federal law enforcement? Folks were having to make decisions on the basis of unconfirmed information and little risk assessment. Podesta thinks SPS hasn’t given its school leaders the tools needed to deal with ambiguous ICE reports, and they’re going to correct that. It’s unclear how the district will correct that.

More Local ICE Stuff: The feds have a plan to expand Tacoma’s Northwest ICE Processing Center, adding five courtrooms, airport services for deportation, and 60 additional beds for detainees. It hasn’t been approved yet.

Open Up: For years, legal aid groups have advised immigrants not to open the door for ICE unless agents have a warrant signed by a judge. But according to a May 2025 memo obtained by the Associated Press, ICE claims it doesn’t need a warrant and can forcibly enter certain homes. The memo permits ICE to enter based only on a narrow administrative warrant for a final order of removal. But without the judicial warrant, the arrest is unconstitutional, as it violates the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unlawful search and seizure. But ICE has been violating the Fourth Amendment for years, so this memo just validates that.

Minneapolis Church ICE Protester Arrested: On Sunday, activist and civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong led a protest to disrupt service at Cities Church, where one of the pastors is also a local ICE official. Now, she’s been arrested, according to an X post by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, writing, “WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.” It’s unclear what crime Levy Armstrong has been charged with, but the Justice Department has said they’re considering prosecuting her under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits physically interfering with a person seeking reproductive services or trying to participate at a house of worship.

‘Catch of the Day’: That’s what the feds have named their newest ICE operation in Maine. Yesterday, the Associated Press reported a surge of ICE arrests in the state, stoking fear in larger cities likePortland and Lewiston. Maine doesn’t have a large undocumented population, but it does have thousands of African refugees, particularly from Somalia, who’ve been targeted by this administration. Portland’s mayor, Mark Dion, said the city council stands with their immigrant communities, and citizens have formed ICE alert networks.

Chicago Hospital Pauses Trans Youth Care: Housing one of the oldest gender-affirming care programs in the nation, Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital won’t issue new prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormones to children and teens. The switch comes less than a week after the Trump administration announced Lurie, along with five other hospitals, including Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Oregon, was being referred for an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services. A Chicago trans advocacy group called the hospital’s decision “pre-compliance,” pointing out that no funding had yet been pulled.

Kidfluencers: State Rep. Kristine Reeves wants to prevent another Ruby Franke (the Utah family vlogger who ran the popular YouTube channel “8 Passengers” before being arrested for severe child abuse) in Washington. She’s sponsored House Bill 2400, which would establish legal protections for child influencers, like trust accounts for their earnings and the ability to remove their content from the internet once they become adults. Think of them like Hollywood’s child actors, Reeves said: these kids are working and deserve the same protections from exploitation and long hours.

FEMA Flood Aid: Yesterday, Gov. Bob Ferguson asked the Trump administration for $21.3 million in FEMA assistance to help people whose homes were damaged by last month’s flooding. If Ferguson’s request is granted, the program would provide up to $43,600 for housing, repairs, and other needs. But it could take months. Though Trump did approve FEMA search-and-rescue help in the immediate aftermath of the floods in December, the President likes to withhold aid from blue states.

2 Line: A Seattle Times reporter joined South Transit and Mayor Katie Wilson for a practice trip on the new 2 Line across Lake Washington. Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine said the route connecting the International District to Bellevue will open this spring. Officials will share the launch date tomorrow.

Key Takeaways From Trump’s Davos Speech: Trump is obsessed with Greenland, and droned on about how the US needs the semiautonomous Danish territory for national and international security because Denmark is too weak to protect it. He claimed he wouldn’t use force to take Greenland, but the man’s a known liar. He said some other annoying shit, which you can read about here.

A Reminder That It’s Thursday. We’re almost to the weekend, guys. Hang in there. This morning, we’ll see freezing fog, before a chilly day with sun and clouds. KUOW reported that yesterday was Seattle’s ninth straight day without rain, and it looks like we’re going into our 10th. The high will be 42 degrees and the low will be 33.

Now, a word from Megan:

Don’t Forget to Send Us Your Valentines! We’re filling our February issue (on stands February 4!) with hundreds of your love notes! Just head over to thestranger.com/valentines and spill your heart in 150 characters or less and we’ll put it in the pages of The Stranger! For FREE! But you gotta hurry. Only the first 500 entries are guaranteed to appear in the paper, and submissions must be received by 5 pm on Friday, January 23, for possible inclusion. And new this year: The first 20 people to purchase a new one-year subscription to the print edition of The Stranger can get a super-sized valentine! Just buy your subscription here, and then forward your receipt to valentines@thestranger.com using the same email address you used when submitting your valentine message, and we'll display your message in larger font with an extra cute design! Cuuuute!

City Council Hears Public Comment on Police Violence at Cal Anderson

Micah Yip — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:08:00 -0800

New bodycam video brought eight people to the public comment period at yesterday’s City Council meeting. Six of them were at the protest that day. Some said they were brutalized and arrested, or had witnessed police violence at the park. All voiced anger over the city’s nonhandling of the matter. by Micah Yip

Last Memorial Day weekend, far-right Christian supremacist group Mayday USA used Cal Anderson Park as their own house of worship for a flamboyant event they advertised as a battle in the spiritual war against “child butchers” and demonic forces (queer people and progressivism, respectively).

Hundreds showed up in nonviolent protest, but were met with a very violent Seattle Police Department (SPD). This week, bodycam footage, obtained through a public records request and shared on social media, revealed the cops’ intent to inflict violence on the protesters that day. In the video, Officer Matthew Didier can be heard riling up his fellow cops, saying, “We’re here to fuck people up now,” and “We’re going in this time with guns blazing and all our pieces in place.”

That video brought eight people to the public comment period at yesterday’s City Council meeting. Six of them were at the protest that day. Some said they were brutalized and arrested, or had witnessed police violence at the park. All voiced anger over the city’s nonhandling of the matter.

Over the past year, the city has conducted investigations of that day’s police violence. During the six-hour protest, 23 people were thrown to the ground, cuffed and arrested—all of whom were protesters.

An SPD spokesperson told The Stranger that the video was part of an internal review and Sentinel Event Review conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Quattrone Center, which they said was “a form of proactive accountability designed to help police departments increase professionalism, safety, and public trust.” The department did not confirm whether or not the video would result in any disciplinary action.

According to a letter sent last Thursday by the Seattle LGBTQ Commission to City Council, the mayor’s office, and media outlets, including The Stranger, nearly all of the investigations into the 28 separate allegations against 13 officers have been completed. But the Commission said just two allegations were sustained against one officer, who only received a written reprimand as discipline.

During public comment, Andrew Ashiofu, a commissioner on the LGBTQ Commission and former City Council candidate, called SPD’s actions that day “state-sanctioned violence,” and urged accountability.

“Seattle prides itself on being a progressive city, yet whenever it comes to LGBTQIA+ safety and representation, we remain reactive instead of protective,” Ashiofu said. “We wait for harm, for crisis, for headlines, and only then do we respond.”

Another commenter, Gabriel Diaz, played the audio of Didier’s statements into the microphone before describing how, during the protest, cops tackled him from behind, restrained his arms and punched him repeatedly in the head and ribs while he yelled “I’m a medic” over and over.

“We need to make sure these officers are held accountable for the harm caused to the community, not just swept under the rug as happens time and time again, specifically to our trans and queer communities,” Diaz said.

Kelsey and Jay Burns described how they were beaten and arrested at the protest. They both said they spent the weekend in jail, concussed and without medical care, despite Jay’s vomiting and inability to move from the cell floor.

“My expectations are that, without public pressure or action from this council, that this type of behavior will continue unchecked,” Kelsey said. “As we have seen repeatedly, the police will not hold themselves accountable.”

Alexander Dean said he was thrown to the ground after running to help a young woman being pepper sprayed by a cop. “Matt Didier decided that he was gonna go in and have people fuck us up, and so they fucked us up,” Dean said. “I don’t get how that is acceptable.”

After the public comment period, Councilmember Bob Kettle addressed commenters as chair of the Public Safety Committee. He said he’s committed to working with his committee and police accountability partners on the Cal Anderson report and following up with SPD and Chief Shon Barnes.

“We have a responsibility in our Public Safety Committee and in this council to do the oversight and bring to the fore that report,” Kettle said.

But City Council has failed to act on police accountability time and time again—most recently, by approving the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild’s (SPOG) contract in December that sorely lacked accountability measures. Then-Council President Sara Nelson and Councilmembers Bob Kettle, Dan Strauss, Joy Hollingsworth, Martiza Rivera, and Debora Juarez voted to approve the contract while Councilmembers Rob Saka, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, and Eddie Lin voted against it.

New City Councilmember Dionne Foster released a statement last week, saying she was “disturbed” by the footage and Didier’s comments, and called for transparency and the quick release of the final report.

“Seattle residents have a fundamental constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly,” Foster said in the statement. “Policing decisions at protests must be guided by de-escalation, clear standards, and accountability.”

New City Council Handles Its First Protest

Micah Yip — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:00:00 -0800

Protesters demanded the city investigate and hold ICE accountable, end cooperation between Seattle and ICE, and defend Seattle’s status as a sanctuary city. by Micah Yip

Jonathan Toledo was done waiting. He was going to schedule that sit-down with new Council President Joy Hollingsworth, and he was going to do it now—even if “now” was in the middle of Tuesday’s raucous protest at the city council meeting.

“I can’t wait until [the next meeting],” Toledo, who leads the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (SAARPR), called out to Hollingsworth after the public comment period ended. “Every day, ICE locks up more people.”

The night before, SAARPR sent a letter to each councilmember with three demands: investigate and hold ICE accountable, end cooperation between Seattle and ICE, and defend Seattle’s status as a sanctuary city.

They demanded each councilmember sign the statement in less than 18 hours or they’d protest at the meeting. Besides Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster’s chief of staff—who responded a minute before and a few minutes after the meeting began, respectively—no one else responded, and none signed. They couldn’t, really—in a text to The Stranger, Rinck says they were restricted by the Open Public Meetings Act, which they would’ve violated if more than five councilmembers took action outside of a meeting.

So, Tuesday afternoon, Toledo and about two dozen demonstrators were in the council chambers holding a banner that read “ABOLISH I.C.E." They had each given public comment, calling for protections against ICE, actions over platitudes. Some asked them to stop collaborating with ICE.

“I will connect with you one-on-one,” Council President Hollingsworth told Toledo from the dais. “I will stand side-by-side with you and hear what you are saying every single time.”

“ARE YOU GOING TO VOTE TODAY TO END ICE COLLABORATION?” someone shouted.

“No, we are not. It’s not on the calendar, but I’m willing to talk about it,” Hollingsworth said, the chamber erupting with objections.

It was the first time this new council dealt with public dissent. It was an opportunity to take a different tack. When former City Council President Sara Nelson took control of a newly-elected conservative council in 2023, they promised to bring “decorum” to council chambers, which translated to shutting down public comment early and arresting protesters—a bad look that didn’t turn out well for her in the end.

Last week, Hollingsworth at least implied she was ready for a new chapter. “Everyone who walks through these doors will be treated with respect and kindness—no matter how they show up in their spirit, their attitude or words,” she said in a speech after being appointed council president last week.

As if to test this, Kshama Sawant—who just happens to be campaigning for Adam Smith’s congressional seat—arrived like the ghost of City Council’s past. Sawant’s campaign team waved signs with her face on them, and she took to the mic to promote herself as the socialist alternative candidate, briefly condemning ICE terror.

For about an hour, SAARPR and Sawant’s campaign got their say, but neither got the in-the-moment, short-notice action they wanted. Again, it’s a matter of government procedure—the OPMA bars councils from taking or even deliberating on policy without an agenda posted with adequate notice to the public.

While council can hear anything anyone wants to say during public comment, they can’t just add items to an agenda with less than 24 hours notice, especially ones as complex as SAARPR demanded.

That’s not to say they couldn’t address SAARPR’s demands and set a new policy. Like, perhaps, getting rid of those police cameras.

In October 2024, Nelson’s council voted to put up a network of real-time crime fightin’ CCTV cameras downtown, in the Chinatown-International District and on Aurora Avenue. Then, in September, they voted to expand that network to Capitol Hill, SoDo and Garfield High School, against the objections of more than 100 public commenters and organizations like the ACLU of Washington and the city’s Office of Civil Rights, who said the federal government could use that data to track immigrants.

Councilmembers Hollingsworth, Bob Kettle, Sara Nelson, Maritza Rivera, Debora Juarez, Rob Saka, and Mark Solomon voted for. Councilmembers Rinck and Dan Strauss voted against.

Speaking to The Stranger yesterday, Rinck—who’s been staunchly against SPD’s CCTV program—said removing the cameras would require a longer legislative process. Last year, she and Kettle co-sponsored an amendment that would shut down all CCTV for 60 days if the feds subpoena for immigration data, and council would then vote on whether or not to continue the program. The problem is that the city would have to send some footage to ICE before the program was actually shut down, when we could just not have a surveillance program.

The cameras council voted for in September haven’t been installed. The ball’s in Mayor Katie Wilson’s court to stop those from going up, Rinck says. During the campaign, Wilson aligned herself with Rinck’s position, saying in a statement that “turning on more cameras won’t magically make our neighborhoods safer. But it will certainly make our neighbors more vulnerable.”

Meanwhile, SAARPR’s call to enforce the city’s “sanctuary status,” is a call for an empty promise. Sanctuary designations don’t protect anyone from ICE. Just look at Chicago and Minneapolis.

“The language of Sanctuary City gives a sense of false protections that just don’t exist, which is why there’s been kind of a movement shift to Welcoming City and really clarifying what are things within the city’s power,” Rinck says.

The state has some protective measures like the Keep Washington Working Act, which restricts state and local governments from cooperating with the feds, but ultimately, as Rinck puts it, “federal law reigns supreme.”

Council recessed and left the chamber. After 10 minutes of speeches and chants, the protesters left. Council then returned to the scheduled agenda.

SAARPR tells The Stranger they’ll continue organizing in the community, but still want city council to read and sign their demands.

In an email to The Stranger, Hollingsworth says she’s grateful for those who came forward at the meeting, and reaffirmed council’s responsibility to listen and engage.

“We are committed to contributing to dialogue not division,” she writes. “Our community has my commitment that, no matter how you show up in chambers, I will always respect you and your voice.”

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story referred to Adam Smith's "Senate" seat. Smith is a US Representative. We regret the error.

Slog AM: US Terrorizes Greenland, US Terrorizes US, Washington Sheriffs Yell on Facebook

Micah Yip — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

“Momgate” Strikes Back: Remember during Mayor Katie Wilson’s campaign when former Mayor Bruce Harrell’s team tried to turn getting financial support from her parents for her toddler’s childcare into a scandal? It’s back. Wilson was fined $250 by the city for not reporting the $10,000 given to her by her parents, which the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission decided should've been reported as in-kind contributions. Wayne Barnett, the commission’s executive director, said child care help hadn’t come up in past campaigns, which makes sense. Most campaigns in this city are run by wealthier people and men. Wilson cooperated fully with the commission and promptly paid the fine, he said.

One Less Sweep in the City: Yesterday, Mayor Wilson visited an encampment in Ballard scheduled to be swept by the city, took a look around and decided to stop that sweep (temporarily), so they could take more time to “improve outcomes” for the residents, which presumably means getting them sheltered. And shortly after that, the Mayor sent out an alert that this morning, she is making a major announcement about her emergency housing plan. We’re watching for updates later today. Sidenote: We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez was also at the encampment, making videos about how annoyed she was that Wilson didn’t agree that treatment should in fact come first (studies show it shouldn’t).

Off the Menu: The Washington State legislature is considering a bill that would ban the sale, possession, transport, and distribution of farmed octopus in the state. “Octopus are intelligent creatures. They’ve shown aptitude for problem-solving,” said Rep. Adam Bernbaum, a Dem from Port Angeles. And a 2021 study showed that they can experience distress and happiness. (Maybe they can solve our budget problems, which certainly distress them.) Now don’t worry, the bill isn’t meant to keep you from your favorite grilled octopus if that’s your jam. “But if we can make sure that its harvest is done in a more compassionate, less painful way with fewer ecological impacts, we should do so,” said Bernbaum.

Again: A week after ICE shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, a federal officer shot a man in the leg in the same city. DHS said the officer was attacked with a shovel while trying to make an arrest. After a car chase involving a Venezuelan national ended in a crash, DHS claims the driver and two other people attacked the agent. An ICE agent and the man ICE shot were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Minneapolis officials said on X: “The City of Minneapolis again demands that ICE leave the city and state immediately.”

Now to Vivian, for more bad news.

Very tough, Tim: Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act to stop people from protesting and/or filming his ICE agents in Minneapolis (which VP Vance has said are allowed to operate with “absolute immunity”). Trump wrote on Truth Social: “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz posted a “direct appeal” to the President, asking him to “turn the temperature down.” “This is not who we are,” Walz wrote. Seeing as this keeps fucking happening, I think it is exactly who we are!

Yesterday, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt at the White House to talk about the future of the semiautonomous Danish territory Trump is threatening to take by force. Rasmussen said there’s still a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland and that it was “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.” Trump didn’t take part, but said after the meeting that “We need Greenland for national security … We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”

At Denmark’s request, NATO allies Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Canada are deploying troops to Greenland for a joint exercise, the pointedly named “Operation Arctic Endurance.” In a speech today, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would be sending “land, air, and sea assets” to Greenland. Denmark’s army chief says he’s ready to defend Greenland. Breaking with our NATO allies to seize Greenland’s mineral resources and Trump’s refusal to accept the territory is not for sale is serious shit. It could cause global conflict, maybe wars. It is absurdly dangerous

In a CNN interview earlier this year, Trump’s aide Stephen Miller said Greenland rightfully belonged to the US and that nobody would fight us militarily for it. His quote has been echoing in my head since: “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

Alright, back to me!

Fucking with the Fourth Estate: The FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her devices as part of a leak investigation tied to a Pentagon contractor. Natanson wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing, but agents took her phone, laptops, and Garmin watch. They said they were in pursuit of a government employee who was accused of improperly retaining classified material. Executive Editor Matt Murray said the search was “deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work.”

