The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Megan Seling

Wild Weather on the Way: The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory starting today at 3 p.m. through 6 a.m. Thursday. Whether you plan on hunkering down at home or heading out to the Torrent game for Cayla Barnes bobblehead night, plan on lots of rain and “winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts of 40 to 45 mph.”

Trump Lied: Trump has been claiming that the missile that struck near a girls’ school in Iran on February 28, killing more than 165 civilians, most of whom were under 12 years old, was fired by Iran. Iranian forces are “very inaccurate,” he said. But new video shows a US Tomahawk missile striking near the school. “The US is the only participant in the war that is known to have Tomahawk missiles,” according to the investigative group Bellingcat.

How’d This Happen? Last year, the Trump Administration dismantled and defunded a program focused on reducing civilian harm. ProPublica reports, “Dismantling the fledgling harm-reduction effort, defense analysts say, is among several ways the Trump administration has reorganized national security around two principles: more aggression, less accountability.” I hope all those little girls haunt Hegseth in his coke-fueled nightmares for the rest of his fucking life.

Meanwhile: After this war threw oil prices into a tailspin, the 32 countries that make up the International Energy Agency have agreed to release 400 million barrels of emergency reserve oil to try to help clean up Trump’s mess. 

Iran Pulls Out of the World Cup: According to Al Jazeera, Iran’s sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, said, “Considering that this corrupt ⁠regime has ⁠assassinated our leader, under no circumstances ⁠can we ⁠participate in ⁠the World Cup.” Kind of a good point, tbh. Iran is scheduled to play the Pride game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. Tickets to the game are currently going for $330–$7,495 a pop on StubHub.

These Men Are Not Serious Men: Apparently, Donald Trump won’t stop buying pairs of very specific dress shoes for all the men in his life. He just guesses what sizes to buy, but because he has also made it clear that he believes that "you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size,” all the shoe recipients are afraid to tell Trump if their new shiny kicks don’t fit. So now there are tons of photos of Trump’s bigoted besties bumbling around the White House wearing shoes that are very clearly several sizes too big. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Totally normal human adult behavior! 

More Totally Normal Behavior: It’s surprising they’re all willing to look so foolish in their big boy shoes, given how obsessed they are with appearances. Case in point: The Defence Department has banned press photographers after seeing some “unflattering” photos taken during the March 2 press briefing. The AP reports: “It is unclear whether one particular photo—or the sum total of the day’s shots—led to consternation among Hegseth’s staff.” 🎶 You’re so vain, you probably think this press briefing about dozens of dead Iranian children is about you / Don’t you / Don’t you. 🎶

Tax the Rich $$$: Last night, the state House approved the millionaires’ tax after more than 24 hours of debate. The final vote in the Senate could happen today. As News Editor Vivian mentioned in yesterday’s Slog AM, Gov. Bob Ferguson has signaled he’d sign the latest version if it crossed his desk. 

Florida Man Evades Taxes: The new Millionaires Tax bummed out billionaire and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz enough that he decided to move to Miami. Good riddance! 

Fund the Libraries: Yesterday, Mayor Katie Wilson announced her plans to fund the Seattle Public Library system. Her new levy proposal increases the 2019 voter-approved levy from $31.3 million to about $59 million, from 2027 through 2033. Our local libraries and their staff are struggling in so many ways. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported yesterday that within hours of Wilson’s announcement, a man was found unconscious and not breathing in the upstairs bathroom at the Capitol Hill Library. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Wilson’s proposal includes millions of dollars for social service referral programs and staffing upgrades, including human resource staffing.

They Paved Paradise and… Put in a pickleball facility. Maybe. At least, that’s what one developer wants to do with the old Joann Fabrics building in Ballard. I miss Joann so much.

Speaking of Passing Legislation: Yesterday, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a one-year moratorium on new detention centers in Seattle. The bill, sponsored by Alexis Mercedes Rinck, comes after the federal government was sniffing around last year, looking for feedback on the possibility of a 1,500-bed facility. ICE OUT, THO. The King County council passed something similar last week, ultimately voting 7-2, with KC Councilmembers Reagan Dunn and Pete von Reichbauer voting no. Dunn called moratoriums “blunt tools.” You’re a blunt tool, Reagan Dunn. 

Baby Gorillas! Two Woodland Park Zoo gorillas are pregnant, and both babies are due in May. I hope they’re both geminis. We could team up and take over the city.

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In November 2024, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun paid $6.24 million at Sotheby’s to purchase Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian—the iconic banana duct-taped to a wall. Nine days later he ate said banana during a press conference in Hong Kong.

If that reads like an inside joke with no punchline, you aren’t wrong. Mischievous Cattelan must have been laughing that day as the bids rolled in, but who was laughing to the bank? Sotheby’s, definitely.

The financialization of art has been a steady, miserable tour de force since the 1980s, a time when Americans—downtrodden by relentless recession and endless war—traded protest signs for COEXIST bumper stickers and let the narcotic rush of yuppie prosperity wash over. Art was not immune to late capitalism in full bloom. As once-public auction houses were absorbed into luxury-goods portfolios and acquired by media moguls, the art market became the playground of the ultrawealthy. Speculative purchases of works by promising art stars reached fever pitch during the pandemic, with high-value paintings promptly stuffed into storage in hopes of flipping them later for profit. And NFTs… let us not speak of those.

But art isn’t like a house or a stock. The art market peaked on November 20, 2024, when the gavel struck the auction block and the last trace of art’s soul departed from the fleshy mesocarp of a 23-cent piece of fruit.

In 2025 it all started to collapse. Christie’s quietly shut down their Digital Art and NFTs department in September. Blue-chip and mid-tier galleries alike have been shuttering left and right. As the market in Asia cools, Art Basel, Frieze, and other art fair conglomerates have flocked to the Middle East in search of the last untapped collector. Everyone is in on the joke, of course: The highlight of Art Basel Miami Beach this past December was Beeple’s robotic dogs with the faces of Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk. They literally crapped reams of AI slop.

But satire loses its luster after a point. The banana has gone bad. In 2026, art is having an identity crisis; what does art after extractive capitalism look like?

One upside of Seattle being a second-tier art city—not because we’re lacking in art, but because our market power and visibility are less established than in other places—is that we aren’t hit as hard when a K-shaped economy starts to have its revenge on the market. That’s not to say artists outside New York and LA don’t feel the sting. They do. But operating on the decentralized fringe has its benefits. It also doesn’t hurt that our city has a deep-rooted sense of anti-authoritarianism that extends to doing art our own way. In that way, we’re kind of recession-proof.

I came up in Seattle’s art scene on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis. There were a lot of folks like me who had never been to art school and didn’t have MFAs—artists just raw-dogging the art world, making, showing, and seeing art wherever we could. Which was literally wherever, in part because there’s never been sufficient commercial galleries in town to match the amount of good art, but also because that DIY mentality really shines when
the economy slumps.

And that’s what I love about recession-era art. Circa 2009 and beyond, everything was fair game: a studio apartment on Capitol Hill transformed into one of the city’s hottest galleries for one night each month (or whenever—there were no rules!). Also an old sweater factory in Ballard, a decommissioned BMW dealership on Pike, a cubby under a stairwell in the Central District, the back of a U-Haul on the street, an I-5 underpass at dusk. All you had to do was make a press release and it could be a thing.

It’s something Sammy Skidmore and Zoë Hensley have figured out. The organizers behind ONCE REMOVED: Art in Vacant Spaces, Skidmore and Hensley are both gallerists with day jobs at commercial galleries. Skidmore (also a singer/songwriter and guitarist for Dining Dead) is the gallery manager at Traver Gallery, and Hensley (who has a background as a visual artist) works at Foster/White. “Galleries can be really intimidating, we all know that,” says Skidmore. “People think they have to act a certain way in a gallery. We’re interested in flipping expectations of what it means to enter
an art space.”

