Did a Shortage of Wildfire Attack Helicopters Hamper the State's Ability to Fight This Summer's Wildfires? "Just days before a series of deadly, record-setting wildfires began exploding across Washington," reports the Seattle Times, "the acting chief pilot for the state’s wildfire-attack helicopters wrote a letter to his superiors. Unfilled pilot positions were grounding some helicopters, John Adolphson wrote to senior staff at the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR)." Adolphson blames low pay for making it hard to recruit enough pilots to fully utilize all eight of the Department of Natural Resources' eight helicopters.

A City Council Committee Has Declared a Goal of "Zero Use of Detention for Youth": "The resolution was introduced by Council Member Mike O'Brien," Ansel writes. "But it's primarily the result of tenacious work by the movement against the jail... The movement of grassroots activists includes clergy, anarchists, and people from groups like Ending the Prison-Industrial Complex and Youth Undoing Institutional Racism, the Seattle-King County NAACP, and European Dissent." The resolution will get a full council vote on Monday.

This State Is Still Failing to Provide Adequate Mental Health Care: That's despite a judge's ruling that the state was violating the constitutional rights of mentally ill citizens by boarding them without adequate care, contempt orders, and fines totaling $700,000 since 2014, according to the AP.

Yesterday Did Not Go Great for Rent Control Supporters: A city council committee split 3-3 on a resolution introduced by Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata asking the state to lift its ban on rent control. The most notable "no" vote was Jean Godden. Godden had previously supported asking the state to lift the ban and claimed yesterday that she "loves" the idea of local control, but then voted against the resolution for some bullshit reason. I explain right here.

Two State Lawmakers Say It'll Be Hard to Make Rent Control Happen in Olympia: But Gov. Jay Inslee hasn't taken a position yet.

Neither West Seattle City Council Candidate Is Excited About Rent Control: At a District 1 forum last night, both Shannon Braddock and Lisa Herbold expressed skepticism about rent control. After telling Publicola this week she hadn't taken a position on rent control, Herbold (Licata's aide) said last night, "I don't think a strict construction of rent control is the right model." She does support asking the state to lift the ban, though, to make it possible to pass more narrow restrictions, like limiting rent increases in buildings with code violations.

The Rent Control Resolution Will Get a Full Council Vote Soon: The date is yet to be finalized, but Sawant has requested October 5.

Police Arrested 20 Suspected Drug Dealers in the University District: Undercover officers "purchased methamphetamine 14 times, cocaine four times, heroin, pills and fake drugs on one occasion," according to the Seattle Police Department.

GTFO of the Bus-Only Lane If You Are Not a Bus: You will get a $136 ticket.

Shell Releases Report In Which Shell Is Interviewed to Talk About How Great Shell's Arctic Drilling Mission Is for the Puget Sound: Shell hired an Alaskan research group to write a report about how great Arctic drilling will be for Puget Sound. They talked to "various port authorities, city officials in Bellingham and Port Angeles, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, the Manufacturing Industrial Council (which advocated for Shell's tenure in Seattle), the Washington Maritime Association, and Shell itself," Sydney reports. Not interviewed: City of Seattle officials.

Meanwhile, Shell's CEO Still Says Arctic Drilling Isn't a Sure Thing: “We are in the middle of that drilling campaign and we have to see at the end of the season whether we get into the reservoir,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told BBC News (as reported by the Seattle P.I.). “If these results are conclusively no, then it will probably be the end of the road for our Arctic adventure."

This Sea Otter at the Seattle Aquarium Has Asthma and Needs an Inhaler: It is both adorable and very sad.