Seattleā€™s downtown tunnel may wind up costing taxpayers even more. The latest head-shaker in the long, sad saga of State Route 99 is the woeful underuse of the warp-zone tunnel that runs beneath downtown. Not enough drivers are opting in to the tolled road, and now itā€™s looking like other road projects may have to be defunded in order to keep the tunnel open.

Is it safe to breathe yet? That depends on how you define ā€œsafe.ā€ Seattleā€™s air quality is still much smokier than it has been at this time in past yearsā€“I hesitate to say ā€œsmokier than normalā€ because what does ā€œnormalā€ even mean anymore? The air was particularly bad this weekend, reaching levels hazardous for all people and forcing some to postpone events. (Some also avoided municipal facilities that werenā€™t doing all they could to protect patrons.) We may see some limited clearing today, but dirty air will likely linger until Friday, when weā€™re expected to get a lengthy and much-needed dousing of rain.

Tips for reducing exposure can be found here and air quality updates are here. Personally, Iā€™m running two separate air filters at high speed 24 hours a day (I like the Coway Airmega) and wearing a heavy-duty ā€œIā€™m resurfacing a tubā€ face mask when I have to go outside.

Oh and by the way, a new fire broke out this weekend. Say hello to the smoke plume from the Loch Katrine Fire, which joins the Murphy Lake Fire, Bolt Creek Fire, White River Fire, Minnow Ridge Fire, and Suiattle River fire, among many others.

Russian soldiers killed a Ukrainian conductor for refusing to collaborate with them on a concert. According to the Ukrainian culture ministry, Russia wanted conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko to take part in a propaganda effort in support of Russian occupation. He refused, and they shot him dead.Ā 

Supreme Court lets racist rulings stand. The court today declined an opportunity to revisit the "Insular Cases" rulings from over a century ago, which deny full citizenship to residents of American Samoa. The cases were previously upheld by lower courts, and defended by the current Justice Department.

Content warnings throughout. The Seattle Times has an exhaustive investigation into Solomon ā€œRazā€ Simone, a local hip-hop artist accused of abuse by multiple women. Police did nothing to help, the women say. Simone denies the allegation, and police deny any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, at Amazon... A Washington law requires employers to accommodate requests for time off from victims of domestic abuse, stalking, and sexual assault. But a former Amazon employee says her bosses fired her instead. Now she's suing.Ā 

So much for human rights. Four of the twelve members of the Seattle Human Rights Commission have resigned, according to a report in the South Seattle Emerald, citing a lack of respect and institutional support. There are some particularly damning allegations against Mayor Bruce Harrell, who commissioners say attended a meeting mostly to talk about himself.

Goodbye, trees. The Denny/Vine pavement-to-parks project (halfway between downtown and the Space Needle) was always a pretty neglected-looking space, and now the City has removed the planters, which had a couple of unhappy trees.

What happened in Green Lake? Few details are available regarding the discovery of a 71-year-old woman's body floating in Greek Lake Sunday morning. Police have not said anything about who the victim was, or how she got there. A teenager was found dead in the lake last year, and the circumstances of his death remain unknown as well.

Sorry about all the bad news today. Local dog celebrity Eclipse has passed away after a battle with cancer. Eclipse was known for taking the bus by herself to a nearby dog park.

Now thatā€™s how you deliver a speech. Alex Mingus came upon a man bleeding from gunshot wounds on October 8 and helped staunch the bleeding, saving the manā€™s life. During that time, multiple police cars passed by without stopping to offer aid, which is why Mingus is now speaking out against the inaction of cops. ā€œThey donā€™t keep us safe, we keep us safe,ā€ he said. ā€œRiots work.ā€

Cars kill. A 26-year-old woman crashed her car into a taco stand in Pomona, CA Friday night, killing a father of four and then fleeing the scene before turning herself in to police. The victim was Robert Sanchez, who was remembered in a ceremony on Saturday. In completely unrelated news, the new promenade being built at Melrose and Pine has no protective bollards, and drivers are already abusing it.

Is Steve Bannon going to jail? The Department of Justice is requesting a six-month sentence for ignoring a subpoena related to January 6. He'll be sentenced on Friday.

Welp, I guess this is the song thatā€™ll be stuck in my head for the next week. Even after all these years, my brain refuses to accept that Elijah Wood and Tobey Maguire are not the same person.