After brainstorming in the summer, they began cold-calling developers in search of decommissioned spaces where artists could play—specifically, artists whose work doesn’t neatly fit in a commercial gallery. Their first yes was a small bungalow in Greenwood. They received the keys five days before the reception on February 21; in that short time, five artists raced to transform each room. The result was a labyrinthine web of semi-interconnected installations threaded through the building, including video work by Allie Meyer projected onto a darkened bathroom window, Gaeun Kim’s delicate graphite rubbings made against a series of broken doors, and Nadia Ahmed’s beeswax-drenched reliquaries encasing found detritus like knobs, tiles, handles. Rachael Comer used cornstarch to harden a bedsheet around the shape of her own huddled body, creating a ghostly carved-out space in one of the bedrooms. Visitors peering under the covers watched as a string of Google searches (for porn, sourced from 100 friends and strangers) traced a poetic interrogation into the nature of collective eroticism, longing, and trauma. In the basement, Jenikka Cruz created the scene of a different kind of haunting: lifelike figures clustered in one corner of the subterranean dark while a droning soundscape filled the space.

“We want to act as a little eddy in the stream of gentrification for these houses that are going to be demolished,” Skidmore says, “give them one last burst
of life.”

ONCE REMOVED deftly straddles both the world of the white cube and the underground—they don’t list the event address on their website; you have to email or DM for details. They foresee the project continuing as a series, each location inspiring a unique response. “You just have to be able to take no for an answer,” says Hensley about the challenge of getting handed keys to a stranger’s place. “There’s always a way to do something. Don’t talk about it, just do it.”

Another moment in recent history when art came out from under the shadow of commodification unfolded in the late 1960s and 1970s, when Arte Povera and Fluxus took hold. These movements—rooted in commonplace materials, music, and poetry—were not only a pragmatic response to global recession, but a revolt against the centering of (primarily white male) Abstract Expressionist painters in New York as the de facto lifeblood of the art world.

Arte Povera (“poor art”) and Fluxus (which embraced humor and process over product) were both intrinsically political, purposefully pushing against the commodification of art. In the age of AI—where ideation at the most basic level is becoming filtered through corporatized pipelines of prescriptive thought—imagination itself is political.

In other words, it’s time to make the art world weird again. Mess and typos make us human. Flesh and blood experiences in abandoned houses are proof of life.

It’s also a time for imagining new models of patronage in the art world. For the past four years, artist Lars Bergquist has crowdsourced funds to raise money for Free Blanket February, a project to purchase wool blankets for the unhoused. Each day in February—the coldest month in Seattle—he stocks the blankets in repurposed newspaper boxes set up across downtown. An extension of his street-art practice, or just one human caring for another? Bergquist shows how easily it can be both.

Right now there are a lot of things stirring in the fresh recession air, even in terms of commercial spaces that are bucking against the norm. Last month, 27-year-old attorney Elizabeth Hawley took over the lease at 85 Yesler Way to breathe new life into the bones of Davidson Galleries, giving its artists a new next chapter as Gallery No. 85. Next month, designer Michelle Dirkse and photographer Jeremy Prim are opening Dirkse/Prim Gallery in Madrona, where they will be representing a roster of emerging and mid-career artists like Joey Bates, Mya Kerner, and Zak Helenske, whose epic, large-scale flora made of black walnut, ash, lilac, and brass will be debuting in April.

What is art in 2026? Detached from the imploded market, art is able to find its center elsewhere, a place where imagination, collaboration, and new ways of doing things are paramount. When everything is broken, including the rules, anything is possible. We are here now. 

On December 6, 1911, the Seattle Times announced: “The new Society Theatre, a photo playhouse, opens at Broadway and John next Friday night, with four reels of new films … music will be furnished by a three-piece orchestra.” (Next to an ad for 15-cent mechanical toy mice, and the “permanently useful gift” of an electric iron.)

Nearly 80 years later, on January 11, 1990, the paper reported: “The Broadway Theatre on Capitol Hill will close its doors for the last time tonight. The Pay’n Save store next door is scheduled to expand into the theater’s space at the corner of John and Broadway. The Broadway’s last picture show is We're No Angels.” (Other headlines included “Drug Foe Returns To War At Home” and “‘Glass’ May Be Drug of the ’90s.”)

The Pay’n Save became a Rite Aid, which kept the iconic neon theater marquee; in 2022 it said “come get flu shots here.” After the store shuttered in December of 2023, the abandoned sign drifted into the poetic: “come get shot here.”

It’s a sad site these days. A patchwork of greige paint on the graffiti-prone walls; “BROADWAY” is all that remains on the sign and the neon has all been stripped out. Something needs to go there. But what?

Last month, fast-food conglomerate and official caterers of late-stage capitalism, McDonald’s, filed to take over the space, half a block from a (for the record, cheaper) Dick’s. I’m not here to hate on fast food. I, too, feel nostalgia for when Broadway had a Jack in the Box and Taco Bell, but those were also the days when the Lamborghini was still on top of Club Lagoon. I’m also not here to hate on cheap food and reliable bathrooms. But should a McDonald’s also be a crisis clinic? And how big does a McDonald’s need to be? Surely not 5,000 square feet, especially when new McDonald’s are serving slate-gray, tech-prison realness.

“Preservation” is a loaded concept when we need max efficiency in this expensive-as-fuck city of ours. But must every choice we make include no rizz whatsoever? If we need a neighborhood sacrifice, why not tear down the US Bank across the street?

In How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built, Stewart Brand wrote that preservationists are “passionately interested in the question, ‘What makes some buildings come to be loved?’ and they act on what they learn. The result is a coherent, still-evolving ethical and aesthetic body of ideas. One architect has observed ‘Preservation has become the best carrier of that moral force architecture needs if it is to have value beyond shelter. Preservation is capable of projecting a vision of new possibilities, of hope for our own future….’”

When you think about cities you love, aren’t they defined by old, interesting buildings? When we imagine the city we want to live in, what’s there to do? Are there options besides bars? Are there places to gather, take in art, shop, exist outside the home?

I’m not here for a policy debate. I’m simply not buying that a McDonald’s is the best possible use of one of the most transit-rich, historically recognizable corners in Capitol Hill. For fun, let’s imagine…

• It’s a movie theater. Obviously! With the Egyptian in a coma, and so many other theaters gone, we need this. 
• It’s a venue. A big, banging venue would be incredible for the neighborhood, and the city. 
• It’s a roller-skating rink.
• It’s a combination roller-skating rink and venue. (Southgate Roller Rink! Take over this building!)
• It’s an ice-skating rink. (Yes, I have caught Alysa Liu fever, and I hope I never recover.)
• It’s a bowling alley, or a thrift store, or a record store, or a giant bookstore. (Let’s stop letting Portland win?)
• It’s a year-round haunted house.
• It’s an indoor sculpture park.
• It’s a Trendy Wendy II.
• It’s a Daiso.
• It’s a magic-show emporium.
• It’s a Rainforest Cafe. Or one of the Factories (Cheesecake or Spaghetti, your choice).
• It’s a… drugstore! A good ol’ iffy city drugstore in a charming old theater space in a neighborhood that really needs more drugstores.

Okay, fine, imagine it’s a McDonald’s. But consider: In 1985, McDonald’s planned to demolish a dilapidated mansion called the Denton House, but residents of New Hyde Park, NY rallied to save it. The home earned historic status in 1988, leading to a compromise: McDonald’s had to restore the façade to its 1926 beauty; the renovated landmark reopened as a McDonald’s in 1991.

Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! by Dan Savage Dear Readers: I’m off this week. To tide you over until I’m back, the tech-savvy, at-risk youth pulled some classic “PUD” questions from the archives. A PUD, of course, is someone who is “poly under duress.” Because while some of us start out poly and some of us achieve poly, others have poly thrust upon ’em. These are their stories. — Dan I’m a 25-year-old woman currently in a poly relationship with a married man roughly 20 years my senior. This has by far been the best relationship I’ve ever had. However, something has me a bit on edge. We went on a trip with friends to a brewery with a great restaurant. It was an amazing place, and I was sure his wife would enjoy it. He mentioned the place to her, and her response was NO, she didn’t want to go there because she didn’t want to have…

[ Read more ]

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Vivian McCall

Morning: House lawmakers in Olympia debated the millionaires’ tax late into the night and into this morning. Republicans have filed dozens of amendments to derail the bill, but Dems say they have the votes. And Gov. Bob Ferguson has signaled he’d sign the latest version if it crossed his desk.

