In a statement, the airline said it’s engaged Accenture, “a leading global information technology and management consulting firm.”

This comes after a Microsoft Azure Cloud outage knocked out the airlines’ online services on Wednesday, causing delays.

Just the week before, some flights had to be canceled when problems at the airline’s primary data center forced it to ground its fleet for hours. A critical hardware failure at the data center in July also caused an hours-long ground stop and canceled flights.

During one of the ground stops, a stranded passenger told KIRO 7 TV, “We spent more time waiting in line to try and figure out our canceled flight than it took to fly from China to Seattle.”

The airline said its work with Accenture will include a “top-to-bottom” review and assessment of Alaska’s technology systems. The airline promised to implement recommendations quickly.

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“It’s going to be a soaker for Halloween and trick-or-treaters,” KIRO Newsradio Meteorologist Ted Beuhner said.

He said another atmospheric river — a relatively long, narrow band of water vapor in the sky — is heading toward western Washington.

Forecast not as severe as last weekend, but could cause power outages

Beuhner does NOT expect the system to be as severe as the storm system that hit the Puget Sound region last weekend.

“This one won’t have nearly as strong winds, but it will be blustery as we go through Friday night into Saturday morning,” he said.

It could cause scattered power outages. And, again, it’ll be wet.

“It looks like the rain is going to start along the coast during the morning and up in the Olympic Peninsula and work its way into the Puget Sound area during the afternoon,” Beuhner explained.

He’s forecasting the rain to start around 3 p.m. and continue throughout the night and into Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service said, over the last 80 years, rain has occurred on Halloween 44 times. That’s about 57% of the time.

It’s a statistic anyone who grew up here experienced in real time as we watched our carefully crafted trick-or-treat bags (paper sacks resplendent with construction paper pumpkins and popsicle stick fences) disintegrate in a downpour, as we buried our costumes under raincoats.

Take heart, trick-or-treaters. You will eventually dry out, and the Snickers and Skittles will taste just as sweet.

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Cantwell originally introduced the legislation in April, co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 is modeled after the War Powers Act.

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (‘the Chamber’) urges Congress to pass legislation to reclaim its constitutional role setting tariffs, including the Trade Review Act,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote in an open letter to the U.S. Senate. “Doing so would restore appropriate procedural deliberation in the enactment of taxes on trade, benefitting the millions of Americans whose livelihoods depend on international commerce and the certainty that supports investments in our economy.”

Under the proposal, the president would be required to explain why a tariff is needed and its potential impact on the economy. After 60 days, the tariff would expire unless Congress passed a joint resolution approving it.

“Trade wars devastate American working families, small businesses, and manufacturers,” Cantwell said back in April. “Article One, Section Eight of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress—the explicit authority to impose duties and regulate commerce, given the far-reaching impact to our national economy.”

Cantwell’s bill has since picked up 12 additional co-sponsors – an equal mix of Republicans and Democrats – and been endorsed by several other major U.S. business organizations, including the National Retail Federation.

“The Chamber has long supported legislative proposals to reassert congressional prerogatives on trade as a means to securing durable outcomes,” the letter continued. “The Constitution grants exclusive authority to Congress ‘to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises … [and] to regulate commerce with foreign nations,’ and exercising leadership on this front should be a priority in the context of today’s challenging economic outlook.”

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, two out of every five jobs in Washington are tied to trade and trade-related industries.

Congress would take tariff power under bill

Congress would also have the authority to pass a joint resolution to end the tariff at any time.

“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch,” Grassley said in a statement.

For decades, global commerce abided by tariff rates agreed to by the U.S. and 122 other countries during the 1980s and 1990s. On Wednesday, President Trump dismantled that arrangement, saying other countries had exploited the system and “ripped off” the United States for years, causing its once-mighty manufacturing base to shrink.

“Our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered,” Trump said in the Rose Garden in April. “Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years. But it is not going to happen anymore.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Typical is encouraging, given some of the more destructive wildfire seasons in recent memory. This year, there were 1,851 wildfires that burned 251,840 acres in total.

