The messages, which do not include communications between SPD officials except where the mayor’s office was included, show two things. First, that the mayor’s office dithered and debated whether Wilson herself should go to the scene of the shooting for three hours before she finally went to Seattle Center, partly in response to TV reporters criticizing her for not being there.

And second, that the primary reason for the delay in information, as well as almost all of the delay in holding a press conference that night, was that SPD delayed the release of information repeatedly, withholding any new information information from the public and press until the press conference finally took place around 11pm.

SPD, the messages show, knew critical details about the shooting, including the fact that it was not a random mass shooting or terrorist event within an hour of the shooting—that is, before 7:30pm—but did not put any of that information out broadly until after 1:00 in the morning on July 27.

The messages include texts from mayoral communications staffer Jonah Spangenthal-Lee to SPD Chief Operating Officer Sarah Smith asking her why SPD had not provided any information since a tweet warning the public of a shooting with “multiple shooting victims” at Seattle Center at 6:29pm. “Sarah, where is SPD”s statement?” Spangenthal-Lee wrote at 8:36. “It’s been two hours since you guys have posted anything? Even some tweets at this point…”

A few minutes later, Spangenthal-Lee told other mayoral staffers in an internal Teams chat, “It’s fucking embarrassing that SPD has waited HOURS to put anything out. … I’m just saying this is a massive fucking disaster and hit to public trust.”

An estimated 2,000 fish, mostly non-native species, have died near the bridge. Exact counts are difficult, in part because many have decomposed, transit staff said. Sound Transit for months has hailed its innovative engineering to control electric current over the lake, so news that fish are being killed comes as a letdown.

The Washington State Department of Transportation discovered the problem Aug. 3 and notified Sound Transit promptly, according to transit CEO Dow Constantine.

“We are still in the discovery mode. Fish biologists and engineers are now busy analyzing photos and video collected by the divers,” Constantine told a transit-board committee. “Early analysis has shown that the majority of fish are non-native or invasive perch and bass, with a small number of salmon identified.”

The dead fish were clustered near the ends of the bridge, where cables to control electric current rested on the lake bottom, Constantine said.

WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith, speaking remotely at Thursday’s meeting, said officials are working to find the cause, and are coordinating with environmental agencies, as well as tribes that monitor fish runs.

“The bridge remains safe for the traveling public, and WSDOT and Sound Transit are going to continue to share the responsibility for guaranteeing that, both now and over the long term,” she said.

The light rail tracks, where train service began March 28, run next to the westbound lanes of I-90. The water closest to the trains — between the westbound Hadley bridge and the nearby eastbound bridge — is a maintenance zone where the public doesn’t boat, swim or kayak.

Regardless, transit staff say electric current next to floating bridges isn’t powerful enough to harm someone in the water. Scuba diving to visit old sunken I-90 pontoons is “relatively popular,” said WSDOT communications director Ryan Overton. The eastbound bridge, even without trains, also has cables where low-level current travels, “and they are not a health hazard,” he said.

CHS reported here in July as a judge denied a bid by a group of neighbors and nearby property owners to close the park over complaints of public nudity, sexual activity, and disorder.

In his decision, Judge Samuel Chung sided with the City of Seattle and Friends of Denny Blaine in keeping the two-acre park on the shores of Lake Washington open — and nude — calling Denny Blaine “a limited natural resource that must be shared by the residents of the neighborhood and the Park’s visitors.”

The decision came with caveats after several findings that the court said justified the neighbors’ claims around lewd acts and criminal activity at the park. In the ruling, the judge said the city must implement and manage a previously approved abatement plan, and “develop and implement a park specific user plan and code of conduct to address overcrowding, safety, and prohibited and acceptable behaviors.”

The new guideline review runs parallel to broader community sessions starting late September regarding long-term park investments and improvements.