What, No Baby Sheriffs? A bill that would strengthen standards for Washington’s elected sheriffs and make it easier to boot those decertified by the Criminal Justice Training Commission is headed to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk. If he signs it, sheriffs would be required to have five years law enforcement experience and undergo background checks through the Washington State Patrol. The minimum age to serve as sheriff would be raised from 18 to 25, and tighten rules around volunteer-run “sheriff’s posses,” preventing them from enforcing the law. The Old West is dead.

ICYMI: A report from the King County Ombuds found that officers at the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention “more likely than not” used excessive force when they punched and Tased a man while booking him to jail in November 2024, and then issued a flawed report on the incident. Department director Allen Nance initially defended the officers, but changed his tune after King County Councilmember Jorge Barón raised concerns. Nance has since released an 11-point plan to address use of force, writing in a letter that “we should have done a better job on multiple fronts related to the handling the matter that prompted your attention,” KUOW reports.

A Little to the Left: Activist, communications strategist, and former state legislature employee Hannah Sabio-Howell wants Majority Leader Sen. Jamie Pedersen’s 43rd district crown. She’s betting he’s vulnerable because as he’s gained more power, and played more of a leadership role, his constituency has only grown more progressive than the moderate Pedersen. Interesting stuff. I sat down with Sabio-Howell at Gemini Room in Capitol Hill to chat about her campaign, and took a phone call from Pedersen on a rainy drive home from Olympia, his favorite time to talk to reporters.

Goddamn It, Damien/Goddamn It, Davison: Thanks to the combined efforts of Damien, a busted Oregon Trail-ass software the City Attorney’s Office finally tried to move on from after 27 years, and Ann Davison, the former City Attorney, Erika Evans has 3,800 more DV, DUI, child abuse, elder abuse, and other terrible cases backlogged than she had intitally thought. “Knowing we have to not only focus on the stuff coming at us right now, but also tackle this ginormous, 5,100 case backlog is pretty devastating,” she tells Nathalie.

Weather: A chance of rain and snow this morning, then rain with titillating gusts up to 23 miles per hour. Tonight, rain is very likely; tomorrow and Thursday, rain is certain.

Schrödinger's War: About an hour after the Department of WAR tweeted “We have Only Just Begun to Fight” from the DOW Rapid Response account on X, President Trump told a CBS journalist that the war in Iran was “very complete, pretty much.” And later Monday, he told lawmakers at an event in Miami that the US still needed to achieve “ultimate victory.”

Pentagon today: the war is just getting started!

Their commander in chief, less than an hour later: "the war is very complete"

[image or embed]

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) March 9, 2026 at 1:42 PM

Meanwhile, Tehran is vowing to launch powerful missiles, Iran’s parliament speaker says the country is “definitely not looking for a ceasefire,” and Trump says he’ll hit Iran “20 times harder” if oil flows stop in the Hormuz Strait. In response, Iranian security official Ali Larijani wrote: “The sacrificial nation of Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats. Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says today will be the most intense day of strikes yet.

Grounded: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefly grounded all JetBlue flights while the airline handled a system outage early this morning. The grounded stop was lifted about 40 minutes later. JetBlue did not provide any more information about what happened, simply saying it’s done and it’s back to business as usual.

Drives Speaks for Itself:

New: A Houston woman is suing Tesla in Harris County, alleging that her Cybertruck, while using Tesla's "Full Self-Driving mode" tried to drive the car off of a bridge. Here is the dashcam footage provided by her lawyers: www.chron.com/culture/arti...

[image or embed]

— gwen howerton (@kissphoria.bsky.social) March 9, 2026 at 12:06 PM

Inadvertent Crook Buster: Alexander Butterfield, the Richard Nixon aide summoned to fuck ol' Dick before the staff of the Senate Watergate committee, has died. He was 99. In 1973, Butterfield, the then head of the FAA who’d previously been deputy chief of staff, told the committee that he was loyal to President Nixon but didn’t want to lie. Yeah, he’d supervised the bugging of the White House and Old Executive Office Building with a voice-activated recording system. “I was hoping you fellows wouldn’t ask me about that,” he said. Three days later, he reiterated his testimony during televised hearings.

ICE Out: When Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino left Chicago last fall, he made like Douglas MacArthur and pledged to return with another surge in March. Well, it’s March, and his ass is gone, and so is Kristi Noem’s. There’s little to suggest a Midway Blitz 2.0, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Is nothing sacred? Creating unrealistic body standards for camels everywhere, about 20 of the sexiest beasts at the 2026 Camel Beauty Show Festival in Oman were disqualified after inspectors discovered that they’d plumped their humps with a botox-like substance.

On June 23, 2021, a historic heat dome settled over the Pacific Northwest like a vengeful oven, sending temperatures skyrocketing from Juneau, Alaska to Eureka, California. In the diverse, working-class neighborhoods of South King County and Tacoma, Yakima and Spokane, temperatures reached as high as 110 degrees.

Over the next few weeks, more than 120 people died due to exposure to extreme heat, making it the deadliest natural disaster our state has witnessed in generations. Compounding that tragedy was another one: the undeniable fact that this tragedy exposed the depth of environmental injustice here in Washington State.

More than half of the people who died during the heat dome lived in poorer neighborhoods—in neighborhoods without air-conditioned community centers, without well-funded emergency services, without enough trees offering enough shade. At least 80 of the deaths occurred within the densely populated urban neighborhoods of King, Pierce, and Spokane counties.

Organizations like Comunidad see these impacts firsthand. Families share stories of working up to 16 hours a day outside in dangerous heat, living in housing without adequate cooling, or struggling to access resources during extreme weather events. For many communities, environmental injustice is not a distant policy debate—it is a daily reality affecting their health, safety, and livelihoods.

In May of 2021, the State Legislature passed the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act—landmark legislation aimed at reducing environmental and health disparities in Washington. The HEAL Act required state agencies to develop and implement community engagement plans, conduct environmental justice assessments, and improve Tribal consultation frameworks.

Over the past four years, funding from the HEAL Act has aided in the development of environmental health disparities (EHD) maps—including heat risk assessments—and provided agencies with the resources to meaningfully include Tribes and frontline communities in decision-making during emergencies such as extreme heat, flooding, and landslides.

HEAL’s community capacity grants have enabled community-led education on issues like water contamination and pollution and provided funding to Tribes and community organizations to increase capacity for climate and environmental justice initiatives.

It has helped make the work of environmental justice central to the mission of this state.

But now, all of that is at risk of disappearing.

In February, state legislators unveiled a budget proposal which would gut environmental justice and HEAL Act funding across multiple agencies—including the departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Commerce, and Ecology. The cuts include a 42 percent reduction to the Environmental Justice Council and a half-million dollar reduction at the Department of Health— eliminating critical investments to the Environmental Health Disparities Map and grants to local organizations working to provide services and information to their communities.

These cuts would make it impossible for those of us dedicated to the cause of environmental justice to do our work, and lead to worse health outcomes and wider health disparities in communities already disproportionately impacted by flooding, extreme heat, wildfires, pollution, food deserts, and other health and environmental challenges.

We understand that our state is facing a complicated budget situation, and difficult choices must be made. But Washington should not balance its budget on the backs of our most vulnerable communities.

In 2021, 28 state senators and 56 state representatives voted for the HEAL Act. Just weeks ago, 15 of those same senators and 16 of those same representatives voted for a budget that all but eliminates it.

We cannot only care about the needs of impacted communities when it fits in the budget. We cannot send the message that aiding vulnerable people is a luxury we can’t always afford. And we cannot abandon the essential work of environmental justice when climate change is raising temperatures, drying our landscapes, and causing ever more natural disasters that always impact the already impacted, hurt the already hurting, and disadvantage the already disadvantaged.

The state that passed the Climate Commitment Act must also be a leader in advancing climate justice. The state that passed the HEAL Act should commit to funding it.

Five years ago, an unprecedented heat wave exposed the cracks in our system. We have an obligation to continue the urgent work to fix what’s broken and uplift the people most at risk of slipping through those cracks.

