Starting Sunday, workers involved in labor disputes must comply with the state’s rigorous job search requirements to receive benefits. This means actively seeking work and recording efforts to find another job.

Since Jan. 1, when the law took effect, Washington’s Employment Security Department waived that requirement because it deemed those involved in labor disputes to be “attached to an employer.”

But this week the U.S Department of Labor told the state agency that this approach does not conform with federal law.

Federal officials said the state’s employer-attached waiver “does not apply in the case of a strike because the employer did not initiate the separation,” Chris Barron, communications director for the Employment Security Department, said Friday.

“While we cannot provide specifics about the number of current claimants, this only impacts a handful,” he added. Barron said the agency is reaching out to those individuals to inform them about the job search requirements.

This requirement will apply to all new claims during a strike. It will not impact previous claims.

The agency filed an emergency rule Friday and will conduct a formal process to adopt a permanent rule change.

C-sections for gorillas are quite rare, largely because birth complications are uncommon and risks of surgery can be high, said Dr. Tim Storms, Woodland Park’s director of animal health. Fewer than a dozen have been recorded globally to date, according to the zoo, which attributed the anecdotal estimate to gorilla experts around the world, like the Gorilla Species Survival Plan.

In the case of Olympia, a 30-year-old western lowland gorilla who’s lived in Seattle since 2022, the emergency surgery brought together a team of animal and human medical providers to serve a critically endangered species and accomplish a feat they’d never practiced.

“We were all just in awe,” said Dr. Suzanne Peterson, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at Swedish First Hill. “This was a moment that we will have with us forever.”

Woodland Park Zoo, more than 120 years old, has worked with “human-based” medical experts for decades, said zoo spokesperson Gigi Allianic. Specialists in care ranging from cardiac to orthopedic to ophthalmology have consulted on Woodland Park’s animals in the past, including in 2017 when a gorilla received a leg exam from the head physician of the University of Washington’s football team.

Calkins spent 11 years covering sports for the Seattle Times, and announced his resignation from the paper yesterday on Substack. His stated reason for resigning is that his editors refused to publish a column he wrote about anti-trans protestors who gathered outside the arena before a recent Seattle Storm game. After interviewing one of the protestors, he was inspired to write:

One of them was 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, who’d lost to a biological male in a track and field race in eighth grade and was holding a sign reading “Thank You Sophie for Speaking up for Girls!”

I didn’t know if I was going to write something at that point, but after she allegedly got cussed out by a Storm co-owner during the game, I felt like I had to weigh in.

One thing Wilson emphasized to me at the rally was that she wasn’t anti-trans. Another student-athlete named Frances Staudt — who said she’s endured daily verbal abuse after refusing to play against a biological boy in a basketball game — echoed Wilson’s sentiment.

So that was the thesis of my column (which you can read here) — that supporting the separation of biological females and males doesn’t automatically make you transphobic, so let’s stop throwing those labels around.

Calkins claims that his editors held onto the column for almost a week before informing him that the paper wouldn't be running it, at which point he resigned.

If Calkins's editors deserve any criticism, it is only for how long it took them to communicate their decision. A column with a thesis as obviously wrong as the one Calkins produced should be spiked without too much consideration. If a writer brings an editor a poorly written or poorly argued column that the editor never asked for, it is the editor's duty to put it into the trash can as quickly as possible, so that the writer can find a better idea on which to spend their time.

“The current executive leadership is saying and doing the right things, and the management team that met with us appeared sincere, solution-focused and genuine in their efforts to right the past errors of their predecessors,” a statement from SPEEA reads. “Still, the membership has made clear that the current offer falls short, and without significant improvements to the last offer, they are prepared to strike.”

Boeing vice president and functional chief engineer of production engineering Ben Nimmergut said in a statement that the company gave a "strong contract offer to position our employees among the market leaders in pay and benefits in the Pacific Northwest."

"We’re disappointed our engineers and technical workforce voted no on our offer," the statement continues. "As a result, we are now implementing our strike contingency plan and diverting the dollars we had wanted to invest in our SPEEA-represented team to prepare for a potential strike.

