The Capital One Bank Tower in Lake Charles, LA was hit hard by Hurricane Laura last night.
The Capital One Bank Tower in Lake Charles, LA was hit hard by Hurricane Laura last night. Joe Raedle/Getty
West Seattle is getting its own COVID testing site: Located at the Southwest Athletic Complex. You can register now, but testing officially begins tomorrow.

The unemployment numbers are still pretty disappointing: Another 1 million Americans filed new claims last week, only a slight downward tick from the week previous. In total, 27 million workers are on some sort of jobless assistance as of the week ending in August 8.

Unsurprisingly, tear gas is terrible for you and the environment: Documents sent by the city of Portland to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reveal that the compounds in the chemical agent pose a significant health risk to those exposed over a long period of time. Salon has more on it here.

Hurricane Laura made landfall in Cameron, Louisiana at 2:15 am EDT this morning: It hit as a Category Four storm with winds around 150 mph, making it one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the US. It weakened as it swept inland and the storm surge has not yet been as bad as predicted, but strong winds and heavy rain could spark tornadoes. As of this morning, Laura is mainly pounding Louisiana and parts of Texas, with almost half a million people losing power across both states. One 14-year-old girl is Louisiana's first reported fatality. And first light reveals the damage wrought by the storm.

There was a shooting on 23rd and Yesler last night around 9 pm: One gunshot wound victim was dropped off at Harborview just minutes after gunfire was reported to come from a vehicle at the intersection, says CHS Blog. Seattle Police Department is investigating.

32 "contingent and temporary" employees were laid off from MoPOP this week: Even though Gov. Jay Inslee recently cleared the path for museums to reopen in Phase 2, that was not enough to save these employees. A spokesperson for the museum told the Seattle Times, “These roles are meant to help us ramp up staffing when we are at capacity in normal operations and, unfortunately, we won’t be at ‘normal’ for some time.” All of those laid off were part time.

Say goodbye to the Waterfront Park Pier 58: It will be removed starting in early September, following recommendations from engineers that it should be completely taken down within 90 days. Earlier last month it was discovered that the pier had shifted dramatically, leaving a several inch gap between it and the land. I just want the pier and the Sound to be together like the lovers I know they are!

New Zealand mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole, a first for the island nation: In 2019, Brenton Tarrant murdered 51 Muslims as they prayed at two mosques in Christchurch. He livestreamed the mass murder on Facebook. Earlier this year he pled guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder, and one charge of committing a terrorist act.

It was the third night of the Republican National Convention: Despite flagrant mischaracterizations of truth and often outright lies by the speakers, it somehow managed to be the least interesting news of the night. The equivalent of gulping down a glass of 2 percent milk in a warm room. The night was spent hailing President Trump, from how much he's supported Black people and women (lol) to how forcefully he represents America on an international stage.

There were a lot of contenders, but the weirdest speech of the night for me was given by Robert Grenell: He's the former acting director of National Intelligence and ambassador to Germany. He said that he's personally witnessed Trump "charm" German Chancellor Angela Merkel which.........wait, what?

Sentient haunted painting Mike Pence also spoke last night: Accepting the Republican Party's nomination for Vice President once again. He attempted to paint a Biden presidency as scary, telling the viewers at home, "The hard truth is you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." He affirmed his alliance with "those who stand on the thin blue line," calling for law and order in the streets as demonstrators across the country protest the shooting of Jacob Blake. There was a lot of praise for Trump, obviously, and very little time spent on how exactly his administration plans to fix the damage done by the pandemic. CNN has a breakdown of his speech here, but Pence closed his speech with these haunting words: "We will make America great again, again." Make it stop!

I'm still not over: Activist and Republican Clarence Henderson twisting Civil Rights history to support Trump and denounce the protesters around the country.

Meanwhile: Over 100 former staffers for Sen. John McCain, 30 former staffers of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, and 20 Bush-era alums back Biden in three new letters that admonish the current president. Almost all of the signatories still identify as Republican and praise Biden's vision for America despite their differences. 150 down, 62.9 million to go!

TikTok's CEO is getting the heck out of Dodge: Kevin Mayer quit after just three months in his position at the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. This comes as Trump accused the app of threatening national security. One source told FT, "He didn't sign up for this." Here's Murphy's full letter to employees sent out yesterday evening:

Weirdly: TikTok users have been mysteriously counting down to August 27 for no clear reason, with the date becoming a meme on the platform. Spooky shit!

There were two major protests last night in Seattle: One took place on Capitol Hill in Volunteer Park. A group of 40-50 people marched along 15th Avenue, breaking the windows of Canterbury Ale House, Uncle Ike's and Key Bank along the way. On the corner of 15th and E Thomas outside the bank, a peloton of bike cops swooped through to arrest two people.

The other took place outside the State Patrol Building in Eastlake: The Every Day March had posted themselves outside as officers stood between the protesters and the building. Some held the line while others made and tended to a vigil for Summer Taylor, who was killed by a speeding vehicle in July when protesters marched onto I-5. The third arrest of the night was made when officers pulled a protester out of his car, claiming that vehicles were blocking the street. According to livestreams, SPD pepper sprayed the crowd, pushing them back through the neighborhood. The Stranger's Rich Smith has more on last night's protests here.

Co-founder of SIFF Darryl Macdonald has died: He founded the film festival back in 1976, helping shape it into the giant that it is today. He was 70.

"Covid Gag Rules at U.S. Companies Are Putting Everyone at Risk:" Bloomberg goes long on companies like Amazon, McDonald's, Target, Urban Outfitters, and General Electric allegedly forcing their employees to remain silent on coronavirus outbreaks at work.

A new 15 minute COVID-19 test has been given emergency use authorization by the FDA: It costs $5 and can be run without lab equipment, reports The Verge. The company behind it, Abbott, says they plan on making 50 million tests per month by October.

Are you part of the 90 Day Fiancé family? You should be. It's peak smooth-brained reality TV and I honestly canNOT get enough of people making terrible decisions all in the name of "love." Vulture's Josef Adalian talked to TLC about how they built their 90 Day Fiancé franchise empire, which their president calls "our version of a Marvel Comics Universe." Pure brain worms!

Last night: Was the last 8pm sunset of the year. I can't bear to think about what distance hangs will look like in the big gray damp that's just around the corner.

Something to groove to this morning: Been back on my sad girl shit listening to these slowed + reverb remixes of Rihanna, Summer Walker, and The Weeknd songs. They are so good! All druggy and sexy. They are made by a heap of DJs on YouTube and are accompanied by a looped video of pretty scenes from animes or other stylish cartoons. Pitchfork has a good feature on the phenomenon which you should read. One of my favorites is the slowed + reverb version of Doja Cat's "Rules." God-tier!