That’s why we will continue to press the urgency of this moment with state legislators. We will continue to engage with Tribes, local organizations, and impacted communities across the state. And we will continue to carry the cause of environmental justice forward—regardless of the politics or popularity, the bullies or the budget constraints.

Because this work—and our communities—are too important.

Dave Upthegrove is the Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands. Alejandra Tres is the co-founder and co-Executive Director of Comunidad.

The city attorney’s office sees between 10,000 and 11,000 cases annually. “Knowing we have to not only focus on the stuff coming at us right now, but also tackle this ginormous, 5,100 case backlog is pretty devastating,” Evans says. Blame Damien, the office's old computer software. by Nathalie Graham

During Erika Evans’ first week on the job as the Seattle City Attorney, she told The Stranger that her predecessor, Ann Davison, left behind a backlog of around 1,300 cases. But upon closer examination, that number was wrong, Evans told The Stranger. The backlog is actually 5,100 cases. 

That’s surprising, mostly because Davison, who took office in 2022, inherited her own 5,000 case backlog after the slow, stuttering pandemic-era. When she wasn’t prosecuting drug crimes, Davison spent her time clearing those cases. Mostly by dumping them. According to PubliCola, declining to file charges on 3,790 cases. It was a polarizing decision that cost people their day in court and a chance at justice. But it should’ve cleared the backlog. Apparently not? 

Evans primarily blamed Damien, the office’s 27-year-old computer software from 1999. “It reminded me of the Oregon Trail video game,” Evans says. Green text, black screen, and no graphics. Got it. Last year, the office switched systems to JusticeNexus, a shiny new software.

 “It was not a smooth transition,” Evans says. “A lot of attorneys felt it was really rushed.”

Criminal Division Chief Jenna Robert called the data transfer “a feat.” And the systems still aren’t fully migrated. Their computer system has to communicate with the Seattle Police Department’s system and the court system, which both use different languages. “It has not been seamless,” Robert says. “Our infractions unit is not integrated yet.” They’re logging infractions on a spreadsheet.  

To a lesser extent, Davison’s office was also at fault. Shortly after Evans took office, her team discovered Davison’s office did not file Criminal Division quarterly reports in the third and fourth quarters of last year, which contain data from case filings and police referrals to the case backlog. Though there’s no penalty for it, the failure was a violation of city code, Evans says. Plus, Davison’s office apparently didn’t label about 1,000 of those with a category of crime, putting them in case limbo. Discovering all this actually led them to the primary culprit, Dusty Damien, and to understanding the scope of this mess: 5,100 languishing cases, 3,800 more than Evans thought. 

Of those, 1,700 are domestic violence (DV) cases. Others concern elder abuse, child abuse, stalking, assault with sexual motivation, and the most serious cases under the city attorney’s jurisdiction: DUIs and those cases of domestic violence. Both have a two year statute of limitations. Most are from 2024 and 2025, so time is ticking to address them. 

Time has run out on the oldest case, where someone who was required to blow into an interlock breathalyzer device before they drove, didn’t. A few animal control cases from 2023 cannot be tried either. “That is not doing justice on public safety,” Evans says. 

“The ones that we're having the most difficulty with are the DUI cases,” Criminal Division Chief Robert says. 

Current state law dictates that toxicology testing for DUIs must be done at the Washington State Patrol toxicology lab. But it has a 15,000 case backlog of its own. According to Alan Pyke, communications director for the city attorney’s office, Davison’s office didn’t consider DUI cases waiting for toxicology lab results as part of the backlog. Evans’ office does. Last month, she testified in Olympia in support of a bill that would allow private labs to take on some of those tests. It passed the Senate and the House and just needs Gov. Bob Ferguson’s signature 

The city attorney’s office sees between 10,000 and 11,000 cases annually. “Knowing we have to not only focus on the stuff coming at us right now, but also tackle this ginormous, 5,100 case backlog is pretty devastating,” Evans says.

Her plan is to prioritize the most serious crimes in the backlog first, but not ahead of new cases. 

“From a public safety standpoint,” Robert adds, “the cases that are of most concern are the cases that are happening right now.” 

Robert says they’re pushing low level "nuisance crimes” like theft, criminal trespass, and drug possession to diversion programs rather than jury trials, which should grease the chute clogged by Davison’s prosecute-first-ask-questions-later method.

More significantly, Evans will be reorganizing the Criminal Division. She’s switching it to a “vertical prosecution method,” similar to how the Department of Justice is organized (that’s where Evans worked before it became Trump’s Department of Injustice). Currently, the Criminal Division is organized horizontally, meaning multiple teams end up handling one case.

The vertical method gives one prosecutor ownership of a case throughout its duration. Evans believes it will be more efficient and improve accountability. Under Davison, the city attorney’s office had a 60 percent dismissal rate—meaning more than half of filed cases were terminated by a judge or voluntarily dropped before reaching a verdict—something Evans considers “unacceptable.” “It's not fair to the suspects when you're charging just to beef up numbers and then it's ultimately a crap case that you were going to dump at some point,” Evans says. 

The vertical method should help. She’ll roll it out across the division slowly, but will start with the domestic violence unit. 

Back in 2022, Davison presented a similar plan for a similar 5,000 case problem—at least on the surface. She told KOMO News she would prioritize the backlog based on severity and was first and foremost on improving public safety. She also said she was going to “improve the processes” of the Criminal Division, except she only did that by implementing a “Close-in-Time filing” policy to speed up case filings. And, ultimately, she threw a bunch of cases away. Evans says she won’t be doing that. 

“We're going to do our best to go through them,” Evans says. “We're not going to dump them.”

One really great thing to do every day of the week. by Audrey Vann MONDAY 3/9  

Richard Hell 

(BOOKS) In his 2005 novel Godlike, punk pioneer Richard Hell reimagines the tumultuous relationship between 19th-century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine in 1970s New York. Hell’s adaptation follows esteemed poet Paul Vaughn, a married 27-year-old New Yorker, and a newly transplanted teenage poet, R.T. Wode, as they embark on a messy affair full of acid trips, crashed parties, and unrequited love. The book is getting a snazzy rerelease from NYRB (the Criterion Collection of the book world), and Hell will be there in the flesh to discuss the book and maybe even sign a few (if we’re lucky). (Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm, free) AUDREY VANN

Indigo De Souza, Mothé

(MUSIC) Indigo De Souza’s music has always dealt with different kinds of death; her layered vocals revel in the ownership of personal missteps that echo as communal failings and social death. Last summer’s Precipice is no different in tone, from the consistently awesome skeletons-with-boobs album artwork to the edge-of-existence conceit. A main marker of evolution has been the embrace of electronic pop production over the crunchy Lucy Dacus–esque guitar ballads of albums past, which she has confirmed to be a purposeful choice, even excitedly. To this, I cannot give a more heartfelt endorsement, to the contrary of Pitchfork’s Robins-Somerville review. Even the album’s most Taylor Swift–ian of tracks are dark as fuck, and I can’t imagine a better, more worthy philosophical mind fuck to jam the pop algorithms. (Showbox, 8 pm, all ages) TODD HAMM

Cochemea, Jungle Fire

(MUSIC) The Daptone label's most out-there act, saxophonist/flautist/bass clarinetist Cochemea creates humid, psychedelic roots music that vibrates in its own lane. Before the Yaqui/Yoeme artist went solo, he played sax for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and worked with Quincy Jones, Amy Winehouse, Archie Shepp, and others. However, Cochemea's own recordings skew more toward Budos Band and Antibalas, of whose touring bands he was a member. On his 2010 debut LP, The Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow, Cochemea fused spiritual jazz, funk, and boogaloo into gripping sonic panoramas. His next three albums broadened the palette to include cumbia, Moroccan gnawa, blues, and his ancestral Indigenous music. Tangy percussive timbres—Asian Indian and Latin American drums figure heavily—combined with Cochemea's electrified sax and chants from his tribe result in songs that sound at once ancient and otherworldly. This show promises, if only briefly, a primal trip out of our national political nightmare. (Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+) DAVE SEGAL

