Happy Friday: Every Friday, I sing a little song in my head that my high school Spanish teacher used to sing to celebrate the end of the week. It was surprisingly mask-off about hating his job, but it's catchy! Anyway, if you're happily singing your own little Friday song today, you might be hitting up the group chat to make plans. If you're trying to have fun this weekend without breaking the bank, EverOut compiled a list of the most fun things to do this weekend in Seattle for $15 or less—not including the booze, of course.

Weekend weather: We've had a couple false starts to fall—a gloomy day where everyone threw on a sweater only to return to T-shirts for the next week—and it looks like that pattern will continue. Even though today I am working under a blanket with my feet wrapped up in my warmest socks, this weekend Seattle will see a slight increase in temperature and then, get this, it'll be 78 degrees on Monday. Summer won't go down without a fight.

Traffic: If you're going to drive this weekend, plan ahead. According to KIRO 7, the westbound side of the I-90 floating bridge will be closed until Monday. Bad news for Mercer Island. 

ICYMI: Yesterday, a coalition of progressive organizations came together to unveil their proposal, the Solidarity Budget, for how the City should spend its money in 2023. The Solidarity Budget would cut the police budget in half, stop sweeps, and build more housing. While a bunch of organizations have endorsed the proposal, it's unlikely the Mayor or the council will copy-paste the Solidarity Budget. Organizers said that's okay! The left can take their seats in the coming elections if the council doesn't want to meet their demands. Read more here! 

Looking ahead: On Tuesday, the Mayor will unveil his proposed 2023 budget. That means I'll be typing as fast as my fingers will let me to keep you in the know. So if I'm not as funny on Twitter next week as I usually am, that is why. 

More important City updates: Racial equity groups said the Seattle Redistricting Commission didn't do half bad in redrawing the council districts, but Magnolia felt it got the short end of the stick. Here's the proposed amendments:

Third Ave: Next week, the City will vote on a resolution to endorse Downtown Seattle Association’s (the bad DSA) Third Avenue Vision. The business-interest coming in to clean up the conservative media's favorite street might furrow a lefty's brow, but Council Member Andrew Lewis assured the Seattle Times that this plan will focus "less on how to exclude the bad and more on how to welcome the good."

Bellevue protest: Massive protests broke out in Iran after the morality police allegedly killed 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last week. Now, Iranian organizers in western Washington invite you to hit the streets in Bellevue this Sunday to show solidarity. 

It never ends: Nothing like going on a nice walk and breathing in clean air. Enjoy it while it lasts. The Seattle Times reports that the smoky air may return Sunday and make itself at home until Tuesday. I hate it here. 

Wait, this is sick: The South Seattle Emerald took readers inside Othello's Tiny Tots Development Center preschool's "nature" playground. The playground doesn't look like your average plastic, colorful play structure. Instead, Tiny Tots' nature playground has trees, garden beds growing edible food, and stumps. Not all the staff loved the idea initially, but they have started to see calmer playtime with less conflict. 

Tell the State how you really feel: We spent the last couple of years complaining about the times our government has fumbled the COVID-19 response. Now, the Department of Health wants you to give it feedback in its survey, so it can do better in future pandemic situations. I'm sure the survey will be inundated with the MAGA-heads bitchin' about "King Inslee," so if you have some thoughts that could *actually* help them out, please bring that perspective to balance out the response pool. 

Fuck the death penalty: Alabama will no longer execute Alan Miller because the executioner had trouble accessing the prisoner's vein, the Guardian reported. Just two months ago, Alabama botched the execution of Joe Nathan James Jr., subjecting him to three hours of agony in perhaps the longest execution by lethal injection in American history. Maya Foa, director of Reprieve US, a legal action non-profit that advocates for incarcerated victims of human rights violations had this to say:

“It is hard to see how they can persist with this broken method of execution that keeps going catastrophically wrong, again and again. In its desperation to execute, Alabama is experimenting on prisoners behind closed doors – surely the definition of cruel and unusual punishment.”

He said what? President Joe Biden weirded out some political commentators and members of the press during his speech today at the National Education Association headquarters in Washington DC. He pointed to a woman in the crowd he presumably recognized and said, "You gotta say hi to me. We go back a long way. She was 12, I was 30. But anyway, this woman helped me get an awful lot done." Not sure what a 12-year-old and a 30-year-old could work on together, but hopefully someone will find out who Biden was talking to and that can add some context to a weird comment.

Gaetz update: If you've been following US Rep. Matt Gaetz's sex trafficking probe, this latest news might not satisfy the cop in your mind. According to CNN, prosecutors recommended that the Department of Justice not charge the Florida politician. The prosecutors recommended this because they're unsure if the case's central witness would be "perceived as credible before a jury." But it's up to senior Justice Department officials who haven't made a decision just yet. 

New Weezer: I feel like I know the only person who unironically loves Weezer, but just in case there are more of you out there, enjoy this latest track.Â