Border Patrol Shooting Victim in Court: Luis David Nino-Moncada was one of two people a Border Patrol agent shot in a car last week in Portland. Agents claimed he’d repeatedly slammed into their car. After being hospitalized for several days, he pleaded not guilty yesterday to aggravated assault on a federal employee and damaging federal property. His passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, is being held at an immigration detention facility in Tacoma, facing a charge of illegal entry into the U.S. The DHS claims both were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Megadonors, Megacuts: The Gates Foundation is going on a $9 billion spending spree this year to fund for global health, vaccines, women’s health, education, and AI (?????) while quietly shrinking its workforce by up to 500 jobs.

Emergency: Seattle’s emergency management system is stretched thin ahead of a season of storms, floods, and the World Cup. Officials told city leaders the city lacks the staff and solid crisis plans to handle co-occurring disasters, from power outages to transit shutdowns, without buckling. Aging infrastructure and climate change adds to the strain. City leaders now face pressure to patch long-neglected holes in the safety net.

The Girls Are Fighting: Boomers posting bad takes on social media is annoying enough. But when they’re boomer cops posting bad takes on Facebook about an ICE agent shooting and killing a woman? Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank posted “PSA: if law enforcement tells you to stop. STOP,” he wrote. Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders called him out on Facebook, saying it’s “disturbing that we have an elected sheriff in our state mocking Renee’s death on social media.” Swank shot back and called him an “altruistic narcissist.” What?

News Bad, Weather Fine: Cloudy. High of 46, low of 42.

Seattle Joins National Anti-ICE Protest for Woman Killed by ICE in Minneapolis

Micah Yip — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:35:00 -0800

For Ray Mitchell, Renee Nicole Good’s blood is not only on the hands of the ICE agent who shot her—it’s on the hands of American leaders who “refuse to stand up.” by Micah Yip

For Ray Mitchell, Renee Nicole Good’s blood is not only on the hands of the ICE agent who shot her—it’s on the hands of American leaders who “refuse to stand up.”

“So you know what I think?” Mitchell, representing the University of Washington branch of the Students for a Democratic Society, said to a crowd of protesters outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building downtown. “I think we don’t owe them a fucking thing. We do not owe them courtesy, we do not owe them respect, we do not owe them civility. We owe them nothing but our resistance.”

About 300 people joined the anti-ICE demonstration Wednesday night, hours after Good, 37, was shot in the face by an ICE agent in Minneapolis yesterday morning. Protesters raised signs that read, “ICE OUT OF EVERYWHERE” and “CHINGA LA MIGRA,” shouting, “Seattle doesn’t fuck with ICE!” and “Justice for Renee Good!” and “No more hate, no more fear! We want ICE out of here!”

Organized by the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (SAARPR) and Seattle Against War, the protest was set for 6 p.m. at the federal building. But dozens were already on the scene by 5:30 p.m., holding a long banner that read “ABOLISH I.C.E.” Protest leaders led chants, shouting into megaphones, “ICE, escucha! Estamos a la lucha!” (“ICE, listen! We’re in the fight!”). Drivers honked supportively as they passed.

During a blitz of 2,000 ICE agents in Minneapolis, Good stopped her car in the middle of the street where officers were conducting a raid. After one agent told Good to get out of the car, she reversed, turned right, and was shot by another agent as she drove forward. Video evidence from multiple angles shows Good did not hit the agent who shot her, identified as Jonathan Ross by the Minnesota Star Tribune, with her car.

JOHN CAPLINGER FOR THE STRANGER

“I was horrified and disgusted by the video,” said a 21-year-old Seattle protester who identified themself as “Haircut.” “This woman is dead because of corruption, government malfeasance, and overwhelming cowardice on the part of basically everyone in power.”

The Trump administration has lied about what is on video. On X, DHS said Good was a “violent rioter” who attempted to run over officers and kill them. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Good committed an act of domestic terrorism, and that the ICE agent shot her in self defense. On Truth Social, President Donald Trump wrote that Good was “very disorderly,” and “viciously ran over the ICE Officer,” and that it was “hard to believe he is alive.” But the agent wasn’t run over and video shows him walking away from the shooting, so it’s “hard to believe” Trump’s post.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal posted on Bluesky this morning that Trump and Noem “are LYING.”

“We can see what happened with our own eyes,” Jayapal wrote. “We won’t believe their propaganda.”

Millions of people across America are watching the videos of an ICE agent shooting and killing Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and they know that Donald Trump and Kristi Noem are LYING.

We can see what happened with our own eyes. We won’t believe their propaganda.

[image or embed]
— Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (@jayapal.house.gov) January 8, 2026 at 9:35 AM

Senator Patty Murray said, “DHS is already lying about what we can all see with our own eyes,” and said state governments should hold federal agents accountable “since Kristi Noem won’t.”

Conducting immigration enforcement doesn't mean you execute American citizens in the street.

Yet DHS is already lying about what we can all see with our own eyes.

Since Kristi Noem won't, state governments everywhere will need to hold out-of-control federal agents accountable. https://t.co/OuJclJz7e2
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) January 7, 2026

After about 45 minutes of speeches, the crowd flooded the street and marched down Second Avenue, led by the ABOLISH I.C.E. banner.

Seattle police patrolled the area in cars, on bikes, and on foot, but stayed out of the way. Protesters shouted “I-C-E, SPD, they all look like pigs to me!” One guy told a group of police, “MY DICK IS BIGGER THAN ALL OF YOURS!” They returned to the federal building around 7:30 p.m., and after an American flag was burned, the demonstrators left.

Protests are likely to continue. Tonight, at 6:30 p.m., Defund Musk will hold a vigil for Good at Pier 58.

Foster and Rinck Sworn In, Hollingsworth Appointed Council President

Micah Yip — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:02:00 -0800

City Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Alexis Mercedes Rinck were sworn in and Joy Hollingsworth unanimously appointed council president Tuesday in a packed council chambers at City Hall. by Micah Yip

City Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Alexis Mercedes Rinck were sworn in and Joy Hollingsworth unanimously appointed council president Tuesday in a packed council chambers at City Hall.

Electeds like Mayor Katie Wilson, City Attorney Erika Evans, and House Representative Brianna Thomas were among the crowd showing up in support of the new councilmembers. People cheered and clapped with equal enthusiasm during the councilmembers’ speeches. Someone behind me kept saying, “We are so back.”

Hollingsworth, who has represented District 3 since 2023, is the first Black woman to serve as council president in Seattle history. She’s a middle-of-the-road kind of councilmember, taking a more moderate approach to the office—a contrast to the new, progressive coalition now stepping into local government.

“This council is not one voice—it’s many voices, many perspectives, and many ideas, and I respect each and every one of you,” Hollingsworth said after her appointment. “We have not always agreed, I know, but that’s healthy. It means that we have different perspectives. But we always have respect for each other.”

Rinck, who was elected November 2024 to replace Teresa Mosqueda after she left to join the King County Council earlier that year, once stood as the only staunch progressive on the council, consistently voting left. Now, she’s not alone. Dionne Foster beat out moderate-conservative former council president Sara Nelson for council Position 9, campaigning on economic justice, turning Seattle’s regressive tax code progressive, and fixing the affordability crisis. Together with newly elected progressive District 2 councilmember Eddie Lin, who was sworn in last month, they’ve tipped the balance of power. Outside city council, progressive King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, City Attorney Evans, and Mayor Wilson all took the oath of office, too.

Foster was sworn in by her young son, Miles Foster.

“I’m here today as a proud progressive and a person who believes that government holds the power and the privilege to change people’s lives,” said Foster in her speech. “I will work every day to make good on the promise of a government that makes people’s lives better. And not just for people whose stories are like mine, but for every person who calls this city home.”

Foster highlighted the significance of Hollingsworth’s appointment to council president.

“There are those who might wonder, given that we’ve had Black council presidents before and we’ve had women council presidents before, why it’s significant to acknowledge we have the first Black woman council president,” Foster said. “It matters in the world that we live in today, that when people look at the leadership of our city council, they will see a smart, competent, and grounded leader, and they will see a Black woman.”

Rinck was sworn in after Foster by Bilan Aden, vice president of African Community Housing and Development. In her speech, Rinck recounted major projects she led, including passing a progressive tax to fund social housing, passing the SHIELD initiative that brings in $80 million a year from big corporations, and creating the Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes.

“Together, we proved that progressive governance works,” she said. “That even when you’re in the minority, when the establishment lines up against you, when corporations spend thousands of dollars to defeat you, if you stay rooted in your values, fight harder and smarter for working people, you win, and all of us win.”

Erika Evans, Seattle’s First Black City Attorney, Is Sworn In

Micah Yip — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:19:00 -0800

It was also her birthday. And because Ann Davison is gone, it's kind of your birthday. by Micah Yip

Every seat was taken at City Attorney Erika Evans’ swearing-in ceremony at City Hall Monday afternoon, and dozens stood at the back and sides of the room. Microphone in hand, Evans commanded the front of the room as her family and elected officials, including Mayor Katie Wilson and several city councilmembers, looked on. Coincidentally, it was also her birthday.

“I am committed to a Seattle where we can all feel safe and where we all thrive,” Evans said. “A city where dignity is non-negotiable. A city where we always fight back with urgency and with courage to protect our rights and values here in Seattle.”

Evans, Seattle’s first Black city attorney, said she’s in the process of creating a “new, reimagined” community court to connect people with services after their release so they don’t reoffend, fulfilling a campaign promise. Seattle had community court until former City Attorney Ann Davison shut it down in 2023.

Evans also said she’d be “laser-focused” on domestic violence and DUI cases—ones that her predecessor, Davison, was badly behind on. And Evans plans to put a dedicated prosecutor on bias crimes “to make clear that hate and discrimination will have no place here in our city.”

Before Evans took the oath of office, several people close to Evans spoke to her character and work ethic, including retired Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary I. Yu, campaign intern and University of Washington student Towa Nakano-Harris, U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones, and Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown, who’d known her for a decade and endorsed her candidacy.

“I knew she had the skill set and the character to do something bold and visionary that would have an impact on more people,” Brown said.

Evans spoke of her grandfather, Lee Evans, a double-gold medal-winning Olympic sprinter and prominent leader in the Black power movement who famously raised his fist on the podium at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

“It is that same legacy that I carry forward, and why I am standing here today,” Evans said. And under the Trump administration, “when we were seeing clear rollbacks in civil rights, I knew I needed to make a decision just like my grandfather did to stand up and fight back what was happening. That is the vision I’m bringing towards this office.”

The McClatchy News Group Is Pushing AI. Their Union Is Pushing Back.

Micah Yip — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:30:00 -0800

It Took Six Months and Dozens of Misreported Facts

by Micah Yip

In June, the Idaho Statesman reported Boise’s Clairvoyant Brewing Company was closing. It wasn’t.

Co-owner Mike Edmondson was confused. While Clairvoyant announced in January it planned to close, the brewery struck a deal with its building owner weeks later and announced in February it would stay open. The Statesman accurately reported both developments at the time.

“To be frank, we didn’t know what was going on,” Edmondson said.

That article published in June wasn’t written by a reporter. It was a small part of a listicle compiled by AI, and it hurt Edmondson’s business. Sales have been down 20 to 50 percent depending on the month, he said. People still call at least once a week asking if the brewery is still open.

It’s not a one-off. McClatchy, the newspaper conglomerate that owns the Statesman and about 30 major newspapers across 14 states (like the Miami Herald, the Sacramento Bee, and the Charlotte Observer), has been pushing AI onto its papers for years with few guardrails.

Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild (PNW Newspaper Guild) journalists at McClatchy papers in Idaho and Washington say the Clairvoyant Brewing story demonstrated why they are concerned.

“Our biggest concern is that McClatchy won’t, at the bargaining table, commit to ethical standards,” says Statesman opinion writer Bryan Clark, who’s also the vice president of the local PNW Newspaper Guild and secretary of the Idaho News Guild. “They have internal policies and have some good things in them, but they want to reserve the right to change those at any time. They won’t draw a line in the sand and say, ‘These are the things that we will not do.’”

The Stranger reached out to McClatchy for comment. They didn’t respond.

Most of the problems come from “curations,” an AI tool that summarizes the newsroom’s published reporter-written articles into a single listicle that links back to the original reporting.

The listicles are usually reviewed by editors, but the writers don’t typically get to see them before they’re published. Outdated information and inaccuracies can slip through.

Karlee Van De Venter, a Tri-City Herald reporter and member of the paper’s bargaining unit, said union members reviewed dozens of published AI-generated curations and found errors in many of them. One listicle conflated Point Ruston, a resort-like waterfront community, with the city of Ruston. Others falsely attributed content on their website—like PR community guides from local organizations—to the Herald.

“Outside of news, that might seem like a small discrepancy, but it is falsely claiming to be referencing journalism to the public,” Van De Venter said.

Kristine Sherred, food and dining reporter at the Tacoma News Tribune and the unit’s cochair, said she understands why struggling print newspapers want to use AI to keep up.

But the union wants guardrails.

“The way that McClatchy has seemed to be experimenting with AI has not necessarily inspired confidence,” Sherred said. “And as a journalism organization, you don’t want to do anything that could erode trust in an industry that already is suffering from a great break of the public’s trust in it.”

The union has issued several proposals over the past six months, including clear labeling of AI-generated content, human review of AI material, bans on impersonating journalists and using deepfakes, and guarantees that AI won’t be used to replace reporters. Other unions, like NewsGuild-CWA (Communications Workers of America), who represent newsrooms like POLITICO and ProPublica, have been fighting for similar AI guardrails.

According to Clark, the company tentatively agreed to several protections, including human review of content generated from journalists’ original reporting, prohibiting AI for news gathering purposes, banning AI impersonation of journalists, and clearly labeling AI-generated content.

“There remain issues of disagreement and bargaining will continue, Clark wrote in an email to The Stranger, “but we believe these major concessions by McClatchy show the real power of collective organizing and bargaining, especially for journalists seeking to protect the integrity of our profession.”

Zahid Chaudhry Released from ICE Detention

Micah Yip — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:05:00 -0800

Zahid was released around 3 p.m. this afternoon. "I mean, if it can happen to a decorated us veteran like me, who’s safe?,” he says. by Micah Yip

Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, a Pakistan-born US army veteran and husband of a former Washington congressional candidate, has been released from ICE detention.

After more than three months in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Chaudhry was ordered by US District Court Judge David G. Estudillo to be freed in a habeas hearing today, according to Melissa Chaudhry, his wife and former Washington congressional candidate.

Melissa Chaudhry told The Stranger her husband was released this afternoon around 3 p.m. The government’s attorney, Melissa says, didn’t try to defend their position, admitted “point blank” that her husband’s detention was a mistake, and apologized directly to Zahid.

The judge told the court his detention was “flat out wrong. I will remember those three words,” says Zahid in an interview from a car. “They can make errors and innocent people—I mean, if it can happen to a decorated us veteran like me, who’s safe?”

“They know they did wrong,” Melissa says.

The US Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington, writes in an email to the Stranger that it did not agree that Chaudhry “was wrongfully detained.”

“She conceded that the statutory basis for his detention was different than the statute we had cited in our pleadings to the Court. She was apologizing for citing to the incorrect statute. While she acknowledged that courts in our district have been requiring pre-detention procedures in situations similar to what occurred with Mr. Chaudry [sic], she explained that DHS disagrees with these decisions and believes the detention was lawful and authorized under the relevant legal authorities,” writes Communications Director Emily Langlie.

Zahid was taken into custody during a citizenship interview on August 21 at the United States Citizen and Immigration Services Office in Tukwila. He has lived in the US for 25 years, came to this country legally and served in the US military, but has long faced the threat of deportation, as the government accused him of lying on visa documents by omitting a criminal conviction he received in Australia in 1996 for trying to open a bank account using someone’s passport. Zahid Chaudhry has said that he didn’t remember misrepresenting his citizenship.

Since his detention, he’s been separated from his wife and two young children, losing his vision due to thyroid eye disease that wasn’t being treated in the ICE center. On November 20, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals transferred a pending emergency motion for release to the Western District Court of Washington, which was immediately accepted, and led to his freedom.

Melissa Chaudhry says her husband will be free while his case continues in the Ninth Circuit. They anticipate a final ruling in about a month, which will determine whether or not he is naturalized.

“[We’re feeling] relieved. Vindicated. Grateful,” says Melissa Chaudhry. “The rule of law did its job.”

This story has been updated.

Starbucks Workers Set up Strike Camp at Company Headquarters

Micah Yip — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 16:07:00 -0800

Workers Say They’ll Be There 24/7 Until Starbucks Bargains Fairly

by Micah Yip

It looked like a weekend campout: tents pitched in clusters, sodas and snacks scattered across picnic tables, upbeat music blasting through the speakers, and groups of young people milling about, laughing and talking.

But it wasn’t. It was day 36 of the Starbucks Workers Union’s (SBWU) strike, and scores of union workers and supporters were setting up “Camp Contract” in front of Starbucks headquarters in SoDo. And they’ll stay there 24/7 until Starbucks comes to the bargaining table with a fair contract—however long that takes.

“We’ve been out here showing Starbucks that we’re not here to play,” says Leo Romans, a strike captain and barista from the Lower Queen Anne drive thru store. “We’re gonna be here around the clock picketing until they're ready to meet with us.”

Unionized stores launched a nationwide walkout on November 13—the company’s major promotional Red Cup Day—due to years of stalled contract talks, historic union busting, and 700 unresolved unfair labor practices (ULPs) filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The strike includes about 3,800 union baristas across more than 180 of their 18,000 stores.

Hundreds of workers and supporters began the rally at 11:30 a.m. Thursday outside the corporate building entrance. They rallied with picket signs, chanting, “What’s disgusting? Union busting! What’s outrageous? Starbucks wages!” A 10-foot-tall “Big Bucks Coffee” cup with CEO Brian Niccol’s devil-horned head popping out the top was propped up on stage, where local officials, representatives from other local unions, and SBWU baristas spoke to the crowd. City Councilmember-elect Dionne Foster, King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, and Washington state Democratic party chair Shasti Conrad were among them.

“I believe that when workers come to the table and demand fair negotiation, they deserve it,” Councilmember-elect Dionne Foster said to the crowd. “I’m here because I think a living wage isn’t an option, and I’m here because I used to be a barista and I know you all work damn hard to do what you do.”

As strikers set up camp and waved teasingly to corporate workers inside headquarters, Maggie Bolden, barista, strike captain, and bargaining delegate from a Portland store, told The Stranger the company still hasn’t returned to the bargaining table with new proposals, even though stores across the country have been shut down for a month.

