The Mayor's is trying to force city employees to return to work downtown a couple days a week, and some of those workers think the policy prioritizes the interests of business over their well-being. The employees' union says 23% of its members are considering quitting rather than returning to the commute. If any are considering a career change, I hear the Mayor cares about staffing for at least one city department.

No, we most certainly will not: King County Republicans Chair Matthew Thomas wants voters in the 47th Legislative District to "look at the issues and the candidates and give us one shot[.]" We here at the SECB have taken many looks at the "issues" and candidates the GOP put forward this year, and we saved you the trouble of staring into the moral abyss that is the value system of any candidate running under the insurrectionist party's banner. When your ballot arrives, here's a handy cheat sheet for voting the SECB ticket.

Seattle isn't dying: In fact, King County is one of just a third of Washington's counties where more people were born than died in the last year. Gene Balk has more detail on the latest data from the Office of Financial Management over at the Seattle Times.

WA Dems middling on Biden's job performance: The latest drip of polling data from the Seattle Times' WA Poll shows 79% of self-identified Democrats at least "somewhat approve" of the job Biden's done in the Oval Office. Since the same poll found Senator Patty Murray leading her GOP challenger by double digits, it seems like voters' discontent is concentrated on the guy who promised he'd be able to navigate a challenging Senate to get things done but ... hasn't.

A defense of political ageism: New nationwide polling finds just 1% of young voters (18-29) approve of the job Biden is doing as president. They're not out of touch or setting unrealistic expectations driven by youthful idealism. These young people would simply like to live in a habitable planet with something resembling a functioning economy in their mid-40s. One survey respondent somehow captured the exact words I used to scream internally during every meeting I ever had as a Democratic Party flack:

"How are you going to accurately lead your country if your mind is still stuck 50, 60 or 70 years ago?... It’s not the same, and people aren’t the same, and your old ideas aren’t going to work as well anymore.”

Love to live in President Manchin's world:

Washingtonians still want to ban assault weapons: According to their joint WA Poll with the Seattle Times, KING 5 says 61% of people surveyed backed a ban on assault weapons. That figure matches a survey from earlier this year, when the Northwest Progressive Institute found 56% support for an assault weapons ban.

Summer travel tips in the age of COVID: The Washington Post did the CDC's work by collecting advice from leading health experts on how to keep yourself as safe as reasonably possible while traveling this summer. If only there were some kind of regulatory entity that could make those best practices required in every crowded indoor space nationwide...

I'm sure Lucy won't yank the football away from us this time!

Public Health blog gets based: In what I can only describe as a sign of our times, a government agency designed to keep us all healthy referred to the past year as a "dumpster fire of stress and anxiety." They're specifically referencing parents' struggles adapting to an ever-changing pandemic, but I don't think you need to have procreated to identify with that description. If you are a parent, they've got actually useful advice on keeping your spawn COVID-free this summer.

Good local sports news! I don't understand baseball in the slightest, but many Seattleites I follow on Twitter seem very excited that the Mariners do not seem to suck at the moment. 

More news on the deleted texts front: And this time, it doesn't involve our potentially felonious former mayor! It's the Secret Service's turn to have conveniently deleted critical public records, specifically texts during a little protest-turned-coup-attempt on January 6th. I vaguely remember a lot of Very Serious People telling us something about a "rule of law" mattering in America, but that must have been a COVID fever dream.

Someone get me off the set of this Black Mirror episode: 

I'll end PM with this flashback to what could be remembered as the origin story for our next race-baiting, far-right president.