Good Morning! We’ve got another perfect June day. Highs in the 70s, clear skies, all that jazz. If you’re lucky and your job gives you Juneteenth off, this evening is for drinking on patios, paddling on the water, and forgetting how late it is because the sun goes down at 9:10 today.
But first, the news.
Negotiations Begin: The Trump administration has 60 days to work out a deal with Iran, and VP JD Vance is not inspiring confidence. He’s briefing the press as I type this, and he’s mostly spouting lies and bad jokes. He claimed that Iran’s military and nuclear program have been “destroyed,” but NYT estimates that Iran still has roughly 70 percent of its pre-war missile stockpile. He’s insisting that the financial benefits of the deal will only be available to Iran if they “comply fully” and “change their behavior,” but there are exactly zero stipulations about that in their memorandum of understanding. He made a joke about Joy Reid on The View being harder to negotiate with than Iran. And he’s trying really hard to redirect from the fact that they didn’t consult Israel at all when they said the country would stop bombing Lebanon.
Washington’s Mail-In Voting Hangs in the Balance: Thanks to an Executive Order from Trump (who himself votes by mail), USPS is proposing a rule that would use a list of US citizens from DHS to review who can have a ballot. And Watson v. RNC, which the Supreme Court could rule on any day now, could make it illegal to count ballots after election day. If any of these fall into place, our midterm elections are fucked.
Speaking of the Supreme Court: They have 19 cases still to decide, according to NYT, including their decision on birthright citizenship, trans athletes, and deportation protections, and we should expect them to roll out through the end of June. This morning, they ruled that a history of drug use cannot limit someone’s Second Amendment rights. You can watch the Times’ tracker through the month here.
Sound Transit Takes a Victory Lap: The agency says that light rail carried about 210,000 passengers Monday after the Egypt-Belgium World Cup game. It was their third-highest volume ever, and they did it without any breakdowns or delays. Passengers still waited up to an hour to actually get on a train, but that was all part of their plan, they say. So expect more of the same at Friday’s USA vs. Australia game.
Why Was It Only the Third Highest? Because no one is coming to Seattle for the World Cup. According to Bloomberg, online flight bookings for Seattle for the dates of the tournament are down 21 percent from the same period last summer. For comparison, New York’s bookings are up 7 percent, and Houston’s are up 11. It’s not really our fault, Bloomberg says. We’re just too far away from the other host cities to be part of fans’ multi-city World Cup plans. But they also point out that Seattle was probably counting on a massive boon in our sales tax revenue, and we might have to find another way to plug up that hole in our budget.
Speaking of the USA Game: Are we rooting for the US in 2026? Like I wrote in our Non-Fan’s Guide to the World Cup, if the Winter Olympics are any indication, we still are. But allow me to offer a counterpoint: The Australian team’s official nickname is the Socceroos. Plus, a Women’s World Cup viewing party at Melbourne’s Federation Square got so rowdy that they temporarily banned the party this year (it’s since been unbanned, but Australian officials had to acknowledge the risk of “a few dickheads”).
Don’t Cross the Picket Line: Unionized workers at the Embassy Suites in Pioneer Square, just a hop and a skip from Lumen Field, are officially on strike. Two weeks ago, 94 percent of workers voted to approve a strike as contract negotiations are stalling out. The main issues at play are health insurance, pay (Hilton’s current offer amounts to a less than $1 per hour raise on average over the next five years), and Hilton’s refusal to require that management tell employees when ICE or DHS is on the property. Picketing will last until 9 p.m. tonight, but the strike is indefinite.
Pour One Out for the Whales: Three gray whales were found dead on the Washington coast this week, bringing our 2026 gray whale death count to 30 (the average is around five). Their cause of death is usually malnutrition, the Seattle Times reports, but could also be caused by getting hit by a boat or tangled in equipment. No matter which, it’s our fault.
Wilson Takes Aim at 12th and Jackson: On Wednesday, Mayor Katie Wilson announced a new approach to the area notorious for public drug use. She said she plans to increase police presence and invest $1.1 million in one-time funding for additional services in the area, because “we know we can’t arrest our way out of these problems,” she said.
Harbor Island Gets a Lifeline: The perennially almost-defunded film studio has a chance to stay funded. Stranger contributor Chase Hutchinson reports that a partnership between the county and a yet-to-be-named organization could keep it open for at least one more year, though it isn’t a sure thing or a permanent solution. “The reprieve is just that: it’s a reprieve,” County Councilmember Claudia Balducci told The Stranger. “It’s a ‘try not to shut it down immediately.’ Then we make a plan and the plan has to include the elements of ‘What’s the long-range location and how do we keep this location going until we can legitimately open up the long-range location?’”
It’s June, so I’ll Leave You With Something Gay: Hannah Einbinder’s acceptance speech for the All Good Either Way Award for Bisexuals in Media at last night’s Las Culturistas awards.