Strikers setting up tents outside of Starbucks HQ. MICAH YIP

“I think their offer of one percent wage increase is ridiculous when the people in this building are making hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and most people in my store need second jobs,” Bolden says.

SBWU’s core demands include better hours to improve the “rampant” understaffing in stores, higher take-home pay, and the resolution of the 700 ULPs. SBWU says Starbucks has committed more labor law violations than any employer in modern history.

“It would cost Starbucks one day’s profit to settle our contract, and instead, we’ve been on strike for 36 days. They could’ve settled our contract 36 times over to prevent workers being without pay, stores being closed down,” Bolden says. “The company is losing themselves money by not bargaining with us and by not specifically resolving the unfair labor practices.”

In a statement emailed to The Stranger, Starbucks’ global communications director Jaci Anderson said: “We’re ready to bargain whenever the union is ready. In the meantime, the facts speak for themselves: Starbucks offers one of the best jobs in retail—pay and benefits average $30 an hour, turnover is far below the industry average, and more than a million people apply to work here every year.”

SBWU says otherwise. A Philadelphia SBWU bargaining delegate wrote that according to union data, the average barista gets just 19 hours of work per week—one hour short of qualifying for benefits. In 33 out of 50 states, a barista’s starting pay is $15.25. Seattle baristas start at $21.40, according to Starbucks Careers.

Andrew Uddin, barista and strike captain from the Lower Queen Anne store, says that while they’re lucky to have a strike fund, he and his coworkers have been struggling to pay bills since the strike began. But until Starbucks bargains fairly, SBWU will remain on the picket line.

“We’ve been really lenient and we’ve been patient,” Uddin says. “Now, we’re fed up, and we’re taking action.”

Slog AM: The President Yells at Us, Power Outage in Snohomish County, Rep. Dan Newhouse Won’t Seek Reelection

Micah Yip — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Lights Out: 400,000 residents lost power in yesterday’s high winds, and nearly 50,000 remain in the dark. The Snohomish Public Utilities District said it could take multiple days for power to be restored due to “extensive and spread out” damage in the service area. Snohomish County is also one of the areas hit hardest by the floods.

The King’s Speech: President Donald Trump spoke loud, fast and angry during his 18-minute address last night. He insisted his economic plans were working despite the economy and job market we’re all experiencing. He blamed former President Joe Biden, saying he “inherited a mess.”

$1,776: Trump also announced what he called a $1,776 “warrior dividend”—bonus checks for troops, totalling $2.6 billion—granted in the One Big, Beautiful Bill and funded by tariffs. It’s just smoke. The check is a rebrand of congressionally approved money for military housing.

Wilson Appoints SDOT Director: Mayor-elect Katie Wilson appointed Angela Brady as interim director of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Brady, who’s worked with the city since 2004, most recently led the Office of the Waterfront and helped oversee the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project. The project has been well-received, but has been criticized for prioritizing cars over walking, biking and commercial use, making Brady a “somewhat controversial pick” for the progressive Wilson, according to The Urbanist. Brady will replace interim SDOT director Adiam Emery, who was previously one of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s deputy mayors.

Lockdown: Evergreen High School entered lockdown early yesterday morning after the King County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a person with a weapon on campus. Deputies detained three students at the scene and recovered two handguns. Two were sent to a juvenile facility, the other sent back to the school. No injuries were reported.

Tit for Toy: Strippers donate more toys to Portland’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital than anyone else thanks to their annual event “Tatas for Toys.” Over the past 14 years, they’ve donated a total of $183,000 worth of toys. This year, they brought in $60,000 worth, breaking previous records.

Oldhouse: Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the two Republicans representing Washington state in Congress, announced that he will not run for reelection next year. The six-termer was first elected to Congress in 2014, but his political career began in 2003 when he began his first of four terms in the Washington House of Representatives. He later directed the state Department of Agriculture under former Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Newhouse was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 insurrection, and is one of only two in that group still serving in Congress.

Seattle Sonics Return? NBA commissioner Adam Silver is again teasing Seattle with possible league expansion next year. Speaking at the NBA Cup championship game in Las Vegas, Silver said the board is “gauging the level of interest” and getting “a better understanding of what the economics would be.” There have been talks about the NBA’s possible return to Seattle for the last 18 months. But expansion fees are high (possibly $6-7 billion) and the NBA is trying to launch a Europe league, so there’s no guarantee we’ll be seeing a team back here soon.

Weather: Lots of rain and winds of 9-16 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. High near 53 degrees, low around 38.

Seattle Public Library Wrapped: Need some new reads? The Seattle Times compiled a list of the top 10 checkouts from the Seattle Public Library across five genres. They include “The Emperor of Gladness” by Ocean Vuong, “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros, “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been against This” by Omar El Akkad, and more.

More ‘Drug Boat’ Strikes: The US military blew up another alleged drug boat yesterday in the eastern Pacific as part of Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the “lethal kinetic strike” killed four people, bringing the death toll to 99 since this started inSeptember. Trump said he’d blocked all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The President accused the country of using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes. He’s promised even more military force.

His Personal Taxonomy: Trump installed new plaques along the Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House describing his predecessors in a way only he can. A sample: “Sleepy Biden,” “Divisive Obama,” and Reagan as a fan of young Trump. He’s declared himself the creator of “the Greatest Economy in the History of the World.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called them “eloquently written descriptions of each president.” All plaques are haphazardly capitalized.

No Care for Trans Kids: The Trump administration announced today that it would take steps to ban the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care for minors. If the new rules pass, hospitals would be prohibited from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to minors as a condition to receiving Medicaid and Medicare funds, and would bar Medicaid funds from being used for gender-affirming care. Cisgender kids, however, will still be able to receive similar treatments for things like hormone production conditions.

Sara Nelson’s New Political Consultant Regulations Have No Teeth

Micah Yip — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:21:00 -0800

The Bill Is “Meaningless,” Says One Consultant

by Micah Yip

For the past few months, outgoing City Council President Sara Nelson has been pushing her final agenda: a bill to regulate political consultants. It made it to full Council on Tuesday and passed as Nelson’s last act on the dais. But by the time it reached the full council, the bill had been so heavily amended that it barely did, well, anything.

Under the bill that council passed, political consultants must register with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) within 15 days of providing political consulting services and disclose which city candidates, campaigns or ballot measures they work for, as well as when that work began.

“What we’re really trying to do is strengthen public trust in local government, and that depends on our constituents having confidence that what we’re doing, that the decisions that we make, are in their best interest,” Nelson said at Tuesday’s meeting.

The approved legislation, however, does not do what Nelson originally proposed. The crux of her bill was a ban on political consultants simultaneously holding city contracts while doing outside campaign work, along with a one-year cooling-off period before consultants could return to city work after campaign activities.

Those prohibitions are now gone. Instead, the bill focuses on consultant reporting and disclosure—a provision from Councilmember Dan Strauss’s amendment. And actually, similar reporting requirements appeared in Nelson’s original draft but were stripped at last week's committee meeting.

Strauss reinstated those requirements, arguing the bill needed to mirror consultant laws in San Francisco and Portland, which Nelson had repeatedly cited as models. He warned that if the bill passed with the prohibition elements, Council would be passing “first-in-the-nation legislation that has not been tested.”

“If this amendment does not pass and the underlying bill goes above and beyond what our peer cities are doing, I will not be able to support the bill this time,” Strauss said.

A second amendment, sponsored by Councilmember Rob Saka, requires City Council to consult with the SEEC on national best practices should it decide to revisit the ethics code in the future. It’s nonbinding, but could potentially delegate more rulemaking authority to the SEEC.

It’s pretty much an optics amendment in response to criticism Nelson has faced for introducing this bill at the 11th hour. Nelson’s bill was seemingly a reaction to an iffy contractual relationship between Mayor Bruce Harrell and his consultant, Christian Sinderman, who was simultaneously working for Harrell while running Nelson’s competitor’s campaign in November’s election.

“However valid and pure motive and intent any changes that directly originate from individual council members,” Saka said, “the appearance of impropriety is not where it could or should be, and for those reasons, I think on a going-forward basis, we need to be more hands-off with this and all just collectively agree to live up to whatever the independent experts think.”

The third amendment, sponsored by Nelson and co-developed with Councilmember Maritza Rivera, requires consultants who have city contracts while working on campaigns to disclose that overlap to the SEEC, declare in their contracts that they are not violating ethics rules, and state which city department they’re consulting for.

Sure, that’s great. But it’s already public information Seattle’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services could pull anyway.

Stephen Paolini, principal at Bottled Lightning Collective who worked on the PAC supporting Mayor-elect Katie Wilson’s campaign, says Strauss’s amendment was good, but the overall bill is “meaningless.”

In a text to The Stranger, Paolini says the legislation has “no impact on transparency or accountability. It’s just asking consultants to fill out a form to the SEEC of information the SEEC already has.”

He also says Saka’s amendment requiring SEEC involvement in future ethics legislation is a “hilarious self-own to end the Nelson era in Seattle.”

“This is essentially them admitting that they should have talked to actual experts before presenting legislation that seemed to be the result of a sloppy word association session,” Paolini says. “Confused why we all wasted a bunch of time on this, but what’s new when it comes to Nelson’s council.”

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Stephen Paolini worked on Mayor-elect Katie Wilson's campaign. He worked on the PAC supporting her campaign.

Committee Approves Political Consultant Regulation Bill

Micah Yip — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:00:00 -0800

Modeled after what Council President Sara Nelson describes as similar laws in Portland and San Francisco, her bill will prevent “backroom wheeling and dealing,” she says. But as The Stranger reported last week, politicos suspect another motivation. by Micah Yip

City Council’s Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee approved Council President Sara Nelson’s bill to tighten restrictions on political consultants working in City Hall.

If it’s passed by the whole council, political consultants could not contract with the city and work on political campaigns at the same time. And to do city-contracted work, they’d have to be at least one year out from any campaign work.

Modeled after what Nelson describes as similar laws in Portland and San Francisco, her bill will prevent “backroom wheeling and dealing,” she says. But as The Stranger reported last week, politicos suspect another motivation. Just a month ago, Nelson told the Seattle Times she drafted the bill because political consultant Christian Sinderman was working for Mayor Bruce Harrell while also running the campaign for Dionne Foster, Nelson’s opponent who she lost to. But last week, Nelson did a 180, claiming it wasn’t about Sinderman at all.

Consultants didn’t buy it and say her bill was rushed. They say the broad language could’ve swept unpaid volunteers into the definition of “political consultant.” Volunteers don’t have anywhere near the power, access, or leverage of political consultants.

On Thursday, Nelson reintroduced an amended version of her bill with significant tweaks.

Her new bill excludes volunteers from the definition of “political consultant” and defines political consultant work as compensated city campaign management or political strategy services, like polling, voter contact, advertisement, and more. It also excludes city employees, accountants, attorneys, pollsters, professional fundraisers (who only provide accounting, legal, polling, or fundraising services), and vendors or sub-vendors who supply services other than political consulting services for an election campaign.

Though volunteers and city employees are now explicitly exempt, lower-level political workers who provide services like voter contact strategy, media strategy, messaging, policy training, and speech writing are not.

Additionally, Nelson threw out the registration requirements in her original bill. Political consultants would’ve had to register with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) within 15 days of contracting with the city and file termination statements when their contracts ended. Elected officials would’ve had to file quarterly reports on the consulting services they’re receiving. The committee also axed a public registration list for all political consultants.

Nelson says she removed the list because it could unintentionally brand a consultant as working with a certain kind of clientele.

“That list could also feel sort of like an ‘opening of the kimono’ of a company of all of their clients,” she said, weirdly.

For all the subtractions, Nelson did add one requirement: Future contracts between the city and political consultants would include a written agreement not to engage in any behavior the bill prohibits.

The bill was approved, with Councilmembers Bob Kettle, Maritza Rivera, and Nelson voting for, Joy Hollingsworth voting against, and Eddie Lin abstaining.

Lin said he abstained because he wanted better understanding of the scope of the city’s consulting contracts and questioned whether the legislation was narrowly tailored enough.

“I’m still doing my due diligence,” he said. “But I’ve not taken a position yet.”

In an email, Hollingsworth writes that she voted against the bill because it removed the registration and reporting requirements and focused more on regulating political consultants. She argues it adds ambiguity to an already complex ethics framework without clearly addressing broader, systemic issues at City Hall.

“Ethics policy should provide clarity and fairness for everyone and not just ambiguity situations where we selectively enforce issues,” she says. “I support strong standards, but they must be clear. I do not believe this legislation meets the bar for the current issues in our city systematically.”

Political consultant Stephen Paolini, principal at Bottled Lightning Collective, says the bill’s cooling-off periods could make sense for city employees, but not political consultants. Consultants don’t have insider info that affects contracts the way city employees do.

A better alternative would be more specific, he says.

“When taking a contract with the city, prohibit that consultant from working on a political campaign about the same issue they are contracted with the city on,” he says.

Paolini gave the example of levy campaigns—where consultants may both design a city proposal and later help sell it to voters—as a clearer case for targeted restrictions.

Nelson’s Campaign Transparency Bill May Be up for a Vote

Micah Yip — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 11:40:00 -0800

At face value, the bill isn’t especially controversial—more transparency around who is advising city leaders is a good idea. But the reason? Sara Nelson’s either changed her mind about why she’s introduced this bill, or she’s not being honest. by Micah Yip

At last Thursday’s City Council Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee meeting, Council President Sara Nelson introduced a bill that would regulate political consultants in Seattle’s ethics code. It’s up for more discussion and a possible vote at 2 pm today.

If passed, the legislation would require consultants who are contracted by a city official for a candidate or ballot measure campaign to register with the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission, disclose their work publicly, and, most significantly, ban them from working on a campaign and with the city at the same time. It would also enforce a one-year “cooling off period” barring a political consultant who worked on a campaign from taking a consulting contract with the city for a year.

At face value, the bill isn’t especially controversial—more transparency around who is advising city leaders is a good idea. Portland and San Francisco have similar political consultant reporting laws. But the reason? Nelson’s either changed her mind about why she’s introduced this bill, or she’s not being honest.

It was assumed that Nelson drafted this bill in response to an ethically murky arrangement between outgoing Mayor Bruce Harrell and his long-time political consultant, Christian Sinderman. The Seattle Times reported that after Sinderman worked on Harrell’s campaign, the Mayor kept him around for years through a series of taxpayer-funded consulting contracts. Sinderman was never a city employee, but he was attending internal strategy meetings and advising on policy while simultaneously running political campaigns for candidates like Dionne Foster, who, as it happens, just wiped the floor with Nelson in the general election.

Nelson told the Times this kept her from speaking openly with Harrell about policy. She worried anything she said could reach Foster and be used against her.

Sinderman rebutted: “For a full year, Councilmember Nelson has complained, without substance or merit, about contracts and relationships that were both transparent and followed city rules. So now, on her way out the door, she wants to change the rules to justify her unfounded political grievances.”

But at Thursday’s meeting just two weeks later, Nelson said Sinderman was not the reason for the bill.

“This is not about Christian Sinderman’s role within the mayor’s office or the Harrell administration, as reported by the Seattle Times,” she said, calling the arrangement “unprecedented” and “highly unlikely to be replicated.”

“Rather,” Nelson said, “the blurring of the line that I’m most concerned about is more likely to occur in the context of ballot measures.”

If consultants can work on a ballot measure and advise city officials at the same time, they might be able to use insider knowledge to their advantage, she said.

“[The bill] simply creates transparency and establishes boundaries between public service and private profit—the same principles that we already apply to lobbyists and electeds and employees,” Nelson said. “The goal here is to establish very clear rules so that we can reduce the perception of the potential conflict of interest amongst consultants that we are already trying to do when it comes to elected officials’ financial interests and other entities that work with the city.”

All true, but to say Sinderman had nothing to do with it is almost like having all your horses stolen, talking to a newspaper about how mad you are about your horses being stolen, and introducing an anti-horse stealing bill a couple weeks later, only to say, “The horse thief? This is not about the horse thief.”

Whoever inspired the bill, it’s undeniably rushed during this lame duck period. Political consultants say the bill is half-baked. Its definition of “political consultant” is too loose, they say, creating unintended consequences for others in the politics field. Lexi Koren, communications consultant at PowerHouse Strategic, says under Nelson’s bill, someone like the lowest level field organizer doing paid voter contact work for a campaign could be defined as a consultant. They’d then have to register with the city and wouldn’t be able to work with the city for a year.

Michael Fertakis, principal at Upper Left Strategies, said the same.

“The definition of a political consultant under her ordinance is so broad,” Fertakis said. “If I was a volunteer on a campaign and I bought some water bottles for a door-belling day and got reimbursed for the campaign, under this ordinance, I would be classified as a political consultant.”

Even though Nelson says it has nothing to do with Sinderman, “it clearly fucking does,” says Stephen Paolini, principal at Bottled Lightning Collective. “She never had any issue with other consultants…who have had similar relationships in the past. Like, this was not a thing that she brought up until specifically her opponent, who cleaned her clock, had a consultant that also had a contract with the city on unrelated issues, and it was just a reaction to that.”

But let’s assume Nelson is sincere in saying the bill isn’t about Sinderman, but about ballot measures. Koren says that makes no sense.

“I don’t see the throughline that she is making here,” Koren said. “There is an impact from the end result of a levy, and I don’t know, does that matter more than the people we elect in terms of how taxpayer dollars are spent? I would say probably not in Seattle.

The Stranger reached out to council staff and Nelson’s office for clarification. They did not respond.

Slog AM: Flood Evacuations, Mayor-Elect Wilson Keeps SPD Chief, Wild Waves Is Closing

Micah Yip — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 09:34:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Flood Watch: Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency yesterday over record flooding in Western Washington, activating the National Guard and sending calls for help to the federal government. An estimated 100,000 people could face evacuation orders. Evacuation orders have been issued in Skagit County for people living within the 100-year floodplain (an area with a 1% annual chance of flooding), in Concrete, Sumas in Whatcom County, Mount Vernon, and others. Rising rivers could spill over levees. The dam in Grays Harbor is “showing signs of distress.”

The National Weather Service warned the flooding could be “catastrophic” and “life threatening.” Major General Gent Welsh said more than 300 National Guard members will be deployed by the end of today, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sending response teams to the state. The Seattle Times has live updates.

