This morning Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Seattle Police Deparment removed all protestors from CHOP in order to dismantle tents, barricades, and art.
This morning Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Seattle Police Deparment removed all protestors from CHOP in order to dismantle tents, barricades, and art. David Ryder/ Getty
Bite of Seattle and Taste of Tacoma are canceled this year: I thought the cancellation of these foodie festivals were a foregone conclusion, but it was confirmed today.

Judi Dench insists she’d be dead if it weren’t for TikTok: The platform, "saved her life," reports Vulture. Same, Judi, same.

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda's "JumpStart Seattle" tax advances out of budget committee to a final full council vote set for Monday: The proposal would raise more than $200 million a year, targeting companies with many highly paid employees, reports the Seattle Times. Mosqueda has proposed using this tax to "underwrite $86 million in coronavirus relief this year, to buttress city services as Seattle emerges from the pandemic in 2021 and to fund affordable housing, business assistance and community development in the long term."

Uhhhhh this happened today: Of course these two meganerds know each other. Also zoom in on the reflection and you can see it's Grimes who took the pic.

This morning the Seattle Police Department took back CHOP, making way for Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Parks and Recreation to start clearing the area of tents and barricades. Here are some more updates regarding the area:

The state of the encampment on 12th Ave by late this morning: It's all rubble.
From Stranger World HQ we've been able to get a bird's eye view of some of the dismantling: Like the "E Black Lives Matter St" sign and the Black Power fist just above it.

Goodbye, Seattle People's Department: The Daily's Jake Goldstein-Street caught the best piece of graffiti being scrubbed clean this afternoon.

Mayor Durkan, Police Chief Carmen Best, and other heads of Durkan's administration had a press conference this afternoon about the clearing of CHOP: Best said more than three dozen people have been arrested today and that SPD officers went inside the East Precinct to survey the damage and assess when they will be able to return to the building. CHS Blog has a good roundup of information presented to the press here, including Durkan saying she believes misdemeanor arrests for things like obstruction "should not be charged."

Also of note: is Seattle Parks and Rec Superintendent JesĂșs Aguirre saying it possible that the community garden in Cal Anderson might become a permanent part of the park after CHOP's clean-up. We saw trucks driving away from the protest zone plants that are apparently going into the city's greenhouse facilities.

FWIW, the White House is pleased that Seattle has been "liberated" from CHOP: President Trump apparently "set the tone" for how to deal with the protest zone. Check out Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany barely coherent "victory speech" here:

Read Rich Smith's full overview of the day here.

Governor Gavin Newsom of California ordered indoor businesses to close after seeing a worrying spike in COVID-19 infections across the state: This closure order includes restaurants, movie theaters, museums, and zoos in 19 counties that had cautiously reopened earlier this month and comes just before the Fourth of July holiday weekend. In the past 24 hours alone, California has reported 5,898 new cases and 110 deaths. Hot dogs taste just as good at home, trust me!

Michigan is shutting down indoor service in bars after more than 100 cases of COVID-19 were tied to a popular bar in East Lansing: This shutdown has a lot of caveats as it does not apply to bars in the Upper Peninsula or in the northern Lower Peninsula and only applies to places that earn more than 70% of their gross receipts from alcohol sales reports the Detroit Free Press.

A Yakima gym is the first employer to be cited for violating Washington's COVID-19 restrictions: The owner of Anytime Fitness Selah has been "willfully" refusing to close despite attempts by authorities to get him to comply, resulting in nearly $10,000 in fines, reports KOMO.

President Donald Trump calls "Black Lives Matter" a "symbol of hate" in response to New York City's decision to paint the rallying cry on Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower, reports Politico. He goes on to criticize cuts to NYC's police budget, which activists say doesn't go far enough to reduced NYPD's presence in the city.

Russians vote overwhelmingly in favor of a constitutional amendment that paves the way for President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036 in a national referendum that concluded today. Uh, let's hope 45 doesn't get any ideas.

It's been two years since Capitol Hill's Mystery Coke Machine disappeared: I remember being creeped out by it in high school, but still slipping money into its slot just for the thrill. Please return, MCM. We miss you.

I'm on the Aminé beat, so I'm obligated to share his new music video with you all: "My High" features UK artists Disclosure and slowthai. It's a doozy.