Importantly, 94% of the wildfires on state land were kept to under 10 acres.

“That is pretty doggone good as far as making sure that we keep the acres small, that we minimize the amount of damage,” State Forester George Geissler noted.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) credited funding from the state under House Bill 1168, which the legislature passed after the devastating wildfires over Labor Day Weekend of 2020.

Nearly 300,000 acres burned in one day that weekend in 2020. A child died, and his parents were severely burned as they fled a wildfire in Okanogan County.

The bill committed $500 million over eight years to help protect communities from wildfires, improve forest health, and allow DNR to purchase more firefighting resources, including aircraft.

Its equipment Battalion Chief K.C. Whitehouse, with Central Mason Fire and EMS, saw in action.

“I can say with absolute certainty that the enhancements made to the DNR aviation program have saved dozens, if not hundreds, of homes from burning down in Mason County,” Whitehouse said.

Upthegrove worries that kind of progress is in jeopardy

Faced with a budget deficit during the last session of the legislature, lawmakers cut the amount of money DNR expected to receive for wildfire prevention and response in half.

Washington State Representative Larry Springer, who sponsored HB 1168, said he plans to ask lawmakers to fully fund it in the next session.

“Because you can’t work on forest health one year and not the next,” Springer said.

That might be a tough sell as lawmakers in Olympia continue to face a budget gap.

“It’s always a question of priorities,” Upthegrove insisted. “There’s never enough money to fund everything we want, but putting out wildfires is a core basic function of government that saves lives and protects property and saves us money in the long run.”

He said preventing or reducing the size of wildfires is simply less expensive than battling large ones.

“It’s a matter of ‘pay me now or pay me later.’ Now is cheaper,” added Springer, who is looking seriously at the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).

Money to fund HB 1168 had been coming from the General Fund, but during the last biennium, an additional $20 million came from the CCA. Springer thinks it could be tapped for more.

The state is supposed to use money raised under the act to fight greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

“Climate Commitment Act dollars are going to be on the table,” Springer said, insisting it only makes sense. “In terms of the carbon that’s thrown into the air by a wildfire. It’s astronomical.”

Upthegrove said there’s added incentive for lawmakers in Olympia to prioritize fighting wildfires.

While central and eastern Washington have traditionally seen more wildfires and smoke, “wildfires are now becoming an all of Washington problem,” according to Upthegrove.

“About 40% of the fires that started this season were in western Washington, and the Bear Gulch fire was the largest fire in western Washington that we’ve seen in a generation,” Upthegrove continued.

The human-caused Bear Gulch Wildfire is burning on 20,233 acres on the Olympic Peninsula and is 50% contained.

The Washington State Legislature convenes for its next regular session on Monday, January 12, 2026.

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The Seattle Police Department said the incident occurred on E. Shelby Street near the 2800 block of Eastlake Avenue E.

Despite the efforts of first responders, the man died.

The truck driver stayed at the scene. Officers said she did not appear to be impaired and was not arrested.

The King County Medical Examiner is working to identify the man and will determine the official cause of death.

Detectives investigating fatal collision in Eastlake:https://t.co/veonf2SDij https://t.co/zxOVYrFfQE pic.twitter.com/Mf9i5vyhaZ

— Seattle Police Department (@SeattlePD) October 28, 2025

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The ax is falling on Amazon corporate offices.

The Seattle-based retail giant confirmed it will cut approximately 14,000 corporate jobs, and employees will begin receiving layoff notices starting Tuesday, Amazon announced.

It’s unclear how many of those jobs will be lost in Washington state.

Puget Sound Business Journal reporter Nick Pasion, who covers big tech, says the Amazon workers he’s talked to report that their managers are being tight-lipped, but “They are feeling a palpable sense of fear within the company, just concerned that they might be impacted. Some of their friends might be impacted.”

And that’s not a baseless concern.

“Amazon has about 350,000 corporate employees globally. So if you’re talking about up to 30,000, that’s a pretty substantial chunk,” said GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop.

Amazon has yet to confirm the layoffs, let alone give a reason for them. Pasion says some of this may be due to post-pandemic downsizing.

