Seattle

Harrell's team quietly rewrote a report that found police hiring bonuses don't work, trimming it to bullet points recommending the city keep them anyway: just as the Council debates reinstating the bonuses SPD dropped in September. Also this week: Shon Barnes' next gig, a candidate's photo pulled from a transit station, and new hires in Mayor Wilson's office.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett

Rain's moving in this weekend, so the city's cheap-event calendar skews indoors: an all-ages Halloween cabaret with handmade costumes and a costume contest, a comedy show, a book swap, and an Artists of Color expo all land before Monday.

— via The Stranger, EverOut Staff

Former Seattle police chief Shon Barnes resigned under pressure and walked away with a going-away package worth almost $750,000, landing a new gig selling surveillance tech to police departments. Elsewhere, Sound Transit yanked a campaign-season station photo of a City Council candidate's family within 48 hours of a complaint.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett

Lola Young's "Messy" success lands her the biggest North American run yet, with a Seattle date on the Everything Begins Tour. Fontaines D.C. hit the road behind new album Dopamine Chamber, plus early ticket warnings for Greta Van Fleet and Dancing with the Stars.

— via The Stranger, EverOut Staff

Vance bans Microsoft from a green card program while cheering the company's AI layoffs. RFK Jr. calls two Pennsylvania measles deaths "fabricated," and Patty Murray says the CDC is redefining how it counts the dead.

— via The Stranger, Megan Seling

Seattle's new "connection court" launched this week promising services over jail, but the public defenders who spent months building it with City Attorney Erika Evans want nothing to do with it. Their complaint: a 90-day no-arrest rule that's more than triple the old court's window and can bounce homeless people out for sleeping outside.

— via The Stranger, Nathalie Graham

An AI video of a murder victim moved a judge to tears, then got the sentence thrown out anyway. Plus a bull elk's death, a botched execution's medical autopsy, and Trump's oddly selective nuke targets.

— via The Stranger, Charles Mudede

Hayley Williams told DHS to "suck on my fat dick" after a Fox News statement scolded her for cursing ICE onstage. Also this week: Kelly Clarkson confesses she's "obsessed" with AI, Timberlake won't rule out more beatboxing, and Chrissie Hynde praises the Taylor Swift song everyone else hates.

— via The Stranger, Audrey Vann

A city analysis found hiring bonuses did little to recruit new Seattle police officers. Records show Harrell administration staff rewrote the report's drafts until it concluded the opposite, days before SPD leaders asked the council to keep paying out.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett

Seattle's bike and scooter rentals are set to smash last year's record by December, not October as planned: 10 million rides already logged, with usage up 68 percent year over year. Scooters outnumber bikes nearly three to one, and FIFA tourism isn't the main driver.

— via PubliCola, Josh Feit

A week-long challenge dares Seattleites to ditch the car entirely, right as a transit tax measure sits on next month's ballot. Plus: climate artists embed with scientists in a flooding watershed, John Wilson turns concrete into a Hallmark-style documentary, and Dälek returns after 28 years with a flamethrower aimed at the ruling class.

— via The Stranger, Julianne Bell, Nathalie Graham, Amanda Manitach, and Dave Segal

An SPD officer filmed himself inside precincts, at a crime scene and while driving, and the footage ended up in a promo reel for Rokid's AI glasses. He's now on administrative leave while the company keeps using the video.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett

Mayor Katie Wilson tells councilmembers demanding 1,400 police officers to slow down: the city hasn't even funded the 1,250 it already promised. She also pushes back on permanent CCTV at Seattle Center after the Bite shooting, floating mobile cameras instead.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett

Seattle's October lineup runs from Kacey Musgraves' disco balls to Doja Cat, GeekGirlCon, and an Impractical Jokers star bringing unseen footage and live audience stunts to Capitol Hill. One list, every genre, all the dates you need.

— via The Stranger, EverOut Staff

Crisp fall weekend, packed calendar: a brand-new Radical Vegan Fest, Oktoberfest West Seattle, street parties from Holgate to the U District, and a horror series pairing Cannibal Holocaust and A Serbian Film with drag pre-shows, proceeds going to Scarecrow Video.

— via The Stranger, EverOut Staff

A Seattle instrumental trio brings post-rock, metal and whatever "sailor metal" turns out to be into The Stranger's HQ for a live session. Watch the latest episode of Noise Complaint, the paper's new biweekly performance podcast.

— via The Stranger, Stranger Staff

A Washington immigrant-rights nonprofit just laid off half its staff and gutted its ICE reporting hotline, right as deportation arrests spike statewide. Workers say the cuts followed union-busting and infighting, not just the funding crunch leadership blames.

— via The Stranger, Cedar Attanasio

Seattle’s interim police chief admitted he never read the initiative he accused a detective of lying about, basing a career-ending misconduct complaint on a right-wing podcaster’s claims instead. The detective retired after the backlash; the complaint was later dismissed.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett

Seattle's interim police chief filed a misconduct complaint against a detective for debunking anti-trans ballot measures at a press conference, then admitted under OPA questioning he never read the initiative or SPD's own political advocacy policy. He based his complaint entirely on an email from a right-wing podcaster. The detective retired over it.

— via The Stranger, Nathalie Graham

A baseline mix-up using 2020 pay instead of 2024 just cost Seattle taxpayers over $13 million, with one officer pocketing $32,000 too much. Hundreds got five-figure overpayments, and the police guild's contract doesn't even say they have to give it back.

— via PubliCola, ericacbarnett