Our boy “Bobby Ferg”—AKA Attorney General Bob Ferguson is back at it again with another lawsuit against the Trump administration. Ferguson leads a coalition of 13 states including Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico in a lawsuit that challenges changes eyed for the U.S. Postal Service that could undermine the November election. Those changes are paused until after the election now, but the lawsuit will proceed anyway. Ferguson said some damage has already been done and that the worst may be yet to come.

While Washington has been a vote-by-mail state since 2011, most states are not. But many of them have made exceptions this year because of COVID-19, and that could mean as many as 80 million ballots going through election offices — more than double the number returned in 2016.

The changes the postmaster general was set to make included:

• Eliminating staff overtime, even if necessary to complete the day’s work
• Prohibiting mail carriers from making return trips to distribution centers, which means late-arriving mail is left for delivery the following day
• Decommissioning sorting machines, reducing sorting capacity by 10 percent
• Removing mailboxes
• No longer treating all election mail as first-class mail regardless of the postage paid. This forces state election officials to get election mail out sooner or pay first-class postage to ensure timely delivery.

(via the Washington State Office of the Attorney General)

Ferguson said the changes eyed by the postmaster general were unlawful and unconstitutional.

In other news…
A petition to recall councilmember Kshama Sawant has officially been launched. District 3 resident Ernie Lou’s petition points to Sawant’s participation in a march on Mayor Durkan’s home and Sawant’s role in a brief occupation of City Hall in calling for her removal. After the King County attorney approves the petition, the recall effort will need to gather just over 10,000 signatures to move forward. (Capitol Hill Seattle Blog)

Sick at sea with COVID-19. An outbreak of the virus aboard a Seattle-based fishing boat has provided evidence that antibodies may protect people from reinfection. The three crew members whose antibodies indicated they had been infected and recovered survived the outbreak. (The Seattle Times)

Mayor Jenny Durkan is looking to give Uber and Lyft drivers a raise. The mayor’s office had been exploring how to raise drivers’ wages even before the pandemic wiped out business. They’re proposing a piece of legislation that would let Uber and Lyft keep drivers as independent contractors but require them to pay more.  (KUOW)

The matriarch of the northwest apple industry has passed away this summer at the ripe old age of 194. We’re talking about a tree — as you probably gathered from the age — that resided in Vancouver, Washington and was one of the first apple trees planted in the PNW. Locals have honored the tree with its own obituary and even an online remembrance service. (KNKX)

I have one last Storm reference for the week, and then I swear I’ll lay off for a while. But hey, there’s not much else sports-related to talk about anyway, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

My new favorite tweet is also how I’ll be responding to anyone/anything who disappoints or bores me from now on. The Storm dominated the Dallas Wings so much last Friday that the cameras turned to an extremely bored Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart. Their next game is today at 5 p.m. against the Indiana Fever, which will hopefully be a tad more exciting for Sue and the gang.

Take it easy and I’ll meet you back here tomorrow to wrap this week up.

—The Evergrey