Washing hand with liquid gold in 2019.
Washing hands with liquid gold in 2019. SbytovaMN/Getty Images

Today is the day: It's primary day, Seattle! Do you know where your ballot is? Is it on its way to get counted already? If not, please fix that. The returns so far are... dismally low. This is an important election! Vote! You have until 8 p.m. today.

Toni Morrison has shuffled off this mortal coil: The much-beloved author (of Beloved, among other masterpieces) is dead at age 88. Morrison was a force. She became the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize in 1993. Morrison penned "11 novels, five children’s books, two plays, a song cycle, and an opera" in her life.

A tribute:

Teen shot during traffic stop: The 15-year-old was pulled over by a Kent police officer for having expired tabs. The officer radioed in that the teen had a gun. Then, he radioed in that shots had been fired. Twice. By the officer. They struck the teen. Once in the arm, once in the leg. He is at Harborview Medical Center in stable condition. Teens, please do not pull your guns out during traffic stops. Also, tell your 18-year-old peers to vote. Not the time?

Orcas, where are thou? The southern resident killer whales have been no-shows this summer in the San Juan Islands. It's been a month since anyone saw the resident orcas. Chinook salmon runs, meanwhile, are disappearing. Across the region, salmon runs are low. A spokesperson from the Department of Fisheries in Canada has said this is the worst year she's seen for salmon numbers.

More heat: The sun is bringing the heat today. You know how you can bring the heat? By being civically engaged during today's primary! These races are HOT.

Speaking of heat, that fire is still burning: There are two wildfires scorching the Colville Reservation in Ferry County. It's already gobbled up 13,400 acres. It's also only 20 percent contained.

Washington woman puts octopus on her face, goes to the hospital: Someone had caught an octopus. This woman wanted to take a picture with it. She put it on her face. It started pecking her with its beak. She pulled it off of her and didn't go to the hospital for days until she woke up two days later with a paralyzed feeling in her face. She's recovering now and her doctor has an octopus tattoo so it all works out.

Domestic terrorism is going to be a hard fight: There's no rule book for how to stop domestic terrorism like the shootings in El Paso and Dayton this weekend. Or the one in California the weekend before that. At least with 9/11 our leaders could be horribly racist and do some Patriot Act bullshit. But the whole America First thing falls a little flat when the trigger is being pulled by Americans and Americans who look like the people who make the rules for that matter. There is no government agency whose job it is to designate domestic terrorist organizations. The First Amendment also makes it hard to quell these movements before they happen. So, what happens now?

Mike Huckabee has a suggestion: The biggest factor behind mass shootings? If you ask Mike Huckabee it's because there just aren't enough thoughts and prayers.

But Jay Inslee has a solution: The Washington governor has laid out a 10 step plan to fighting gun violence.

California's biggest name in recycling redemption centers shuts down: There were 750 employees laid off. RePlanet is closing all 284 of its centers. Business costs are too high and the returns for shit like recycled aluminum and PET plastic are tumbling. Now, there's nowhere for San Francisco residents to return recyclables and get reimbursed. That's a problem for those living in poverty. About 40 percent of all recycling redemption centers have closed in the last five years, according to the Associated Press.

What day is today? Oh, right.

Grandma thwarts mass shooting: Her grandson was going to shoot up a Texas hotel last month. He had bought an AK-47 and had rented a hotel room. She convinced him to go seek treatment at the hospital. Police searched the hotel room and found 17 magazines of bullets, a black trench coat, knives, tactical plans, and more. The grandson could face up to five years in prison.

What is up with people throwing small boys from great heights? Earlier this year, a boy was picked up by a stranger and pitched over a balcony in the Mall of America. On Monday, a teenage stranger (17) snatched a 6-year-old French boy and tossed him over the 10th story viewing platform at London's Tate Modern art gallery. Actually, according to this report, it wasn't so much a toss as it was a swift throw. Either way, the boy fell 100 feet to the fifth-floor roof and is likely still alive because of how that roof slants. Still, he has a brain bleed and fractures to his spine, legs, and arms.

This man threw a fridge off a Spanish cliff: He was fined €45,000 and ordered to drag the fridge back up the cliff and dispose of it properly.

A world-wide water crisis: I remember distinctly learning about the amount of viable drinking water while I was in elementary school. Only 0.5 percent of water is drinkable? I also grew up in a tinder box of a Los Angeles suburb. Dead lawns and timed showers were a constant in the every-day drought. Yet, LA never ran out of water. Currently, 17 countries where a fourth of the world's population lives face the very real possibility of running out of water. While some of these already-arid countries are squandering some of their water, a lot of this is climate change-caused. Erratic rainfall means a less reliable water supply. Are the water wars coming?

Beto wants Trump to steer clear of El Paso: That... probably won't happen. The President has already announced that he will be visiting the town on Wednesday. The death toll in the shooting has just risen to 21 as one of the victims dies in the hospital.

McDonalds did away with its recyclable plastic straws: They replaced the straws with papers ones. The catch? The paper ones can't be recycled.

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Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: The first of two shows with jazz musician Marcia Ball and all the election night parties.