“Amazon, pretty notoriously overhired during the pandemic. Their head count went up by, like tens of thousands of employees, during that period,” said Pasion.

But he notes the company has already done significant post-pandemic course correcting, laying off 27,000 employees in 2022 and 2023.

Amazon may now be looking to cut corporate jobs to reinvest in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

“Data centers, chips, getting power, all of that is super, super expensive,” said Pasion. “We’re seeing a lot of companies spend their free cash on that infrastructure and building it out and hiring artificial intelligence scientists to develop models internally, and those people are paid lots and lots of money for what they do.”

Bishop adds that tech companies are not only seeking funds to invest in AI, they’re also considering replacing some of their human workforce with it.

“What these companies are seeing are new efficiencies in many ways. They don’t necessarily need to have the same kinds of roles that they’ve had in the past, and in the process, there’s a certain amount of restructuring that’s inevitable,” said Bishop.

Regardless of the reason, Pasion says the layoffs could have a profound effect not only on Amazon’s workforce but also on the local economy.

“We do know that Amazon’s headcount is the largest in the Puget Sound area. So either way, this could have a big impact on kind of the local economy here, as we could see lots and lots and lots of employees lose their jobs almost overnight,” said Pasion.

Amazon isn’t the only high-tech Puget Sound–area company shedding jobs. Microsoft has cut 15,000 positions globally this year.

“In some ways, it’s a turning of the tide,” said Bishop. “There was a time just immediately post-pandemic, when tech companies were really pushing to hire and recruit and reward a lot of employees, especially those with technology experience and development expertise.”

“And here you’re seeing kind of a realization that perhaps those jobs don’t have quite the same cachet that they would have in the past,” said Bishop.

Pasion says local leaders and lawmakers who have counted on the strength and wealth of the region’s tech giants should take note.

“But what we’re seeing with these changes in the big tech workforce and kind of changes in the calculus that they’re doing in terms of how many employees they’re hiring, what jobs they’re posting, how many offices they’re leasing and how they’re expanding or contracting, is that that might not be as reliable of a mechanism for growth going forward,” said Pasion.

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Meteorologist Ted Buehner of KIRO News Radio says this won’t be a major storm, but it marks the first significant stretch of stormy weather this season. By Friday night, some areas of western Washington could see one to two inches of rain, while coastal and mountain regions may pick up two to four inches.

Rain, gusty winds, and mountain snow set for this weekend

Another system is expected to arrive Saturday, bringing cooler, unsettled air and more showers. High temperatures will struggle to reach 50 degrees across the region.

In the mountains, snow levels are predicted to drop to around 3,000 feet, with accumulation at higher passes including Stevens, White, and Blewett. While lowland snow isn’t expected, strong winds could pose a challenge. Gusts along the coast and from Everett to the Canadian border could reach 50 mph, while other areas may see winds of 15 to 25 mph.

Buehner warns that these conditions could bring down leaves and possibly cause isolated power outages. With the risk of urban flooding, residents should keep storm drains clear, and drivers should watch for water over roadways.

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“I’m pretty sure we don’t have much left,” Victoria Champion, owner of Champion Party Supply in Seattle, said.

After a protestor wore an inflatable frog costume outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Portland, it garnered national attention. Costumed crusaders multiplied within days, even as President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops to deploy and protect the federal ICE facility.

The requests started coming in.

“Just tons of calls about inflatable costumes, web orders for inflatable costumes,” Champion said.

Champion told KIRO Newsradio she didn’t have inflatable frog costumes on hand. She placed her holiday orders from manufacturers months ago.

Inflatable costume sales surge before ‘No Kings’ protest

But sales of the store’s inflatable unicorns, dinosaurs, and other whimsical costumes doubled ahead of the recent “No Kings” protest.

Customers told her they were dressing up to make a point.

“This is not a situation that deserves the National Guard. We’re dressed as like- unicorns and babies, and stuff,” she chuckled.

Last Saturday’s nationwide “No Kings” rallies were meant to protest what demonstrators called a move toward authoritarianism under Trump.