Mt Fog, Iroiro, DJ Martin Douglas

(MUSIC) If a Washington rainforest started a band, it would sound something like Mt Fog—Carolyn B.’s playful whispers are like a sprite luring you into a mossy forest. The percussion, like raindrops plopping into a mushroom. And the electronics, like a ray of light shimmering through the trees. The Seattle-based trio whimsically marries the vocal stylings of Kate Bush, Björk, and Siouxsie Sioux with sparse electronics, evocative of CAN and Mort Garson. They will celebrate the release of their new album, Every Stone Is Green, which they describe as a “Gothic tale (in the Brontë sisters' sense) about finding happiness, which is human-ness.” They will be joined by the psychedelic instrumental band Iroiro and music journalist/DJ Martin Douglas. Read more about the making of the new album in our interview with Mt Fog. (Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN

Scott Broker with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

(BOOKS) Scott Broker’s first novel, The Disappointment, starts where so many stories do: a man trying to sneak his mother’s ashes into his suitcase without his husband noticing. The book is described as a surrealist vacation through this couple’s desperate, disconnected trip to the Oregon Coast. And no one could be better to interview him than Seattle’s own Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (who recently released Terry Dactyl, if you somehow haven’t gotten your hands on it yet). The conversation promises to be brilliant, funny, and very, very queer. (Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm, free) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

Eric-Paul Riege: ‘ojo|-|ólǫ́’

(VISUAL ART) The soft sculptures of Eric-Paul Riege aren’t quiet objects—their presence inscribed in space is monolithic and monumental, and when brought to life through movement, they become instruments of sound. Riege, who is Diné, has built a practice of collaging and reworking elements drawn from Navajo weaving and jewelry-making traditions, ultimately constructing large-scale, hanging installations that sway, ripple, and jingle when touched. For this exhibit—his largest solo show to date—Riege researched collections of Navajo artifacts held by Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and the University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. What emerged is an immersive environment that envelops the viewer while quietly unsettling institutional narratives of Indigenous culture. (Henry Art Gallery) AMANDA MANITACH

Safe

(FILM) Todd Haynes’s Safe is a horror movie cloaked in pastel colors, plastic tarps, and unsettling silence. Julianne Moore, the master of tension and nuance, plays Los Angeles housewife Carol White, who comes down with a debilitating illness that doctors cannot diagnose. After becoming self-convinced that the illness is caused by extreme environmental allergies, White flees to a retreat in New Mexico led by a New Age guru. Perhaps the most fascinating element of this film is the numerous ways it can be interpreted: a critique of suffocating suburban life, an allegory for the queer experience, a metaphor for the AIDS crisis, or a commentary on self-help culture—the more time that passes since its release, the richer the text gets. Don’t miss the chance to see it on the big screen this month for its 30th anniversary. (NW Film Forum, 4 pm) AUDREY VANN

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Hannah Murphy Winter

Good morning! It’s the first Monday of daylight savings, which means we all had a weird night’s sleep. And the weather’s no help. After a soggy weekend, the weather report promises a whole lot of the same. We’re getting rain all week, with a chance of wintery mix in the mornings. 

Let’s do the news. 

We’re Still at War: After US–Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country has named one of his sons, Mojtaba Khamenei, the nation’s new leader. According to the New York Times, he’s relatively unknown, but has been a shadowy, influential figure in Iran’s government, coordinating military and intelligence operations at his father’s office. He was considered the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ favorite candidate for the role, but no one asked Trump how he felt about it. Before the news was announced, Trump told ABC News that a new leader “is not going to last long” without his approval. He is two-for-two when it comes to violently unseating world leaders. 

Death Toll: The United Nations has estimated that more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the war began. More than 300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon. In Israel, at least 12 people have been killed, and seven US military personnel have died.

Pressure at the Pump: Unsurprisingly, starting a war in the region that provides a third of the world’s oil caused gas prices to go through the roof. This weekend, for the first time in four years, the cost of a barrel of oil broke $100. Here in Washington, prices are up more than a quarter a gallon. According to Trump, though, we just have to trust his process. “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump said on Truth Social. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY.” Call me a fool.

Speaking of Fools: Trump is still trying to steal an election. He knows the GOP could lose big in November, so he’s continuing his push to “nationalize” elections to fight his non-existent widespread voter fraud. According to the New York Times, he’s likely to target Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and Arizona—all swing states where Republicans are already actively pushing Trump’s conspiracy theory. 

Wonder Twins, Activate! What happens when you combine DOGE and AI? The National Endowment for the Humanities found out. According to court documents acquired by the New York Times, DOGE employees assessed their grants by asking ChatGPT: “Does the following relate at all to D.E.I.? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” The “yeses” included: building improvements at an Indigenous languages archive in Alaska, the digitization of Black newspapers, and a 40-volume series on the history of American music.  

Some Good News: Violent crime is down in King County. In 2025, homicides didn’t break into the triple digits for the first time since the pandemic. It’s the second year in a row that we’ve seen fewer homicides than the year before, and fewer overall shootings. Go team!

More Good News: We’ve also seen a dip in ICE arrests in the last month, nationwide. According to government sources who spoke to the New York Times, immigration agents have moved away from their violent, indiscriminate street sweeps, and focused on more targeted enforcement operations. They still arrested more than 1,000 people in February, and it’s still dramatically more than when Trump first took office, but it’s an undeniable shift. 

Women Marched: Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and the return of the Women’s March. By the Seattle Times’ estimate, about 300 people showed up at Cal Anderson Park to hear scheduled speakers (including Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and City Attorney Erika Evans) talk about ICE, the war in Iran, and Trump’s other misdeeds, see the now-traditional Handmaid outfits, and watch one person bop around in an inflatable Chicken costume. (Wanna make sure you know about other protests and demonstrations before they happen? Keep an eye on our Where to Scream column.)

Pity the Millionaires: State Dems have finally come up with a version of the Millionaires Tax that made Governor Ferguson happy, and as we head into the last week of the legislative session, it looks like he’ll actually sign the bill when it hits his desk. But what happens next? It’s all but guaranteed to be challenged in the courts, thanks to a 1930s ruling in our state Supreme Court, which decided that, according to our state constitution, income is property. (Property has to be taxed at a “uniform” rate, meaning that we could only have a “flat” income tax.) A lot of supporters think that precedent deserves another looksee. 

Fleet Flop: Washington is watery. And our state is finally recognizing that we should consider using those waterways to, ya know, move people. The state legislature is considering the Mosquito Fleet Act, a bill that would allow waterfront cities to create their own ferry systems, but after passing the State House with a resounding 84-11 vote, the new version in the Senate poked a bunch of seemingly unnecessary holes in the hull. According to the Urbanist, the new version requires that new passenger-ferry districts only use zero-emission boats made in Washington State, bans all state funding for passenger ferry districts starting in just two years, and requires that passenger ferry districts not overlap, which means cities wouldn’t be able to coordinate with each other on these ferry routes. Just give us the boats!

Looking for something to do tonight? Stranger contributor Meg van Huygen knows a spot. The No Call No Show popup is back tonight, with themed craft cocktails and snacks “concocted by a group of fine-dining creative weirdos.” Your hosts will be Kamonegi’s Chef Mutsuko Soma, Matt Pachmayr from Le Coin, and the mononymous Quan from the Sake Noire pop-up.

Sabio-Howell’s pitch is this: Sen. Pedersen is quick to concede to big business before the politicking has even begun, and a corporate-friendly incrementalist like him had no business representing a district of progressive renters like the 43rd. by Vivian McCall

A rain-soaked Hannah Sabio-Howell and I were at Gemini Room in Capitol Hill, ordering coffee and talking about breakfast sandwiches in Seattle. The few, the expensive, and the far away. The small, cheesy signifier that the neighborhood could be a better place if only our zoning laws allowed for more storefronts.

Recently communications director for Working Washington, a workers rights nonprofit that backed the $15 minimum wage and fought to keep gig worker minimum pay in Seattle, 29-year-old Sabio-Howell believes if we tried, we could have breakfast sandwiches on every block, and more substantive things like a statewide version of Social Housing, denser housing, and expanded paid parental leave as a first step toward universal childcare. But who is keeping us from this utopian future? None other than Majority Leader Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle), sponsor of this year’s millionaires’ tax. For that, she wants his seat. 

