The Amazon buses are coming next week.
The Amazon buses are coming. Eric Broder Van Dyke/Shutterstock

Amazon Is Starting a Bus Service for Its Employees—and Their Dogs: Beginning Monday, "'Amazon Ride' will run six times in the morning and six times in the evening at 20 minute intervals from the suburban communities of Bellevue, Issaquah and Redmond to Amazon’s South Lake Union campus and the new Doppler building in the Denny Triangle," GeekWire reports. A website for the service says it's "dog friendly!"

Why? "A commuter service could give Amazon access to tech talent living on the Eastside the same way the Connector has helped Microsoft appeal to Seattle residents," GeekWire's Nat Levy writes. "It’s possible that Amazon is missing out on prospective employees who want to work for the online retail giant but don’t want to deal with commuting across Lake Washington and the mess of traffic that South Lake Union has become—driven largely by Amazon’s ascendance and the Seattle region’s emergence as one of the country’s top tech markets."

Hmmmmm, You Know What Else Would Help Employees Deal with Commuting? A massive expansion in the region's light rail system, allowing Amazon employees to get to work without getting stuck in traffic. (The good news: Amazon has given $100,000 to the campaign for Sound Transit 3/Proposition 1, the light rail proposal on your ballot this fall.)

How the Seattle Police Secretly—and Illegally—Purchased a Tool for Tracking Your Social Media Posts: For the last two years, the Seattle Police Department has been using a tracking software to see and map posts on social media. After Ansel started asking the SPD questions about the software—and how its purchase violated city law—the department said it has stopped using the software.

Christiana Eala: “I’m doing this for my grandchildren.”
Christinia Eala: “I’m doing this for my grandchildren.” Sydney Brownstone

How the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Stood Up to Big Oil and Built a New Activist Movement: Go read Sydney's feature on the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline. "The unprecedented size of the Standing Rock demonstrations, the Obama administration's intervention, the presence of the National Guard, the historic number of tribes coming together nonviolently—clearly something new was happening here on the plains, something that could have repercussions for any group of people, anywhere, fighting resource exploitation battles of the 21st century," she writes. "But lost in the flurry of coverage explaining this historical moment was also something else: another, parallel movement unfolding, a movement that was obvious to spiritual leaders and to the thousands of people who had come to camp, a movement that is maybe impossible to describe to those who weren't there but is worth trying to somehow convey."

Family Says New Father Was Murdered after Road Rage Incident: The family of Dennis Sloboda, a 33-year-old man shot to death in Federal Way Monday, says his death came after a road rage incident, the Seattle Times reports. The family says Sloboda cut someone off while driving to the hospital to see his wife, who had recently given birth, and the other driver pulled a gun, then followed Sloboda to his brother's apartment. Later that night, Sloboda was shot in the head through the back of his car about five minutes from his brother's home.

Where Seattle Could Become Denser: The city has released maps showing where developers will be allowed to build larger buildings under Seattle's new Mandatory Housing Affordability program. (MHA requires developers to set aside affordable units or pay a fee in exchange for extra height.)

Fire Destroys West Seattle Apartment Building, Displacing 47 People: West Seattle Blog has photos and video. The Red Cross is assisting the displaced.


California Police Shoot Black Man, Sparking Protests: Police in El Cajon, California, say they shot the man after he was reportedly behaving "erratically" and then raised both hands as if clasping a gun. "Friends of the man's family saying he suffers from a mental illness and did not pose a threat to the officers," the Los Angeles Times reports.

The Most Republican Block in Seattle: Is "a large, upscale retirement community called Mirabella," KUOW reports.

Another Newspaper that Doesn't Usually Endorse Democrats Has Endorsed Hillary Clinton: "Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never," the paper's editorial board writes. "This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles. This year is different."