Mayor Ed Murray was all set to have a press conference tomorrow related to his search for a new police chief. Over the weekend, KIRO reported some big news, and now the presser is mysteriously canceled. From KIRO:

Sources told KIRO 7 that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray planned to name a new interim Seattle police chief on Tuesday, but in a tweet to KIRO 7 the mayor said he’s made “no decision on an interim chief.”

However, a spokesman for Murray said that a Tuesday press briefing to discuss police reform and leadership was cancelled after KIRO 7 reported that Jim Pugel was going to be removed as interim chief. He said the briefing will be rescheduled when the mayor is ready to make a comprehensive announcement about his plans.

The spokesman also acknowledged that there was talk of appointing a new interim chief, but Murray had not met with Pugel recently to discuss his future.

Murray has not offered the interim job to anyone, spokesman Jeff Reading said...

Reading explained that the mayor has been advised that it may be more difficult to attract the best pool of applicants if the current interim chief is also a candidate for the job. Pugel has said he will apply for the job.

Dominic reported on this possibility in December—that if Pugel wants to apply for the chief position, he may have to step down as interim. But, as Dom pointed out at the time, "that raises concerns... that a placeholder would be a lame-duck chief who cannot implement reform while the search is conducted in 2014."