"I knew the money would go to my school, and I was very blessed to go to a school that has a lot of money and resources 一 but also, not a lot of Black kids and not as many students of color," said Johnson. "I was thinking about my piece and why I did it all, and I just [realized]: 'I should give this to a school full of kids who look like me 一 a school full of Black kids.' And immediately, I thought of Rainier Beach."

According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2024–25 school year, about 41% of Rainier Beach High School students identified as Black, while about 8% were listed as two or more races. In 2011, the school was nearly closed, as just 366 students attended classes in a building with a capacity of nearly four times that.

The school has come a long way since then. More than 900 students were enrolled at Rainier Beach High School in the 2025–26 school year, and the school had a four-year graduation rate of 83.8% in 2024–25, according to data from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. On Aug. 28, the school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of its performing arts center.

After a quick Google search showed that Rainier Beach High School had the highest percentage of Black students among high schools in Seattle Public Schools, Johnson acted.

"I just came out and said I was going to do it. I also made it really public so that if my school went back on it, that would be a bad look on them," Johnson said.

Seattle’s César Chávez Park, which had its name removed in March after explosive allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against the late farm-labor activist, has a new name: Parque Libertad. Seattle Parks and Recreation approved the name for the space, which is located in the South Park neighborhood, according to a news release from the agency.

The park, which was formally dedicated in 2008, is owned by King County and managed by Seattle Parks. “Libertad (‘freedom’) is a universal value that reflects the enduring pursuit of civil rights, equality and opportunity for all,” Seattle Parks and Recreation Interim Superintendent Michele Finnegan said in a news release.

“Parque Libertad honors the many individuals and communities who have advanced justice throughout Seattle’s history while creating a welcoming, inclusive place that celebrates freedom, belonging and civic participation for future generations,” she added. The name Parque Libertad was chosen after members of the public submitted suggestions to the Parks Naming Committee, according to the news release.

In March, a New York Times investigation revealed allegations that Chávez — who died in 1993 — raped Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, and also sexually abused girls.

Superintendent Ben Shuldiner had signaled at a Tuesday afternoon news conference that progress was being made and he was hopeful for a resolution. He said special education and pay were two items the district and teachers were “passing paper back and forth” on, meaning actively negotiating.

“We’ve been moving back and forth at such a quick speed. What that says to me is that people really want to try to get this done,” Shuldiner said Tuesday afternoon. “I’m very thankful for SEA’s willingness to understand the deep need for change. I think that the fact that we are able to now have ideas on paper that we can talk about is really powerful.”

Still, the district had also been preparing for the reality of a strike: Schools had planned to offer bagged breakfast and lunches. The city issued information about childcare programs with openings and recreation centers that would be open.

The district provided updates on the bargaining progress every two hours, late into Tuesday evening, through its email, social media and digital platforms. While wages are often the primary sticking point in contract negotiations, attention had turned in recent days to the district’s special education programming and staffing.

The 15-year-old arrested at the Bite of Seattle shooting will stay locked up in the county’s juvenile detention center, after being there for over a month.

Ultimately, Judge Veronica Galván decided that the teen should remain at the detention center because he is accused of firing a gun into a crowd of people, and remains “a threat to community safety.”

“It’s not a no, just not yet,” Galván told the teen’s father.

A representative for one of the injured victims spoke via video conference, saying they objected to the defendant being released.

According to charging documents, the defendant was standing near Junior Niko-Semo, the 19-year old who was killed at the festival, at the time the first shots were fired.

Witnesses told police that the 15-year-old defendant pulled a firearm from a pouch and shot in the direction of the shots.

When he was arrested, he told officers, “I was getting shot at” and that he shot back in self-defense, according to court documents.

Law enforcement has confirmed that the gun the teen was carrying at the time of his arrest does not match the bullets removed from the three people killed, according to court documents.

Whether a doomed recall effort or a delayed press conference, mainstream news outlets like KOMO and KIRO keep giving oxygen to dead stories in an effort to smear Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson. Don’t fall for the spin.

