I’m back from vacation: It was nice (thanks for asking). I’ve returned to better weather. Today, it’ll be sunny with a balmy high of 81. Temperatures will drop to the high 50s tonight before heating back up tomorrow. Expect a slight chance of rain Thursday into Thursday night. Friday should be a pleasant, partly cloudy day in the low- to mid-70s.

Dead Heat: Katie Wilson and Bruce Harrell are statistically tied in the mayor’s race a week before the primary election. It’s a limited sample (651) with a 4.1 percent margin of error, but still, this race is not a cakewalk for Harrell. He’ll have to fight to break the curse of the one-term mayor. His campaign seems to be betting on making Wilson, a quite normal woman, out to be a society-restructuring radical (after all, Stalin also said Seattle pizza was too expensive). Those awkward TikToks might come in handy.

Welcome Back? Debora Juarez is back in her old City Council seat for the next 16 months, replacing Cathy Moore after her resignation earlier this month. For recent transplants and the generally forgetful, Juarez used to be council president. Mexican American and a member of the Blackfeet Nation, Juarez was the first Indigenous person in that role. In a press release, Chief Seattle Club, Seattle Indian Health Board, Seattle Indian Services Commission, and United Indians of All Tribes Foundation celebrated her appointment. “Debora Juarez has long embodied the power, resilience, and vision of Indigenous leadership,” the release read. While charmingly foul-mouthed, Juarez is a conservative who fits right into the current brat pack. She’s also known for being somewhat unpredictable. It’s interesting that she applied for the vacancy—she made clear that she was tired of the job when she decided not to run for reelection in 2023—but since throwing her hat into the ring, her appointment has been expected. Juarez received 7 votes. Alexis Mercedes Rinck voted for Nilu Jenks, a former candidate for District 5.

Ferg Down: Washington voters think Governor Bob Ferguson sucks. A Monday Cascade PBS/Elway poll found his approval rating at the sixth month mark is the lowest for a Washington Governor since 1993. Of the 403 registered voters surveyed, 32 percent consider Ferguson to be doing a “good” or “excellent” job. That’s eight points lower than Gov. Inslee, 11 points below Christine Gregoire, and 20 points below Gary Locke at the same point in their first terms. Almost the same percentage of people (31 percent) think he’s doing a “poor” job; 22 percent rated his job performance as “fair.” Damn, dude. According to Cascade, people are angry that Ferguson is signing off on new taxes, that he’s cut spending, that he’s too focused on President Donald Trump’s administration, that he’s not focused enough on Trump, that he’s too in line with Democrats, and that he’s too moderate. You can’t please everyone all of the time, but Ferguson’s middling centerism seems to please nobody.

Now to HMW for the latest on Denny Blaine.

Thanks For Nothing: The City submitted its “abatement plan” for Denny Blaine Park on Monday evening. No one is thrilled  about its idea to divide the already small beach into a nude area (closest to the water) and a clothed area (the vast majority of the park). “Zoning” Denny Blaine isn’t a new idea. Last year, the Parks Department proposed a nudity DMZ at the parking lot—much further back than the current abatement plan. When it was submitted for public comment, beach goers roundly rejected it because they felt it made a concession to neighbors they didn’t have to make. (This is where we remind you, dear reader, for the hundredth time, that nudity is legal in Seattle.) The city is also planning to increase the presence of park rangers and signage to the park. Sophie Amity Debs, who co-runs the park stewardship group Friends of Denny Blaine, told The Stranger that by cutting the space down to a tiny sliver of the park,  the city is “not setting themselves up for success with having people respect and take these guidelines seriously.” This proposal isn’t the worst case scenario. “We are glad that it doesn't just outright ban nudity, because that was one of our big fears …  and we are also glad that the enforcement mechanisms are via park rangers and not by SPD.”

Back to me :)!

Firefighters Saving a Rainforest: The human-caused Bear Gulch fire (first reported July 6, wonder how that started?) is creeping toward the Staircase area of Olympic National Park. The 1,100 acre fire is only 10 percent contained, the Seattle Times reports. Two hundred people, including firefighters, are assigned to this fire.