"We have no choice but to implement our contingency plan. We have a responsibility to the rest of our workforce and our customers to build on our progress over the last two years and maintain our momentum."

According to Nimmergut, no further talks with SPEEA are scheduled.

SPEEA represents about 13,000 engineers and scientists in its professional unit and more than 4,000 analysts, designers and technicians in its technical unit.

About 64.3% of the professional unit and 71.9% of the technical unit rejected the contract.

The vote came after SPEEA negotiators endorsed Boeing’s proposed contracts, saying the pay increase would be the largest wage pool increase for its members since 1983.

However, the union negotiation team acknowledged its members “deeply mistrust” Boeing management, and the technical unit’s bargaining council recommended member reject the deal. The professional unit’s bargaining council didn’t reach a recommendation.

That mistrust stems from the loss of SPEEA jobs and concerns about deteriorating quality and safety, according to the union.

SPEEA said it planned to survey members about what changes they would like to see in the contract in order to approve it and continue negotiating with Boeing.

This is the union’s first full contract negotiation with Boeing in 14 years. SPEEA members last approved a contract extension in 2020.

When negotiations began in July, SPEEA laid out its contract priorities, which include higher pay, better benefits, more flexible work and accountability measures.

Remember all of a few weeks ago when the council threw a big old pissy fit because they weren't consulted about the mayor firing the police chief? How the mayor needs to be collaborative? Rob Saka just came out of nowhere with a council bill that reproduces most of what Mayor Wilson's Executive Order does. Wilson's EO bill has been bouncing around council and the city depts for months as they refine it and get input and THE DAY BEFORE the Mayor is scheduled to announce it, Saka tries to frontrun Wilson and steal her victory.

https://council.seattle.gov/2026/08/19/chair-saka-proposes-safer-streets-act-to-turn-seattles-vision-zero-commitments-into-durable-law-and-accelerate-traffic-safety-improvements/

I'm very excited to hear Strauss, Rivera, and Hollingworth shit all over Saka for this obviously nasty political play. Any minute now. I'll just wait. They'll do it any minute.

The organizational changes affect the company's coffeehouse and design teams, as well as employees who were offered positions in Nashville but chose not to relocate. The affected roles are in Seattle and other markets.

Starbucks announced in May that it was eliminating about 300 U.S. support roles as part of its Back to Starbucks strategy.

“We are taking further action under the Back to Starbucks strategy, building on our strong business momentum and working to return the company to durable, profitable growth,” a Starbucks spokesperson said at the time.

The company said leaders had reviewed their functions to sharpen their focus, prioritize work, reduce complexity and lower costs.

Starbucks also said it was reviewing its international support organization and expected additional impacts outside the U.S.

“We are streamlining our real estate footprint, including consolidating U.S. regional support office space and taking several other steps with leases and lease commitments,” the spokesperson said.

"We're taking two immediate actions," Wilson said. "One of those is the interdepartmental team on permitting, which is going to better coordinate our City departments to shorten permit timelines, and then proposing funding in the budget for next year for the affordable housing ombuds that can help our developers navigate those processes."

The mayor's housing task force "will bring together communities most impacted by City policy to craft recommendations to build needed housing, support affordable and community‑based developers, prevent displacement, and attract development to Seattle," according to a press release timed with the roll out.

Housing starts have been in a nosedive in Seattle after a boom period that lasted more than a decade, allowing Seattle's population to grow beyond 820,000 residents. The Emerald City's housing starts collapsed to a decade-long low of fewer than 2,000 units permitted in 2025 – down 88% from the 2020 peak of 17,400 units permitted.

Builders have pointed to a number of factors that create a drag on homebuilding, including high interest rates, high construction costs, and waning interest from financers – some of which are beyond the City's control. Permitting delays and fees are something the City does control, however, leading to calls for streamlining.

“Housing that people can afford is critical to a city that works for everyone," Wilson said. "We can't control every force that drives up the cost of building homes, but we can act where it counts. This Executive Order is about clearing the path, cutting the delays, and building the housing Seattle needs — now.”

....

