Three are dead after a mass shooting at University of Virginia. This morning police arrested a suspect, who is reportedly a former member of the schoolā€™s football team. Other mass shootings this weekend left four injured in Philadelphia, one dead and five injured in North Carolina, one dead and seven injured in Omaha, four injured in Texas, four injured in Sacramento, four injured in New Jersey, four injured in Memphis, and one dead and three injured in Indio, California. Overall, a normal weekend. Closer to home, students at Ingraham High School are planning a walkout today to demand action on gun violence after a shooting last week.

Do not snuggle up in front of a nice roaring fire. I hope you didnā€™t pack up your air purifier. Burn bans are in effect for several adjoining counties (Pierce and Snohomish), and King Countyā€™s air is looking worrisome due to some particularly dry, stagnant air. Expect moderate air quality this week, hopefully cleaning up a bit once we hit the weekend and more rain comes.

Amazon to lay off "thousands:"Ā Sources tell the New York Times that the e-commerce giant could cut back around 10,000 in its devices and retail division as well as in human resources. The company invested its pandemic profits into "expansion and experimentation to find the next big things," and now they're "trimming businesses that have been overstaffed or underdelivering for years."

Itā€™s bonkers that volunteers have to do this. Thanks for cleaning sidewalks and bike paths! The City should be doing that for you!

What housing crisis? You may recall the fuss over the dumpy old building at 229 Broadway, currently home to Jai Thai and a Mud Bay. Developers want to tear it down and build 100 units of 100% affordable housing in its place, but because it was built several decades ago, itā€™s at risk of being historic-landmarked, which could block any new housing from being added. (The architect who designed it has a particularly unsavory past, so what would we even be commemorating by preserving it?) Anyway, the buildingā€™s first public hearing before the landmarks board is happening this Wednesday at 3:30 pm, should you wish to comment.

Buy local. Hereā€™s a great gift-buying guide that highlights opportunities to support Native craftspeople and markets. Check out the list for tons of vendors offering great art and crafts, and take a look at the Duwamish gift shop here.

So long to Joe Kent, Washingtonā€™s official state doofus. Marie Gluesenkamp PĆ©rez has clinched her win in southwest Washington's 3rd Congressional District, thank God. It was a nail-biter, especially since her rival, Joe Kent, was particularly dreadful. (He boasted of his endorsement by Trump while throwing out the usual conspiracy theories about COVID and January 6 and immigration.) As of last night, Kent was continuing to tweet that he could still win the race. As in all matters on which he speaks, he has no fucking clue what heā€™s talking about.

Ban cars. Sound Transit temporarily suspended rail service this weekend so workers could do some construction in the tunnels, and they provided shuttle buses to keep people moving. Well, that was the plan, at least. Riders experienced problems with wayfinding and with buses bunching up, leading to some frustrating commutes. Riders also found themselves stuck in slow-moving traffic caused by private cars clogging the streets. What they should have done was convert the routes to bus-only so cars couldnā€™t get in the way. Maybe next time!

So much for public art. A whole bunch of Paul Allenā€™s art collection just went up for sale to private collectors at Christieā€™s auction house, bringing in around $1.5 billion. Ten years ago, Allen said that his collection should be available for the public to appreciate. Oh well! A few thousand pieces are also expected to go to MoPOP, so at least not all of it is falling into the hands of the filthy rich.

So long, single-family zoning? Jay Inslee is at a UN climate change conference in Egypt right now, and bless Ryan Packer for staying up late to livetweet his remarks. Among the interesting highlights: Inslee is signaling that we may finally have the votes next year to end exclusionary zoning, which keeps housing supply artificially low.

Good comics! Weā€™re still catching up from the election last week, so I didnā€™t have a chance to do a full review of new comics. But if youā€™re looking for some good reading, then mosey on down to the comic shop and look for Below Ambition, a very online stoner comedy about getting the band back together when youā€™re old. Or check out Itā€™s Lonely at the Center of the Earth, a fascinating tale of finding creativity from within depression. And! Thereā€™s a 30th anniversary special for Death of Superman, ugh, I canā€™t believe itā€™s been thirty years.

Hereā€™s your weekly street barricade report. The sign that has for weeks been vandalized by some unknown creep will be getting a sturdier installation soon. Iā€™m not convinced this will do the trick, since previous attempts to bolt the sign to the pavement were thwarted, but weā€™ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Ikea is giving ā‚¬600 million to climate initiatives. The money will be focused on developing plant-based proteins and reducing agricultural emissions.

Last chance to see. Thereā€™s a butterfly that only lives on San Juan Island, but probably not for long. Scientists are doing their best to prevent it from going extinct, but climate change is making it tough. Rich wrote about the struggle back in 2016.

Thereā€™s a shortage of pediatric medicine in Canada. If youā€™re planning a trip north with a child, then maybe pack some kid-friendly medicine just in case. A wave of respiratory illness has depleted Canadaā€™s supply of many key medications, along with a shortage that began in the spring that cascaded to increased demand for other drugs. On this side of the border, about 1,300 Americans have died from the flu so far this year. Flu and COVID rates remain high as well. The good news is that Washingtonā€™s flu activity is relatively low for now.

So long, Batman. Voice actor Kevin Conroy passed away late last week.