Sabio-Howell’s pitch is this: Sen. Pedersen is quick to concede to big business before the politicking has even begun, and a corporate-friendly incrementalist like him had no business representing a district of progressive renters like the 43rd. He’s progressive for a leader in the party, sure. But she argues that she’s a far better representative for the people who live in the 43rd District and a reliable vote for the major economic and taxation issues that are facing the state. She’s betting that makes him vulnerable enough to lose, even as a leader of the party. (She has insight there—in addition to her time in the state Senate, Sabio-Howell was chair of the Urbanist’s elections committee).

“He’s going to try to brand himself as effective because he is a deal maker,” Sabio-Howell says. “I think that approach to leadership is actually more of a deal broker, not someone who is actually driving the outcome. I think it’s giving things away before we need to give them away. Our district is too visionary and vibrant.”

Sabio-Howell was born in St. Louis, Missouri and spent most of her childhood in Wheaton, a an conservative, affluent suburb on the rim of Chicago, famous for a protestant college that lifted a Civil War-era ban on dancing in 2003. 

Wheaton’s conservative vibes did not rub off on the daughter of two school teachers (and one Filipino immigrant, her mother), lifelong Democrats who preached that government existed to improve our lives.

She organized for immigration reform at Whitworth University, a Presbyterian university in Spokane. An internship at the State Legislature led to her first job out of college as the legislative aide with  a surprising political mentor, the centrist Rep. Larry Springer, who represents some of the wealthiest towns of East King County, and later a communications job for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Every year, Rep. Springer and his wife, former Kirkland Mayor Penny Sweet, host a Christmas dinner with his current and former legislative aides. This year, other aides “grilled” Sabio-Howell on her run. “I came away, I told Penny, she’s done her homework.” Politically, Sabio-Howell is far left of Springer. But he taught her the same lesson he teaches all of his legislative assistants, he said. The stuff that lasts the test of time is “not solely crafted by one end of the spectrum.”

“I think what she learned from me is, speak to both sides and craft something that works, not something that feels good,” he said. “The other part is, of course, your enemy today is your ally tomorrow.”

Over coffee, it was clear she’d taken that lesson to heart. I’d heard Sabio-Howell’s platform from first-time progressive candidates before. Affordable housing and childcare, investments in working families, and taxes on the rich to pay for it all. The floundering usually begins when you ask “how.” She didn’t give me specific solutions either, but instead of trying to make them up on the spot, she pitched an alternative viewpoint: Good policy only comes through consensus, and we can't start our politicking with business-friendly concessions. We want to give both the working class and the puffer jacketed types with enough money to tax something to actually believe in.

“Standing 10 toes down on your values to be clear about what you are…and what would get you to a “yes” or get you to a “no,” these are essential to an approach that equals effective policy making,” she says. It helps that she’s convincing and “damn nice,” says Rep. Springer. (If you disagree on something, you’ll agree and “love her” by the time she’s done analyzing it for you, he says.) State senator turned Congresswoman Emily Randall (WA-6), who doesn’t endorse in King County races, says Pedersen has done a great job as majority leader, but also called Sabio-Howell her “forever communications and strategy partner,” who helped her hone her voice on difficult issues in a swing district. 

A better way is possible, she says. Her platform points to plentiful housing in Austin, Texas, and Jersey City, New Jersey, and New Mexico’s new universal childcare program. None of her examples are perfect comparisons to Washington, of course. Austin sprawls in a state with a lower cost of living and fewer land-use regulations; Jersey City recently saw a surge in construction, and rent is falling after years of hikes, but the city still doesn’t have the housing it needs; New Mexico, a state with an income tax, is struggling to fund universal childcare without taking from the state’s general fund. (She also wasn’t sure what state or local policies in Jersey City and Austin made housing more attainable). The point is that it’s possible, she says. We’re not breaking new ground with these ideas.

“Is it possible in our vibrant, visionary, record-breakingly progressive district to present a new type of Democratic leadership, and to say we are aware that politics as usual, status quo-governing pro-corporation Democrats are not delivering on the things that we have reaffirmed over and over again,” she says. “I want to basically say to people in our community, choose your fighter.” (Some already have—according to her political consultant, Stephen Paolini, Sabio-Howell has raised about $30,000 from about 100 friends, family, activists, and colleagues.)

Reached by phone on a rainy drive home from Olympia Friday night, Sen. Pedersen says he found the critique that he’s not progressive enough “somewhat surprising.”

In 2006, the summer he ran for House, Pedersen was “single-minded” on equality. A gay lawyer on the board of Lambda Legal, Pedersen had taken depositions for Andersen v. Sims (later Andersen v. King County), the organization’s challenge to the state ban on gay marriage. Lambda won the case in King County Superior Court, but lost in 5-4 State Supreme Court ruling.

Determined, Pedersen worked with Ed Murray, the once State Senator and since-disgraced Mayor of Seattle, on securing the 425 rights and obligations that depended on marital status in Washington. They co-sponsored three domestic partnership bills. The first gave domestic partners basic rights like hospital visitation and inheritance. The second added them to laws about probate and trust, community property and guardianship. The third swept the rest into an “everything but marriage” law that survived Referendum 71, the conservative attempt to repeal it. After Gov. Christine Gregoire requested a marriage bill in the twilight of her second term, Pedersen whipped support in the House. 

But it’s been 14 years since Gregoire signed marriage equality into law. The world, and the definition of progressive, has, well, progressed. Pedersen’s big social wins like gay rights, limited gun control, gun violence prevention, the decertification of bad cops and other police accountability measures, weren’t all safe when he backed them, but don’t seem so radical now.

Heading into his sixth election, Pedersen has the support of big corporations, the same corporations that the state needs to tax to have a functioning budget. A third of Pedersen’s $187,000 warchest comes from business, including BNSF, timber company Weyerhaeuser, Amazon, Kroger, (my enemies at) Regence Blue Shield, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, (piss bottlers) Anheuser Busch, AirBnB, Pfizer, burger merchants at McDonalds, and more. 

Do they own him? “No,” said House Speaker Rep. Laurie Jinkins, followed by a somewhat tense silence, because of course money in politics matters.

As for Pedersen being Mr. Incremental, “Olympia is generally an incremental place with transformative moments,” she says. “It is fairly pointless to pass transformative legislation only to have voters repeal it.” Twenty-six US states allow for initiatives and referendums, most West of Missouri. It’s a blessing and a curse, particularly with anti-tax wraiths like Brian Heywood and Tim Eyman around.

For years, Washington couldn’t pass a tax or even fix a tax loophole without a two-thirds supermajority in both houses because of one of Eyman’s initiatives. (To sum up Jinkins’ history of that time, it sucked—we were at the tailend of the recession, broke, and cutting programs left and right) But in 2013, the State Supreme Court smacked it down as unconstitutional. Why? Sen. Pedersen and Rep. Jinkins crafted a legal weapon, a bill to fix a tax loophole, specifically designed to go to court, she says.

“I could not have done that without Jamie’s help,” Jinkins says. “He’s the one who understood the process … Had we not done that, we would not have gotten Cap Gains,” a nine-year slog of its own. Or the millionaire’s tax, which is almost certain to go before the voters and to court.

“I’m not going to argue it’s bigger than marriage equality,” says Jinkins, who is gay and could if she wanted. “But it’s been our tax structure for 100 years. This bill is so important.”

And so not enough, Sabio-Howell says. As she wrote in a Stranger op-ed with Fatema Boxwala and Oliver Miska last month, big business is being given a big break. From the jump, Pedersen presented the bill with these carveouts, pissing off half the party in the process.

Again, she thinks we can do more. Pedersen says he spends time on things he thinks will be efficient. Therein lies the tension. Does the 43rd want to hold onto an incumbent who is a proven leader in the party, but whose politics have not kept pace with this constituency? Or are they willing to switch up party leadership for someone who’s more aligned with what progressives want now? 