I am losing my mind consuming the local news coverage of the Seattle Center shooting and its aftermath.

I want to be clear right at the top, that I believe the job of the media, of journalism, is to hold those in power accountable. And if local broadcast and legacy media want to focus on holding our progressive city leaders to account, on legitimate concerns – crucially, in a way balanced with how they cover business-focused “moderate” politicians – I will welcome them with open arms.

But KIRO and KOMO’s coverage of Mayor Katie Wilson’s office in general, and after the Bite of Seattle shooting in particular, is something they need to be held accountable for.

On Monday, KIRO's newly installed news director, Jennifer Dahl, sat on a panel at Scenius Social billed as a conversation about art and Seattle's creative community. Twice, she turned the conversation toward Mayor Wilson and the communication failure after the Seattle Center shooting, a failure the mayor has already admitted.

Dahl warned that it could "happen again," invoking a mass shooting in Oregon.

Nothing sharpens a narrative quite like fear.

And I’m loath to admit it, but the failure was real.

However, Wilson has apologized. She asked the city's independent Inspector General to reconstruct what happened, figure out why it happened, and recommend how to prevent it from happening again.

I know that is something we rarely see from political leaders, so I can understand why a lay person may not know how to identify it. But professional journalists should know: that’s what accountability looks like.

Accountability is not turning one mistake into an albatross and hanging it around a woman's neck until Election Day.

Three people died at Seattle Center. A two-year-old was wounded. Families are grieving. Workers who tried to save lives are carrying images I imagine they would give anything to forget.

And somehow the great political question emerging from all of this has become: Why wasn't the mayor standing behind a microphone sooner?

Think about how strange that is.
Mayor Katie Wilson announced Andre Sayles as interim police chief on July 31, and is facing pressure to release a gun violence prevention plan and answer for the City's flat-footed response to the Bite of Seattle shooting. (Seattle Channel)

Had the press conference happened exactly on time, three people would still be dead. The failure was in communicating about the response, not the response itself. Those are different things. Turning them into the same thing is not journalism happening naturally. It is an editorial choice. Then Dahl suggested the city should "turn on the Flock cameras."

Except, Seattle doesn't have Flock cameras. It has CCTV operated by the vendor Axon. Further, I am confused as to what Dahl imagines surveillance cameras could have done, as there were police officers standing roughly four paces from the shooters at Bite of Seattle.

How could a camera have stopped what armed police officers standing feet away could not?

This is how consent gets manufactured. Not through some smoky-room conspiracy where editors decide what you're allowed to believe. It's much more ordinary than that.

They decide what matters. Three people are killed, and yet the delayed press conference becomes the story. A delay of a few hours, confusion, questions about who was in charge, repeated again and again, until a single detail hardens into a verdict: City Hall is dysfunctional.

After that, the story begins feeding itself. A disagreement between SPD and the mayor becomes more evidence. A few councilmembers sharply criticize her and now there are "growing questions about her leadership." Then somebody commissions a poll asking voters whether they're worried about her leadership, and suddenly the media is reporting a public perception it helped manufacture.

Every individual fact can be true while the story constructed from them is bullshit.

Because a mayor arriving late to a podium is television.

The slow, boring, desperately important work of preventing the next shooting, youth programs, housing, coordination, intervention, mental health care, and the unglamorous labor of keeping people alive, isn't.

Over 70% of eligible MOHAI employees signed union authorization cards prior to Monday’s announcement, said Emily Turner, a K-12 and youth program coordinator who is part of the union’s organizing committee, in a phone call Tuesday. MOHAI Workers United hopes to form a “wall-to-wall” union to advocate for better working conditions for all employees, Turner said.

“We want more autonomy over our working conditions in our workplaces and to do things democratically,” Turner said.