How to Protect Yourself: Seattle isn’t at high risk of flooding, but for locations that are, KING 5 has steps you can take to keep yourself safe in the storm. This includes making sure storm drains are clear, preparing an emergency kit and putting up barriers. The county is also handing out free sandbags at these locations. The Seattle Times has a list of shelters and links to sign up for emergency alerts here.

Some Pawsitive News: As floods threaten Snohomish County, the Everett Animal Shelter pulled off a massive rescue operation yesterday, evacuating all 120 dogs and cats before rising water could reach its building. After receiving an evacuation order Tuesday night, the shelter put out a call for community help. Within hours, all the animals had been placed in foster homes.

Hmm: Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson is keeping Police Chief Shon Barnes when she takes office next month. Barnes stepped into the interim chief role in January and was sworn in in July, after leaving his post as police chief in Madison, Wisconsin. Before leaving Madison, Barnes was accused (and later cleared) of creating a hostile work environment. In Seattle, he’s fired key civilian oversight staff and surrounded himself with a tight inner circle that some say has hurt morale, insiders told Publicola.

The U.S. military seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking a major escalation in President Trump’s months-long antagonization of President Nicolás Maduro. Trump confirmed the operation yesterday, saying it was “a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized, actually.” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said they seized the tanker because it was transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. Since August, the U.S. has launched the largest naval deployment in the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, enacted airstrikes on alleged drug vessels that killed more than 80 people, and put out a $50 million reward for the arrest of Maduro.

DHS posted an edit of the seizure footage to LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out. Sorry you have to see this:

KNOCKOUT.

If you threaten our nation, or break the law, there is no place on land or sea where we won’t find you.

Thank you to the brave service members from @USCG, @ICEGOV, @FBI, @DeptofWar, and @TheJusticeDept. pic.twitter.com/KUCRjES267
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 11, 2025

New Militarized Zone Just Dropped: The Trump administration has militarized another stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in California. It extends from almost the Arizona state line to the Otay Mountain Wilderness, covering the Imperial Valley. It’s a strategy. Troops can apprehend immigrants in militarized zones and accuse them of trespassing on military bases, which can carry criminal charges.

Sheriff’s Car Kills Pedestrian: A 26-year-old woman died Tuesday morning after a King County Sheriff’s Office vehicle hit her on Highway 2. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. Preliminary findings indicate the woman was hit in a part of the highway with no stop signs or traffic lights, said police.

Wave Goodbye: Federal Way’s Wild Waves Theme Park will close after the 2026 season. The park, which opened in 1977, has lost “millions” in revenue from COVID-19 pandemic impacts, said officials. Property owner Jeff Stock said future plans for the site are in the early stages.

Green Card but “Better”: President Trump just announced his new “gold card” program, which offers legal status and an eventual pathway to U.S. citizenship—basically a green card “but much better,” said Trump. It costs immigrants and their employers $1 million each. The “gold” card will replace EB-5 visas, which were created by Congress in 1990.

Meanwhile, Trump is on a racist, anti-Somali rampage. He’s called the country a “shithole,” and says he’s permanently paused “Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries,” while pleading for European immigrants instead. On Tuesday, ICE agents tackled and arrested a Somali American man, detaining him for about two hours for no reason other than his ethnicity.

Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will reprise their roles as Katniss and Peeta for Sunrise on the Reaping next year. Here’s a piece of pop culture history to celebrate:

City Council Approves Police Contract That Lacks Real Accountability Measures

Micah Yip — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 09:04:00 -0800

The City Council meeting Tuesday was chaotic. The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild (SPOG) contract was up for a vote, more than 20 public commenters showed up to speak (and shout) against it. Some Seattle City Councilmembers expressed strong opposition as well, citing the lack of accountability measures promised nearly a decade ago. by Micah Yip

The City Council meeting Tuesday was chaotic. The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild (SPOG) contract was up for a vote, more than 20 public commenters showed up to speak (and shout) against it. Some councilmembers expressed strong opposition as well, citing the lack of accountability measures promised nearly a decade ago.

“The accountability measures within the contract are not good enough, plain and simple,” but “moving forward on a pathway to arbitration on stronger accountability measures can’t wait,” Councilmember Dan Strauss said before the vote.

The contract passed 6-3, with Councilmembers Bob Kettle, Sara Nelson, Strauss, Joy Hollingsworth, Maritza Rivera and Debora Juarez voting for, and Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Eddie Lin and Rob Saka voting against.

As the clerk called the vote roll, protesters shouted “COWARD!” and “JAIL KILLER COPS!” and “KNEES OFF OUR NECKS!”, drowning out the councilmembers.

The contract includes some good stuff. It expands the CARE Department (Seattle’s alternative public safety response), grants civilian employees ability to work on misconduct investigations with a sworn officer leading or co-leading, and clarifies the 180-day timeline for investigations. But there are still gaps.

Councilmember Saka said the contract’s “single most egregious failure” is its refusal to expand subpoena power for civilian oversight. In a passionate nearly half hour speech before the vote, Saka said that without subpoena authority, investigators can’t get information that would reveal patterns of misconduct, require officers or witnesses to participate, compel third parties to turn over critical evidence, access all necessary records and evidence, or independently verify accuracy of statements.

“Investigations cannot be complete without those tools because oversight essentially becomes guesswork,” Saka said. “And when investigations are incomplete, trust erodes, misconduct festers, and communities suffer, and will continue to suffer.”

The 2017 voter-approved Accountability Ordinance was supposed to install a civilian body with the power to compel officers or third parties to turn over evidence they might otherwise refuse to provide. But the ordinance included a critical caveat: that subpoena power only takes effect if it does not conflict with SPOG’s contract.

“If we approve this contract, it will go through 2027. That will be a decade that we still have not implemented the accountability ordinance,” Lin said.

While the contract expands the CARE team and allows them to answer “non-criminal, nonviolent calls” without police escort, CARE still can’t respond to calls to homeless encampments or any situation on private property. And if an SPD sergeant believes any situation carries a safety risk, they can dispatch an officer to accompany the CARE team.

Big salary increases are included in the contract too. Officers’ base salaries will increase to $118,000, and would increase to $126,000 after six months on the job.

“This contract asks Seattle taxpayers to invest more in policing without requiring more accountability in return, and that’s not a deal I can support,” Rinck said.

The deal passed, but the city’s decade-old accountability promises remain on hold.

“Seattle needs reform and accountability,” Saka said. “The [contract] gives us one important thing, one. But it does also sidestep the other, yet again.”

Mayor-Elect Wilson Announces Senior Staff Team

Micah Yip — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:54:00 -0800

Her Smaller Team Marks a Pivot From Past Administrations

by Micah Yip

Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson announced the senior staff for her mayor’s office Wednesday. And so far, the lineup on the seventh floor of City Hall is what she promised on the campaign: a coalition of left-leaning community organizers, policy experts, business leaders, and City Hall pros.

The mayor’s office will look different from recent administrations: According to a memo obtained by Publicola, Wilson’s team has recommended that she have three direct reports: the deputy mayor, the chief of staff, and the director of city departments. The rest of staff will report to those three. (For comparison, Harrell had four deputy mayors.) According to the memo, Wilson’s team believes the smaller number will make for a more effective office, where “each member of Senior Staff has a clearly defined role.” Instead of having nearly 10 direct reports or a series of deputy mayors, the smaller team is “the happy medium that will work best for [Wilson’s] particular leadership style.”

According to the memo, the office will be structured around five guiding principles. The hiring will build a team around her style of leadership, it says, while establishing clear lines of accountability and empowering the city’s departments to use their expertise. The authors of the memo, which is unsigned, also urged her to avoid “solving factionalism through personnel: “You can’t solve the problem of factionalism by recreating it in your Mayor’s Office,” it reads. “We think you should manage these constituencies as one unified team, not by assigning one person to liaise with each key group.”

And the small-team structure, the memo reads, is the “connective tissue” between Wilson’s personality, skills, and goals she aims to achieve. The memo also suggests Wilson hire collaborative and respectful people. Simply put: “We don’t think you should hire jerks,” the memo reads.

Brian Surratt, who’s currently part of Wilson’s transition team, will take the role of deputy mayor. His 25 years of multi-sector economic experience will presumably balance out Wilson’s resume, which includes less business and more organizing work. Surratt is currently the CEO of Greater Seattle Partners, a public-private team that works with government and local companies to draw in new businesses, expand international trade, and grow the region’s major industries. Under former Mayor Ed Murray, he was the director of the city’s Office of Economic Development and worked in the mayor’s Office of Policy and Innovation.

Kate Brunette Kruezer will be Wilson’s chief of staff. She has a long history with Wilson: she was the treasurer of the Transit Riders Union, which Wilson co-founded, from 2018 to 2022, and has helped with Wilson’s post-election transition. Previously, Kruezer was the director of external affairs at the land use advocacy nonprofit Futurewise.

Jen Chan, deputy director of the Seattle Housing Authority, joins Wilson’s team as director of departments. Chan is a City Hall veteran. Spanning three decades, she’s had high-ranking positions in the Department of Finance and Administrative Service, Parks and Recreation, and the Mayor’s Executive Office. Most recently, she was chief of staff at Seattle City Light.

Seferiana Day Hasegawa will be Wilson’s director of communications. Her resume includes roles with former Mayor Tim Burgess, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal. She led communications for Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development, is a University of Washington professor teaching policy advocacy, and is the co-founder of Upper Left Strategies, a strategy firm for progressive campaigns.

Wilson’s campaign manager, and long-time labor organizer, Alex Gallo-Brown will be the director of community relations. He’s worked for local unions and nonprofits for nearly a decade, and was the founding director of the Essential Workers Organizing Academy at UFCW 3000.

Policy analyst, facilitator and researcher Nicole Vallestero Soper will be the director of policy and innovation. Previously, she was policy director at Puget Sound Sage, an organization for research, policy advocacy and community organizing. Soper was also involved in founding several other community organizations such as the Fair Work Center, Front and Centered, and the Washington Community Alliance.

Aly Pennucci, who left City Council’s central staff during Sara Nelson’s reign, will become Wilson’s director of the city budget office. She’s currently the deputy executive for Whatcom County.

Slog AM: Trump Still Hates Washington State, RFK Jr. Still Hates Vaccines, Governor Ferguson Still Hates Taxes

Micah Yip — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 09:11:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup by Micah Yip

WA Gets Served Again: In its latest attempt to prove the patently false assertion that immigrants are causing widespread voter fraud, the Trump administration sued Washington state after Secretary of State Steve Hobbs refused to give them voter information. We’re one of six states in the lawsuit.

What’d we do right this time? The DOJ’s seven-page complaint alleges Hobbs’ refusal violates the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which says that state election officials must provide certain voter info to the US Attorney General if asked. In September, Hobbs told the Department of Justice (DOJ) that he would not hand over voter information protected under Washington law—including voters’ dates of birth, driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of social security numbers—fearing it would be used for immigration enforcement. He said he’d be willing to provide voter names, addresses, years of birth, voting records, registration dates and registration numbers. That wasn’t good enough for the feds. Hobbs said he hasn’t been served yet and only knows about the suit through the media, the Washington State Standard reported.

Cuts, cuts, cuts: While a scissor-happy Trump administration hacks away at public funds, Gov. Bob Ferguson has announced he’ll also use cuts to balance the state’s budget, instead of implementing new taxes. As Stranger Staff Writer Nathalie Graham reported yesterday, Shaun Scott just announced his bill for a statewide payroll tax for high earners. But Ferguson said he’d veto any sales or property tax bills that come across his desk, because he claims they can’t create revenue quick enough to remedy the state’s multi-billion dollar shortfall this year. Scott’s bill is expected to bring in up to $3 billion a year, which sounds like the kind of thing you’d want for a multi-billion dollar shortfall.

South Hill Rapist Dies: Kevin Coe, dubbed the “South Hill Rapist,” was found dead Wednesday in an adult family home in Federal Way. Coe died at age 78 from natural causes, just months after he was released from civil commitment on McNeil Island. He served 44 years on the island’s special commitment center for raping dozens of women and teen girls in the ’70s and ’80s near Spokane, and was only released this year because his health had deteriorated enough that he was no longer considered a threat to the public.

Trump Pardons Climate Pledge Arena Developer: President Trump pardoned Tim Leiweke, the Climate Pledge Arena developer, on Tuesday, saving him from bid-rigging charges issued by the DOJ. Leiweke was indicted by a federal grand jury in July after the DOJ accused him of teaming up with a rival CEO to rig the bidding process for the Moody Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He pleaded not guilty and faced a $1 million fine, plus a maximum 10-year prison sentence, and was still awaiting trial at the time he was pardoned.

Weather: Buckets of rain. A short reprieve from 4 to 6 p.m. before resuming until midnight. High of 47 degrees, low of 41.

Payday: Amazon will pay $3.7 million in a settlement for labor violations they allegedly committed. The Seattle Office of Labor Standards alleged Amazon Flex, which allows workers to use their own vehicles to make deliveries, gave premium pay and paid sick time to only some employees, not all. While the company denied the allegations, they still agreed to pay the millions to the 10,968 affected workers to settle the case. They will also pay a $20,000 fine to the city of Seattle.

Happy Food News, Sad Food News: The happy news: Situ Tacos, the Mexican-Lebanese fusion taqueria in Ballard was named one of the 33 best new restaurants in the nation by Esquire magazine. (You already know they’re great, because they were on our Best Restaurants list last year too.) The bad news: Kabul, a long-time Seattle favorite Afghan food restaurant, is closing. Owner Wali Khairzada said the cost of food and labor was too high to keep the doors open, and the place could close as soon as December 31.

RFK Takes a Shot at Another Vaccine: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “health” committee will discuss today whether babies should still get the Hepatitis B shot, which has been shown to reduce infections and deaths from the liver disease. Current federal health recommendations say all infants should be vaccinated against Hep B within 24 hours of birth. But RFK’s anti-vax committee thinks the shot should be delayed 2 months for no good reason. According to the Associated Press, in a not-yet-peer-reviewed report, health experts found a delay in vaccination could result in more than 1,400 preventable Hep B infections in kids, 300 liver cancer cases, and 480 deaths in one year of the change. Sen. Patty Murray called on Congress to make RFK appear at a hearing to explain this nonsense, saying ending the vaccine recommendation is “a heartless choice to allow babies to die.”

Defunding Planned Parenthood Blocked: Along with 24 other state attorneys general, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown secured a preliminary injunction on Tuesday from a US District Court in Massachusetts to block the Trump administration from cutting Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood centers. The cuts would have affected at least 200 health centers nationwide, including 30 Planned Parenthood clinics in Washington, who were looking at about $11.8 million in cuts. The coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit in July and filed for a preliminary injunction in September, leading to this week’s decision. The feds have seven days to appeal.

Happy Spotify Wrapped Release to All Who Celebrate: I know, I knowwww… Spotify is doing some fucked up shit—ICE recruitment ads, investing in an AI military tech company, not paying artists fairly, etc. People are boycotting, and they should. But I am weak. I cannot resist the silly little feature that is Spotify Wrapped. I love viewing Instagram stories to see what my friends, acquaintances and enemies have listened to this year. It’s a unifying force, and isn’t that what the holiday season is all about? Coming together over consumerism? …No?

So here’s my gift to you—my top song of 2025. Happy holidays.

Eddie Lin Is the New District 2 City Councilmember

Micah Yip — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 12:30:00 -0800

Lin is part of a new progressive coalition at City Hall—incumbent Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Councilmember-Elect Dionne Foster, City Attorney-Elect Erika Davis, and Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson—who campaigned on similar ideals. by Micah Yip

Flanked by Councilmembers in a packed City Hall Tuesday afternoon, Councilmember Eddie Lin took the oath of office.

After a standing ovation, Lin shared how his experience growing up as a half-Chinese/Taiwanese and half-white kid shaped his sense of community, and how he wants to cultivate that value in his office.

“When we have an abundance mindset and share our power and resources, we foster a community where we take care of others, and they also take care of us,” Lin said. “And that is the world that I want to be a part of helping to nurture, the world that I believe District 2 residents want to see.”

New officials usually take the oath of office in January, but Lin was sworn in early because his race was a special election. He’s taking over for Mark Solomon, who was appointed to the seat after Councilmember Tammy Morales resigned last January, citing the “toxic environment” other councilmembers created.

At a City Council briefing the day before he was sworn in, Lin came in hot. After Office of Intergovernmental Relations staff read aloud a list of next year’s legislative priorities, Lin noted it was missing any plan for progressive revenue, which was one of his campaign priorities. He asked when he’d have a chance to amend it.

“Our office is new. We have not had the same opportunity to kind of contribute, participate, in developing the state legislative agenda,” he said.

But they’ll all have to work within the confines of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s recently passed budget, and alongside conservatives like Councilmembers Debora Juarez, Maritza Rivera and Bob Kettle.

“I am not alone in this work,” Lin said in his Tuesday speech. “The resources and tools that we need, that our kids and elders need to flourish, are right here in this room and all around us. It is us working together, growing together, talking and collaborating together.”

WA Attorney General Sues HUD for Slashing Homeless Funds

Micah Yip — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:41:00 -0800

A new Trump administration policy would force the country to disinvest from an evidence-based approach to homelessness dominant for over two decades, a move that could push 4,500 formerly homeless Seattleites back onto the street. Now, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown is suing HUD with 20 other states for control of our federal homelessness dollars.

On November 13, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued new rules for its Continuum of Care (CoC) program, which provides funds for local homelessness services, particularly for permanent supportive housing, the cornerstone of Seattle’s Housing First homelessness policy.

Housing First programs take people off the street and place them in housing with readily available treatment for substance use and mental health disorders. Studies show that people can better address their social, emotional, and chemical issues in a stable housing environment. People living in supportive housing aren’t forced into treatment, or kicked out of their apartment for using. It’s the best method we’re aware of, which is why HUD has prioritized funding permanent supportive housing since the George W. Bush administration.

But HUD Secretary Scott Turner has changed that. Only 30 percent of a CoC award can be spent on any such program. This “new” approach is really a remix of what homelessness programs looked like before Housing First existed, where people had to prove their sobriety, stability, and “acceptable behavior” before being allowed a shot at permanent housing. Time limits were strict, and most people couldn’t meet the requirements.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday by Brown and 20 other states alleges that HUD broke its own regulations by rolling out the new funding conditions without going through the required rulemaking process. The lawsuit also claims that making this sweeping change without congressional authorization is illegal and asks the federal judge to block the new HUD rules.

