Hollywood execs and writers reach tentative deal: On Sunday, the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood studios reached a tentative deal on a three-year contract that could end nearly five months of striking. The deal still needs to be approved by guild leadership and union members. The strike isn't over until that happens. However, writers will stop picketing. In the meantime, the Screen Actors Guild has yet to reach an agreement and is still striking. WGA leadership encouraged its members to join SAG strikers on their picket lines. Solidarity is so sexy. 

Homicides are up in King County: Can we stop killing each other? So far this year, there have been 114 homicides in King County. In 2021 and 2022, homicides in the county reach 119. At this rate, King County will likely exceed those numbers. Half of those killings happened in Seattle. Murder rates have been on the rise since the pandemic, but, in the years since the initial outbreak, murders have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels or even to plateau. 

Tech worker rates are also up: Around 15% of all employed people in Seattle—or, 68,700—work in "computer or mathematical occupations." I'll just call it all tech. That's more tech workers per capita than any other city. Thanks to the Seattle Times FYI Guy for the facts, but let's look at some more interesting stuff next time, like how many sexy, cool, sometimes-sad-and-aloof writers are left in this damn town.

Cool your freakin' jets: As the rain returned last week, car crashes went up. Last Wednesday, Washington State Troopers responded to 28 crashes in King County. One day. 28 car crashes. Slow down! Drive like you've done it before. Drive like your actions could end your life or someone else's at any moment. That's how I drive. 

Speaking of the rain: We are so back. A combination bomb cyclone and atmospheric river is going to dump rain on Seattle early this week. We'll see around one to three inches of rainfall by Tuesday. I am so into it. Although, it was so cozy this morning I had to claw my way out of bed. Maybe I'll make a soup today. Anyone have any favorite soup recipes? 

Joe Biden is no scab: The president will make history this week when he walks the picket line with striking United Auto Workers union members in Detroit on Tuesday. Donald Trump is planning his own trip to the picket line, and he claimed Biden only plans to go because he's going. Trump cosplaying as anything other than pro-business boss may have lit a fire under Biden's ass to get him to Detroit, but Biden is actually pro-union and mostly pro-worker, while Trump is just pro-Trump. (Breaking the railroad strike was not good, but he's been pretty good otherwise.)  

Space rocks touch down: After a seven-year journey, NASA's first asteroid samples dropped down to earth in the Utah desert on Sunday. Scientists believe the vessel will contain a cup of rubble from the asteroid Bennu, which orbits the sun 50 million miles from earth. The dirt from that asteroid is likely 4.5 billion years old. This is NASA's biggest sampling from beyond the moon. 

COVID is still very much a thing: The government is giving people four free COVID tests this fall. Get yours here. 

Gator eats forbidden snack: Tampa Bay area police shot and killed a 13-foot, 8.5-inch male alligator after neighbors saw him with a human body in his mouth. The body belonged to a 41-year-old woman. 

Freight train hits SUV, kills six: A freight train chugging through Florida hit an SUV slowly crossing the train tracks. The conductor attempted to slow the train down, but it takes a while to grind a whole train to a standstill. When the train hit the SUV, it "begins to catapult and flip violently several times before it landed a distance from this crossing." First responders described the SUV "like a soft drink can that’s been smashed." Footage of the crash showed the driver of the SUV failed to look both ways when crossing the tracks. 

If the writers strike ends, then they're just in time to write a hit romantic comedy based on Taylor Swift's new romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. The pop star seems to have ditched artsy English men for a cornfed all-American hunk. The Swifties are freaking out and trying to understand football. It's all so entertaining.

American women go to Mexico for abortions: It used to be the other way around, where Mexican women would cross into the United States to receive an abortion, something they couldn't get in their puritanical country. Now, over a year after Roe v. Wade's reversal and after Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide, more and more American women are crossing into Mexico for abortions. Mexican activists are seeing women from Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona. 

In honor of the weather: A song for you.