Pretty big turnaround in the latest (small) batch of about 36,000 Seattle ballots, which went 51.6 percent for Katie Wilson and 48.1 percent for incumbent Bruce Harrell. Overall, the new numbers are 52.6 Harrell, 46.9 Wilson. Yesterday, those numbers were 53.8 Harrell, 45.7 Wilson.

Style alert: the @seattletimes will now include diacritical marks when using Hawaiian-language words and place names. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

New turnout numbers in Seattle suggest that only about half the ballots are in, with nearly 55 percent of voters in the city casting ballots. Two thirds of those are drop box votes (rather than mail-in), and the numbers now suggest that only about half the ballots have been counted.

Downtown is so back

Every Big Story Has a Pacific Northwest Connection…

Feels odd that most all the other progressive Seattle candidates have more votes than Katie Wilson. Ticket splitters?

Katie Wilson trails Mayor Bruce Harrell in the first night tally: Katie Wilson 53,767 votes, 46.18% Bruce Harrell 62,086 votes, 53.32% Write-in 580 votes, 0.50% In WA, we vote by mail with one update daily. In Seattle, it’s not unusual for progressive candidates to start behind and pull ahead

Every Big Story Has a Pacific Northwest Connection…

Trump - CBS 60 Minutes Interview - What Was and Wasn't Included in the Broadcast open.substack.com/pub/decoding...

Federal judge extends order blocking Trump from deploying National Guard to Portland, keeping soldiers in limbo as legal showdown continues. https://cnn.it/490LeDu

"After the tech oligarchs lined up at Trump’s inaugural, and the Elon Musk DOGE fiasco began to set in, Ceis says the tax-the-rich plan took off." www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Statement from Weijia Jiang: "The White House Correspondents’ Association unequivocally opposes any effort to limit journalists from areas within the communications operations of the White House that have long been open for newsgathering, including the press secretary’s office...."

Just Voted! Highly Recommend putting ballots in a Ballot Dropbox by 8PM Tuesday, Nov. 4., NOT a US Mailbox because the Postal Service warns that it now may not be able to postmark mail ballots in time to be counted.

Not only is Barrientos propped up by high profile conservatives and developer interest groups like his boss, Larry Stone - but now it turns out he may be violating election law by running for a Spokane City Council district he doesn't even live in??? (also he shares the same lawyer as Matt Shea 👀🤮)

DHS says our new piece is "dishonest, slanted, and fundamentally inaccurate" but won't say why. Here's the story where we show with evidence that DHS spliced together clips spanning years and multiple locations to create its own reality. Gift link wapo.st/4nuDGwf

Three times in the past two weeks, editorials at the 'Washington Post' failed to disclose that they focused on matters in which owner Jeff Bezos had a material interest.

Every candidate is talking about how critical the CARE team is, while the mayor and council are set to ratify a contract that continues to hamper the CARE team’s ability to respond

New Seattle Poll: Seattle Wants to Elect Progressives This Fall In a new Stranger/DHM Poll, progressive challengers are coming out on top across the board. But in the mayoral race, it’s all about voter turnout. www.thestranger.com/stranger-pol... #SEAelex #WAelex

A man was arrested for playing Darth Vader's theme music, "The Imperial March," behind National Guard troops walking through Logan Circle. Now the ACLU is suing on his behalf. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.

I’m 2300 miles away, but the sense of urgency breaks through.

Every Big Story Has a Pacific Northwest Connection… Via @contrariannews.org

The CARE Team can respond to more call types, but the new police contract imposes many new restrictions—barring them from going to homeless encampments, vehicles, housing, businesses, and any location where drug paraphernalia like foil is visible or where a person in crisis seems "confrontational."

ONLY AT PUBLICOLA: New Police Contract Will Boost Starting Salaries to Almost $120,000—a 42% Pay Increase in Just Five Years The contract reportedly includes only minimal concessions on police accountability. The city just bumped starting salaries to $104,000—the highest in the state—last year.

Supreme Court will consider whether people who regularly smoke pot can legally own guns

Double Rainbow over Lake Washington! (and a thunderclap, too) Gotta be a good sign, right? #GOMS #Mariners #SeizeTheMoment

Great Column by @jerrybrewer.bsky.social about Great Times in Seattle, then and now. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

All are welcome to tour this wing of Mariner Fans' Hurt Museum. Winning or losing, it is never done easily. www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

Well, week long trip hasn't gone well. 2 hrs delay at ORD for rain in NYC. From there to SEA, where 1st nite at hotel had no heat. Then three accidents on 3 freeways delayed or stopped traffic. Now on 2 hr delay (so far) at SEA for maintenance. Almost certainly will land ORD on "MKE" runway [more]

Every Big Story Has a Pacific Northwest Connection…. (h/t @finchfrii.bsky.social )

“But one current and one former U.S. official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.”

I explained why this looks like a violation of campaign finance law: “They are getting information from and about the campaign that is not available to the general public—that's inside information that they're then using to electioneer on Bruce’s behalf,” Fincher says.

NEW for @washingtonpost.com: Fox News will not sign the Pentagon's press policy. The broadcaster joins ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN in condemning the Defense Department for a policy they say violates their "core journalistic protections.”

“Fox News, Hegseth’s former employer, has not yet said whether it would sign the pledge.”

Because I live in Oregon & write/research about the history of the far right in the state, I happen to be familiar with the back catalogue of most of these folks and, while they have a 1st Amendment right to say what they want, their track record of accuracy is questionable. bsky.app/profile/seth...

“Among those wrongly dismissed were the top two leaders of the federal measles response team…” Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Beautiful Essay From a City Dreaming Beyond Past Heartbreak… #GoMariners www.seattletimes.com/sports/marin...

The Pentagon Press Association said that Pete Hegseth's media rules are still unacceptable. PPA said the policy is “designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs." CNN told me it won't sign. My latest for @washingtonpost.com:

Every Big Story Has a Pacific Northwest Connection… “Brunkow, 64, is a senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle.”

Hold it! The new CBS News boss has *No Experience* in television news? “Weiss said she was getting an education on TV from Cibrowski. She is coming to CBS News at a trepidatious time.”

I don't like the nearly invisible 'Liquid Glass' version of the strike zone. Go Mariners!

BREAKING: Sanae Takaichi has been elected leader of the LDP, and is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, had previously endorsed Bruce Harrell. She is now dual endorsing Bruce Harrell and Katie Wilson for Seattle mayor. #SEAelex

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

We are losing something by having newsrooms where everyone who has more than a few years’ experience has gotten fired. I don’t fault a young writer for not knowing about things that happened before she was born. But now there are no editors to help give context to these stories, either.

Every Big Story Has a Pacific Northwest Connection… But Trump did not send federal troops to Seattle in 2020.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has BLOCKED Kari Lake from carrying out a reduction-in-force effort that would lay off more than 500 people at Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Story to come for @washingtonpost.com.

Seattle's Etsy Witch just reloaded.

No Kimmel in Seattle or Portland.

But will the show return to Sinclair's stations in Seattle and Portland? Waiting to hear if Kimmel has bowed to Sinclair's demand to apologize to the Kirk family and "make a meaningful personal donation" to the Kirks and TPUSA.