"I just want to emphasize that we have not waited until this point to take action on housing affordability," Wilson said. "The city council just unanimously passed our ordinance banning rental junk fees, which will improve stability and affordability for renters, and we're also working on a larger scoping for the next phase of the Comprehensive Plan, so that we have more options for increasing housing production across the city. So this is additive, and we are not waiting for September 2027 to take action."

Job titles listed in the notice are almost entirely TikTok Shop and Global E-Commerce roles in Bellevue, Wash., including anti-fraud and governance program managers, seller and creator operations staff, campaign managers, data scientists, and backend and frontend engineers.

It’s part of a steady stream of tech layoffs this year. Zillow cut more than 500 jobs this month, including 91 in Washington state. Microsoft eliminated 605 positions in the state in July as part of a broader reduction of 4,800. Google cut 52 jobs and Salesforce cut 59 locally this month.

The notice Tuesday was filed by TT Commerce & Global Services LLC on TikTok letterhead, and lists two ByteDance employees as contacts. It gives the affected facility as Lincoln Square North at 700 Bellevue Way NE, with a separation date of Oct. 19.

Earlier this month the University of Washington disinvited the popular streamer after questions arose about the school’s internal process for choosing speakers.

A university spokesperson has said the Office of Public Lectures had an informal agreement for Piker to speak. But the office never sent a speaking contract, and ultimately pulled back its invitation. Piker, in a statement on X, suggested his strong criticism of Israel played a role in the cancellation.

Over the years, Piker has made controversial statements like, “America deserved 9/11.” He later called that sentiment a “dumb” oversimplification of his views.

Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, referenced that statement when saying why he reached out to the university.

“I’m very wide on the Overton window when it comes to political discourse,” Corry said, referencing a concept of what the general public considers to be acceptable at a given moment in history. “And I argue on the side of free speech.”

....

Corry and Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-University Place, said they each reached out to UW’s governmental affairs representatives to relay their concerns.

In an email, UW spokesperson David Rey wrote: “No such concerns from lawmakers regarding this event were relayed to the Office of Public Lectures, which made the decision not to proceed with the event on its own.”

Leavitt echoed Corry’s sentiments about the distinction between a student-run speaking engagement and the university’s lecture series, saying it would be fine for a student group to bring Piker.

“Bringing him as part of the lecture series would create a firestorm for UW, I think,” said Leavitt, who relayed that concern to a university representative. “I didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it.’ I can’t direct the university what to do, in that regard, but I certainly expressed my strong concerns.”

Seattle’s Hey Bagel was selected to compete at New York BagelFest, joining more than 25 acclaimed bagel makers from 10 states and five countries, according to BagelFest. The shop earned its invitation after sweeping Best Bagel and Best Bagel Sourdough at BagelFest West.

Hey Bagel, located in University Village, makes all of its bagels from 100% organic flour, 50% of which is sourced from Washington, according to the business’s website. Every bagel is vegan and sourdough-based. The shop also offers a lineup of house-made schmears, including a coconut-based vegan cream cheese, spicy scallion, chili crisp, strawberry graham cracker, vegan scallion, raspberry curry, and hot honey.

Hey Bagel owner Andrew Rubinstein, who also founded Rubinstein Bagels, told The Seattle Times he was nervous weeks before BagelFest West.

“I was worried I would be embarrassed,” Rubinstein said.

Now, with a regional win under his belt, Rubinstein is heading to New York to compete for the national title.

The job cuts are part of a transition plan that will move most of the homeless service contracts KCRHA currently oversees back to the city of Seattle and King County, which managed them before KCRHA took them over in 2021.

In April, a forensic audit found that the KCRHA lacked basic financial controls and used casual accounting practices to keep track of and balance its budget, lost track of at least $8 million in spending, and had an ongoing, steadily growing negative cash balance that required it to take out ever-larger loans from the county, resulting in interest payments that the agency couldn’t afford.