Republicans called the gatherings “Hate America” rallies, but the vast majority of the demonstrations were peaceful and even festive.

Champion said Americans appear to be craving the latter.

“People were just coming in (to the store) in good spirits, trying to kind of make light of all the dark going on right now,” she said.

Costumes have been worn to make political points for decades, but a run on inflatables? Champion said that might be a “new one” for the nearly 90-year-old, family-owned store.

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Oddly enough, if they were sent home without pay, they’d be able to apply for unemployment benefits through Washington state.

“For the folks who are going to work, and working without pay? They won’t be eligible for unemployment insurance because they’re working,” Donna Mack, the Rapid Response Manager for the state Employment Security Department (ESD), said.

Those include workers such as air traffic controllers, some federal law enforcement agents, disaster response workers, and more.

Both furloughed and essential workers will likely receive back pay once the government reopens, and then any jobless benefits received would need to be paid back.

Webinar to help federal workers navigate unemployment benefits

It’s all a little confusing, and it’s why the ESD is holding a webinar on Thursday, October 23, to help federal workers navigate the state and local resources available to them. Those interested can register here.

Mack said experts will discuss unemployment benefits, options for health care coverage, career training and education programs, as well as other local resources.

“What you’re going to find in your community if you need food assistance, or assistance with power bills, that sort of thing,” Mack explained.

The virtual meeting aims to cover a wide range of topics because the effects of the shutdown are so broad.

“I’ll be really curious to see who comes to this event,” Mack said.

She said it could appeal to several groups of people, not only workers who’ve been furloughed and essential workers who are still on the job.

“We may have a group of state workers who are impacted by federal funding ending — at least briefly — while the government is shut down and who are being furloughed,” Mack said. “And then I think that we may have a group of people who have received some sort of layoff notices.”

Finally, family members of federal workers may be looking for guidance on how to reenter the workforce or change jobs, as the shutdown lingers on.

The ESD estimates that up to 80,000 workers in Washington state are being impacted.

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A total of 1.9 million paying passengers took cruises out of Seattle, injecting an estimated $1.2 billion into the region. The Port said the industry supports 5,120 jobs directly or indirectly.

“We end this season in a very strong position and look forward to an even better 2026,” Port of Seattle Executive Director Steve Metruck said in a statement.

Seattle serves as a home port for eight cruise companies, which operate a total of 278 sailings — out of 298 — to Alaska. Other destinations included Mexico, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Asia, as well as cruises along the Pacific Northwest.

The Port said 65% of ships used electric power while docked in Seattle, instead of burning fossil fuels. By 2027, all home port ships will be required to connect to power on shore.

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The U.S. has struck seven boats in the Caribbean since Sept. 1, killing 32 people.

“You can’t just kill people for no reason,” Smith told KIRO Newsradio. “You have to have some sort of legal justification before you simply kill somebody without any evidence and without any imminent threat to the country.”

WA officials push for review of boat strikes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a boat that was hit Friday was linked to a Colombian guerrilla group that the U.S. has considered a terrorist group since the 1990s, and that it was “transporting substantial amounts of narcotics.”

The administration has argued that narcotics, smuggled into the U.S., kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, which constitutes an attack. President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations.

“I’m not saying for the moment that they don’t have any evidence,” Smith said. “But other than just the blanket statement — these were narcoterrorists associated with one drug cartel or the other — we don’t even know the names of the people who were killed.”

Smith, who has served on the House Armed Services Committee since 1997, said the Caribbean boat strikes are being handled much differently than U.S. military strikes against Al Qaeda and ISIS.

“In every instance I saw, they presented robust evidence as to exactly who the people they targeted were, who they were connected to and why. No such evidence has been presented to anyone in the U.S. on these strikes against these boats down in the Caribbean,” Smith insisted.

Smith suggested the boats should be stopped and searched instead.

CBS News Military Consultant and Ret. U.S. Army Colonel Jeff McCausland pointed out the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted a large number of ships coming from Caribbean.

“I’ve talked to Coast Guard officers who’ve been involved. I’ve been told usually about one in five times — when they’ve stopped the vessel — they found in fact it was not carrying narcotics.” McCausland said.