MOHAI employees cited understaffing and high turnover, a lack of benefits — such as healthcare — for part-time and on-call workers, and low pay despite rising living costs in Seattle as some reasons for unionizing, Turner said. They are also seeking “changes in leadership practices, organizational culture and workplace policies” so that staff can feel comfortable speaking up about their concerns, according to a news release.

Barnes only drew from human experience, never from photos. He called his documentary body of work Drawing on the Run. Some series chronicled his travels across Mexico, Cambodia, and New Orleans, but many are scenes from Capitol Hill. Series like Seattle Celebrities, Vermillion, and Pike and Nowhere are full of familiar faces: Lelah Maupin, Bethany Jean Clement, Timothy Rysdyke, Mimi Allen, Siolo Thompson, Kelly O, Casey Weldon, Ezra Dickinson. Liz Orth, Lisa Prank, and Zoe Scofield. And places: Chop Suey, the Royal Room, Vito’s, Bait Shop, Bimbo’s, Cha Cha, Cafe Racer, Vermillion, The Annex Theatre, Noc Noc, Comet Tavern, Pony, the Frye Art Museum.

I find myself returning to a passage from Chris Kraus’s 1999 essay “Pussy Orphanage”: “When an artist dies before his or her time, who manages the estate and how, becomes vitally important.” She continues: “Altruism aside, how is it that any artist’s work will come to survive for others in the future? Works of art, after all, are mute and can’t speak for themselves.”

Barnes’s chosen family—the poets, artists, bar owners, and hell-raisers—are speaking for the art. A retrospective of rescued work will be on view at Vermillion, a place he loved, through October 3. It is aptly titled The road goes on forever and the party never ends. The man chose his family well.

We are a fairly lively chat group running for about 2 months on Matrix, an open network for secure, decentralized communication.

If you're in the Puget Sound area and interested, create an account (or use your existing one) and send me your Matrix username, or submit it here so I can invite you!

Seattle is creeping into fall, and what’s more emblematic of that chilly seasonal descent than some rain and wind?

Come midweek, we can expect “an early taste of fall,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Harrison Rademacher.

Monday and Tuesday will start out “pretty dry” with high pressure overhead that could bring moments of patchy fog in the morning, high clouds throughout the day and temperatures climbing into the 70s, Rademacher said Monday morning.

Then, a strong low-pressure system rolls in from the Gulf of Alaska, Rademacher said. That’ll give us a “decent amount of rain” and some breeziness Wednesday and Thursday.

Seattle could see about a third of an inch of rain on Wednesday and about the same Thursday while temperatures top out in the mid- to upper 60s both days, Rademacher said, sitting about five to 10 degrees below what’s normal this time of year.

The metro area could also see gusts of about 20 to 25 mph — strong enough that you might want to secure some outdoor items — and north of Everett to Bellingham could see gusts hitting 40 to 45 mph, Rademacher said.

Heightening the fall vibes, thunderstorms are even possible Thursday with a 20% chance, Rademacher said.

But before you get too attached to the changing seasons — before you let visions of red and orange leaves, pumpkin spice and cozy sweaters dance through your head — the weather will turn back to late summer.

Friday through the weekend, the rain departs and we’ll be looking at temperatures in the low 70s, Rademacher said.

So cozy up midweek and keep those summer plans in the great outdoors going for the weekend.

Melinda E. Jacobson and Dale L. Osterud filed the recall charges with King County Elections on Aug. 11. The petition accused Wilson of malfeasance, misfeasance and violating her oath of office based on five public-safety allegations.

The petitioners failed to meet the briefing deadline on Wednesday. Thursday's status hearing was an opportunity for the petitioners to explain why they failed to file, move forward with the case, or withdraw it.

Judge Patrick Oishi ruled to dismiss the recall petition without prejudice after the petitioners requested it to be withdrawn.

The claims included allegations involving the departure of Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes following the Bite of Seattle shooting, public-safety concerns in the North Aurora neighborhood, drug activity in the Chinatown International District, crime and drug use in Belltown and along Third Avenue, and Wilson's use of surveillance cameras.