Since then, agency leaders have downplayed the problems and blamed them on early mistakes by previous KCRHA management, including founding CEO Mark Dones. As Kinnison and her recently hired deputy, William Towey, insisted the problems identified in the audit were fixable, the city and county worked out a plan to largely dismantle the agency. King County and Seattle are now in the process of taking back control of homeless contracts the two governments previously controlled and staffing up with the expectation that KCRHA will dramatically reduce its workforce.

....

Last week, staff represented by the PROTEC17 union sent a letter to the agency’s governing board urging the board to lay off Kinnison and Towey, whose combined compensation tops $600,000—”the direct financial cost of five to six full-time operational staff,” the letter says. “In a crisis, preserving positions that directly manage vendor contracts, coordinate shelter logistics, and administer Coordinated Entry produces a far higher operational yield than maintaining executive overhead.”

The union members also cited controversies that, they argued, could put the KCRHA’s reputation at continued risk, including bias complaints and allegations of retaliation as well as evidence that Kinnison sought to withhold records from public disclosure, in potential violation of the state Public Records Act.

In a move that will likely be a tough pill for Seattle urbanists to swallow, the current pedestrian pilot at Pike Place Market is set to get scaled back to three days a week in October, as the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) tries to find an equilibrium that pleases all stakeholders at the Market. SDOT's proposal would only implement "soft closures" of Pike Place between Pike Street and Virginia Street from 11am to 4pm Friday through Sunday, with "hard closures" with full barricades only implemented during special events.

Outside those weekend and event days, at least through March 31, all vehicles would be allowed to use the corridor without restrictions. According to SDOT's proposal, set to be presented to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission next week, new signage will instruct drivers to yield to pedestrians, with many of the barriers added to manage the busy street through the FIFA World Cup removed.

On Monday through Thursday throughout the fall and winter Pike Place would have no restrictions on entry, in SDOT's latest proposal for the pedestrian pilot's next phase. (SDOT) The current pilot program restricts vehicles simply wishing to drive through the street from accessing Pike Place from 10am to 4pm daily, and has been a smashing success by most metrics. Sales data shows increased business and a jump in visitors, especially locals heading to the Market more often. But it hasn't been viewed as a positive change by many inside the Market, including a substantial slice of business owners and Market advocates.

On Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers did all those things and more and, in the process, handed the Mariners their worst loss in franchise history with a humbling 22-0 embarrassment before 36,870 at American Family Field.

The situation got so bad that Leo Rivas pitched the eighth inning and allowed nine runs, one of which scored because Julio Rodríguez forgot how many outs there were and threw the ball into the outfield stands.

It was that kind of night when the best team in baseball improved to 30 games over .500 while leaving the M’s shamed by their performance.

In celebration of their 50th season, the M’s added a record, topping the 21-1 loss to Houston in 2019. The 22 runs tied the most allowed in franchise history with a 2015 loss in Boston.

I-001 would restore Let’s Go Washington’s so-called Parents’ Bill of Rights—a deeply flawed piece of legislation the Legislature had to fix in order to align with existing state law—and discourage students facing domestic violence, sexual abuse, or bullying at home from seeking help from trusted teachers and school counselors, who would be required to release students’ confidential records to their parental or guardian abusers. It would also force schools to knowingly put LGBTQ+ kids in increased danger of violence and homelessness by outing them to abusive families.

That’s why the Washington State Nurses Association, WA Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, law enforcement, doctors, teachers, dozens of parents’ organizations, and school counselors oppose this measure. I-001 further endangers already vulnerable child abuse victims by forcing schools to hand over sensitive information to parents under criminal investigation for raping, abusing, or otherwise harming their own child, according to a legal analysis from Pacifica Law.

But let me tell you why I’m going to vote No on I-001. I spent my high school years in Washington’s foster care system. Prior to that, I relied on school nurses and counselors to support me through the trauma I experienced at home.

My mom was physically and emotionally abusive, thanks in part to alcoholism. It was just the two of us; I didn’t have another adult I could talk to about what was happening. When I was in middle school, my teachers noticed something was wrong and that I needed help. They connected me with a school counselor named Mr. Parrot. (Yes, I still remember his name, but with a name like that, who could forget?) He was the first person I could talk to about my situation without fear it would get back to my mom. The counselor gave me information about Al-Anon, an organization that operates peer support groups for people who are impacted by another person’s alcoholism, and sources for confidential therapy.