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The 39-year-old man called deputies to a home in unincorporated Bremerton Tuesday night.

Bremerton man found to be convicted felon

As they questioned the couple, the 40-year-old girlfriend told deputies her boyfriend had a gun. They ran a background check and found out he’s a convicted felon who’s not supposed to have a gun.

And that scratch on his face? Deputies said he got it when the woman defended herself as he was attacking her.

He was booked into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of domestic violence assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.

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It’s part of $7.56 billion worth of funding that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is terminating for 223 projects in the U.S.

Washington Congresswoman Suzan DelBene claims it’s part of the President’s plan to punish states that did not vote for him.

“President Trump’s campaign of political retribution continues, and hardworking Washingtonians are now part of the collateral Damage,” DelBene said in a news release.

WA energy projects losing funding

Among the entities losing federal funds in Washington: PACCAR, Washington State University, and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, which is working to produce cleaner hydrogen fuel.

In a statement, the DOE said the 223 projects “did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayers’ dollars.”

At least some of the projects promote clean energy, and President Trump has made his opinion about climate change, due to greenhouse gases, clear.

While speaking before the United Nations General Assembly recently, Trump said, “This climate change is the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world in my opinion.”

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“Those standards for combat roles have never been lowered,” said Elisa Cardnell, a Navy veteran who grew up in Lacey and is now the president of the Service Women’s Action Network. “They’ve always been gender neutral, and they are set to match the job.

“For example, an infantry personnel is going to have to march a certain distance, carrying certain equipment, and that doesn’t matter if they’re a 19-year-old guy or a 35-year-old woman,” she continued.

She said gender and age are taken into account in general fitness requirements.

“Those are gender normed and aged normed, so for example, a 19-year-old service woman is probably going to be doing more pushups than a 45-year-old general, because our fitness peaks in our 20s,” Cardnell said.

She added that diversity has made the U.S. armed services more effective, and women have filled vital roles.

Cardnell pointed to the Lioness Teams — which later became Female Engagement Teams and the Cultural Support Teams — that deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Because of cultural differences, the villagers, the women, could not speak to our male troops,” Cardnell said. “That’s their society and their culture. So by putting women alongside our men, we not only made our operations more lethal when they needed to be, we also kept those operations safer for our own troops and for the civilian population on the ground.”

She said many women serve their country through the military.

“Anywhere from about 8% in the Marines to 20% in the Air Force. And one out of ten veterans is a woman,” Cardnell said.

Hegseth wants ‘male standard’ for combat roles. Many female veterans say that’s already the case

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in an address Tuesday to the military’s top leaders, waded back into a topic that nearly derailed his confirmation early this year and helped elevate his voice as a Fox News commentator — the fitness of women to serve in combat.

Hegseth told hundreds of military commanders at a hastily called gathering in Virginia that there would be new directives to ensure that the requirement for every position in combat “returns to the highest male standard.”

He said that “if that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” while stressing that the military will continue to welcome women into its ranks.

“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat units with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men,” he said. “This job is life and death. Standards must be met.”

The remarks rekindled criticism of the defense secretary that arose after President Donald Trump nominated him to the post last year and renewed concerns about his approach to women in leadership and front-line roles. Hegseth’s house-cleaning at the top ranks of the military has included a disproportionate number of women, including an admiral and vice admiral in the Navy and the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Several prominent women who are combat veterans pushed back on Hegseth’s remarks to emphasize that women who serve in combat roles already are subjected to the same standards as men. Those standards apply to specific combat special operations, infantry, armor, pararescue and other jobs regardless of age or gender.

Female veterans call out Hegseth

Elisa Cardnell, president of the Service Women’s Action Network, said the standards have not been lowered for women serving in combat roles. She said the requirements for serving in the infantry, for example, are the same for men and women, whether it’s carrying a certain amount of equipment or marching a certain distance.

Capt. Lory Manning, who served for more than 25 years in the Navy and at times commanded units of over 400 people, said skepticism about women’s capabilities is nothing new. During her time in the Navy, the military expanded opportunities for women to serve in air, sea and some ground combat.