Big Beautiful Electric Bills? Lawmakers say the cuts to renewable energy in President Donald Trump's Beautiful Bill will raise the price of electricity in Washington. As it turns out, massive public infrastructure projects are not optional or spontaneous. They’re important and planned decades in advance. Cities are growing, transmission lines are aging, and AI data centers are siphoning off our excess power to animate photos of dead grandparents at a time heatwaves are more likely to hit California and Washington simultaneously. We can’t just pause this work, cross our fingers and hope the power stays on. We’ll still have to pay for repairs, new energy projects, and extra power with our money. Seattle City Light CEO Dawn Lindell says people “can expect to see significant rate increases for probably the next 10 to 12 years.” The US Department of Energy did not respond to KUOW’s request for comment.

Suspect Arrested For Shooting Lummi Nation Officer: Authorities arrested the 26-year-old suspect and Whatcom county resident for investigation of attempted murder yesterday afternoon. Early Monday morning, the officer responded to a call for a vehicle in a ditch in Lummi Nation west of Bellingham. The driver shot the officer and fled on foot. It’s unclear where and how the suspect was apprehended, but multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the search. The officer was rushed into surgery. As of Monday afternoon, the officer was alive and receiving medical care.

Northgate Shooter: Police say they're still searching for two suspects they say shot a man in the back of the head outside the Northgate Transit Center on Monday morning. The victim, 48, was in critical condition as of Monday afternoon.

Over 60,000 Killed in Gaza Since October 7: Gaza’s ministry of health puts the total at 60,034. At least 62 have been killed since dawn, reports Al Jazeera, 19 of them aid seekers. Yesterday, two of the most-known Israeli rights groups (B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights —Israel) called the genocide a genocide for the first time. This morning, the UK announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state if Israel doesn't reach a ceasefire with Hamas by September. 

Shooter Killed Four in Midtown Manhattan: After much unverified online speculation that gunman Shane Tamura had targeted the investment company Blackstone, police say the three-page note found in his wallet indicates Tamura had likely targeted NFL headquarters. Police say Tamura claimed he suffered from CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, from playing football and accused the NFL of concealing the danger to players. Tamura shot himself in the chest. “Study my brain please,” police say he wrote. “I’m sorry.” CTE is a serious condition that increases the risk of suicide. It can only be diagnosed in an autopsy. One study of 2,000 former NFL players published in JAMA Neurology found 1 in 3 believed they had CTE.

FIGHT! Paul Dans, a chief architect of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, is challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican party’s most eligible bachelor. Dans, who looks like something bad happened to Mark Cuban (the Portrait of Mark Cuban?), is expected to formally announce his campaign in Charleston this Wednesday. Chris LaCivita, advisor to Sen. Graham’s campaign and co-manager of Trump’s presidential bid, ominously told the AP that Dans’ campaign would “end prematurely.” Thanks, Chris. Strange and threatening!

Not Even Capitalism Safe From ICE Raids: The New York Times reports that work has slowed to a crawl at one Omaha, Nebraska meatpacking plant. Three weeks after ICE came to Glenn Valley Foods with a battering ram and a warrant for 107 workers, production is down by 70%. Half of the maintenance crew is being deported. About 50 workers are in ICE detention. Owner Gary Rohwer told the Times it was a “wipeout.” We don’t need the lens of capitalism to grasp the injustice of ICE abductions, but the bottom line is often the only thing that reaches Americans.

*SCREECH*: Two whistleblowers have accused Emil Bove, former defense attorney for President Donald Trump, current top official at the Justice Department, and nominee for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, of directing Justice Department staff to ignore federal court orders in the way of Trump’s mass deportation plans. A third says he lied to Senators during his confirmation hearing last month. The Senate is expected to vote on his appointment this week.

A Tune for You: Thanks, MJ Lenderman. I love to do dishes to your music.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said that people had speculated that the shooter in Manhattan had targeted Blackrock in the Midtown building. The building is home to the Blackstone offices.