A recently-restored Central District MLK mural appears on local TV, is defaced soon after; could ‘peak COVID’ be now?; locals wait to hear from loved ones in Tonga; Kraken end a nine-game skid in a shootout.

Author Neal Stephenson defends utopian fiction; COVID-related staff shortages affect schools, bus service, and more; three more state senators test positive; two Cascade passes still closed.

Back to regular (albeit wild) local winter weather and its side effects; school and other COVID test sites reach max capacity; UW researchers’ union drive proceeds; Duwamish Tribe gets a little more land in a community donation.

Heidelberg beer returns to Tacoma; WA hits another record in daily new COVID cases, as many New Year’s Eve events get canceled; our current cold snap may fade away at last.

Photo book recounts the Bertha tunnel project and its many complications; climate change’s role in our current cold snap; “Hoarders” reality-TV creator will work for Bruce Harrell; more proof that music streaming sucks for artists.

Local deep freeze continues; WA COVID cases skyrocket, as King County buys 300,000 home tests; would-be customer lacerates bartender who asked for vax proof; Beacon Hill Garden House saved.

Deep freeze follows snow, with expected impacts; King County COVID cases double in a week; a local law firm may open its own coffee house as it downsizes its offices; WSU football gets a bowl game after all.

Post-Xmas lights (and, oh yeah, the big snow); state sez Amazon won’t let it inspect warehouse safety conditions; PETA tries to deliver coal to Starbucks CEO in an anti-dairy protest; GameWorks stops working.

Longtime local artist Carl Smool’s got a crowdfunding drive; Tim Eyman’s assets to be liquidated; serious cold (and maybe snow) on tap for holiday weekend; state AG Bob Ferguson isolating with COVID, as omicron variant takes hold in western WA.

The ‘revered and reviled saxophonist’ gets an HBO doc; Space Needle fireworks will be back (sort-of); full hospitals can’t send folks to full nursing homes; Bruce Harrell’s niece will be his chief aide.

Trick photos of little cars in full-size places; keep-Sawant votes edge up; five people died after getting thrown out of low-income housing; one more high school can legally keep its Native-derived team name.

More floods attack the hard-hit BC interior; the Crocodile has its third grand opening; a labor group claims Amazon under-reports worker COVID cases; the city settles with Charleena Lyles’ family for $3.5 million.

Can in-person holiday shopping rebound?; local experts discuss the ‘omicron’ COVID variant; Northwest WA gets more rain, floods, landslides, etc.; Apple Cup football failure is followed by light-rail failure.

Another ‘only from Archie McPhee’ product at Xmas; Christian schools with ‘lax protocols’ lead in student COVID cases; Pacific Place ‘goes indie’ amid ‘ghost malls’ tide; remembering WA’s first Black (and non-Indigenous) settler.

An out trans woman becomes a high school homecoming queen; King County’s got its first POC (interim) sheriff; a 75-year-old Black woman (and police-accountability activist) is struck with a motor oil can in a racist street attack; what’s so negative about being told to be ‘positive’?