Good Morning! If you, like me, were surprised by how much you like our little taste of autumn this weekend, you’re in luck. Today should be a lot of the same. But if it left you panicked, scrambling for your SAD lamp, tomorrow’s your day: Highs in the mid-80s, without a cloud in the sky. It might not be our last day of summer weather, but why chance it? Watch the sunset at a street-end park, smell some Puget Sound air, touch grass.
But until then, let’s do the news.
Charlie Kirk Update: Utah Governor Cox and FBI Director Kash Patel both gave extended media interviews this weekend: Cox to Meet the Press, and Patel to Fox and Friends. Patel spent most of his interview talking about how good he is at being the head of the FBI, and touted his “investigatory experience,” of which he has [checks notes] none. Cox said that the suspect in custody, Tyler Robinson, is not cooperating with authorities, but most of his friends and family are. Based on those interviews, he said that Robinson has a “leftist ideology,” but didn’t elaborate on what those views might be, just that he was influenced by the “deep, dark internet.” He also said that Robinson’s “roommate” is actually his partner, and said that that partner is trans. If that’s true, he then went on to repeatedly misgender Robinson’s partner. “It sounds like we’re really stretching to find a way to tie this in to the trans community,” Jacey Thornton, executive director of Project Rainbow Utah, told the New York Times. Charges will likely be filed on Tuesday.
Making a Martyr: It’s not surprising that conservative talk show hosts and Christian nationalist preachers are trying to turn Kirk’s death into a galvanizing moment for the far-right. But it’s more striking to see the federal government throwing its weight behind it. VP JD Vance escorted Kirk’s casket home on Air Force Two. A Republican congresswoman literally called for him to be allowed to lie in rest in the Capitol. And several Trump administration officials have said they’re tracking people who make negative statements about Kirk, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
Conservatives Are Scared: Trump informed Congress that an additional $58 million will go to the US Marshal Service to provide more security for the Supreme Court, and urged the legislative branch to throw more resources at the Capitol Police.
Thoughts and Prayers: Parents filed a complaint against a principal in the North Shore School District in Bothell after he reposted a Charlie Kirk memorial image with the text: “Thoughts and prayers. Too bad gun control would have been far far more effective (he’d still be alive). Maybe thoughts and prayers will work…oops – nope.”
The Mariners, They’re Just Like Us: They also can’t stand the megaphone preachers outside T-Mobile Stadium. “The men — and they are almost always men — who carry billboards and megaphones and exhort the baseball-watching masses to repent, before it’s too late,” writes the Seattle Times. “They are, like it or not, the soundtrack of the Mariners pregame experience. And the Mariners, it turns out, do not like it.” The team has asked the city to limit loudspeakers before and after games. “We are not trying to weigh in on what is being said, we are trying to weigh in on the volume of what is being said,” a Mariner’s spokesperson said. I’m sure they’ll see it that way.
Crash in the C-ID: A man was killed on Sunday morning when he was hit by a semitruck in Little Saigon, at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and South King Street, according to SPD. Officers evaluated the driver of the semitruck and determined that impairment was not a factor in the collision, and the driver was not arrested. But they did make sure to emphasize that the city’s surveillance system caught the crash on camera.
Area Orca Threatens Region’s Mental Health: Look, I’m really, really sorry to tell you this. I know we’re all hanging onto our sanity by a thread here. But Alki, a female orca in the J Pod, was spotted near the San Juan Islands pushing her dead calf through the water. “She doesn’t have arms to hold it, so she has to keep carrying it, keeping it with her as close as possible,” Deborah Giles, a killer whale scientist with the SeaDoc Society, told the Seattle Times. Alki is 26 years old, and she’s had several miscarriages. She also lost her 2-year-old calf, Sonic, back in 2017. This is what grief looks like in our endangered orca pod. Pour one out for Alki today.
Okay to Make Up for That: Here’s your annual reminder that Fat Bear Week is coming up at the end of the month, and you can already meet the bears.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul Reads the Room: Over the weekend, Governor Hochul announced her endorsement of Zohran Mamdani. “I didn’t leave my conversations with Mr. Mamdani aligned with him on every issue,” she wrote in an OpEd in the New York Times. “But I am confident that he has the courage, urgency and optimism New York City needs to lead it through the challenges of this moment.” Lookin’ at you, Governor Ferguson.
Katie Wilson’s Getting Ready for the Debates: In response to the repeated comparisons to Mamdani, Wilson posted a video this weekend. “As we all know, Zohran is charismatic, telegenic, and stylish,” she said to the camera. “I, on the other hand, am deeply awkward, not going to win any beauty pageants, and honestly, I’ve spent my whole adult life looking really dumpy.” She laughs off camera. “I don’t know, is that too much?” She then goes to Goodwill, and gets Queer Eyed by a campaign volunteer so she has some new looks from the mayoral debates. It’s adorable, it’s awkward, it’s true to her. It’s everything we love about Katie Wilson. (And if you’re not sold, it looks like she was also on stage at SketchFest Seattle this weekend.)
Busy Week in City Hall: Council will start voting on the more than 100 amendments to the Seattle Comprehensive Plan on Wednesday. If they stay on schedule, we’ll know what our 20-year development plan for the city looks like by the end of the week.
The Emmys Happened! Even as democracy crumbles, we get a little TV, as a treat. The Pitt beat out Severance for best drama, The Studio won best comedy, and Hannah Einbinder ended her speech with: “Go Birds, Fuck ICE, Free Palestine.”