The incident unfolded when bounty hunters attempted to detain the suspect inside an RV, just feet from families at the park.

Multiple neighbors took several videos in which confirmed bounty hunters shot paintballs at the RV and tased the suspect and a woman with him.

During an escape attempt, the RV skidded and hit a vehicle while paintballs were fired, causing widespread concern among neighbors.

A suspect was taken into custody and is currently being held at the Pierce County Jail.

According to several neighbors, the Seattle Police Department identified the group involved in the operation as Washington Fugitive Investigators.

Attempts to contact Washington Fugitive Investigators for comment regarding the incident were unsuccessful.

Many near the park described the operation as disorganized and dangerous, expressing concern over its proximity to Sandel Park.

Rory, who was preparing to take his infant outdoors, captured some of the response on video when the confrontation began.

“I was literally about to have our two-month-old daughter outside and who knows what could’ve happened,” Rory said. He added that the agents failed to make their identity clear to nearby bystanders. “Like, it would’ve been nice to identify themselves.”

During the pursuit, another suspect, a woman, ran away from the RV nd hid outside Allison Blevins’ home before being zip-tied in the front yard and arrested.

“She was right here. Lying here and they arrested her and left her,” Blevins said, pointing to where the woman took cover near tire marks left by the RV.

Blevins noted that the armed bounty hunters shouted threats near children’s play areas.

“They were also standing here saying ‘I’m going to shoot you. I’m going to shoot you.’ I mean, there are kids’ toys…like there are kids here,” Blevins said.

She called for legal action regarding the group’s actions.

“In my opinion, they should be charged with reckless endangerment. This was not cool. This is not ok,” Blevins said.

Law enforcement experts who reviewed video of the operation raised concerns about the tactics used during the apprehension.

Jim Fuda, a representative for CrimeStoppers, noted that the conduct appeared inconsistent with standard law enforcement practices.

“I didn’t think some of that looked like it would be normal procedure,” Fuda said.

Fuda pointed to the minimal state requirements for licensing bail recovery agents. “I know the training is pretty minimal. It’s 32 hours online,” he said.

If a tentative agreement is not reached with Seattle Public Schools by the end of the day on Tuesday, the strike would begin the following day, on Sept. 2, the district’s planned first day of school.

The vote to authorize a strike does not guarantee that it will actually happen. The bargaining team — representatives from the union and SPS — will keep negotiating “around the clock” until the current contract ends on Aug. 31, union representatives said. Bargaining can continue even on Sept. 1 — and if an agreement is reached that day, the strike will be called off, said union spokesperson Julie Popper.

The 91.2% vote in favor came after a four-hour member meeting at the Seattle Convention Center, where the bargaining team gave an update on their negotiations with the district, and members shared their opinions on next steps the union should take.

Seattle teachers last went on strike in September 2022, pushing back the start of school by five days.

Noatak Post, a second-year middle school music teacher at the district, said casting a vote felt both exciting and “nerve-wracking.”

“It feels good to be a part of something important,” Post said.

Robyn Jordan, a teacher in the district, said union members were “deeply dismayed by the district’s proposal for special education programming.”

Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association, the union representing about 6,000 SPS teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, counselors and other staff, have been negotiating a new employment agreement since late June. Teachers last year agreed to a one-year contract that included a 2.5% pay increase and safeguards related to building safety, student discipline and classroom disruptions. This is the union’s first contract negotiation with the new superintendent, Ben Shuldiner, who took charge of the district in February.

The damage comes as Bellevue expands automated speed enforcement in an effort to reduce serious and deadly crashes across the city.

“The reason the City of Bellevue is implementing speed safety cameras is because speed is a leading contributor to fatal and serious injury collisions, and it is what we hear the most about from our residents,” Bellevue Transportation spokesperson Jennifer Cook told KING 5.

