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Homeland Security retreats on plan to get data on mail-in voters

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is walking back, for now, a plan to sweep up data on millions of Americans who vote by mail under President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail ballots.

Christine Bumstead Named Head Coach of the Seattle Torrent

The Seattle Torrent named Christine Bumstead as the head coach for the franchise’s second year. Bumstead was an assistant coach during the team’s inaugural season and takes over the role from Steve O’Rourke who was let go on May 22. In their press release, the Torrent’s GM Meghan Turner said, “Christine brings a valuable combination of hockey expertise, leadership presence, and an unwavering commitment to high standards.” Before joining the Torrent, she spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies while also doing player development work with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. She later served as an assistant on gold-medal-winning Team Manitoba’s staff at the 2025 WHL Cup, and led Canada’s national team at the 2024 World Deaf Ice Hockey Championship as both head coach and general manager. As for an NHL connection, Bumstead was invited to join the Florida Panthers as a development camp guest coach in 2024, after that year’s Stanley Cup win, and sat in as an assistant coach for a preseason game. This gig apparently happened because of a hunting trip where she got a chance to discuss hockey philosophy with Paul Maurice during a long car ride. Also in their press release, Bumstead is quoted as saying, “I believe Seattle is the best city in the world for women’s sports. The best is still ahead for Seattle Torrent hockey, and we can’t wait to continue growing.” In this biased reporter’s opinion, she ain’t wrong about Seattle being the best city in the world for women’s sports. We’ll see how the season shapes up as the expansion process unfolds in the coming weeks.

Support WA State Parks with specialty license plates

Funds from these plates, which depict a waterfall and a mountain range, help go towards park programming.

Seattleites Frantically Search for Plausible Excuse to Cancel Plans with World Cup

Although initially looking forward to it when they put it on their calendars four years ago, today Seattle residents realizing the first World Cup match in their city is almost here started frantically looking for plausible excuses for getting out of it. “So sorry to do this, but is there any way we could reschedule […]

Julia Gosling Signs Two-Year Deal With the Torrent

Julia Gosling rejected a foundational player offer (FPO) to become a key component for the Seattle Torrent next year. She signed a two-year deal and became the first of Seattle’s Phase 3 protections and fourth protected player overall. She will be joined by Alex Carpenter, Hanna Murpy, and Anna Wilgren, all protected in Phase 1. Seattle has two more protection slots to use before the Phase 3 deadline of June 12. Gosling became famous for her 5-point performance for Canada’s Silver Medal win during the Winter Olympics and tied Alex Carpenter for first place in points for the Torrent. Torrent fans must brace themselves for a team that will look very different than the one they knew last season. Detroit will now be home to Hanna Bilka and Cayla Barnes. Corinne Shroeder will now find herself between the pipes in San Jose. Hilary Knight is heading to Las Vegas, though this is a move to join Bilka and Barnes in Detroit in exchange for a first-round draft pick.

Donations help family of Auburn girl who died in accident

Only days before her eighth birthday, Hazel Bryant was playing in her Auburn neighborhood with family nearby on May 22 when she was fatally struck by a car backing out of a driveway.

SIFF Reviews: “Are You Native?” “Powwow People”

When it comes to curating and programming — choosing which films get put into a certain category or get paired with another film for the maximum movie-goer experience — the folks over at Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) are doing everything right, because these two great documentaries (short doc and feature-length doc) that came out in this year’s SIFF are both Indigenous-made, both related to the Puget Sound and both feature (in some capacity) the master of Master of Ceremonies Reuben Little Head doing what he does best as a popular Powwow host throughout the west.

ICE to Help Protect World Cup Host Cities from Making Any Money from International Tourists

U.S. World Cup host cities including Seattle, LA, Boston, New York City and Atlanta were assured today that ICE is already on-hand to protect them all from making any money from international tourists. “Just like at the airports earlier this year, we’re here whenever a city needs help fighting the scourge of toururism,” said ICE […]

Mercer Island student dies from lacrosse injury

Mercer Island High School (MIHS) administrators informed the community on June 7 of the loss of one of its students.

The Golden Road brings ‘Europe ‘72’ back to life at Hidden Hall

On Thursday, July 23, Seattle’s thriving Grateful Dead community will gather at Hidden Hall for a special evening celebrating one of the most beloved live recordings in rock history. The Golden Road returns to Fremont’s newest music venue with a two-set performance dedicated to “Europe ‘72,” the Grateful Dead’s landmark triple live album that remains a touchstone for generations of Deadheads.

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Seattle Torrent Protect Wilgren, Murphy, Carpenter in Expansion Draft

The Torrent have made some interesting choices in the upcoming expansion process by choosing to protect Anna Wilgren, Hannah Murphy, and Alex Carpenter. Not exactly an expansion draft, the PWHL’s Expansion Roster Distribution Process is a six-phase series of very complicated (I would argue unnecessarily complicated) rules to add four new teams to the previously eight-team league, increasing the size by 50%. Because so many of the players are free agents, they couldn’t do a traditional expansion draft process, so we ended up with this. The Torrent signed Alex Carpenter and protected her, which was one of the three protection slots. The players on the roster eligible for protection are Fowards: Jenna Buglioni, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, Hannah Bilka, Alex Carpenter, Lexia Adzija, Danielle Sardachny Defenders: Cayla Barnes, Anna Wilgren Goalies: Corinne Schroeder, Hannah Murphy Everyone else is a free agent, including Hilary Knight. It’s all turmoil these days with expansion. With two more slots to go, the Torrent chose to protect defender Anna Wilgren and goalie Hannah Murphy. “Ha ha, Zaiem,” I can hear you saying now with a tinge of contempt, “you’ve made a mistake. You accidentally typed some other name instead of Hannah Bilka’s! Nice journalism and attention to detail.” If only. Yes that’s right, forward Hannah Bilka was not protected. Now, I don’t know what GM Meghan Turner is thinking here, but one thing that is of concern is that Bilka did not return to the Torrent after sustaining an undisclosed injury en route to winning gold in the Olympics in Milan. Since hockey injuries aren’t required to be disclosed and therefore never ever are, we don’t know what it was (is?). Maybe it’s serious? Maybe they are betting that she won’t get taken by an expansion team because of the injury? Or maybe it’s just an interesting decision. Hannah Murphy is not a surprising pick. She’s 22 years old and she has a lot of upside as a goalie, a position that tends to peak later in age. I also find her impossibly charming, but that was probably not a factor in the decision to keep her (probably). Defender Anna Wilgren was the third protection slot, which was the real surprise. Bilka or Barnes were the ones I was expecting, but Wilgren was a surprise. I have, however, since talked myself into it. Steve O’Rourke, the recently fired Torrent coach, spoke highly of her and I do like her 200 foot game. He talked about how she altered her game to try to make the Olympic team and it messed with her a bit, but as the season went on, she got better and better. Anna Wilgren being protected by the Seattle Torrent is probably the one decision that stands out as a surprise to most.My mind immediately went back to the postgame after her 3-point game vs. Minnesota. O'Rourke is obviously gone, but it shows how the org feels about her. pic.twitter.com/EMlQuiKX2B— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) June 3, 2026 And so we march on with this overwrought expansion process. Where were you when we moved from Phase 1 to Phase 2?