This was a pivotal moment in my life. Accessing a safe space with school counselors gave me confidence that I could talk to people and take steps to get out of a bad situation. Without having an adult on my side, I would have probably stayed in an abusive household, and who knows how I would have ended up.

The closures will run from Friday, Aug. 21, through Monday, Aug. 24.

WSDOT says travelers should expect congestion and delays on Interstate 405, Interstate 5, State Route 520 and State Route 99, with major closures in Bellevue, Seattle and Renton.

As a seventh grader at Hazel Wolf K-8 in Northeast Seattle, Maxwell Adams didn’t have a laptop or a cellphone at school.

During science class, he sometimes looked at his classmate’s screen if he needed to see a problem in color, because the black-and-white printout his teacher gave him wasn’t sufficient. In history class, when assigned to create a PowerPoint presentation, he made a poster board instead. At lunch, he played football or basketball while some of his peers played computer games.

Maxwell’s parents opted him out of technology at school — including state standardized testing, which is administered on computers. They are OK with him taking an incomplete if his teachers can’t manage to provide an activity in physical form. Grades are less important, they say, than retaining Maxwell’s ability to focus, shielding him from harmful content and protecting his privacy. His parents also don’t want him unsupervised on a device for hours per day, risking addiction to the internet and games.

And he isn’t the only one. Despite Seattle Public Schools’ district policy to issue devices to each of its nearly 50,000 students, some highly vocal parents are successfully opting their students out of technology altogether.

These parents advocating for what they call “intentional technology” are on one end of a fierce debate happening nationwide: How can schools make sure students are equipped for success in a digital future while also retaining true life skills — like the ability to struggle and think critically in a world of easy AI answers, and to embrace the wonder of friendships, boredom and the real world beyond the dopamine hit of electronic screens?

Mounting scientific evidence suggests that excessive screen time in a child’s life can contribute to anxiety and depression, delayed social and emotional skills and decreased ability to focus. It is less clear how much ed tech — the devices, digital curricula and apps purchased and administered by schools — is responsible for declining test scores nationwide, though a growing consensus among parents, educators and some lawmakers points toward the wholesale embrace of ed tech as a significant contributing factor.

two Seattle residents filed a recall petition alleging she’s “derelict in her duties for public safety of the city of Seattle.”

Joy Kim, owner of Kyoto Teriyaki, 803 E Pike St, has been waiting since November 2025 for Uber Eats to disburse approximately $40,000 generated from nearly 1,500 orders.

Despite working with the delivery platform since before the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim encountered repeated obstacles while trying to collect her business's earnings.

She documented dozens of email exchanges with support representatives and updated her bank information through the platform, but the money was never transferred.

"I called. They said, 'Send an email'. So, I sent an email," Kim explained. "They said other people [were] working to close it," Kim said. "[They] kept saying that. So, I said this is not working."

Her son and restaurant manager, Jhoonho Kim, said watching his mother navigate the repeated dead ends while managing ongoing business expenses became increasingly frustrating.

"To hear them kind of talk, kind of like, somewhat condescendingly sometimes and just, like, watching her, you know, following the steps they're telling her and just like getting nothing back," Jhoonho Kim said.

Joy Kim's son and restaurant manager, Jhoonho Kim, said watching his mother navigate the repeated dead ends while managing ongoing business expenses became increasingly frustrating.

Uber attributed the delay to security protocols, stating that the situation required extra identity verification before funds could be released to the merchant.

At today’s meeting, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed $300,000 in emergency funding for Trans and Queer people. This comes after the City suddenly ended the Trans and Queer Community Stabilization Interdepartmental Team, which was created in response to an ongoing internal Trans refugee crisis. The hundreds of thousands of dollars will be placed with trusted community organizations to assist with providing emergency shelter, food, employment support, and other essential services.

The council chambers were full of speakers there to discuss the emergency funding and a ban on rental junk fees. One community member by the name of “Purple Six,” thanked the council for doing the “bare minimum,” regarding the proposal, which should have been accomplished a year ago.

