Local artists’ big metal bird with movable wings; charter-amendment backers appeal court ruling to remove it from Nov. ballot; school starts today amid precautions and fears; Children’s Hospital’s first COVID death.

Remembering a local icon of cartooning and TV; why one Black activist won’t back Bruce Harrell for mayor; court upholds state ban on forced ‘conversion therapy’ against gays; Pacific Galleries antique mall might be saved.

Judge tosses shelters-and-sweeps charter amendment initiative; Seahawk-turned-doctor hospitalized with COVID, as cases exceed region’s hospital capacity again; Oly protest derides mask/vaccine mandates.

Rare/important John Coltrane Seattle live set unearthed; UW team predicts a not more US COVID deaths; trouble for Puget Sound’s underwater ‘forests;’ what the homeless crisis isn’t (or shouldn’t be) really about.

The ex-Baltic Room’s got a new name; the ‘Nirvana Baby’ resurfaces; determining the ‘pandemic’s toll on kids’ brains;’ Microsoft AI software’s programmed to impersonate a local writer.

Locally-made, no-budget ‘Hunting Bigfoot’ film now showing; Boeing safety engineers speak out against management; philanthropist-arts promoter Kay Bullitt dies; when the delta variant (and the pandemic) just might finally end.

Mt. Rainier’s a lot less snowy and icy these days; state auditor’s office sez city’s ‘Black Brilliance Project’ grants were barely within the law; Portland police allowed far-right rally members to mostly just do their thing; 15 writers in search of Utopia.

Firefighters’ determination is visually captured; there was another far-right rally (and counter-rally) in Portland; hospital workers endure the current COVID explosion; remembering the good news behind much of the bad news.

Art-world celeb and UW grad Chuck Close dies; frustration among doctors, nurses as delta variant rages on; why encampment residents don’t want to move into shelters; Redhook (and the Seattle microbrew scene) turn 40.

Historic/kitschy Admiral Benbow Inn to reopen; Inslee mandates masking for all and vaccines for school/college workers; ICUs fill to capacity again with COVID patients; Pike Place Market turns 114.

Mudhoney bassist (and Harborview ER nurse) Guy Maddison tells COVID tales in a podcast; area health leaders blame public gatherings for COVID resurgence; Amazon now outsells Walmart (sort-of); Afghan refugees are headed our way.

Artistic mini-golf at Olympic Sculpture Park; City Council passes JumpStart payroll tax; why hasn’t county rent-relief money come through yet?; a summer of ‘frustration’ and ‘rage’.

Wing Luke group exhibit ponders Asian American beauty standards; music fest at the Gorge linked to 160+ COVID cases; wildfire smoke makes COVID worse; more on the trends seen in the new census data.

New magic-themed bar prepares to open; Census data reveals how much we’ve grown around here; state Supreme Court rules in favor of vehicle dwellers; non-teaching Seattle school workers will need vaccines this fall.

Pop-art posters honor Indigenous women preserving the planet; Edgar Martinez gets a statue; WA COVID cases surpass a half million; ACLU sues to stop the city charter-amendment drive.