“Congress designed this program in recognition that homelessness is a crisis that requires immediate stabilization and continuing support to reverse,” Brown said in the press release.

HUD’s new policy could completely restructure homelessness services in Seattle and King County. We put 90 percent of our yearly CoC funds ($65 to $67 million) toward permanent supportive housing. A 60 percent reduction amounts to a $40 million cut, and that’s assuming Seattle and King County receive the same award amounts as prior years, which no one is counting on. Most of Seattle’s homelessness services are exactly the kind that HUD stated they will not fund. About 4,500 formerly homeless households depend on that money for a place to live.

The CoC funding gap isn’t a budget problem that can be fixed by “just buying fewer paper clips,” says Daniel Malone, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC), a nonprofit permanent supportive housing provider. DESC receives about $16 million in CoC funding for programming and $4 million indirectly for rental assistance for the people they serve.

It’s all in jeopardy. To even be eligible for permanent supportive housing, a person must be disabled and have a history of chronic homelessness. “That typically looks like somebody who has been living quite precariously and experiencing a lot of trauma and chaos for many years,” Malone says. If DESC has to scale back services, it’s quite likely that the vulnerable people they serve will “deteriorate” over time, Malone says.

Permanent supportive housing isn’t just an apartment—it’s a disability accommodation. The chronically homeless people housed in places like DESC have severe psychiatric disorders, addictions, and debilitating illnesses. It’s the equivalent of wheelchair ramps and grab bars in bathrooms, Malone says.

“The people with serious mental illness and this kind of long-term traumatic experience on the street often need a different kind of accommodation, and it is a supportive presence of staff who could help them work on things, who can help intervene when they’re struggling with different symptoms or when they’re needing more help in managing responsibilities,” Malone says.

HUD’s new policy is taken directly from Project 2025—the far-right policy framework that, among a plethora of other things, targets social services like Housing First. Project 2025 isn’t just a policy document—it’s the unofficial governing manual for the Trump administration, crafted by the Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential forces on the American far right. Many of its authors, including Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, hold federal posts. The plan’s goal is to centralize power, dismantle the administrative state, and melt down social services to fit a new ideological mold that often rejects scientific evidence.

State and local government leaders are scrambling to scrape together funds in case CoC isn’t awarded to the Seattle region next year.

City council and Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office have MacGyvered a $20.4 million stopgap in the 2026 city budget. Harrell allocated $9.3 million in reserves for federal cuts, and Council added a proviso (sponsored by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and amended by Councilmember Bob Kettle) setting aside $11.1 million.

“We’re going to have to fund permanent supportive housing with local money instead, and figure out what in our portfolio of services this federal administration will fund,” Rinck says.

At the county level, Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda introduced a budget amendment on Tuesday that requires the county to present a plan for a plan by March.

“This is an effort to try to identify a potential pot of reserves without identifying a specific dollar amount that at least signals our interest in being part of the solution,” said Mosqueda at a council meeting last week.

It’s just a placeholder. We have no clue how much the county will cough up for this.

The Stranger contacted Erik Houser, spokesperson for County Executive Girmay Zahilay, asking how Zahilay plans to address the gap in CoC funds.

Houser replied that the team was working on Zahilay’s transition to office, and asked us to circle back the first week of December.

The Final City Council-Approved Budget Preserves Harrell’s Priorities

Micah Yip — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:20:00 -0800

The nearly $9 billion budget keeps Harrell’s main priorities intact, including a bloated $486 million police department budget and millions for graffiti scrubbing. This budget is balanced, but it’s not sustainable. It depends on money left over from 2025, and a series of one-time funds that create a maze of fiscal cliffs. by Micah Yip

After almost two months of deliberation, Seattle City Council unanimously adopted Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2026 city budget.

In January, the outgoing conservatives—Council President Sara Nelson, appointed Councilmember Mark Solomon, City Attorney Ann Davison, and Mayor Harrell will be replaced by Dionne Foster, Eddie Lin, Erika Evans, and Katie Wilson, respectively.

The centrist majority laid down some preemptive defense.

The budget allocates nearly $30 million funding for the Unified Care Team (UCT)—Seattle’s cross-departmental coalition of homeless encampment sweepers—a $5.7 million increase over last year’s budget. Harrell’s administration conducted more sweeps than his five predecessors combined. As Publicola reported Wednesday, the proviso will make it very difficult for incoming progressives to use those funds for anything else.

To boost another Harrell priority, the budget increased the police department budget by $34.5 million, bringing the total to $486 million. About $26 million will go toward the officer hiring spree Harrell and conservatives on Council brag about.

The budget also changed what the Seattle Transit Measure, a six-year, voter-approved 0.15 percent sales tax, can pay for. Intended to boost transit access, tax dollars will instead pay for additional security. Progressive Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck was the lone “no” vote against that change. Councilmember Bob Kettle has argued that additional security will create safer transit, and in turn increase ridership. It’s not clear why Kettle thinks security is currently a deterrent for riders. Assaults against transit workers were up between 2023 and 2024, but that also reflects a change in the definition to include verbal threats, while assaults against passengers are down, and general unlawful conduct is down even more.

And as a last nod to our grafitti-obsessed executive and the feckless council she led, Nelson gave SDOT $4.1 million for graffiti “abatement.”

The budget wasn’t a total bummer. It allocated about $350 million for affordable housing, which was hailed as a “record-high” by Budget Committee Chair Dan Strauss and Harrell. This is technically true—it beats last year’s record high by $1 million—but when adjusting for inflation, the Office of Housing’s spending power is down, The Urbanist reported.

To fill in the anticipated gap in federal Continuum of Care (CoC) funds for permanent supportive housing, Council set aside about $11 million, adding to the $9 million already in Harrell’s proposed budget’s reserves for federal cuts. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development announced new rules for its CoC program this fall—it will no longer prioritize Housing First programs—an evidence-based model of addressing homelessness rooted in the fact that people can better address mental health, employment or other issues once they have housing—as it has in the past. Only 30 percent of an award can be used for such programs, meaning Seattle could lose up to $40 million for its homeless programs.

The budget expands the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) team, the city’s alternative policing department. Nearly $7 million was carved out to double the number of community crisis responders—professionals who respond to non-criminal 911 calls.

The budget passed unanimously for the first time in a decade, Strauss said.

“We have much more work to do, and I just wanted to take that moment to recognize the moment in which we just passed into a brighter future,” he said.

We’ll see.

Seattle Braces SPD Against ICE Operations

Micah Yip — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0800

Mayor Harrell Says SPD Can’t Help ICE, but Can He Enforce That?

by Micah Yip

Camille Baldwin-Bonney doesn’t buy it.

The police accountability advocate and co-chair of People Power Washington called Mayor Bruce Harrell’s new anti-ICE executive orders “performative rather than substantive”—a feel-good gesture from the same administration wiring CCTV surveillance cameras throughout the city that federal agents may be able to get their hands on, despite the council’s circuit breaker of a policy that shuts down the CCTVs if the feds subpoena.

In preparation, Mayor Bruce Harrell issued an executive order that instructed the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to write a “directive” for how officers should respond to ICE encounters, barring them from aiding federal agents.

“To then be saying, ‘Well, I’m standing up to ICE and federal agents,’—you’re handing them over tools,” Baldwin-Bonney said.

Her skepticism is grounded. ICE raids have ramped up nationwide. Agents are in Washington. In the first five months of Trump’s second term, ICE arrests surged 35 percent. More recently, ICE arrested two people in Issaquah late October, and several in Redmond earlier this month. And federal troops could occupy Seattle and Portland like they have Chicago and Washington DC.

On paper, the directive seems bold. In practice, it doesn’t ask for much. Harrell’s EO only requires SPD directive to state that officers and a supervisor respond to the scene, keep their body cameras on, try to verify that the federal agent really is a federal agent, and then write up a report. They’re essentially observers and walking cameras, acting as a tracking mechanism. They’re not required to help ICE, but they’re also unable to stop immigration arrests from happening.

The vagueness of that order is why Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck proposed a Statement of Legislative Intent (SLI) to the 2026 budget. The SLI forces SPD to involve police accountability partners when drafting the directive, and explain how officers will be trained to handle ICE-related incidents, including what they’ll do if asked to assist in an arrest or witness potential federal misconduct. Councilmembers Rob Saka, Mark Solomon, Joy Hollingsworth, Maritza Rivera, Dan Strauss and Bob Kettle cosponsored.

“This SLI is intended to really push the department to develop clarity on…how they will be engaging in these situations,” Rinck said. “If a masked individual is zip-tying Seattle residents, how is SPD directing patrol and other officers to engage with that person, identify that person? How will they do that? When do they intervene?”

But what’s challenging for Rinck’s office, she said, is working within the limited power they have.

“We’re talking about a delicate dance between federal powers—which are more than a local jurisdiction’s—and our police department’s responsibility to protect our residents,” Rinck said.

It’s a tension that Harrell’s office acknowledged too. Senior Communications Advisor Karissa Braxton-Lytle said that while the executive orders can’t change the fact that federal law enforcement trumps local law enforcement, they can make sure SPD has “clear, transparent procedures in place when federal agents are present.”

Andrew Chan, an immigration lawyer with the civil rights and immigration firm MacDonald Hoague & Bayless, explained that under federal law, local police can’t obstruct federal agents from carrying out their duties, but they’re not obligated to help, either. Washington’s Keep Washington Working (KWW) Act reinforces that stance, prohibiting police from sharing non-public data with federal agents for immigration enforcement.

But KWW is loophole-y. If ICE, in any state, has a judicial warrant or labels an operation as a “criminal” arrest, the local police can be legally compelled to assist.

But wait, you might be thinking, isn’t the federal government saying all undocumented immigrants are criminals? What can be deemed “criminal” legally is more complicated. Being undocumented and in the United States—like overstaying a visa—is not a crime, it’s a civil infraction. However, unlawful entry—entering the United States by means other than through a designated port or evading inspection by immigration officers—is a misdemeanor, which is a crime. Chan said this is rarely prosecuted by federal prosecutors who “are dealing with much more serious crimes.” But it is where the feds may be able to sidestep KWW and enlist the cops to aid in immigration enforcement.

Even so, sometimes law enforcement ignores sanctuary laws. The Washington state attorney general sued the Adams County Sheriff’s Department in March for allegedly jailing people solely based on immigration status, in violation of KWW. And a 2021 Oregon Public Broadcasting report found that Clark County Jail had continually shared information with ICE in spite of the state’s sanctuary law. In Southern California, law enforcement agencies violated state law more than 100 times by sharing Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) data with federal agents.

“We’re kind of operating under the shroud of darkness,” Chan said. “We don’t know what they’re sharing or if they’re sharing.”

That said, federal agents are (supposedly) not above the law. Chan said that if ICE oversteps—like if they break into a workplace and detain people without warrants—they could, in theory, face charges. In California, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins recently threatened to arrest federal agents breaking local or state laws. Oregon Democrats want local police to investigate federal agents who break state laws on excessive force and policing.

“If local police have probable cause that federal agents are breaking the law, then they can—and in my opinion, they should—charge those agents with breaking the law,” Chan said. “But federal agents have a lot of autonomy, and it would be a state-versus-federal battle royale.”

If the feds show up in Seattle, protests will follow. While Harrell insists SPD’s duty is to protect Seattle residents, not aid federal agents, federal and local law enforcement have worked in tandem during protest crackdowns, like during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. In those cases and others, SPD did not hesitate to meet demonstrators with violence.

Council’s SLI now presses SPD to clarify whether it will coordinate with the mayor’s and city attorney’s offices on legal countermeasures, fighting subpoenas, data grabs or coerced cooperation with ICE.

Newly elected City Attorney Erika Evans said defending immigrant communities from “draconian” federal overreach will be one of her foremost priorities when she takes office in January.

“As city attorney, I would work closely with city departments and SPD to ensure these protections are real and enforced,” Evans said. “If and when federal troops come to Seattle, you can be damn sure I will see them in court.”

Slog AM: Katie Wilson’s Transition Team, SIFF Executive Director Out, Trump and Mamdani Meet at White House Tomorrow

Micah Yip — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:45:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson announced her transition team yesterday. Andrés Mantilla, a partner with consulting firm Uncommon Bridges, is the director. Co-chairs include Karen Estevenin, executive director of PROTEC17, a union that represents more than 3,000 city workers, Tiffani McCoy, the co-executive director of House Our Neighbors, Quynh Pham, executive director of Friends of Little Saigon, and Brian Surratt, president and CEO of Greater Seattle Partners.

SIFF Shifts: Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) Executive Director Tom Mara is exiting his role “effective immediately,” according to an internal all-staff email obtained by the Seattle Times. The email said it was a mutual decision between Mara and SIFF’s board of directors. Mara’s exit comes after SIFF laid off 21% of its administrative staff and ended its lease at the Egyptian Theater.

Trump and Epstein: After almost every member of Congress voted for a bill to release the Epstein files, Trump announced he “JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!" Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files, which he’s always had the power to do as President. He changed his mind. He’s in them, after all. Then, when this vote was imminent, he changed his mind again. It’s less a 180 than a 540. The Department of Justice has 30 days to release the documents. May it be a day for wonderful secrets?

Weather: Morning showers. Clouds and sun throughout the day. High of 54 degrees. It will be mostly cloudy tonight with a low of 41 degrees.

Another Airport Issue: Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after the Northwest’s main oil pipeline shut down again this week, choking off the fuel supply to Sea-Tac. For the next two weeks, truckers will be able to haul fuel for longer hours than they’re usually allowed to.

It’s a whole pipeline thing. On Nov. 11, the pipeline leaked jet fuel into a drainage ditch on an Everett blueberry farm. BP shut it down for a few days, restarted it on Sunday, and shut it back down again Monday after finding diesel leaking near the jet fuel spill. BP’s spokesperson said there’s no timeline for restarting the pipeline. He refused to answer questions, KUOW reported.

Missing Boy in Duvall: The King County Sheriff's Office said 14-year-old Hudson Graham was last seen at his home Monday. He may have boarded a bus heading toward University of Washington Bothell so he could get to Lynnwood. According to the authorities, his parents believe he was “lured” away by someone online. Hudson was last seen wearing a dark colored sweatshirt and carrying two backpacks.

That’s Not What That’s For: Democratic Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother Edwin Cherfilus were indicted for allegedly stealing with her brother more than $5 million in FEMA disaster funds and routing the money into her 2021 congressional campaign. Prosecutors said the funds—overpayments to the family’s healthcare company—were moved through multiple accounts before she spent them on her campaign and herself. She faces up to 53 years in prison.

Trump vs. Comrade Mamdani: New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani will have the displeasure of meeting the president at the White House tomorrow to talk about public safety, economic security, and affordability. Trump has repeatedly called Mamdani a communist (he is a Democratic Socialist), questioned his citizenship (he’s a naturalized citizen) and threatened to pull the city’s federal funds over his election. Mamdani has talked about “Trump-proofing” New York, but also said he’ll work with anyone—the President included—if it benefits New Yorkers.

For Sale: Three months after an alleged arson, the historic Columbia City Funeral Home and Crematory property is selling for $7.5 million. Owner Russ Weeks said the cost of repairs far exceeded the funeral home’s value. Weeks hopes to relocate.

In Honor of Tomorrow’s Wicked: For Good Release:

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Slog AM: The Epstein Files Are Coming (Probably), ICE Detention Footage Was Destroyed, and Girmay Is Cleaning House in the Exec’s Office

Charles Mudede — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 10:15:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Charles Mudede

The E-Files: A bill to release the Epstein files heads to President Donald Trump’s desk today. He’s said he’ll sign it (hell, he campaigned on that). Expect the files. Unless Trump is chicken. The House vote was 427-1. The Senate vote was unanimous, with no debate.

holy shit mike johnson is SHOOK on Epstein vote in Senate

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— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) November 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM

The Loneliest Boy in the House: Far-right Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) is the “1” special guy who did not vote to release the Epstein files. Higgins said the bill would toss thousands of innocent people—“witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc”—into the maw of the “rabid” media. He indicated that he’d vote for an amended bill that protected the privacy of those “named but not criminally implicated.” But hours later, the Senate unanimously passed the measure.

Creep Creeps Out: After showing up all over the E-files as Epstein’s wingman, Larry Summers is stepping down from most of his public roles. Most recently, he announced he’s stepping down from OpenAI’s board. For now, though, he’s still a teacher at Harvard University, the one role where he’s most likely to interact with young women he has power over. Cool.

Sore Loser? After losing her council seat to Dionne Foster, City Council President Sara Nelson will introduce a bill to restrict City Hall access for political consultants and require them to register with the city, similar to lobbyists. For his entire term, Mayor Bruce Harrell created an unusual role for his political consultant, Christian Sinderman, in the city government—a situation that no one could say was illegal, but everyone called highly “unusual.” Nelson’s opponent, Dionne Foster, also worked with Sinderman, and Nelson said she wasn’t able to have open conversations with Harrell because she worried whatever she said could be used against her in Foster’s campaign. Sinderman said the bill is just an attempt at revenge.

As anyone who rides Link in South Seattle well knows, the gap between Columbia City Station and Othello Station, and between Rainier Station and Tukwila International Boulevard, are very long. The plan has been, for years, to fill the first gap with a station at Graham Street, and the second gap with a station at Boeing Access Road. That plan, which saw the completion of both projects in the distant year of 2031, is now on the chopping block due to, as Ryan Packer of the Urbanist reports, "escalating costs." This is truly bad news because these areas, and particularly the one at Graham Street, are dense. It was bad enough that the stations were far in the future, now they may have no future at all.

Sure enough, the right-leaning MyNorthwest is outraged that the social cost of plastic bags will be partially paid for by a 4-cent increase on January 1, 2026 (the present charge is 8 cents). True, this cost should be paid by those who make the most money from this environmental menace, but they will not. All they want is just the profits and none of the real costs. As a consequence, we the people have to pay for a socialism that only the top earners enjoy.

Cleaning House: King County Exec-Elect Girmay Zahilay is reportedly cleaning house. His transition team said that they plan to completely restructure the county’s executive branch, which means about 100 people who are currently serving in appointed positions are losing their jobs. Some of them will be invited to reapply for their jobs—a time-honored tradition for staff morale.

