Homegrown to close 10 of its 12 restaurants: The Seattle-based sandwich chain will close the majority of its stores and lay off 158 workers this September due to rising labor costs and food prices creating an unsustainable model, according to the company. In March, the employee union had reached an agreement for better working conditions after a 119-day strike.

Black Belt Eagle Scout asks fans for help: Katherine Paul, the Swinomish indie singer-songwriter known for Black Belt Eagle Scout, announced in an Instagram post that she must cancel all future shows over “scary health issues.” In the post, Paul wrote that earlier this year she’d begun experiencing strange symptoms she attributed to pinched nerves. But after medical testing, a top neurologist in Seattle suspects relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Paul wrote that she and her husband, Camas Logue, will not be able to work in coming months and that a GoFundMe has been set up to cover their expenses.

Level 3 fire evacuations in Yakima County: The Retreat Fire near Naches, Washington is burning 1,500 acres and continues to grow, forcing the closure of US 12 in both directions near the resort Rimrock Retreat. According to the Naches Fire Department, the fire started yesterday around 3:45 pm. Officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire.

Council wants more cops: Seattle Police Department Interim Chief Sue Rahr briefed the city council on crime and the department’s inability to attract new officers Tuesday. Rahr blamed the department’s relatively low staff numbers on a lengthy screening and application process. She proposed faster, lower-barrier testing as the solution, and most of the council agreed with her, including Council Member Rob Saka. “The public safety challenges that we’re experiencing today are a shameful legacy of the defund the police movement. And that was wrong then. It’s wrong now,” he said. “From my perspective, defund is dead.”

A reminder that defund never happened. It just never happened. Everyone who says it did is lying or ignorant. Not a single police officer in Seattle has lost their job because of budget cuts from “defund.” In fact, the department consistently gets more money for hiring than it can spend. While the city council in 2020 may have pledged to cut the department’s then-$409 million budget in half, it didn’t. A roughly 10% budget cut between 2020-2021 was mostly due to 911 call center response and Parking Enforcement (which is back under police control) being moved out from the department. 

Illinois State Police release horrific bodycam footage: After three minutes of knocking, Sonya Massey, 36, opened the door for the two Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputies waiting on her doorstep and said, “Please don’t hurt me.” She’d called to report a prowler outside her house. “Why would we hurt you? You called us,” replied Deputy Sean Grayson, who would later shoot and kill Massey after permitting her to attend to a pot of boiling water on her stove. President Joe Biden and Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have called for justice. Grayson has been charged with Massey’s murder. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the House and Senate today: Thousands are expected to protest on Capitol Hill to pressure US lawmakers to stop funding Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians. According to the Gazan health ministry, at least 39,000 people have died.

Sunday was the hottest ever, then Monday broke the record a day later: At a global average temperature of 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit), Monday was the hottest day ever, beating the record temperature set one day before, according to European climate agency Copernicus. A few weeks ago, the climate agency determined June was the 13th straight month of record warmth.

Milwaukee crowd was coconut-pilled: Vice President Kamala Harris’s first rally as the likely Democratic nominee in Milwaukee began with sustained cheering from a crowd of thousands. On stage, Harris made the case that her candidacy is the choice between “freedom and chaos.” Here’s the full speech.

Milwaukee is not the only place loving Harris: Hannah spoke to Democratic delegates in Washington State who are unburdened by what has been and living in the context of all that came before them. As of Sunday afternoon, 80% of Washington’s delegates had pledged support for Harris, a number that’s expected to grow.

New numbers from Reuters/Ipsos polling: It’s only been three days since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, but one of the first national surveys conducted since the big switcheroo put Harris in the lead of a very tight contest with 44% to Trump’s 42%. Remember that this is still far from a clear picture of this race and the gap between the candidates is still within the margin of error.

Meanwhile, the GOP tries to not be racist: House Republican leaders had to tell their lawmakers to focus on Harris’s record, not her race, in a closed-door meeting Tuesday after a handful of them publicly suggested the Black, and South Asian Harris is a “DEI” candidate. House Speaker Mike Johnson told Politico the race should not be “about personalities. It should be about policy.”

What policy? Count on Republicans to hold Harris accountable for Biden’s failures and to zero-in on her role as the administration’s “border czar,” even though she’s not in charge of border policy. Early in his administration, Biden tasked Harris with addressing “root causes” to the influx of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, the same job Barack Obama gave him as VP. She’s primarily focused on attracting investment to Central America.