“Women have had to prove they were capable before positions became officially open,” said Manning, whose responsibilities at one point also included oversight and evaluation of the Navy’s physical fitness standards.

Manning said “there would have been some sort of uproar” if women consistently failed to perform or compromised military standards throughout that time. She said the secretary seemed to conflate physical requirements with requirements for specific military roles.

“He hasn’t changed anything basic with regards to women,” she said of Hegseth. “He’s just got it in his head that women are somehow cheating.”

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who was the first woman to fly an F-18 fighter jet in combat and lost a Democratic challenge to Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020, said Hegseth continues to lie about women in the military.

“He claimed the military needs to ‘return to the male standard’ in combat jobs (of 1990!), but here’s the truth: there has never been a separate male and female standard,” she posted on X. “When women entered combat roles, one standard was set, and we’ve been meeting it ever since.”

U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor who served as a Navy helicopter pilot, said Tuesday that what she had heard about the speech “comports with everything I’ve seen from the most incompetent secretary of defense we’ve ever had.”

She questioned the decision to call generals and admirals from around the world for what she said amounts to a meeting “just to kind of show his tough guy creds.”

Many Republican women show support

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican and Iraq War combat veteran who grilled Hegseth during his nomination hearing in January before providing a crucial confirmation vote, said his comments Tuesday were “appropriate.”

“I’m not worried about that,” she said. “So there should be the same set of standards for combat arms. I think that’s what he probably was referring to, combat arms.”

Ernst noted, however, that women who go through Ranger School or into the infantry are already subjected to the same standards as men.

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, said she likes Hegseth’s approach, specifically his promises to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the military.

“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are right: the U.S. military isn’t a playground for Left-Wing gender bending ideology. Our military is a fighting force that must return to mission-first readiness,” the Republican told AP in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, said she also supported Hegseth’s efforts to change military culture.

Hegseth focused much of his address on eliminating what he has called “woke” policies from the military, saying too many leaders have been promoted based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts” rather than qualifications. Any leader who disagrees with his approach should resign, he said.

“Returning to standards that prioritize excellence and accountability puts America’s security and our servicemembers where they belong — first,” Biggs said in a statement.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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The bridge—a vital link between Enumclaw and Buckley—has been shut down since August 18, when a semi-truck crashed into it.

“With that damage and with that closure, it may be harder for some businesses to reach their clients, and vice versa,” Lauren Hill, Public Information Officer with the Small Business Administration (SBA), said. “The SBA’s office of disaster recovery and resilience has what we call economic injury loans for businesses in these cases.”

Businesses affected by White River Bridge closure can apply for up to $2M in loans

Restaurants, shops, and other businesses can apply for up to $2 million in loans to help them cover regular expenses, such as employee pay and recurring bills.

“The interest rates start as low as 4% for businesses and 3.6% for nonprofits,” Hill said.

Hill said you can apply in person through October 9.

“Businesses can come into our business recovery centers. We have one at the Green Valley College campus in Enumclaw, or the multipurpose room, which is the former city hall in Buckley,” she explained.

You can also apply online through June 22, 2026.

The federal assistance was requested by Washington State.

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Seattle Mariners’ playoff tickets are selling as hot as the team has played in recent weeks.

“Those tickets went within minutes of our public on-sale offering at 12 o’clock yesterday (Thursday),” Adam Gresch, Senior Manager of Communication for the Seattle Mariners, said.

Gresch warned people about buying tickets from secondary markets.

“I think it’s just important that fans make sure they’re using verified resellers,” Gresch said. “Not things like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, where there is no verification process.”

The first two games, in the best-of-five American League Division Series (ALDS), are set for Seattle on October 4 and 5. The next two games will be played away. If a Game 5 is needed, it’ll be played in Seattle on October 10.

“If we were to advance from the division series, tickets would go on sale for the championship series at that time, and then same goes for the World Series,” Gresch said.

Seattle Mariners’ merch going fast

If you want to wear official Mariners’ playoff merchandise, you’ll need to act quickly, too.