Did you see someone? Say something! by Anonymous

Illustrations by Helen Nesburg

three friends on the one line

you and your friends hopped on the packed 1 line yesterday as i was heading home, but your black/blond hair combo got me, hmu?

huggers outside la dive 1/5

Seattle, we don’t hug enough. Or at least not like the two I saw last Thursday night. That was an EMBRACE. TY for keeping romance and whimsy alive.

Drugged up and down bad

Me: I’m the ER for a broken back. You: hot doctor who had to give me a rectal exam. Let’s break HIPPA?

u know how to whistle don't you steve

to have and have not @ SIFF. same stop on D line. i regret not saying hi! u have good taste in clothes & movies. thin man @ central cinema next month?

My heart stopped in the soup aisle

Cap Hill TJ’s 2/11 6pm. You: Dark ponytail, glasses, 2 black panniers, rolled up pant leg Me: Blue coat, short brown beard, wishing I paused when we locked eyes by your bike

Compliments @ st. Bread 2/6

you, blonde cutie w/ a blue bag and “mt. st. helens pin” me: wearing an orange knitted hat. You complimented my hat and name. Baked goods on me?

Is it a match? Leave a comment here or on our Instagram post to connect!

Did you see someone? Say something! Submit your own I Saw U message here and maybe we'll include it in the next roundup!

If a Washington rainforest started a band, it would sound something like Mt Fog. Carolyn B.’s playful whispers are like a sprite luring you into a mossy forest; the rhythm section—Andy Sells and Casey Rosebridge—like raindrops plopping into a mushroom; the electronics shimmer like a ray of light through the trees. The Seattle-based trio whimsically marries the vocal stylings of Kate Bush, Björk, and Siouxsie Sioux with sparse electronics, evocative of CAN and Mort Garson, and a free jazz song structure. Ahead of releasing their new album, Every Stone Is Green (out Mar 13), and accompanying release show at the Tractor Tavern, I spoke to the band about the medieval mystics, cosmic jazz albums, and psychedelic dreams that inspired them.

One thing that is really unique about Mt Fog is that you don’t use six-string guitars. Was this a conscious choice or something that happened by accident?
CAROLYN: Well, I started Mt Fog as my solo project, and I don't play guitar—I’ve never been that into guitars. So, in the beginning, all the music I was writing was oriented towards voice and a drum machine. It has just evolved from that. Also, I think a trio is the most powerful, stable form. If we had a guitarist, they wouldn't be included in our throuple scenarios. [Laughs]

ANDY: Carolyn covers a lot of ground with the various synth patches and her voice. We play around with all kinds of textures as well, with the drum and bass. It's full enough without having a guitar. Although I like the guitar sometimes. It's either guitar, or I’m like, hey, we should put some congas on this thing!

CAROLYN: No guitar. No shaker. No slap bass. 

ANDY: There are a lot of rules in Mt Fog [laughs]. It’s not a democracy, and that's cool. 

Every Stone Is Green has an improvisational feel to it, especially on songs like “Trees in Conversation.” Were spontaneous decisions made while recording?
ANDY: There's not a whole lot to say about the drums on “Trees in Conversation,” but it was improvised. We kind of built that into the song that's right after it, so it starts with the drum solo, then goes into “Eyes in Buildings.” I have a jazz background, so that song has that improvisational character to it. I was surprised when Carolyn said, “Yeah, the drum solo should be this long!” 

CAROLYN: Side B is more spontaneous because we recorded it live together in the studio. My instincts on this album were to capture a fleeting, whimsical, curious feeling, so I'm really happy to hear that comes across. The song started as these rough ideas, as songs do, and then we worked on them together, and things would come up just naturally, spontaneously. For example, “Imperfect Machine” was something Casey came up with while I was taking a break during rehearsal. I came in, and he was playing this really cool thing. I made a voice memo of it, and then he and Andy expounded upon that idea at the studio. Then, I had a realization that the song sounded like a caravan full of giggling goblins with a little ratty flag coming through the desert, that’s like, getting closer and closer, then goes off into the distance. 

What media were you consuming while writing or recording the album?
CAROLYN: ECM’s ’70s jazz records were a big influence, particularly Gateway [the trio of John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette]. It’s hard to describe, but they create these portals in time that you could spend a million years in—it's really beautiful cosmic jazz. One of the records we have by them had a skip in it during Dave Holland’s bass playing that was really cool. I recorded it, and then while learning bass, I tried to replicate that baseline skip. That became the basis for “Grimelda’s Cave.” It was an immediate reflection of the things we were listening to. We were also listening to a lot of prog—Yes’s Fragile, and a lot of other weird 1970s jazz. I was just thinking a lot about the different textures you can make and how music can be fractal; there are micro moments that can be really special, but how do we turn them into a whole song? 

I was also inspired by mystics of the medieval times, especially Hildegard of Bingen. I've always loved her—I organized a mini music festival last year inspired by her, which got me to delve deeper into her concept of “viriditas,” about the green energy that's within us all. One of the songs, “Life as a Window,” is from Hildegard’s perspective. 

ANDY: We all have musical backgrounds, but it's all filtered through Carolyn’s vision. Carolyn has concepts for a lot of the songs, like “Hey, this sounds like goblins!”

CASEY: Yeah, it’s usually goblins. 

You also mentioned the Brontës in your album description. Do you have a favorite Brontë sister or a favorite Brontë novel?
CAROLYN: Definitely Jane Eyre. While thinking about how to describe the album, I was like, “It's Gothic with a capital G, like Gothic literature.” Andy was like, “No one will know what that means; they’ll think it means dark wave.” So I described it as “a Gothic tale, in the Brontë sisters’ sense.” 

I think, too, that there are feminine aspects to the music, reminiscent of a journey that might get scary at times. You might encounter big landscapes and ghosts. You may not be able to entirely understand what's going on, and there is a lot of heightened emotion. The Brontë sisters created huge worlds, even though their worlds were actually really small. They were governesses; they didn't traverse that much area, yet they were able to build these magnificent emotional universes. 

My friend actually asked me recently which Brontë sister each member of Mt Fog is. I was like, “We're not the sisters, we’re actually long-lost characters from the Brontë sisters' imagined world of Gondal. [Laughs]

Do you think seclusion is necessary for making art?
CAROLYN: Actually, Björk was recently talking about how streaming is the worst thing for artists because of the pressure of constantly being visible and making things. Björk is on our wall. [Points at poster] We love Björk in this household. “In this house we believe…” [Laughs] 

It’s a great thing to think about, because being able to retreat, hide, and explore things without being looked at is really, really important. It’s also really important for artists to be original. When you're out in the world, you're like a sponge absorbing information, and you need time to go home and dream about it. I think isolation is the sleeping/dreaming aspect of being an artist—you have to go to sleep so you can learn things. I think being alone is important as an artist, so you can synthesize the world that you're experiencing. Throw your computer into the sea, metaphorically (don’t cause environmental pollution!). 

Is the band’s relationship to the internet something you guys think about often?
CAROLYN: Definitely. We're all involved with Seattle Artists Against Spotify. As artists, we have a responsibility to be leaders and help create the world that we want to see. Our music is not on Spotify, but people are still listening to it. I don’t think these corporate-owned platforms have our best interests in mind. It’s a losing game for artists to try to succeed on these platforms. I'd rather have 100 people listen to our record and cry than a million people streaming on Spotify while they're doing five other things and paying their taxes.

What are your personal favorite tracks on the album?
CASEY: “Look Inside” really resonates with me lyrically and musically. I like the melody, the bass line, and the shape of the song—it’s fun to play. Every element is individually catchy, the energy is infectious, and the message is really positive.

CAROLYN: My favorite track is “A Single Green Strand Emerges,” because the idea came from the most vivid dream I've ever had. In this dream, I was looking for someone and came upon this vintage camera with a single green strand emerging from the aperture. I knew I had to crawl into the camera to find the person I was looking for. When I crawled inside, the middle of the camera was a dirt tunnel. I could feel that I was climbing through this tight space, and then, I emerged into a green, soft world that was very childlike. I found the person I was looking for, but I also knew I had to leave soon. It was one of the most psychedelic experiences I've ever had. So, the song is about that dream, and also about the feeling of working really hard to get someone to love you, which is a sad feeling that I've experienced before.

