Sitemap - 2025 - Notes from the Emerald City

Local surveillance is ramping up in tandem with federal surveillance

We're thinking about the Seattle budget early this year

SPD wants to stop calling its surveillance program a "pilot" 3 weeks after implementation

Yes, surveillance technology IS helping ICE and allowing law enforcement to hunt abortion seekers

Seattle City Council votes in favor of unavoidable advertising in public spaces and weakening their own ethics code

New Seattle councilmembers want to weaken their ethics code as the US is sliding into authoritarianism

We're all waiting to find out exactly how austere the new WA state budget will be

Crime falls in Seattle in spite of SPD's "organizational weaknesses"

Turmoil continues at SPD; WA State legislators search for new revenue to bridge a huge deficit

Toxic work environments reported at both the Washington governor's office and the Seattle mayor's office

Seattle and King County on a bumpy road due to Trump administration chaos

Cities that own SCORE jail seem uninterested in accountability or improvement

AI as game-changer, AI as a tool of political control

Social housing Prop 1A is a major progressive victory in Seattle

Big business goes hard against social housing funding in Seattle

SPD has a new chief and the Seattle City Council and the King County Council have new councilmembers

Obamacare is popular in Washington State

Seattle is the only large city in the US that hasn't had a homicide in 2025

Murder numbers dropped dramatically across the nation in 2024