The city installed eight cameras at four locations over the weekend of Aug. 14-16, with one camera monitoring each direction of travel.

A community member called 911 around 5 p.m. Sunday to report damage to cameras along 148th Avenue Northeast, between Northeast 13th and 10th places, Cook said. The city inspected all eight cameras Monday and discovered four had been damaged at two locations.

Both cameras along 148th Avenue Northeast were spray-painted and had their covers smashed. Cook said paint also got inside the units. The city is still determining whether some of the equipment can be cleaned or will need to be replaced.

Two cameras on Forest Drive Southeast, between Southeast 54th Place and Coal Creek Parkway, were also spray-painted.

One of those cameras has since been cleaned and returned to operation. The other needs a new cover. In all, three of the four damaged cameras still require repairs.

Verra Mobility, the city's contractor for the speed-camera program, is responsible for repairing damage to the cameras under its contract with Bellevue, Cook said. That means taxpayers will not directly pay for the repairs. The total value of the damage is not yet known. Cook said Verra Mobility was still assessing the equipment.

In Seattle, people can currently park their RVs overnight in industrial areas or, according to posted signage, up to 72 hours in one place, like other vehicles. However, the new legislation would change the law so that RVs could only park for two hours in one place, and would be forbidden from parking anywhere overnight (from midnight to 6am). Failure to follow these laws could result in towing without notice.

The only exception to this new rule would be for people living in RVs and “fifth wheel” trailers who succeeded in applying for a special permit during a one-time census. In order to receive a permit, residents would have to agree to receive services and ultimately move into other housing or shelter. There would be one permit per person who would have to prove they were the registered owner of the vehicle.

In order to retain a permit, residents would have to abide by a number of regulations, including having the vehicle display a license plate and vehicle identification number, not leaving trash around, not hosting a group of five or more people, not leaving a pet tied up unattended, etc.

Permit holders would be able to turn down up to six offers of shelter or housing, but after that, they would lose their permit.

Strauss framed his plan as a way to help people who live in their vehicles.

“Today, we have zero places for people who live in their vehicles to come inside to. We have no city systems or city teams that are designed to help people that are experiencing homelessness with vehicles,” Strauss told The Urbanist. “We need to create those systems, and from there as well, RVs are a unique type of vehicle that are not built for year-round habitation.”

Since opening in 2024, Baba Yaga has been one of the best new additions to the Seattle music scene. One of two musician-owned clubs to open that year in Pioneer Square, the day-and-night “rock ‘n’ roll clubhouse” has been a key contributor to the historic neighborhood’s music and arts renaissance — one that’s held the beat through spats of late-night violence and a hot FIFA summer.

After consistently strong bookings of both local and touring bands, the club named for a mythical witch is ready to cast its spell across the neighborhood more broadly, launching a new festival the weekend after Halloween.

Dubbed Baba Obscura, the new four-day fest (Nov. 5-8) will be a multiclub affair, filling six stages with (but not limited to) garage, psychedelic and punk rock bands like Texas psych lords The Black Angels, Bay Area post-punks Provoker, Nigerian desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar (solo), influential garage punks The Gories, and Sub Pop punks Downtown Boys.

“Seattle should be a city where families can feel safe getting where they need to go — whether they’re walking their kids to school, biking to the park, or taking transit,” Wilson said in an announcement of the order. “We’ve made important progress, but every serious injury or death on our streets is one too many. We know what makes our streets safer. This Executive Order is about turning our commitment into action — getting proven safety improvements on the ground and bringing the full City together to prevent serious injuries and deaths.”

The executive order directs the Seattle Department of Transportation to fast-track high-priority safety improvements across high-crash corridors. Key measures include completing the SW Wildwood Place protected bike lane by late 2026, advancing Phase 2 of the 12th Ave S Safety Project, increasing intersection visibility through daylighting, and upgrading 19 high-collision locations along major routes like Aurora Ave N and Rainier Ave S.