Gresch said both a postseason T-shirt and a division championship tee went on sale as soon as the Mariners made the playoffs.

“Both options sold out within minutes of going on sale at our team stores,” he said.

Gresch said a small restock was expected Friday with a larger shipment arriving Saturday.

The Mariners Team Stores sell the official MLB merchandise, but not a shirt that’s getting catcher Cal Raleigh some attention.

Raleigh presents signed bat to man who caught historic home run

He was spotted wearing it as he presented a signed bat to Glenn Mutti-Driscoll, who caught Raleigh’s historic 60th home run of the season and then handed it to a young fan.

Photos showed Raleigh flanked by members of Mutti-Driscoll’s family. Raleigh, wearing a shirt with the words “PHO KIT” surrounded by images of ingredients for the Vietnamese noodle soup.

Pronouncing those words, together, sounds similar to a colorful phrase Raleigh uttered after the Mariners secured a postseason wild card berth.

“Our players like to have fun with some of the jokes they have inside of the clubhouse,” Gresch said diplomatically. “I’m just glad that our guys are able to show their personalities and connect with our fans.”

Raleigh also connected with the young fan who ended up with his 60th home-run ball. The boy agreed to trade the ball for a signed bat, tickets to a future game, and a chance to watch batting practice.

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“If last time told us anything – in 2022 – tickets will sell out extremely fast,” Adam Gresch, senior manager of communications, said. “It was less than an hour.”

Playoff tickets are only available online at mariners.com/postseason and only for games played in Seattle.

Various options for claiming Mariners playoff tickets

Season ticket holders have had early access, but Gresch said there is one more presale available for Mariners Insider email and text subscribers.

“You can sign up at mariners.com/insider anytime between now and midnight tonight to gain access. That pre-sale would get you two hours in advance of tomorrow’s public sale, so it’s a good way to get in the front of the line,” Gresch said.

The Mariners clinched a wild card spot Tuesday night, but if they win Wednesday, they’ll take the American League (AL) West division title, which will have an impact on their postseason games.

“There are still various scenarios in play on what seed (ranking) we could have, you know, what rounds we could play in,” but Gresch said ticket sales take that into account.

“Fans can buy tickets to all potential postseason games in the wild card and division series rounds, and then you’ll be automatically refunded if those rounds don’t take place.”

Should the Mariners advance in the playoffs, “American League Championship tickets and World Series tickets will be released as we advance.”

But with the team poised to win its first division title since 2001, fans might not want to wait for the postseason.

As of Wednesday afternoon, tickets were still available for the team’s final two games of the Mariners series against the Colorado Rockies at T-Mobile Park.

“And those are Mariners’ value games, so it’s a great deal for fans. They can get into the building for less than $20 bucks and be a part of history.”

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Former Seattle Seahawks player Richard Sherman will not go on trial for driving under the influence.

A King County court ordered a deferred prosecution in the case Tuesday. Sherman’s petition cited mental health problems, according to court documents.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Sherman did not receive preferential treatment—under state law, a defendant has the right to request a deferred prosecution once.

A defendant must agree to two years of treatment and be placed on a 5-year probationary period.

“What happened today was that there was a deferment that was ordered by the court,” Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told KIRO Newsradio. “That means there’s two years of court orders to follow, and if those are followed, then the case doesn’t go through the traditional court process. I think a lot of people would look at that and say, ‘So does that mean that there’s a sweetheart deal there?’ No, there wasn’t special treatment one way or the other. When you have the deferment option there, that’s standard for all types of folks, whether you’re an athlete or not.”

Richard Sherman charged with DUI after February traffic stop

Sherman was charged with DUI after a traffic stop in Bellevue in February of last year.

The charge took more than a year after the arrest because prosecutors were waiting for blood-alcohol test reports to be completed. In June, he pleaded not guilty.

Troopers said Sherman was driving 79 mph in a 60 mph zone. They reported Sherman was swerving, and once they pulled him over, they said his eyes were bloodshot, his speech was slurred, and they could smell alcohol.