Fascists Did Fascism: The Washington Secretary of State joined 10 others in a letter to tell the Trump administration about their “immense concern” that the voter rolls they provided to the federal government weren’t just used to check for voter fraud. They were used to try to scrub “illegal aliens” from the rolls. Let this be a lesson to all local governments to not give the feds any information that we don’t have to. Looking at you, City Council.

A Quick Distraction: Have you ever wanted to know if you’re smarter than an eighth grader from 1889? Well, now you can.

Budget Blues in Olympia: Woooooof. Washington’s projected revenue through 2029 is a bit lower than expected. It’s $66 million short of the last revenue estimate. While that’s only a modest hit in the grand scheme of state budgets, it compounds with previous shortfalls to make an even tighter budget ahead of lawmakers’ upcoming 2026 session. With $66 million less to play with, lawmakers may need to reconsider funding priorities and they really should explore new funding sources. Someone tell Gov. Bob Ferguson that we’re all jonesing for an income tax.

Like the Deadliest Catch, Except Happy: At around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, a fishing boat called the Abby C. radioed the coast guard for help. Their ship was sinking in frigid Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of Westport, Washington. This is not a good thing for ships to do. Nearby crabbing vessel, Lady Nancy, heard the call and made a beeline to Abby C. After searching the area for 20 minutes, the Lady Nancy crew spotted four men in the water. Two were in an orange life raft, two others clung to a survival suit for dear life. They all had hypothermia. One man sunk below the water and a Lady Nancy crew member dove in to save him. Everyone lived!

You Can Go to SAM for Free: If you bring two non-perishable food items to the Seattle Art Museum on any Wednesday through December 17, you can get free admission into the museum. Go see the Tariqa Waters exhibit!

Today and every Wednesday through Dec. 17, get free admission to the Seattle Art Museum with a donation of at least two non-perishable canned food items, supporting the Pike Market Senior Center and Food Bank. Details below:

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— Joe Veyera (@joeveyera.bsky.social) November 19, 2025 at 8:49 AM

Don’t Forget—the World Is Burning: Amidst all the horrors living under authoritarian hell, we’ve forgotten a different threat to humanity. Climate change is not joking around, and don’t get it twisted, Trump’s “America First” agenda is making it worse. Those policies double down on fossil fuels and do away with efforts to cut emissions. People will die from this. According to ProPublica and The Guardian, “extra greenhouse gases released in the next decade as a result of the president’s policies are expected to lead to as many as 1.3 million more temperature-related deaths worldwide as the earth heats in the 80 years after 2035.” This analysis comes as most countries gather at a conference in Brazil to discuss the threat of climate change. The US is not there.

On the Weather: Patchy fog before 11 am. The chance of rain tonight is a 50/50 coin flip. Can you bet on this?

Blue Moon Rising: A new poll from NPR, PBS News, and Marist found that Democrats are looking good ahead of next year’s midterm elections. The survey of 1,443 adults found that most would vote blue if the elections were held today. Trump’s approval rating sat at 39 percent, his lowest since the aftermath of January 6.

Government Lapses in Comey Indictment: Look, we are no law experts over here, but this seems like a pretty flagrant bad practice in the James Comey case. The Trump-appointed US Attorney who brought charges against former FBI Director Comey told a judge that the full grand jury had never seen the final indictment, so the charges against Comey on the docket currently were not reviewed.

MORE: Under questioning by the judge, prosecutor Tyler Lemons said that he’s under orders from the Deputy Attorney Generals’s office not to disclose whether there is a declination memo recommending against the prosecution of Comey
— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) November 19, 2025 at 8:40 AM

Operation Creep: Minnesota police arrested 16 men in a minor sex trafficking investigation known as “Operation Creep.” One of the arrested men was an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer. “When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said, according to Newsweek. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up." Okay, no more child porn stuff, I promise. Unless there’s another blurb about the Epstein Files…?

How Could This Have Happened? Detainees at ICE’s Broadview Detention Center in suburban Chicago filed a class action lawsuit, alleging terrible treatment. The suit outlines inhumane conditions, such as detainees being forced to sleep on plastic chairs or concrete floors, not receiving adequate food or water, living in squalid conditions, and being abused by ICE officers. In the discovery phase, the plaintiffs’ lawyer requested security footage from the facility starting in mid-September. Conveniently, the Department of Homeland Security said two weeks of footage from October 19 through October 31 has been irretrievably destroyed.

An Unfortunate Reality for Them: Vancouver indie-rock band the New Pornographers debated changing their name after their drummer, Joe Seiders, was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography earlier this year. After “time passed,” the band decided they would keep the name. Granted, they have been around since 1997, and that drummer only joined in 2014. Optics, shmoptics.

Mayor-elect Wilson Joins Starbucks Workers at Strike Rally

Micah Yip — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 15:20:00 -0800

Dozens of workers and supporters gathered outside closed Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Pike Street, chanting in the drizzly rain and waving picket signs as Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson took to the stage. She told the crowd she was proud to stand with baristas in solidarity. by Micah Yip

Hours after Mayor Bruce Harrell conceded Seattle’s mayoral race, Mayor-elect Katie Wilson joined Starbucks baristas and allied labor groups at a rally Thursday, pledging to boycott the company until workers secure a contract.

Dozens of workers and supporters gathered around 4 p.m. in front of the closed Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Pike Street, chanting in the drizzly rain and waving picket signs as Wilson took to the stage. She told the crowd she was proud to stand with baristas in solidarity.

“The baristas have shared that the best way to show our support is not to buy Starbucks in solidarity,” Wilson said. “Together, we can send a powerful message: no contract, no coffee.”

She closed with a message for the company: “This is your hometown and mine. Seattle’s making some changes right now, and I urge you to do the right thing.”

Workers at 40 unionized Starbucks stores nationwide went on strike yesterday after over a year of stalled contract talks and ongoing unfair labor practices (ULPs). Starbucks Workers United said national contract bargaining began 18 months ago, but the company stopped offering new proposals altogether six months ago. And despite this, Starbucks kept rolling out new policies without bargaining for them. According to the National Labor Relations Board, the company has about700 unresolved ULP charges.

State Rep. Shaun Scott, a socialist whose district includes Capitol Hill, spoke to the crowd, framing the strike as part of a broader fight against corporate power in an increasingly unaffordable city.

“I hear so many people ask in the state legislature when we talk about taxing the ultra-wealthy,” Scott said. “‘If we make life too hard on major corporations in Washington state, what happens if they leave?’ I’m much more concerned about the working people that are going to be displaced because of low wages.”

Sofia Wagerman, a former Starbucks employee from California, told the crowd she was forced to leave Starbucks because she could no longer make ends meet, but that efforts to decertify their store failed “because of our solidarity and our power.”

In a statement yesterday, Starbucks Director of Global Communications Jaci Anderson said the company was disappointed that the union went on strike, and that “when the union is ready to come back to the bargaining table, we’re ready to talk.”

Seattle Starbucks Workers on the Picket Kick Off Nationwide Strike

Micah Yip — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 15:44:00 -0800

Starbucks workers picketed before today's rally on Capitol Hill. by Micah Yip

At 9 a.m. Thursday morning, at what’s usually a busy time of day for a coffee shop, the U-District Starbucks was locked up. Lights out, chairs on tables, and empty inside.

Outside, about 25 union baristas and their supporters lined the sidewalk. The same scene was playing out in Queen Anne (1144 Elliott Ave W), Portland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, and others. Thousands of employees at 40 stores nationwide are on strike after Starbucks went six months without offering new bargaining proposals, and more than 18 months after national contract bargaining began.

Cars honked as picketers chanted a remix of Chappell Roan’s HOT TO GO!, shouting, “H-O-T-T-O-G-O, union busting’s got to go!” They carried signs that read, “Don’t cross our picket line” and “No contract? No coffee!” Their march circled a protester in an inflatable Remy (the rat) costume.

Emma Cox, a seven-year Starbucks barista, union leader, and strike captain, says the strike is the result of more than a year of corporate’s bad-faith bargaining and union-busting measures, including store closures and write-ups for policy violations Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) never bargained over. These actions violate labor laws, Cox says.

Shuttering unionized stores is Starbucks’s most egregious union-busting measure, Cox says. In September, the company shut down the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill, a store that was active in the union. One in Eastlake closed this year, too. The worst of it was 2022’s citywide wave of closures.

Starbucks’s other union-busting methods—its new policies that were unilaterally implemented—include a stricter dress code for employees and no free water or bathroom access for non-paying visitors. Union members report that employees are being written up for breaking the new policies.

“[Starbucks] hasn’t bargained for any of those policies, but they have been enforcing them and writing people up,” Cox says. “That in itself is a ULP that’s happening at every single union store in the country.”

Cox says since the beginning of this year, SBWU has filed about 125 new unfair labor practice (ULP) complaints, on top of the about 700 unresolved from previous years, largely based around bad-faith bargaining, unilateral policy changes, and retaliatory firings and discipline. Administrative law judges at the National Labor Relations Board found that Starbucks has committed more than 400 labor law violations—the “biggest violator of labor law in modern history,” the union says.

At the bargaining table, SBWU has been asking for higher pay, adequate staffing, and increased hours so employees can qualify for benefits.

Cox says it would only take $75 million for Starbucks to settle the contract with the union. They say that’s less than the $96 million CEO Brian Niccol made in his first four months with the company last year and the $81 million Starbucks spent on a management conference in Las Vegas this September.

The picket wrapped around 11 a.m., and Cox urged people to sign the No Contract, No Coffee pledge.

“It feels like we’re just going in a completely wrong direction,” Cox says. “If [Starbucks] just sat down with us, settled our contract, that would get the company moving in the right direction.”

A rally is planned for today at 4 p.m. outside the Starbucks Reserve Roastery.

In an email to The Stranger, Starbucks Director of Global Communications Jaci Anderson writes the company is “actually having a great day.” Ninety-nine percent of their coffeehouses remain open, and they’re seeing “extremely limited impact in Seattle,” she writes.

“In the event a coffeehouse experiences a temporary closure as a result of Workers United’s actions, I can assure you there will be stores nearby open,” she writes. “We have plenty of Red Cups to give away and are excited to have a great day with our customers.”

Anderson writes that Starbucks is disappointed that the union (which she represents less than 4 percent of their employees) called for a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table. She writes that the union left the bargaining table in April, despite almost 200 hours of negotiations and more than 30 tentative agreements reached. (The union disagrees with this characterization of events.)

“When the union is ready to come back to the bargaining table, we’re ready to talk,” Anderson writes.

Starbucks Union Announces Nationwide Strike

Micah Yip — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 08:27:00 -0800

More than 1,000 union baristas at 65 stores across 40 cities are striking. In Seattle, workers will picket outside stores in the U-District (4147 University Way NE) and on Queen Anne (1144 Elliott Ave. W) this morning. by Micah Yip

Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) kicked off a nationwide strike after six months of trying to negotiate a fair contract with the company. To hit the company where it hurts, the union chose Red Cup Day, a major holiday promotional event and one of the biggest sales days of the year.

“The company has forced us into this fight,” said SBWU spokesperson Michelle Eisen at an online press conference.

At 4 p.m., they’ll rally outside the closed Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill. Eisen said the union is prepared to make this the “largest, longest strike in company history.” Despite warning management of the strike last week, the union said it has not heard from the company.

Workers are asking for higher wages, more hours, better staffing, and an end to the company’s unfair labor practices, hundreds of which remain unresolved.

Pittsburgh barista Dachi Spoltore said CEO Brian Niccol made $96 million in his first four months on the job. This summer, the company spent $81 million on a “glitzy” management conference in Las Vegas. His workers struggle to get enough hours to qualify for the benefits Starbucks brags about.

“The math just isn’t adding up,” Spoltore said.

Lynne Fox, president of Workers United, has negotiated hundreds of contracts in her career, but has never seen “an employer act with such reckless disregard” of labor laws. The company makes billions, but offers workers little, she said.

During initial bargaining talks, the union offered Starbucks a “menu” of bargaining options. Starbucks rejected them all, and told the public about a 65 percent pay increase the union never asked for. The company came up with that number by adding all the proposals into one sum, she said.

“[Starbucks] has no problem spending the money—they’re just not investing it in the right place,” Eisen said. “The investment needs to go to the workers who run these stores every day, whose labor brings in this revenue, the ones who create the relationships with the customers that keeps them coming back.”

Seattleites at Budget Hearing Want Housing

Micah Yip — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0800

Last week, more than 200 people took a break from election-induced nail-biting to speak at the last City Council budget hearing, pleading for a slice of next year’s proposed $8.9 billion budget. While speakers requested funding for everything from food access to community revitalization, the majority of the public commenters were concerned about housing and homelessness. by Micah Yip

Katie Wilson is likely Seattle’s next mayor, but for now, we still have a Bruce Harrell administration and a Sara Nelson-led City Council, and these folks are making big budget moves.

On Thursday, more than 200 people took a break from election-induced nail-biting to speak at the last City Council budget hearing, pleading for a slice of next year’s proposed $8.9 billion budget. While speakers requested funding for everything from food access to community revitalization, the majority of the public commenters were concerned about housing and homelessness.

When Harrell first announced his budget, he (and his campaign) touted an “historic” $350 million investment in housing. That’s technically true—it beat last year’s budget by $1 million. But according to The Urbanist’s calculations, if we adjust for inflation, funding for the Office of Housing is down.

The overall picture is more complicated. Funds for homelessness and housing affordability are spread across several departments and hidden within dozens of line items. The Human Services Department (HSD) gets the majority of the homelessness funds. Of their $432.4 million budget (a 12.3 percent increase from 2025), about $225 million goes to homeless services, making up a whopping 75 percent of the citywide homelessness budget in 2026. HSD provides $11.5 million for rental assistance programs.

On Thursday night, City Hall was packed for the last public budget hearing. Nearly every seat was taken. People were sitting on the floor. I was sitting on the floor. Earlier that day, they packed a virtual meeting room.

All told, more than 200 people spoke, and all had roughly 90 seconds to ask the City to protect their slice of the budget.

Mackenzie Lew, a legal assistant with the Housing Justice Project, urged the council to fully reinstate the tenant services allocation. Originally, Harrell’s proposed budget put about $1.58 million toward the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI)—far below 2024’s allocation of $2.4 million. Tenant rights advocates asserted that this year’s proposal was not enough due to the record numbers of evictions, and the budget would require more than even 2024’s funding.

Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck sponsored an amendment adding $1 million to the 2026 budget, which would bring the total to $2.5 million. However, the Chair’s Balancing Package returned with half that allocation, falling almost half a million short of last year’s spending power.

Representatives from other tenant services organizations—such as Be:Seattle, the Low Income Housing Institute, and the Seattle Human Services Coalition—spoke in support of reinstating Harrell’s original $1 million allocation.(For comparison: Harrell allotted $1.08 million to fund inspectors for unlicensed street food vendors.)

Cecilia Black, a Be:Seattle board member, which serves people with disabilities, said her organization “helped renters navigate reasonable accommodations and difficult relationships with landlords that helped keep people in their housing and prevent evictions.”

Harrell’s original HSD budget allocated $4 million for rental assistance and $527,000 for eviction legal defense, which Council left alone.

Unhoused residents and representatives for Tent City 3 and 4 made an appearance at the evening session, though programs like theirs are not listed in the budget nor the balancing package. They spoke at budget hearings in October, too. It’s a public venue where they can plead for help.

Their 200 residents are at great risk of being imminently displaced. Run by SHARE/WHEEL, the self-managed Tent City 3 and 4 have temporary host agreements with churches and nonprofits. Their current agreement is up on Saturday, November 15.

“Without shelter, people die,” said SHARE/WHEEL board member Anitra Freeman. “Create more shelter for the people on the street, and save the shelter that the people on the street have already created for themselves.”

There’s no dedicated funding for their community this year, though they have received some in previous budgets. The only remotely related line items are the $4.05 million dedicated to the Community Solutions Unsheltered Homelessness Pilot and a few general “outreach and shelter navigation” contracts through HSD, but those go to larger service providers.

Commenter Abel Mendoza urged the Council not to move another local homeless encampment. He ended his comment period with a statement that seemed almost resigned, as if accepting an unfavorable fate:

“All I can say is that our future is in your hands, and there’s nothing else I can say. Regardless of what I say, it’s always your decision, and not the decision of the public in general.”

City Council will make its final vote as the Budget Committee on November 20. It will make its final vote as City Council the next day.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Harrell had allocated $1 million for SCDI tenant services, and that Council’s amendments halved this to $500,000. The mayor’s original budget set aside $1.58 million for SCDI tenant services. Councilmember Rinck proposed an amendment adding an additional $1 million, but that was halved to $500,000 in the Chair’s balancing package. We regret the error.

Slog AM: The Red Cup Rebellion, FAA Cuts Flights, Mamdani’s All Woman Transition Team

Micah Yip — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 09:49:00 -0800

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

They’re calling it “the Red Cup Rebellion”: The Starbucks employee union voted to strike on November 13, aka Red Cup Day, when stores hand out reusable, free (with purchase) red cups to kick off the holiday season. The union said that after years of bargaining, Starbucks still hasn’t budged on their demands for better pay, more hours and resolutions of more than 700 unresolved unfair labor practice violations. The strike could hit about 25 cities, with potential to spread. Seattle baristas have participated in the strikes in the past. At one in March, police arrested 16 people.

SPD Firings: Seattle Police Department Chief Shon Barnes fired two of the department’s top leaders yesterday, CEO Brian Maxey and general counsel Rebecca Boatright. According to the Seattle Times, they played key roles in federal oversight of the department, and were often referred to for internal policy inquiries—like protest response, use of body cameras and more—from City Hall officials. Barnes was hired by Harrell earlier this year. Look, I’m all for downsizing the police department, but is this the place to start?

Wondering why the last two ballot drops showed so many progressive candidates leading their races, yet Katie Wilson is still behind Mayor Bruce Harrell? Vivian got answers yesterday. As of yesterday’s ballot drop, Harrell is leading by eight points. But ballots are still being counted, and because younger progressives tend to vote late, Wilson could come back. Keep every phalange you have crossed.

