Nathalies bingo sheet for todays big council meeting.
Nathalie's bingo sheet for today's big council meeting.

Play ball, damn it: The college football season could be canceled. Trump isn't happy about it, presumably because college football is popular in the states where he has support. College football's "Power 5" conferences are figuring it out.

A shooting outside the White House interrupted Trump's coronavirus briefing today: Trump was quickly escorted out of the room by Secret Service but brought back a few minutes later. It appears a suspect was shot by police and taken to the hospital—there aren't that many details at the moment. Meanwhile, at that coronavirus briefing...

Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold changed her position on slimming down SPD Chief Carmen Best's salary today: Herbold argued she did not want to perpetuate the "race and gender discrimination" Best had experienced in her career. Nathalie Graham writes about that and the early portion of today's Seattle City Council meeting here. And here she is with more updates on today's big budget vote:

The Seattle City Council just passed its re-balanced 2020 budget package: Whew, if you've been following along you know it's been a long summer of budget meetings, debates, and deep-dives into the Seattle Police Department budget. Today, the council passed the new 2020 budget (a necessary process after COVID-19 scooped out an over $300 million-sized hole out of the city's funds) 7-1. Kshama Sawant was the only no vote since the budget didn't defund SPD by 50% and because she considers it an "austerity budget" since social services will receive cuts.

Within this budget: Are around $3.5 million in cuts to SPD's remaining 2020 budget and amendments that will eliminate around 100 positions from the force. Here's the rest of the SPD cuts:


"It stands to a testament to the leadership [from Budget Committee Chair Teresa Mosqueda, Lisa Herbold, and Council President Lorena Gonzalez] in assembling a package that has united all the factions on this council from the far left to the far center left," Councilmember Andrew Lewis said.

Mayor Jenny Durkan will still have to give her final approval on the package: In a statement, Durkan said she "continues to have concerns with the City Council’s approach to cut Chief Best and her leadership team’s salaries and remove workers at the Human Services Department who are involved in outreach and engagement with people experiencing homelessness."

I've developed a bingo game to make these council meetings less dry: If something happens marked in one of the squares then a council bingo player will cross it off. But the council has become aware of this. It's easy and not necessarily "revolutionary" but boy, the people love it. So does the council it seems. This is only my second time ever doing council bingo and they've wisened up to it. What is authentic bingo if the game can be influenced by its subjects? I suspect Gonzalez called on the city clerk for a "procedural question" intentionally near the end of the meeting to help the game along. She mentioned the game once during the meeting, as did Lewis. It's gotten too big for Twitter... the next council bingo will have to take place only on Slog. I may include a death square that invalidates that game if a council member acknowledges it.


Thanks, Nathalie!

Can a group of developers, real estate owners, and small businesses sue the city for actions it did not take to clear protesters? That's the question at the heart of the legal response from the City of Seattle to a lawsuit brought forward by Pike/Pine and 12th Ave companies over the handling of CHOP. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog gets into the question on their blog this afternoon.

It looks like Trump is either having the GOP Convention at the White House or Gettysburg: If it's at the White House, we'll have an unprecedented partisan use of a nonpartisan public site. If it's at Gettysburg, we'll probably get an American Carnage Part II speech bloated with racist dog whistles. Well, I guess we'll get that speech regardless of location.

The Democratic National Convention will be held virtually on Aug. 17-20: The Republican National Convention is Aug. 24-27. Enjoy your last convention-free week in August!

A massive gas explosion killed one person and injured at least six in Baltimore: Details about the explosion are developing. Three homes were destroyed. Crews are still searching for people who may be trapped inside.

Washington state has created a $40 million fund for undocumented workers who are unable to get federal assistance: There are believed to be approximately 250,000 undocumented workers in Washington state, with many of them disproportionately impacted by COVID. More from Crosscut:

Immigration advocates say they know the $40 million in aid the state plans to offer will run out quickly, and they want the governor and the Legislature to create a permanent unemployment assistance program for undocumented workers. According to the Pew Research Center, the unemployment rate for Latinos increased from 4.8% in February to a peak of 18.5% in April before dropping to 14.5% in June.

In creating the $40 million fund, Washington state is following California’s lead. In April, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced an unprecedented $125 million in aid for undocumented workers impacted by the pandemic.

Attorney General Bill Barr says Black Lives Matter is "fascistic": He also said BLM organizers are "essentially Bolsheviks.” Wow, what a burn.

What happens when you sneeze inside a subway? The New York Times goes deep. Maybe too deep for my comfort.

Today's Washington state COVID update: 575 new cases and 9 more deaths, reports Washington's Department of Health.

On Saturday, Trump ordered $400-a-week unemployment supplements via executive order: Part of that included a demand that states find out how to make up $100 of that $400 offer on their own. Governors are scrambling to figure out how to do that. Gov. Cuomo of New York said the move "only makes a bad situation worse." Gov. Justice of West Virginia estimated it would cost his state $26 million a week. Gov. Kemp of Georgia said the state is still "digging in" on the issue. We're in real deep, folks.

We've got election updates! Remember last Tuesday? How many days have passed since then? Surely more than six. Everyone's still counting votes from last week's primary election, and Rich Smith has updates here. Basically: Forever-incumbent Frank Chopp's race is getting interesting, there will be a false statement on sex ed in the next voters pamphlet, and Rep. Kim Schrier's going to need some help.

Bad news, Smash Mouth fans: Smash Mouth no Mask Mouth.

And finally: Sigh.