Sherman was also arrested for allegedly driving under the influence in 2021 following a domestic disturbance.

Contributing: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio

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Anna Lindeman, a National Weather Service Meteorologist in Seattle, believes it’s due to a change in the wind direction.

“Air is coming from the eastern Cascades, where we currently have several large, ongoing fires,” Lindeman said.

Multiple wildfires bring in hazy skies across WA

Those east-to-west winds are blowing smoke in from the Lower Sugarloaf Fire, which is burning on nearly 30,000 acres about 25 miles northeast of Leavenworth, and the more than 13,000 Labor Mountain Fire, which is 10 miles north of Cle Elum, according to Air Quality Scientist Graeme Carvlin with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

“We may see the unhealthy air quality happen in Snohomish County and in some parts of King County, especially the northern and eastern parts of King County and the southeastern parts of Snohomish County,” Carvlin said.

He said some people are more sensitive to wildfire smoke than others. “Sensitive groups include the elderly, youth, and people with preexisting health conditions.”

Even if you’re not necessarily susceptible to smoke, you may want to take precautions. “Spending time indoors, running an air filter, or using a mask outside, if the smoke is bothering you.”

Carvlin said poor air quality due to wildfires is a fairly new phenomenon in the Puget Sound region.

“It’s just in the last 10 years or so that we’ve been seeing this level of impacts.” He said wildfires are becoming more frequent and geographically closer to the Puget Sound region, including wildfires in the traditionally cooler, wetter western side of Washington State. For instance, the Bear Gulch fire is burning on more than 19,000 acres on the Olympic Peninsula.

Carvlin said in recent years, “The weather conditions have changed overall, so there are hotter, drier summers, which lead to more fire starts and more fire growth.”

Lindeman said smoke should start clearing out of the Puget Sound region during the day Tuesday. “We have a weak front that’s going to shift the wind back to onshore, which will help to push the smoke back towards the east.”

You can monitor current air quality at the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency website.

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Not just a wild card spot, as they did in 2022. The actual AL West title.

And this apparently all comes down to math. Yes, baseball aficionados are not only a suspicious lot (they have given credit for the team’s winning streak to an Etsy witch, mustaches, and Cheeto dust in the broadcast booth), they also have a keen appreciation for mathematics.

“There’s a buzzword called a magic number,” Mike Lefko, a producer for 710 Seattle Sports, said.

Mariners’ magic number down to 3

In this case, that magic number is three.

There are six games left in the Seattle Mariners’ regular season, and right now the team stands atop the AL West with the most wins. The Houston Astros are second.

For the Mariners to win the division title, “some combination of three things involving [the Mariners] and the Astros have to happen,” Lefko said.

The Mariners will clinch the American League West Division if they win three games, no matter what Houston does. If they can’t accomplish that, the Mariners can still clinch the division if they win two and the Astros lose one, or if the Mariners win one and the Astros lose two, or if the Astros lose three … you get the idea.

Given both teams’ current schedules, the Seattle Mariners could win the title as early as Wednesday night. Lefko said the M’s could clinch a wild card spot as soon as Tuesday night.

“The teams around the Mariners — the Tigers, the Red Sox, the Guardians — they all play each other in some combination in these final six games,” Lefko said.

Major League Baseball was kind enough to do the complicated calculating and determined, “Nothing can happen that will have these teams pass the Mariners (for a wild card spot) if the Mariners win one more game and the Yankees win one more game.”

But Lefko said the real prize is the title.

“You want to win the division,” Lefko said.

So we’re back to three as the magic number. While fans and analysts alike crunch numbers, grab bags of Cheetos, and make plans to (breathlessly) watch the games, there’s another, more critical factor at play with this team.

“This group, I think, has learned to believe in themselves,” Lefko said. “They have that belief in themselves of knowing what this lineup could do and knowing they have the guys – pitching and the offense – and you’re seeing it come together, over the past two plus weeks.”

The Seattle Mariners begin a three-day home-stand against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday, followed by a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, also in Seattle, Friday night to close out the regular season.

Read more of Heather Bosch’s stories here.

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