The “Sharia Law” They Warned Us About: New York City mayor elect Zohran Mamdani announced an all-women transition team to help “form an administration that is equal parts capable and compassionate,” he says. They include senior campaign advisor Elana Leopold, former first deputy mayor Maria Torres-Springer, former federal trade commission chair Lina Khan, United Way’s president and CEO Grace Bonilla, and Melanie Hartzog, former deputy mayor for health and human services. And then there’s Seattle, possibly about to be stuck with four more years of Bruce.

Trump is Coping: A day after Dems swept elections across the country, the president posted more than 30 Truth Social posts in under two hours. Many were (seemingly) AI-generated videos of himself reading his past Truth Social posts: one of him warning the Nigerian government to “stop the killing of Christians,” another one declaring Obamacare “A TOTAL DISASTER!” and another alleging Walmart’s prices for Thanksgiving dinner dropped 25 percent since Biden was in office.

This one is by far the most cringe:

Weather: Rain between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Breezy. The high will be 58 degrees. The low will be 48.

Seattle police are investigating after a man arrived at Harborview Medical Center yesterday morning with a gunshot wound to the head. The police department said officers responded 2:20 a.m. after staff called 911 to report the victim. The man came to the hospital in a car with no license plates, driven by another unknown man, who walked the victim into the hospital and then left before police arrived, police say. The victim is reportedly in stable condition. Police said he told them he was injured in Seattle, but wouldn’t say where.

31 Years Later: New DNA evidence has led to an arrest for the 1994 murder of 14-year-old Tanya Marie Frazier, who disappeared after leaving Meany Middle School on Capitol Hill. Her body was found days later along E. Highland Drive. Police said 57-year-old Mark Anthony Russ was identified through DNA collected 31 years ago. Russ, recently released from prison, is now being held without bail. His record includes attempted rape, burglary and robbery.

More Air Trouble: Starting Friday, the FAA will cut US air traffic by 10% across 40 major markets due to safety concerns, a.k.a. the longest government shutdown in the history of this country. Air traffic controllers, who have been working unpaid since Oct. 1, have been logging six-day weeks and mandatory overtime. They’re fatigued and short staffed. This is not safe. The cutback could disrupt thousands of flights nationwide just before the holidays..

Deutschland: The shutdown’s wide reach expands overseas to American military bases in Bavaria, Germany. As part of its “Shutdown Guidance,” a US Army website briefly provided a list of food banks for people living at these bases, but the information was later deleted without explanation. Maybe because it’s embarrassing.

Workplace Harrassment Charges at SFD: The Seattle Fire Department’s former head of human resources, Sarah Lee, has filed a $2.5 million claim against the city, alleging she was fired for trying to address workplace misconduct inside the department, including alleged on-duty drinking, sexual harassment, and unsafe behavior. An attorney and former pro tem judge, Lee said she pushed the department to investigate multiple incidents—including a female firefighter’s uniform being slashed with a box cutter—but SFD retaliated against her. She was placed on leave in September and later fired, allegedly after seeking records that implicated a superior.

Spoiler Alert: There’s gonna be a new Barnes & Noble downtown. To that, I say:

@a_twink_and_a_redhead We could’ve easily written Romeo and Juliet, but Shakespeare could’ve never written Barnes & Noble by Grant & Ash 🤣🔥🤭💕✨ #shakespeare #singersongwriter #plottwist #reading #songofthesummer ♬ original sound - Grant & Ash

We’ve Got a Dead Heat in the County Executive Race

Micah Yip — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 17:21:00 -0700

It's a tight one. by Micah Yip

King County Councilmembers Girmay Zahilay and Claudia Balducci are neck-and-neck in the race for King County Executive, according to poll data from the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI), a nonprofit public opinion research firm.

Commissioned by NPI and conducted by Emerson College, the survey polled 600 likely voters between October 22 and 27: 37 percent said they’d vote for Balducci (District 5), 35 percent said their guy was Girmay (District 2), and 28 percent didn’t know who they would vote for (District Unknown). Because the survey’s margin of error was +/- 4 percent, the race is a statistical tie. But when undecided voters were shown a sample of each candidate’s voter guide statement, 44 percent picked Balducci, and 31 picked Zahilay. Twenty-six percent still couldn’t make up their minds.

In the August primary, Zahilay walked away with 44 percent of the vote and Balducci only claimed 29 percent, but that was in a crowded, eight-way race.

NPI’s Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve said the polling released this week is likely close because Balducci and Zahilay are so similar. (For the record, The Stranger endorsed Zahilay.)

“When you consider that each of them is a King County councilmember, and each of them is a progressive Democrat, and each of them has a lot of community support, that explains why they’re tied in the poll,” Villeneuve said. The poll, however, is “just a snapshot in time,” not a prediction of what will happen, Villeneuve emphasized.

In an email to The Stranger, Balducci campaign manager Rebecca Rego says voters are responding to Balducci’s record of “delivering affordable housing, expanding light rail, and demanding immediate actions that maximize tax dollars to protect low-income families.” She also said Balducci is the “only candidate” with a consistent record on public safety and plans to address retail theft and reduce gun violence.

Zahilay campaign spokesperson Erik Houser said they’re encouraged by early ballot returns showing Zahilay’s lead. But the race was still competitive, he wrote in an email to The Stranger.

“We know that voters support Girmay after they learn about his record of leadership and how he has built the largest coalition in the history of county politics,” Houser wrote.

Well, when they read part of his voter guide statement, they went for Balducci, at least in this sample.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said that that Erik Houser was Girmay Zahilay's campaign manager. He's Zahilay's campaign spokesperson. We regret the error.

Slog AM: Big Tech Has a Secret Code With Israel, Trump Takes Another Swipe at Trans Healthcare, Issaquah Is Sick of ICE

Micah Yip — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 10:00:00 -0700

The Stranger's Morning News Roundup by Micah Yip

Why the Fuck Would You Do That: What is it about cooking up a Halloween costume that makes people lose all critical thinking skills? Every year, some white guy will put on a Native American war bonnet, or some idiot decides it’s cool to dress as a serial killer. This year, former Vancouver City Councilmember Pat Jollota dressed as an ICE agent at the city’s popular Halloween gathering on October 18. Photos of her were posted to Facebook. People got mad, because of course they did. And Jollota eventually apologized at last week’s city council meeting. In a Facebook post of her own, she wrote that the costume was meant “as commentary, not endorsement,” and that her goal was to portray ICE as the horror that it is.

ICE to Go Mask-Off: Now for some real ICE news. With ICE sightings and whispers of a National Guard deployment to Seattle, Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed an ordinance banning law enforcement from using face coverings. This new legislation would prohibit any officer—including ICE agents—from wearing face coverings, and requires them to wear identification.

But it’s unclear how enforceable these mask bans actually are. Seattle would join other blue states and cities—in California, New York and Illinois—who have (or are trying to) pass similar legislation. But federal agents operate under federal authority, meaning state or local laws can’t always tell them what to do. The Trump administration has already said they won’t comply with Gov. Newsom’s legislation.

Speaking of Harrell proposals, Seattle City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday banning non-competes for grocery stores and pharmacies. This means that a rival store can move onto a former chain’s lot. The ban, proposed by Harrell on October 1, comes in response to the wave of recent store closures in the Seattle area which have made food less accessible and turned Lake City into a food desert (and Katie Wilson’s campaign proposal to explore public grocery stores). And while the ordinance sounds impressive, it likely won’t have the effect we hope it will. Read my story about it here.

I Hate It Here: The Trump administration’s campaign against trans people continues. NPR got their hands on two proposed rules in the Department of Health and Human Services that would dramatically restrict gender-affirming care for anyone under 19. Both target medicaid reimbursements for trans care, but the second one takes it a step further, threatening to cut off all Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that offer pediatric gender-affirming care—a step that hospitals have clearly been bracing for for months now. These are just proposals right now, and they will surely be challenged in the courts, but it’s another way Trump’s trying to make good on his day-one executive order stating the US will not help trans youth get care.

Ceasefire… Now? Israel announced its ceasefire is back on—right after carrying out devastating airstrikes in Gaza that killed 104 people and wounded 253, making this the deadliest strike since the ceasefire began October 10. Israel said it struck Gaza as payback for the shooting and killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah. Hamas says they had no involvement in the shooting. We say Israel needs to revisit the definition of ceasefire.

Gas Works Death Lawsuit: The family of Mattheis Johnson, the 15-year-old who fell to his death off the Gas Works Park structures on July 10, has sued the city. The lawsuit alleges that Gas Works’ amalgamation of rusted tanks, pipes, and ladders pose a major threat to visitors, noting that Johnson was the third to die from falling off its structures since 2012. After Johnson’s death, Seattle Parks and Recreation declared an emergency and proposed removing all climbable surfaces. But the Landmarks and Preservation Board rejected the proposal this month, citing historical significance. The board wants to explore alternatives, like security cameras, which are famously effective at saving lives.

Putting the Free in Free-Range: A Northern California animal rights activist is facing jail time after she dressed up like a factory worker, snuck into a Perdue Farms plant, and liberated four chickens. Zoe Rosenberg, 23, was found guilty yesterday in Sonoma County Court for felony conspiracy, trespassing, and other charges, after saving Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea from the chopping block. Rosenberg said it was worth it. She and her lawyers argued that breaking into the plant wasn’t illegal because she was responding to criminal animal cruelty. She’s facing four and a half years in jail while Poppy and friends have flown the coup, but her lawyer plans to appeal the verdict.

Weather: Well, it was supposed to be mostly cloudy with some sun later on, per the National Weather Service and the Apple Weather app. But I’m sitting next to my window and the sun is pouring in. I don’t know what to believe. I guess we’ll see. High of 56 degrees. Nighttime will see more clouds with a low around 43.

The Storm Has a New Coach: The Seattle Storm just hired Sonia Raman, a former New York Liberty assistant coach and the first WNBA head coach of Indian descent. Her resume is unconventional: she has a law degree from Boston College, worked for the U.S. Department of Labor, turned MIT’s women’s basketball team into a Division III powerhouse, and coached for the Memphis Grizzlies and Liberty. The Seattle Times has the story.

ICE in Issaquah: Two people were arrested by ICE in Issaquah last week—one while dropping her kid off at preschool, another at a McDonald’s—and officials are reacting. Issaquah City Councilmember Kelly Jiang told KOMO she’s urged state legislators to pass protective laws, like requiring all law enforcement to show identification and be prohibited from wearing masks. Mayor Mary Lou Pauly recommended the council allocate $50,000 in the budget for immigration services.

Hurricane Melissa Leaves Dozens Dead: After wreaking havoc on Jamaica and Haiti, Hurricane Melissa set its sights on Cuba on Wednesday. Almost 30 have died from the storm—at least 25 in Haiti and four in Jamaica. Cuba hasn’t reported any deaths yet but 735,000 people were evacuated.

Indicted over ICE Protest: During a September protest outside an immigration building in a Chicago suburb, Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh and five others allegedly surrounded a vehicle driven by an ICE officer, preventing it from entering the facility. Now, she and those five people have been indicted with felony charges for conspiring to impede an officer.

Big Tech Flirts With Israel: Leaked documents revealed that Israel’s $1.2 billion “Project Nimbus” cloud deal with Google and Amazon came with a secret clause straight out of a spy novel. Under the so-called “winking mechanism,” the tech giants allegedly agreed to use a secret code through payments to the Israeli government whenever they were being forced by courts to hand over Israeli data. The whole system is based on country codes: they’d send 1,000 shekels if US courts were demanding data because our country code is +1; If Italy (+39) was digging around for data, they’d send 3,900. “It seems awfully cute and something that if the US government or, more to the point, a court were to understand, I don’t think they would be particularly sympathetic,” a former US government lawyer told The Guardian. The deal also forbids Google and Amazon from cutting off Israel’s military or surveillance access.

US-China Trade Is So Back: Trump met with China’s President Xi Jinping in South Korea yesterday for the first time since Trump retook office. The meeting went so well that Trump rated it a 12 out of 10, because that’s how math and the presidency works now. President Xi must have told him he’s very pretty, because he’s cutting tariffs on Chinese goods. In return, Xi agreed to lift China’s restrictions on exporting rare earth minerals.

Mayor Harrell’s Rushed Grocery Law Comes with Little Bite

Micah Yip — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 08:00:00 -0700

When Kroger shuttered its Lake City Fred Meyer this month, the neighborhood became a food desert without a full-service grocery store. Five other Kroger-owned stores have recently closed in Redmond, Everett, Kent, Tacoma and Mill Creek. Paired with the steady death of Seattle stores over the last few years, the closures sparked worry among government officials, unions and community members alike, that these food deserts could spread.

On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that declares a public health emergency, temporarily banning grocery and pharmacy chains from enforcing anti-competition covenants that could keep people from accessing fresh food. These “negative use restrictions” allow companies to block their rivals from moving onto their former lots. The ordinance will expire in one year, unless council extends it or terminates it early.

This legislation, proposed by Mayor Bruce Harrell on October 1, came after challenger Katie Wilson’s campaign pitch in partnership with UFCW 3000 to explore publicly funded grocery stores—government-run stores that provide greater food accessibility. Harrell’s legislation moved through at breakneck speed, less than one week before Election Day. Wilson is leading the race by four points, according to polling conducted by The Stranger and DHM Research.

Harrell’s legislation might sound impressive, appealing to progressives’ desires to stick it to big corporations. But it’s not as radical as it could be. In fact, the newly established law isn’t retroactive to existing restrictive covenants, meaning it will only ban any prospective agreements. Breaking this law may come with a steep $1,500 a day fine, but it won’t have much immediate effect.

Kroger, which owns Fred Meyer and QFC, said it closed stores due to increased retail theft—despite police data showing that it’s in decline—or underperformance.

Anti-competition covenants allow a chain—Kroger, in this instance—to keep some of their customers after they close a location by forcing them to travel to the next closest store within their brand.

“What bothers us, I think, as a city, is to weigh anti-competition versus people’s need for food and a pharmacy,” said District 5 Councilmember Debora Juarez, who represents Lake City. “We believe that is unacceptable and unconscionable.”

Juarez said that in addition to losing Fred Meyer and its pharmacy, the neighborhood’s Walgreens and Bartell Drugs have closed.The last pharmacy in Lake City is run by the Seattle Indian Health Board at their clinic on 33rd Avenue. The next closest is Safeway in Pinehurst, 1.3 miles away from the former Fred Meyer. That’s only a five minute drive, but it’s about 15 minutes by transit or a 27-minute walk.

“I’m sure across the city there are other grocery stores that have these restrictive noncompetitive covenants,” Juarez said. “Hopefully, council colleagues, we can start looking at these covenants…because we can’t find ourselves in this city, where we have food deserts in a city that has so much abundance of wealth and food.”

When grocery stores close, the community suffers. People might have trouble finding another store close by, or finding reliable transit to get there. Food pantries that partner with grocery stores lose food that would otherwise be thrown away. In Lake City, North Helpline, a homelessness prevention and food access nonprofit, stocked its shelves with food from Fred Meyer.

Councilmembers mentioned the looming threat of SNAP running out this Saturday, courtesy of the ongoing government shutdown. But this legislation won’t directly address that, especially with the benefits cut-off literally days away.

“All of this, it’s all part of this food desert and the need to provide food for our constituents," said Councilmember Maritza Rivera. “Food insecurity is real, and it’s hitting a lot of folks in the various districts that we represent.”

After the meeting, Mayor Bruce Harrell issued a statement, applauding council for their action and reminding the public that he proposed this legislation to council.

“Every neighborhood deserves convenient access to fresh, affordable, nutritious food and essential medicine. Period,” he said.

Remember Mpox? Cases Are Up in King County

Micah Yip — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:01:00 -0700

September Saw the Highest Number of Mpox Cases Since 2022

by Micah Yip

Mpox cases are on the rise in King County, and local health officials are urging people that are eligible—and at risk—to get vaccinated.

A Wednesday alert from Public Health Insider, the official blog for county’s public health agency, said 45 new cases of mpox (formerly called monkeypox, a wrong that took the WHO 50 years to right) were reported in King County residents in September—the highest number of cases in the county in single a month since the initial 2022 outbreak. which saw as many as 200 new cases in a month. Case numbers have risen in Chicago, in San Francisco, and New York City as well.

Mpox is a viral infection that causes an often extremely painful skin rash, and sometimes flu-like symptoms. Fortunately, most people recover without treatment in two to four weeks, (there have been no recorded mpox fatalities in King County, according to county data, and only 20 of the 716 recorded cases since 2022 resulted in a hospitalization) but by all accounts, it’s not a virus you want to suffer through if you can avoid it.

And worse, it’s very contagious, especially because you can pass the virus along before you show any symptoms. Mpox is most commonly spread through sexual contact, but can be transmitted through close physical contact with another person with the infection.

Dr. Tim Menza, the medical director at the county’s public health agency and a professor at the University of Washington, said that recent infections include more young adults, many of whom weren’t sexually active or vaccinated during the 2022 outbreak. They’re now more vulnerable, becoming more sexually active where mpox is still present. And, due to the drop in cases since 2022, healthcare messaging hasn’t been as strong.

“Folks who were young, it wasn’t a thing or something they thought they needed to pay attention to in that time,” Menza said. “And the fact that maybe there hasn’t been much messaging around it to kind of keep it in people’s brains as something important.”

A decline in federal support for mpox vaccination and awareness is another possible factor in the spread, Menza said.

Mpox is commonly seen in cisgender men, transgender people, and non-binary people who have sex with men. Folks who have engaged in commercial or transactional sex and folks who have had skin-to-skin or other close contact with someone with mpox are also at higher risk. Anyone in these categories should get the two-dose vaccine.

According to Public Health, the vaccine prevents most mpox infections. If you do contract mpox, the vaccine is highly effective at preventing severe cases. Just like the COVID shot, it takes about two weeks from the second dose for the vaccine to take full effect.

To get the mpox vaccine, contact your healthcare provider to see if they offer it. If you don’t have insurance or if your insurance doesn’t cover the full cost, you can get vaccinated for free at Public Health’s Sexual Health Clinic at Harborview, regardless of immigration or documentation status. You can schedule an appointment at 206-744-3950. Walk-ins are available.

For a full list of clinics offering mpox vaccines, you can visit this page provided by Public Health.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to clarify that the spike in cases isn't due to unvaccinated young adults. That demographic is just at higher risk.