ANDY: “Green Strand Emerges” is also my favorite. I just love the feel and the power of it. I think it's a nice representation of what the band has morphed into. Plus, we recorded it live in the studio together, which is a testament to what the band can do. We were able to pull it off, and we surprised ourselves when we finished recording it. We were like, “Holy shit, this is it!”

Can you guys tell me a little bit more about the album artwork? Did the artist make it before listening to the album, or after? How did it come about?
CAROLYN: Yeah, we actually have the original oil painting right here. [Points at wall] It was done by our friend Nico Lund. She came to one of our shows, and we just connected like mad. Then, I reached out to her to see if she would make an original painting for our album art. It turns out she was about to reach out to me about the same thing! We were both in each other's heads. So, I shared all of the earliest recordings of the album, before we had fully recorded everything. 

We had a lot of conversations, but she is a fan of our music, so she already knew the vibe. When I first saw the concept sketch, I started crying because it was just so perfect. Then she took that original concept and made this beautiful painting. She's an amazing artist. Her work is really cool in person, too.

Let’s end with a fun question! Can you each share an artist, album, or song that you love but that other people hate? What music needs to be reevaluated?
CAROLYN: I like Björk’s 2007 album Volta, and I know some people really don't like that one. I love the song “Earth Intruders”—the very beginning sounds like gross, muddy footsteps. I actually like tried to recreate it for one of our other songs, and I wasn't able to come close. I also like that weird costume she wears on the cover.

ANDY: Maybe the third Duran Duran record, Seven and the Ragged Tiger—I think it's a really cool record. I also like the Accüsed a lot, which is a pretty far stretch from Mt Fog. Martha Splatterhead's Maddest Stories Ever Told is one of my favorite records that's ever been put out. 

CASEY: I’ll say Muse—people always told me that they were a poser band to like when I was like 18. They’d say, “Oh, you like Muse? That’s so lame!” But I thought they were so cool, and I still think they have cool musical ideas—they seem like fucking dorks, but whatever.

See Mt Fog at Tractor Tavern on Thursday, March 12, 8 pm, 21+

Ready for the time jump that is spring forward this Sunday? Before Monday's rough wake up call, spend time at weekend events from the Seattle Women's March to Seattle Fat Mall's Big Love Social + Market and from Chinatown-International District's Lunar New Year Celebration to the opening of Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads. For more ideas, check out our top picks of the week.

Echo Ravine (Album Release,) VuVu & Black Nite Crash
Local band Echo Ravine joked on Instagram that though two of its members are originally from Massachusetts, their friendship survived the Super Bowl. The group is used to bridging divides; their alt-rock song "Tumbling Wall" is about breaking down literal and metaphorical barriers between countries and people. The track is off their third album, Taking Up Space, which they put out last month and are celebrating with a release show at Seattle's own community-owned cooperative venue this Friday. Pick up a one-of-a-kind record at the show—the band hand-stamped images and track names onto the vinyl covers for a perfectly DIY feel. Fellow shoegaze bands Black Nite Crash and VuVu open the night with their layered, guitar-driven rock. SHANNON LUBETICH
(Conor Byrne Pub, Ballard, $15)

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham

Layoffs at the 5th: The 5th Avenue Theatre Company is laying off 14 employees, cutting staff from 55 people to 41. The 5th is mired in the $7.5 million budget deficit it’s accumulated since the pandemic. Subscription rates haven’t recovered since COVID-era slowdowns. So, the theater is cutting jobs in "marketing, box office, education, and artistic departments," according to the Seattle Times. If you care about live theater in Seattle, you better go see their production of Jesus Christ Superstar this May. Don’t be a Judas.

We're Doing Slurs Now? During a House debate in Olympia over a bill that would “eliminate the Community Protection Program, a service for people with developmental disabilities who have a history of sexually aggressive behavior" Sen. Leonard Christian, R-Spokane Valley said this: "The folks that we’re responsible for, we’re putting rapists in with retarded people," reports the Seattle Times. It's not 2007 anymore, Leonard. He later defended his use of the r-word, saying it emphasized that the bill would be "feeding these people to the wolves." He has not apologized.

School District Sued: Makena Simonsen, a special needs student in the Edmonds School District (ESD), graduated from Lynnwood High School with a 3.87 GPA and a first-grade reading level. Four years after getting her diploma, Simonsen's family is suing ESD claiming it was "benevolent discrimination" to hand their daughter a diploma. Because if she hadn’t gotten one, she would’ve been eligible for a free vocational program in the district that helps special needs students make the transition to adult life. Simonsen had to pay more than $40,000 for a similar program at Bellevue College.

Big News for like 20 People: The walking, rolling, and biking advocacy group Seattle Neighborhood Greenways has rebranded to Seattle Streets Alliance. Just thought some of you might care, idk.

The Weather: Drizzly, rainy. What did you expect?

The Time: And say goodbye to an hour of sleep starting Sunday. Clocks skip forward this weekend.

Security. We’re On It: Donald Trump has removed Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security and replaced her with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma). Her new role is “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” head of a new security initiative. The purpose of this very real job will be announced tomorrow at an event in Florida.

It’s Tornado Season: Warm Gulf air is mixing with cold air from Canada. Millions of Americans from Iowa to Texas could be hit by strong tornados, the AP reports. Taking precautions could be the difference between life and death, experts say.

Water Is Wet: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. The Pope is from Chicago. And the Florida International University college republicans are racist. Leaked WhatsApp group chats showed—surprise, surprise—the young conservatives are sending slurs, sexist and homophobic comments, and Nazi references back and forth. I can't wait until they graduate into high-level roles at Palantir.

I Don't Know Who I Am Anymore: For some reason, I care about Shohei Ohtani hitting a grand slam in his first game with team Japan at the World Baseball Classic.

SHOHEI OHTANI GRAND SLAM

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— MLB Daily News (@insidemlbnews.bsky.social) March 6, 2026 at 2:35 AM

Meanwhile, the Mariners Blew Chunks in Their Latest Spring Training Game: As Lookout Landing put it, Seattle's favorite only baseball team "gave up three touchdowns and two field goals" to the Padres yesterday. Yep, they lost 27-6.

An Update from Job Land: It's no good out there in Job Land. Employers axed 92,000 jobs in February and unemployment climbed to 4.4 percent. The unemployment rate isn’t bad, but the fact that it's rising is worrisome. The report paints a bleak picture of stagnant job growth. Hang onto your job if you have one.

Congrats to everyone who voted for Trump and a Republican Congress "for the economy." This is what you get, a sputtering job creation engine that can't make progress like before and keeps rolling backwards.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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— Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) March 6, 2026 at 7:20 AM

We are the Baddies: According to Reuters, US military investigators are pretty sure the US is responsible for the apparent strike on an Iranian girls school that killed 150 children. The investigation hasn't been concluded yet.

War Continues: On Friday, Israel warplanes barraged Tehran and Beirut. Iran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel. President Trump made it clear he wants "complete surrender" from Iran. He made this statement in a Truth Social post.

Pass Gas: China is pressing Tehran to allow crude oil and Qatari gas safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports. The war has all but shut the Straight, which makes China unhappy, because China gets 45 percent of its oil from the Straight. Meanwhile, crude oil prices are up 15 percent and US gas prices rose 11 percent in one week, hitting their highest point in the last year-and-a-half. Will this radicalize the normies?

Don't Forget about the Real Threat to Humanity: While everyone is worried about the rise of fascism, global warfare, and AI, climate change is still chugging away and spelling our doom. Researchers found that we are heating the earth faster than ever before. The heating rate has almost doubled. From 1970 and 2015, global heating increased by a rate less than 0.2 celsius per decade. In this most recent decade, that number jumped to 0.35 celcius. Scientists say that's the highest jump in warming since anyone started keeping track of temperature back in 1880. We are so boned.

Huge News: The Swiss Canton of Bern has chosen to keep the bear penis on its coat of arms after the government rejected a proposal to erase his junk. This bear will continue to hang dong as he has proudly for 600 years.

A Song for your Friday: I didn't know what to pick, so I scrolled randomly in my library and stopped on this. Enjoy.

News editor Vivian McCall poured a bit of blood and sweat into this slog.