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Sweet Caffeine keeping the tradition of tiny coffee alive on Broadway

It has not been the easiest time for Broadway’s tiniest coffee businesses. You might miss the magnetic sign outside Sweet Caffeine but there’s a big “Coffee” sign next to the window. For the past three months, Dave Thornton has opened … Continue reading →

‘We Keep Us Safe’ — NPR podcast series investigates deadly shooting that ended CHOP

The unsolved deadly shooting of a San Diego teenager during the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest will be the subject of a new investigative podcast series from National Public Radio. Meanwhile, the city is seeking to appeal a $30 million jury … Continue reading →

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Virtue Coffee and Cocktails: The only new* Capitol Hill food+drink project of 2026?

A rare opening of a new mixed-use development on Capitol Hill will also bring something else not seen a lot these days in the central city — a wholly new food and drink space joining the area’s mix of bars, … Continue reading →

Seattle City Council sets August deadline for mayor to sort out King County Regional Homelessness Authority mess

The Seattle City Council has set a date for leaders and Mayor Katie Wilson to chart a path for the city on homelessness in ...

SDOT restores Central District’s red, black, and green Pan-African crosswalks

The Seattle Department of Transportation is restoring the Central District’s Pan-African flag crosswalks in time for Juneteenth. The work at 11 crossings at seven locations across the neighborhood is part of the city’s periodic retouches under its community crosswalk program … Continue reading →

Be ready for weekend traffic snarls during full closure of northbound I-5

Capitol Hill drivers and transit riders should brace for significant delays this weekend. The Washington State Department of Transportation has announced a full closure of northbound Interstate 5 through the heart of Seattle, stretching from I-90 past the Ship Canal … Continue reading →

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?

More changes for Capitol Hill groceries and the neighborhood’s community of corner shops as City Market has new owners in $7.5M land deal

A $7.5 million property deal will further change Capitol Hill’s grocery and corner market landscape. The new owners of 1722 Bellevue Ave at the ...

‘Better-than-baseline’ — Seattle sales tax would reach 10.7% under Wilson Seattle Transit Measure proposal

With roots as an advocate for investment in the city’s system of buses, trolleys, and trains, Mayor Katie Wilson is pushing for Seattle residents to support a doubling of the current 0.15% sales tax in her proposed renewal of the … Continue reading →

City honors slain Garfield High student as 2024 shooting goes unsolved

June 6th will be Amarr A’Shaun Murphy-Paine Day in Seattle. Two years following the 17-year-old’s killing in a parking lot shooting outside Garfield High School, the city is recognizing the teen’s legacy with the proclamation as the 23rd Ave campus … Continue reading →

Seattle Torrent Sign Alex Carpenter, Protect Her From Expansion Thieves

The Seattle Torrent re-signed forward Alex Carpenter to a 3-year PWHL Standard Player Agreement on June 2, keeping one of the franchise’s foundational pieces through 2028-29 and committing one of the team’s 3 protection slots under the league’s Expansion Roster Distribution Process (proper noun) ahead of 2026-27. If that sounded like word salad, it’s the entire expansion process is word salad. Carpenter signed as one of Seattle’s foundational players in June 2025 and played all 30 regular-season games of the inaugural season, serving as one of the first alternate captains in team history. The 32-year-old from North Reading, MA, tied Julia Gosling for the team scoring lead with 20 points, led the Torrent with 12 goals, and ranked second with 8 assists. Carpenter came to Seattle after playing 2 seasons with the New York Sirens. She’s the third all-time leading scorer in PWHL history with 63 points (31, 36A) and she has 16 power play assists, the actual most in league history. She’s also an Olympic medalists, having won gold in the 2026 Winter Games, and winning silver in Beijing 2022 and Sochi 2014. (She was left off the She represented the United States at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan and won her first gold after silver in Beijing 2022 and Sochi 2014. (She was a shocking cut from the 2018 gold medal-winning Pyeongchang team, so Milan was her first Olympic gold). She has 18 Olympic points (11G, 7A), which is fifth all-time in U.S. Olympic women’s history. The PWHL is adding four teams this season, and since so much of the league is not under contract, they can’t do a traditional expansion draft, so they have this byzantine six phase process that is…well, the video does a good job explaining it. But Carpenter is locked into one of the 3 protection slots available to teams during Phase 1. Teams have until today at 2pm to finalize their three protection slots before Phase 2: Expansion Team Foundational Signing Period. (No, seriously, that’s how it’s officially communicated by the PWHL. That is a proper noun.) There’s going to be a lot of turmoil with the league expanding by 50% from 8 teams to 12 teams. In addition to all the roster turnover, the Torrent also fired head coach Steve O’Rourke. These first few years of expansion are real Wild West.