Stehekin under siege: The Pioneer Fire, the biggest fire burning in Washington right now, is coming dangerously close to Stehekin, the small town northwest of Chelan only accessible by boat or float plane. The fire, which has burned 36,000 acres and was only 13% contained as of Saturday, is getting dangerously close to buildings, "We're talking as close as maybe 20 feet, to 100 feet or so," firefighters told KING5. Yet, only a few people of the town's over 100 residents have heeded the "go now" evacuation order. 

Two big hits for Seattle: Beloved music critic and author Charles R. Cross is dead at 67. You can read Megan's story about his invaluable contributions to the Seattle music scene here. Additionally, James Beard-winning chef and restaurateur Tamara Murphy, 63, died of a stroke. We'll have a full tribute to Murphy's life later this week. That's a lot of death! And, more still to come. 

Elephant-less in Washington: The state's last elephant in captivity, 59-year-old Suki at Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, died over the weekend. She was euthanized after weeks of declining health. So long, Suki. 

Bad beetle found in Kennewick: A highly-destructive invasive species known as the Japanese beetle is spreading throughout Washington. A singular sighting of a beetle occurred in Pasco in 2022. A sighting this July in Pasco, however, turned into a full-blown infestation. The beetle has now cropped up in Kennewick. If the beetles keep spreading, it could be bad news for farmers. 

Knock on wood: We have another pleasant and mild week coming up here in what's supposed to be the dog days of summer. Highs will stay in the 70s. Lows will dip back into the 50s. Breezy! 

WA Olympian stripped of her bronze medal: The International Olympic Committee stripped gymnast Jordan Chiles, 23, of her bronze medal in the floor routine over a dispute in scoring. In the immediate aftermath of Chiles's routine last week, U.S. coach Cecile Landi appealed a scoring decision, thus bumping Chiles's score up 0.1 points—enough to secure her the third-place spot. However, now there's drama. The Court of Arbitration for Sport now says that Landi's appeal occurred outside of the 1-minute time limit for scoring inquiries, thus negating the extra 0.1 to Chiles's score. In response, USA Gymnastics said Landi actually submitted her appeal 47 seconds after the score was posted and that there's video evidence to support it. It's legal battle time. 

Speaking of the Olympics: The Games are over. Before we let them rest, I must make sure you're familiar with B-Girl Raygun, the Aussie who wrote her PhD thesis on breakdancing? In case you haven't, here's... whatever this performance was:

SPD's aerial spies: The Seattle Police Department (SPD) used aerial surveillance on protesters during 2020's Black Lives Matters demonstrations. Guardian One, the King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, hovered thousands of feet up in the sky and livestreamed footage to "SPD’s top commanders, the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), SPD’s Operation Center and the 'video wall' at SPD’s Real Time Crime Center," according to RealChange News. Videos of protesters' faces and recordings of their movements were also circulated to the U.S. Marshals and Washington State Department of Corrections via email from SPD. Not only that, but SPD failed to disclose it shared access to these video feeds with the private citizen volunteers of the EOC. That disclosure is required according to Seattle City Council's rules around surveillance technology. 

ICYMI: My newest column came out last week. This time I swam with the Orcas. 

Passenger plane plummets from sky: All 62 people on board a Brazilian passenger plane were killed when the plane crashed in the mostly-residential town of Vinhedo. The plane destroyed multiple houses, but did not kill anyone on the ground. Eight of the dead plane passengers were cancer doctors headed to a conference in Sao Paulo. The cause of the crash is still unknown. Aviation experts who witnessed the footage of the crash say that the plane stalled. Why it stalled is the real question. 

Cool, normal, functioning-country stuff: Over 100 pregnant women across the country reported being turned away from hospitals or treated negligently in times of emergency and distress, according to the Associated Press. In spite of state abortion bans, federal law mandates hospitals must offer abortions when they will save a woman's health. Yet, it appears some hospitals aren't doing that. And, it makes sense why not. Doctors who perform abortions in Texas could face up to 99 years in prison. Plus, Texas is trying to overturn the federal rule mandating abortions in life saving situations. Women with untreated ectopic pregnancies have lost ovaries and fallopian tubes, women have had to miscarry in restrooms, others have gone into septic shock when emergency rooms send them home. These are the realities of a country with abortion bans. 

Fire in Greece: A fire on the outskirts of Athens is moving "like lightning" firefighters say. Exacerbated by extreme drought, the fire, with flames reaching 80-feet high, is raging worse than any fire in the area since 1998. Greece has called in the army to assist with fighting back the flames. 

This is so British: The chair of a United Kingdom fox hunting group is preparing a legal case to secure ethnic minority status to hunters. 

Did you see any meteors? The annual Perseid meteor shower peaked in the early hours this morning. 

A song for your Monday: Here, have some groovy genre-bending country.