There's even a federal antitrust lawsuit in there! Credit: Justin Sullivan / GETTY

Bruce Harrell proposes 2024 budget: Ta-dah! The Mayor’s 2024 budget could lead to hundreds of millions in cuts to City programs and doesn’t anticipate the deficits we are projected to face in 2025 and 2026. Sweet! Harrell also resurrected the prospect of adopting the ineffective acoustic gunshot locator technology ShotSpotter, a plan the city council shot down last year. Hannah has more on all of this here.

The FTC and 17 state attorneys general sue Amazon: The antitrust suit alleges the company illegally prevented online merchants from listing products at lower prices on other sites and pressured them to use its delivery network, all while boosting its own products, which resulted in “artificially higher prices” for shoppers. The FTC says monopoly tactics smothered the competition like the soft folds of an Amazon Basics pillow. Amazon says shoppers will have fewer products to choose from and slower deliveries if those mean regulators get their way!

Government shutdown one day closer: Those hard-right House Republicans are holding us all hostage and will happily let the federal government shutdown if they don’t get their precious spending cuts. The Senate is likely to pass a continuing resolution that would fund the federal government through November 17, but its not super likely to pass in the House, where Republicans said they’ll call for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s removal if he works with the Democrats. A federal shutdown would furlough millions of federal employees, disrupt air travel, and deprive important federal programs of funding.

Seven million people could lose food assistance if the government shuts down: That’s how many people rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a program that offers food and breastfeeding support and serves half the babies born in the US. The US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told NPR that the vast majority of beneficiaries would feel the impact right away. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but if the shutdown continued past October, it could affect SNAP benefits, too.

We don’t have to live this way: 

The Art of the Steal: A Federal Judge found the former president fraudulently overvalued his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion dollars and stripped Trump of control over some of his valuable real estate properties. The decision is a huge win for New York Attorney General Letitia James less than a week before her fraud case goes to court. Justice Arthur F. Engoron’s decision could effectively crush Trump’s company if an appeals court does not reverse it.

Crime concerns? Target is shutting down two Seattle locations next month (one in Ballard, at 1448 NW Market St., and the other in the U District at 4535 University Way NE) because of crime concerns after anti-theft measures failed. The company is also closing stores in New York, San Francisco, Portland and Oakland for the same reason. The company claims this crime has made its stores less safe for customers and employees.

The panic over retail theft isn’t cut and dry. Retail associations attribute lower profits and lost inventory to a national shoplifting crisis and a crime wave of organized retail theft. That claim is almost impossible to verify, and a major industry survey released this week shows retail theft is not increasing much at all. Data also shows internal theft, process failures, and unknown sources account for a little less than two-thirds of missing merchandise.

Coast Guard call off search for woman lost off Olympic Peninsula: Officials found a body matching the 26-year-old’s description. Currents reportedly swept the woman off Rialto beach near Olympic National Park around 10:30 am Monday. State Park rangers found the body around 5 pm.

ALMA closing in Tacoma: The multipurpose arts and community center is closing its doors at the end of October. The center’s primary benefactor, the “social-impact fund” Wend Collective by James Walton of the Walton (aka Walmart) family, pulled all funding for the center’s restaurants, music venue, and classrooms. The closure is a loss for Tacoma and the venue’s 150 partners who lost an accessible space. The Tacoma News Tribune reports that for contractual reasons, nobody is saying why the Wend Collective jumped ship.

North Korea releases American soldier: US Army Private Travis King fled over the demilitarized zone into North Korea this July. DPRK officials released King to American custody after state media reported leaders had decided to “expel” the soldier from the country. Before crossing the border, authorities charged King with assault in South Korea. He was supposed to return to the states and be removed from the military. 

Take a shorter shower: Bellevue is joining Kirkland and Seattle Public Utilities in asking its residents and businesses to voluntarily conserve water. Bellevue said water use restrictions are necessary until significant and sustained rainfall replenishes the dry mountain reservoirs. Western Washington typically gets 3 inches of rain between June and August. We only got 1 inch this year.

Weather: Rain and thunderstorms before 4 pm, and a chance of more rain and thunderstorms after 4 pm. Sounds like we really need it.

Local woman heroically negs Fox News: Reporting “live from the progressive hellscape,” this hero clad in green openly mocked a Fox News correspondent asking stupid questions about our city. [Eds note: Give her the keys, Bruce!]

Vivian McCall is The Stranger's News Editor. In her private life, she is a musician and Wii U apologist. If you’re reading this, you either love her or hate her.