Jon Grant is trailing behind Tim Burgess in the District 8 election, but hes ahead of John Roderick by nearly 10,000 votes.
Jon Grant is trailing behind Tim Burgess in the District 8 election, but he's ahead of John Roderick by nearly 10,000 votes. Kelly O

Seattle Held Its First-in-a-Long-Time District Elections: Voters got to elect seven out of nine city council members by district. And, as Heidi notes, the results show that NIMBYs did not benefit from the new system.

Kshama Sawant, Jon Grant, Lorena Gonzalez, Debora Juarez, and Mike O’Brien Are Currently in the Lead: In fact, all city council incumbents did unsurprisingly well last night, except for Jean Godden, who’s trailing density-friendly challenger Michael Maddux by only a couple thousand votes. (Rob Johnson is in the lead in that race.) Remember, the top two vote-getters in each race will advance to the general election in November, and votes are still trickling in.

There was so much pizza at last nights election parties.
There was so much pizza at last night's election parties. Rich Smith

What Were the Election Parties Like? There Were Proud Mothers! And Awkward Matchmaking with the SECB! And Human Dildos! We went to all* the election parties, sampled all* the food, and talked to all* the candidates. (*Well, kinda sorta.) Here are all the glorious details.

In Other Non-Election News… Woman Charged With Hate Crimes for Allegedly Squishing a Bartender’s Testicles (Among Other Things) During Pride Weekend: According to charging papers, 54-year-old Hanna Squires is also alleged to have “accused [Coretto’s] bartender of pouring a weak drink,” “called him a ‘Jew,’” and “shouted anti-gay slurs at the [bar’s manager] before grabbing his testicles and squeez[ing].” Squires has pled guilty to hate-crime-related charges before and is currently in jail on $25,000 bail, reports KOMO.


The Wolverine Fire Has Been Burning Since June 29: It’s continuing to grow in Eastern Washington and now covers 40 square miles.


An Orca Was Seen With Fishing Wire Hanging from Its Mouth Near the San Juan Island: It’s a 12-year-old male known as J-39 and officials say he doesn’t “immediately appear” to be injured. But they are monitoring him.

Have You Been Following the Saga of Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist? There is a recall campaign underway against the elected official based on charges such as “vindictive prosecution, discriminatory hiring practices, and evading public disclosure laws.”

Seattle and Tacoma’s Port Commissions Have Agreed to Merge: The Northwest Seaport Alliance aims to keep the ports competitive with those in British Columbia and Southern California. However, they’ll remain separate organizations but will form a port development authority to manage some aspects of operations (including containers but not including the airport).

The garden bridge currently has no funding and conflicts with the citys waterfront plan.
The "garden bridge" currently has no funding and conflicts with the city's waterfront plan. JOSHUA BOULET

Will the Viaduct Become Seattle’s High Line? An initiative to turn a one-mile portion of the old viaduct into a six-acre “garden bridge” gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. But as Heidi noted before, the proposal competes with the city's plan to turn the waterfront into a green space.

Algona’s Former Interim Police Chief Charged With Theft and Abuse of Power: Lee Gaskill is accused of “shredding documents, carting off files, wiping clean his department-issued iPad and instructing at least one witness not to cooperate with investigators digging into his alleged theft of thousands of dollars from a youth program he helped start in South King County,” reports the Seattle Times.

Is The Stranger’s Office Mouse a Refugee of Gentrification? According to the Seattle Times, the city is one of the “rattiest” metropolitan areas in the country because of our wet and temperate conditions. Adding to our rat problem is the construction boom, which is chasing the rodents out of old buildings that are being torn down and into adjacent buildings.

METZ: Loud and glorious.
METZ: Loud and glorious. KR

And METZ Played at Neumos Last Night and It Was Glorious: After all those election parties, I needed to get a little floppy. Thank you, METZ, for restoring my faith in rock music.