“This is peanut money. This is such a small amount of money for this City. You are spending millions to expand fucking Flock cameras, and in that respect, anyone here who votes against such a small amount of money— the peanut money that my community needs— anyone who votes against it is signaling strongly that they are on the side of atrocity,” Purple Six said. “They are on the side of bigotry. They are on the side of the people who are brandishing guns on my community.”

Several other Trans community members spoke, and some commenting in support of banning junk fees also expressed solidarity with the Trans community. But a small group of others, some of whom don’t even live in Seattle, were spewing transphobic remarks. One of those individuals is detransitioner, Apostate Ari, who TtS previously reported had pulled a gun out of their bag and dropped a magazine full of bullets while scuffling with Queer community members in Cal Anderson Park.

He claimed it is “absolutely ridiculous,” to provide $300,000 for a “fictional genocide.” Apostate Ari also added how Trans “migrants,” have moved from red to blue states because “women aren’t comfortable with men in bathrooms.” People yelled Apostate Ari out of the room while Councilmember President Joy Hollingsworth cut him off by thanking him several times.

At the end of the meeting, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who authored the emergency funding for Trans people, took time to highlight the transphobic remarks and the strength of the Transgender community.

“I want to state to our Queer and Trans community directly: you belong in Seattle. I am glad you are here. You deserve dignity and respect. And we are going to do the work to live up to our promise of being a welcoming city,” she said.

The Seattle City Council voted to ban most types of rental fees on Tuesday — a move welcomed by tenants’ advocates, who argue that tacked-on charges make housing more expensive and obscure its true costs to renters.

Tuesday’s bill requires landlords to disclose all mandatory and optional fees upfront in home listings or ads. The ordinance will take effect July 1, 2027.

It allows but limits the mandatory fees that landlords can charge to certain application screening fees, move-in fees, utility fees, and security and pet damage deposits, among a handful of others. Also allowed are fees for replacing lost keys or letting locked-out residents back into their homes.

Crucially, the ordinance will prohibit landlords from charging fees deemed “unfair or excessive,” including for common area access, package collection, and having a pet.

Optional fees would have to be explicitly disclosed as such. Landlords would be prohibited from charging a markup on services provided by third parties.

Cheers and applause rippled through the crowd at City Hall on Tuesday as supporters of the ordinance celebrated its passage. “We’re tired of being nickel-and-dimed,” said Carolyn Russell, a renter who lives in Seattle’s third district. Russell estimates having paid thousands of dollars over seven years of renting in the form of pet rent.

The need for the City of Seattle to engage in a coordinated and evidence-based plan to prevent gun violence has entered the spotlight following the much-publicized shooting at the Bite of Seattle food festival at Seattle Center in July, during which three people were killed and five injured,

While the Bite of Seattle shooting received the lion’s share of media attention, three women were injured by gunfire in North Seattle three days earlier and two bystanders were injured during a shooting in Capitol Hill the previous day.

“In King County, youth and young adults account for 60% of gun violence incidents, with victims disproportionately being male and people of color,” the 100 Days of Action report noted in March of 2025.

Last March, the City Auditor’s Office released a report on gun violence patterns in Seattle. The report included four recommendations for improvement, including greater coordination, systematic reporting on patterns, and looking into whether the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) department could integrate the City’s violence prevention programs and play a role in increased reporting.

In April 2025, the Mayor’s Office, then led by Bruce Harrell, pushed back against the audit, touting their “One Seattle Restoration Framework” as the administration’s answer to an earlier audit. The dearth of detailed information released on this framework made it impossible to compare it to evidence-based models that have found success in other cities.

At the time, Harrell’s Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington said in a council meeting that she had felt disrespected during the audit process.

Violence prevention programs in Seattle have a long history of having difficulty receiving the necessary funding, whether that be through tying funding to expensive audits or having a mayor question violence prevention investments that were 2% of the amount the City was spending on SPD at the time.

I lived here for 4 years when I first came to Seattle. It was a tremendous time.