A brief protest roundup: 

• The city is facing more than 40 legal claims from protesters who were injured during recent demonstrations here. Due to the pandemic, the city is already facing a tight budget. They allotted just $28 million for this year but could end up spending more. (The Seattle Times)
• Washington State Patrol arrested nine protestors who were a part of the group that shut down southbound lanes of I-5 on Friday. The group is known as the Morning March and organizes almost every weekday. The Stranger reporter Nathalie Graham captured video of the protest.
• Monday’s Labor Day protests at the Seattle Police Officers Guild headquarters in SoDo saw 22 people arrested. Here’s a thread from Heidi Groover of The Seattle Times.
• More private security is showing up in Capitol Hill. Lately, the city’s parks department has hired Jaguar Security to patrol Cal Anderson Park following the police raid and camp sweep there. (Capitol Hill Seattle Blog)

It has now been over 100 days since Seattle saw its first weekend of protests and I’m curious if any of you are still attending them? Every headline that reports another shooting of a Black person seems to weigh more and more heavily. If you’re not protesting, are you doing other things like trying to educate yourself or donating money to people fighting for these issues? Or maybe you’re just tired? I don’t know and there’s no judgment.

But I do want to know how we can help you feel like you’re doing something. Whether that’s providing articles or book titles on this subject or highlighting local people to follow on social media. Let me know what would be most helpful to you by replying to this email.

In other news…
King County Metro is hoping to ramp up service. Buses will start to charge fares beginning next month after a hiatus that’s lasted since the start of the pandemic. Onboard passengers will also find plexiglass partitions to minimize contact and mask dispensers on the busiest routes. (Capitol Hill Seattle Blog)

How one local woman has helped provide 18,000 meals for Seattle’s frontline workers. Science writer Ellen Kuwana started providing meals for healthcare workers and those in research labs back in March when she got pizza for the UW virology lab. Now, she has set up the nonprofit We Got This Seattle — which you can donate to here — and continues to coordinate meal deliveries. (High Country News)

A global food hall comes to Tukwila. Alright, so this is a bit out of the way for Seattle folx but…I think this is going to be worth the trek. The nonprofit Food Innovation Network has opened up a place inside the Tukwila Village development where eventually up to 20 immigrant and refugee restaurateurs can rent out space to run their businesses. The space opened on Tuesday with four food stalls, four more will open in October. (Eater Seattle)

Tahlequah is a mother once again. The orca famous for grieving her dead newborn in 2018 was spotted swimming with her newborn calf on Saturday. An estimated six to eight females would need to give birth every year, however, for the southern resident killer whales to bounce back from near extinction. (KUOW)

If you’ve been looking for a way to give back lately, United Way of King County’s Days of Caring week kicks off on Monday. For five days, you can sign up to volunteer virtually or from a socially safe distance. Each morning you’ll get an email about opportunities for that day’s theme. You can check out more details and sign up here: https://www.uwkc.org/events/day-of-caring/

That’s it for today, take it easy folks! See you tomorrow. 👋

—The Evergrey