Slog AM: The Feds Move Into the Bay Area, Trump Pardons His Crypto Bro, Ex-Student Sues the Seattle School District

Micah Yip — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 09:37:00 -0700

The Stranger's Morning News Roundup by Micah Yip

Rare Cop W: After learning that US Border Patrol had accessed their Flock Safety surveillance data through a backdoor in the system, the Mukilteo, Auburn, Renton and Lakewood police departments all revoked external access to that data.

Street Vendor Shutdown: Remember Charles Mudede’s love letter to street food vendors? “Seattle is growing. We are becoming big. And with a big city, comes big, delicious food tents,” he wrote in our Food Issue. But apparently King County public health officials didn’t listen. They shut down 17 unpermitted food vendors selling around Lumen Field during the Seahawks game earlier this week. It’s the latest in the county’s efforts to crack down on “illegal” street vending, citing health risks and unfair competition for legal vendors.

Speaking of Shutdown: We’re on day 23 of the government shutdown. While Trump has been trying to keep it low key, Politico says the effects could soon become unignorable. His administration is “scrambling” to fund WIC, Head Start, and troops. Airlines have seen delays due to air traffic control staffing shortages. “The longer the shutdown stretches on, the more cracks will form,” Politico wrote.

Weather: Sporadic fog in the morning. Clouds and breaks of sun throughout the day. High of 63 degrees. Clouds, breeze and a touch of rain at night, and a low of 54.

Bad Teacher: In 2018, Meany Middle School math teacher James Johnson grabbed his 13-year-old student’s shirt, punched him in the jaw, dragged him across a table, and threw him out the classroom door. The next period, a student recorded him saying that he “had to punch a student in the face.” The student that he assaulted is 21 now, and his lawyers say he’s suffered a traumatic brain injury and has depression, PTSD, and memory loss, and has been unable to stay employed. And they say that based on Johnson’s (alleged) history of shoving kids in lockers, using profanity in the classroom, and sexually harassing teenage girls, the school district should have known that Johnson was a risk to students. So now, the student that he assaulted is seeking between $76 million and $124 million from Seattle Public Schools in damages in a King County Superior Court civil case.

We’re still doing this? On Tuesday, Tacoma City Council expanded the city’s homeless camping ban, building on the ordinance established in 2022. The original ban prohibited camping and storage of personal belongings within a 10-block radius around temporary shelters and all public property within 200 feet of the city’s natural bodies of flowing water. The new proposal expands the ban to areas within two blocks of public schools, parks and libraries, and adds buffers around permanent shelters.

Overnight Orating: Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley delivered a nearly 23-hour speech on the Senate floor, calling out President Trump for his authoritarian proclivities, prosecuting his political enemies and deploying the military to Portland. Merkley started speaking Tuesday and ended late Wednesday. “Trump is shredding our constitution,” he said.

From Portland to San Francisco: California’s Bay Area is the latest region facing federal agents in Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown. More than 100 federal agents—including from U.S. Customs and Border Protection—they arrived today in Alameda, a city across the bay from San Francisco.

Here’s How They Were Greeted:

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Think You Have Measles? The Washington Department of Health launched an online tracker this week showing locations where people with measles visited. The tool comes amid a marked rise in measles cases nationwide, after RFK Jr. decided that the MMR vaccine was more dangerous than a virus that, before we were inoculated against it, killed 2.6 million people a year. Washington has seen 11 confirmed measles cases this year, but hasn’t seen an outbreak, which is defined as three or more related cases.

New Pentagon Press Corps: After most major outlets refused to sign the Pentagon’s new media access policy, the “Department of War” unveiled a new press corps stocked with right-wing “news” outlets like the Gateway Pundit, the National Pulse, podcaster Tim Pool, Frontlines by Turning Point USA, and LindellTV run by “MyPillow” CEO Mike Lindell. It’s oozing with journalistic rigor, we hear.

Hit-and-Run in Ballard: Seattle police are investigating a fatal hit-and-run Wednesday night in Ballard. Officers responded around 9 p.m. and found one person dead at the scene, according to KING 5. Details about the crash and the identity of the victim haven’t been released.

Big Tech Funds Trump’s Ballroom: Trump is demolishing the White House East Wing for a $300 million ballroom. He said the renovation was funded by “some friends of mine.” Those friends turned out to be major tech, defense, and crypto companies like Apple, Palantir and T-Mobile.

The War (On Crypto) Is Over: At least, that’s what the White House said after Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Zhao was convicted less than a year ago for money laundering. He served four months in prison and paid a $4.3 billion settlement. The pardon comes on the heels of this report from the Wall Street Journal, which revealed Trump’s own family crypto company—which has generated about $4.5 billion since the 2024 election—was helped by “a partnership with an under-the-radar trading platform quietly administered by Binance.”

Mayor Harrell Announces a Tentative Agreement With SPOG

Micah Yip — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:54:00 -0700

Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) have reached a tentative bargaining agreement that would allow the city to double the size of the Community Assistance Response Engagement (CARE) Department. If approved by City Council, it would make the civilian crisis response team a permanent entity within the city’s public safety system. by Micah Yip

At a Wednesday press conference, less than two weeks before election day, Harrell said the agreement removes a cap on hiring, allows direct dispatch of responders, strengthens police accountability, and streamlines the disciplinary process.

“This contract that we’ve been able to negotiate and almost get it across the finish line with some council work really moves the CARE Department…from a promise to public safety to a complete paradigm shift,” Harrell said at the press conference.

The key word here is “almost.” Negotiations aren’t over. And even once negotiations are complete, it still requires City Council’s approval. The announcement is a bit of a premature victory lap, but should the agreement be approved, it would mean CARE might actually be able to do the job they were created to do.

CARE was established as a pilot program in 2023 with significant restrictions imposed by the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and SPOG. It capped CARE at 24 staff members, and required dispatch to send the same number of officers to calls even when CARE responded. It gave SPD ultimate authority on any call they shared with another responder, and the power to tell CARE not to respond. Under these restrictions, SPOG was able to nullify CARE’s goals while reinforcing SPD’s capacity to negotiate higher salaries and benefits with the city.

This agreement doesn’t allow CARE to act independently, but it does lift several of the tightest restrictions. It allows the city to grow the CARE team to 48 staff next year, doubling its manpower. And it expands the types of 911 calls that CARE responders can be dispatched to, including some “low-acuity” calls that they can respond to without the company of a police officer.

These concessions came at a cost. The agreement, of course, also gives the Seattle Police Department’s already bloated budget a major funding boost. Harrell said SPD will hire more police officers in 2025 than in 2024 and 2023 combined, adding that the agreement provides incentives for officers, including raising the base salary to $118,000, and paying premiums for those with associates and bachelors degrees and bilingual officers. According to Publicola’s reporting, the base salary would increase to $126,000 after six months on the job.

At the press conference, CARE Chief Amy Barden explained how the department has been operating under “pretty severe” restraints from the Seattle Police Officers Guild. “When we are talking about human suffering, we need to do better, and we need to demand better,” Barden said. “The status quo is unacceptable. The historic pace and process of bureaucracy is unacceptable.”

SPD Chief Shon Barnes said the city has made “tremendous strides” in public safety and supporting its police officers, and commended the negotiation between the city and SPOG. He added that he supports CARE’s work, their ability to solo-dispatch, and approves of the accountability alignment with the 2017 ordinance.

Slog AM: SCOTUS Rejects Alex Jones Appeal, HHS Rescinds More Than 700 CDC Termination Notices, D'Angelo Dead at 51

Micah Yip — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 10:11:00 -0700

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Micah Yip

Takesies Backsies: The Department of Health and Human Services rescinded about 700 of the 1,300 termination notices they sent to CDC workers this weekend. HHS claims the notices were mistakenly sent due to a “coding error.” The layoffs included members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service and two people leading the measles outbreak response. Who needs’em, right? (The US has confirmed more than 1,500 cases this year, the highest number in three decades.)

CourtWars: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will have to pay the $1.4 billion judgment against him for spreading lies that the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected his appeal without even asking the victims’ families to respond—the judicial way of saying, “Don’t waste our time, man.” Jones argued he never got a fair trial, which is rich coming from a guy who spent years yelling about “crisis actors” instead of turning over discovery documents.

News flash, Hegseth! Major news outlets, including The New York Times, the Associated Press, Reuters, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and even the far-right Newsmax, are refusing to sign the Defense Department's new media access pledge. The pledge is a gag. It limits journalists from much of the Pentagon without escort and gives the Secretary of WAR!!! the power to personally revoke the credentials of any reporter who seeks information that he has not approved for release. Any outlet that refuses to sign will likely get their reporters kicked out of the Pentagon, according to the AP.

Reporters say it’s a First Amendment Nightmare: The sign-or-get-out rule that makes transparency sound like treason. The New York Times posted on X that “The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating. The Times is dedicated to pursuing the public interest through deep, fair reporting and an unwavering pursuit of the facts.” Hegseth responded by retweeting the Times’ statement, adding “👋.”

Extreme Stream Makeover: In a press release for F1: The Movie, Apple announced Apple TV+ is rebranding as Apple TV. “Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity,” the release read. Vibrant new identity TBD.

Dallas ICE Shooter Was “Completely Normal” Until He Moved to Washington: The man who shot and killed two detainees and injured a third at a Dallas ICE facility last month became convinced he’d contracted radiation sickness while working at a marijuana farm near the Hanford site in southeast Washington, according to records obtained by the Associated Press. Returning home because of this belief, Joshua Jahn, 29, became obsessed with AI, avoided touching plastic, and played thousands of hours of shooter games with the username “Frank Hoenniker,” a misspelling of Frank Hoenikker, a character from Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. The FBI, short-staffed by the shutdown, says it’s “focused on essential public safety.” Translation: Don’t expect answers soon.

And Now, the Weather: It’ll be sunny and a little windy, with temps in the high 50s. Tomorrow, it’s more of the same with a high of 61. On Friday, there’s a chance of morning showers.

Orcas Island Activist Released from Israeli Prison After Gaza Flotilla Arrest: After several days in Israeli prison, 32-year-old activist and sailor Jasmine Ikeda returned home to Orcas Island on Sunday night. Ikeda was one of 400 activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian convoy challenging Israel’s aid blockade. Speaking to KING 5, Ikeda said Israeli naval forces had surrounded her boat, came aboard, and held activists at gunpoint for nearly 20 hours. After her arrest, Ikeda said she’d shared a four-person cell with 14 people. She slept on concrete and saw Israeli soldiers beat her fellow prisoners, she said.

Mariners Crush Blue Jays: The Seattle Mariners are just two wins away from their first-ever World Series appearance after obliterating the Toronto Blue Jays 10–3 on Monday, KUOW wrote. Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco hit three-run homers, and Joshua Naylor added a two-run shot. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, managed only six hits all game, leaving a crowd of 44,000 with nothing to celebrate on Canadian Thanksgiving. The Mariners play at home tomorrow in Game 3, and the team is up 2–0 in the AL Championship Series.

Leaving Paid Leave Without Pay: Washington’s paid family and medical leave program is so popular that it could go broke. The Washington State Standard reported that it faced a $350 million deficit by 2029 unless lawmakers raise taxes or cut benefits. The state paid more than $2 billion in benefits to roughly 240,000 Washingtonians last year, a $300 million jump from 2023. Premiums are rising. Next year, the state will take 1.13 percent of our paychecks, up from 0.92 percent. It’ll hit the state’s legal cap of 1.2 percent by 2027.

Campaign Sign Killing Case Dismissed: A Skagit County judge dismissed the case against Angela Conijn, a woman accused of shooting and killing Kamran Cohee in 2021 during a fight over a Loren Culp for Governor sign, KING 5 reported. Conijn was also exonerated of bail. The defense argued Conijn acted in self-defense. Prosecutors argued that Conijn fired after the confrontation was over, and called the ruling “an inaccurate reflection of the facts and law.” They plan to appeal. A March trial ended in a hung jury.

Only 74 Southern Resident Orcas Left: The latest census from the Center for Whale Research shows just 74 orcas total across J, K, and L pods, with K pod falling to 14, the lowest total recorded. Researchers say too many newborn calves are dying, and not enough are being born. Whale moms are starving. Their main food source, Chinook salmon, is depleted thanks to decades of damming, pollution, and climate stress.

:( : Neo-soul pioneer D’Angelo died from pancreatic cancer this morning. He was 51.

It’s Seattle Budget Season

Micah Yip — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 11:36:00 -0700

Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss stood at the dais for basically all of Tuesday’s 80-minute budget committee hearing, as aggrieved public commenters begged for a slice of the city’s proposed 2026 budget. by Micah Yip

Though a chair was within reach, Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss stood at the dais for basically all of Tuesday’s 80-minute budget committee hearing, as aggrieved public commenters begged for a slice of the city’s proposed 2026 budget.

What Strauss was standing for—physically or ideologically—I had no idea. This meeting was to hear from the public, so he only talked about baseball, save for the occasional “thank you” and amicable nod after a speaker left the mic. His fellow councilmembers said absolutely nothing. But advocates and community members were very clear: if the city wanted to solve the problems it says it’s trying to solve, they needed money for social services. Some organizations pleaded for increased funding; others implored the city to protect them.

The budget, proposed by Mayor Bruce Harrell last month, aims to address a nearly $150 million revenue shortfall, and account for President Donald Trump’s federal cuts. The mayor’s office says the budget allocates $349.5 million for affordable housing, $225 million for homelessness response and $10.8 million for immigrant and refugee communities. Now begins the City Council’s process of amending it, and finally, passing it. The council is holding its last public hearing Nov. 6 and will vote on the budget Nov. 21, less than two weeks before they’re required to adopt it.

Tuesday’s hearing, split into virtual and in-person sessions, drew about 70 nonprofit staffers, social services participants, church leaders, and Seattle residents, all hoping to influence how the council amends the budget—and what budget lines they leave alone.

Strauss began with the Mariners-Tigers score, with Mariners leading 2-0 at the bottom of the third.

First up to the podium was Paul Ryan Villanueva, representing the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), asking the council to maintain full funding for the Office of Labor Standards. APALA is a national organization advancing labor, immigrant and civil rights for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island workers. “In this political time, when workers and immigrant communities are being attacked, our city needs to start to think how to counter these,” Villanueva said.

Brian Lawrence, CEO of the nonprofit Seattle Public Library Foundation, said it was “unfortunate” to see a $5 million cut to the library’s capital projects budget. But he tried to be cool about it.

“We also understand the budget constraints that the mayor and the city council are working with,” Lawrence said.

Then came the CoLEAD contingent. At least a dozen staff and participants took to the mic, explaining why the program works and why the city should keep funding it. CoLEAD provides temporary, low-barrier lodging and case management to unhoused people.

It’s “the golden thread of a continuum of care for growth and movement for our folks,” said Nichole Alexander, the organization’s director of outreach and special initiatives.

Co-program director Denise Pérez Lally outlined the program’s three-phase model of outreach, temporary lodging and aftercare. She said that their lodging site, CoLEAD provides 24-hour coordinated care that includes case management, medical aid and support in navigating the legal system.

“This is challenging work, and what motivates me to show up day after day is the dignity and commitment that lead to the outcomes and participants given this opportunity to heal and thrive,” Lally said.

Brent Donner, a recent, formerly homeless graduate of CoLEAD, said CoLEAD provided transitional housing when he had nowhere else to go.

“Their support helped me clear a DUI fine, rebuild trust and realize people still care,” he said.

Representatives from the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) asked council to carve out $21 million for tenant-based rental assistance. The $11 million they’re allotted was not enough to keep people from sliding into homelessness.

“We can continue to build as much housing as we want, but it won’t matter…if we can’t help people stay housed,” said LIHI housing developer Kalyssa Eversman. “Providers are struggling across the city right now, and these dollars will help us continue to serve the most vulnerable neighbors.”

Strauss chimed in with another quick Mariners update. Bottom of the fourth, Mariners four, Tigers zero.

Several Christian leaders and members of the Church Council of Greater Seattle took to the podium to stress the idea of the city’s budget as a moral document, one that reflects the city’s values. They called for a budget that prioritizes community-led solutions, like affordable housing, financial assistance, and mental health and substance use treatment.

Joey Lopez, a co-executive director of the Church Council, urged the city council to adopt progressive revenue sources, and stop “cutting additions while preserving dollars to surveil and punish our communities,” referencing both the council’s recent vote to expand a network of police CCTV cameras despite hours of public comment railing against it and the $26 million Mayor Harrell allocated for police hiring.

“You have a duty to invest city funds in equitable, evidence-based strategies that support thriving communities,” Lopez said. “The city needs more progressive revenue sources, and we need you to act on bold policy.”

We now interrupt your reading for an unhinged intermission feat. racism.

Old white guy and regular council critic David Haines used his minute to shout at council because the city had “bought out” Black Lives Matter protesters, started a “race war,” and prioritized “Black or Brown predatory drug-pushers” over “innocent, white, houseless citizens.”

His rant quickly devolved into what can only be described as keyboard smash in all caps.

Haines stormed out. Strauss stayed standing. A woman behind me stifled a snicker. It's not really a local government meeting if at least one racist doesn't show up.

The budget should be this big.

Joy Shigaki, president and CEO of Friends of Waterfront Seattle, asked council to preserve $500,000 for the waterfront shuttle.

In Detroit, the Mariners were apparently up 5-1 in the sixth, according to Strauss who piped in with an update.

The final speaker, Matt Offenbacher, was the first to offer a suggestion to the contentious public safety debate. Instead of more surveillance and police spending, he proposed enlisting Seattle’s crows, describing the birds as “fearsome, smart, and fully staffed.” Studies show corvids are incredibly intelligent. Crow staffing levels have not been studied.

“They don’t need helicopters or surveillance cameras,” he said. “Once that’s arranged, council can draw down the inflated police budget.”

“You might be thinking, this is an absurd fairytale,” Offenbacher continued. “However, this plan is more likely to keep us safer than the one that you are considering from the mayor’s budget,” which includes more than $486 million appropriated to the Seattle Police Department. “Unlike the mayor’s budget plan, this will free up desperately needed funding for community-based safety, and acknowledge common sense that the police should not be doing many of the things they currently do.”

Strauss closed the hearing with one last baseball update—Mariners five, Tigers one.

He never sat down, but later I asked his office why. Back issues, they say. Maybe an ergonomic consultant for the dais should be a budget line item.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story said the Mariners were playing at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday, and that Council Member Dan Strauss said the Mariners were up 5-0 in the sixth. They were playing in Detroit. The score was 5-1. We regret the error.