Free Republic

Seattle’s lefty Mayor Katie Wilson admitted she was wrong to slam Starbucks and push for a boycott of the mega-coffee chain birthed in the Pacific City. Wilson, 43, issued a terse mea culpa to the New York Times this week as questions swirl about whether the liberal Northwest city can attract and retain businesses, including Starbucks, which recently chose to expand its footprint in Tennessee. The democratic socialist made waves last fall when she joined a barista union rally as mayor-elect and expressed her disgust with one of Seattle’s most recognizable businesses. “I am not buying Starbucks, and you should...

A conservative vlogger claims Panda Express employees called the police on him after he wore a MAGA hat and gave a “thumbs up” gesture to a cook inside a Washington state restaurant. “Panda Express kicked out @DannyRebel333 and Myself out for Simply for wearing a MAGA hat, and giving a thumbs up to a cook that just stood and Stared at me the whole time because of my Hat,” vlogger Chris Sims said in a May 11 post on X. “I asked if there was an issue and the cook said ‘Your Hat’ so I asked if he supported it,”...

A first-grade teacher in Washington state allegedly admitted to her husband that she cheated on him with a 16-year-old student — with whom she had sex in his truck, according to court documents. Mackenzie Naught, 25, allegedly fessed up to her hubby Saturday night, just hours before being arrested on child sex crimes on Sunday, the Spokesman-Review reported. The educator from Whitman County said she became physical with the teen the week before in his truck during a meet-up in the dead of night, according to court docs.

The driver seen racing down a sidewalk chasing a child on a dirt bike then tried to break into a neighbor’s home — just to fall on her face because she was so drunk, according to the neighbor. US Army veteran Wendy Clemente, 56, is facing DUI and attempted assault charges over a viral video showing a silver Ford Focus driving down a sidewalk after the kid on a bike in Cheney, Washington. Clemente was also hit with criminal trespass charges for allegedly trying to break into a nearby home immediately after the now-viral car chase. “She was smashing the...

The University of Washington's women's soccer team were humiliated last week after losing to a group of 14-year-old boys. Last season the Washington Huskies finished as the sixth-ranked team in women's college soccer following an impressive run to the Elite Eight stage of the playoffs, with their 15-3-7 record going down as the best in program history. Yet despite their incredible year in 2025, the Huskies were brought crashing down to earth after suffering an embarrassing defeat to Crossfire under-14 boys last Thursday. The scrimmage took place in Seattle on April 30, and ended in a 2-1 victory for Crossfire...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson laughed off what she termed "their futile effort to escape social justice. They think they will preserve their wealth and their income by relocating to states that respect private property and the so-called right to keep what they earn. At best, they will only temporarily spare themselves the retribution they so richly deserve." Wilson predicted "when Democrats sweep the November elections and achieve veto-proof majorities in Congress, the redistribution of wealth prescribed by Karl Marx in his "Communist Manifesto" of 1848 will go national. Everyone will be taxed based on the ability to pay. Everyone will...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson laughed and seemed to encourage the notion that millionaires could leave the state of Washington while discussing her support for a progressive tax during an interview earlier this month. “I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye,” she said, which prompted cheers and laughter from the audience at the Seattle University event, Seattle University Conversations, which took place on April 14. Wilson was asked if she believed progressive taxes were an “easy” and “promising” solution to the tax climate...

When a group of engineers and researchers gathered in a warehouse in Mukilteo, Wash., 10 years ago, they knew they were onto something big. They scrounged up tables and chairs, cleared out space in the parking lot for experiments and got to work. They were building a battery — a vanadium redox flow battery — based on a design created by two dozen U.S. scientists at a government lab. The batteries were about the size of a refrigerator, held enough energy to power a house, and could be used for decades. The engineers pictured people plunking them down next to...

After he applied to his 599th job, John Burg stopped counting. Burg was laid off as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development in January 2025, after a decades-long career that took him to Thailand, Kosovo and El Salvador. He was one of more than 300,000 federal workers and contractors whose jobs were eliminated by the Department of Government Efficiency. One year, one massive spreadsheet of job leads and only a handful of interviews later, Burg has returned to the job he had in college, doing carpentry jobs for his Takoma Park neighborhood, just outside of Washington. “A...

A Georgia congressman is proposing a controversial new idea -- he’s calling the “Make D.C. Square Again Act." He said it would expand Washington, D.C. by adding Arlington and Alexandria into the nation's capital. In a post on X, Congressman Rick McCormick said Arlington and Alexandria were “always meant” to be part of D.C., arguing the change would simplify long-running debates over political maps and representation. "What we want to do is make D.C. square again. It's a simple concept. Square. We repeal that unconsituational law, gIve back Virginia exactly what it should have, give D.C. what it should have...

The lawsuit was filed by two plaintiffs, one from California and one from Seattle, on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of people who bought Nintendo products from February 2025 through February 2026, when the company is accused of passing tariff costs along to customers.

A box containing hundreds of unopened Washington state ballots was reportedly discovered on the ground next to a dumpster behind a strip mall in Renton, raising serious questions about ballot handling and election security. Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh said a concerned citizen brought the ballots to the GOP’s Bellevue headquarters after finding them discarded. “Earlier today, a concerned citizen contacted me and came and dropped off at the Bellevue headquarters a large box of ballots, Washington State ballots, specifically King County elections ballots, that were mailed to people and never received,” Walsh said in a video posted...

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday gave preliminary approval to President Donald Trump's plan for a massive new triumphal arch monument in the nation's capital, according to the New York Times. The outlet reported that the body holds an advisory role regarding the project's design, but does not wield enforcement authority. The Associated Press reported that the commission approved the concept for several projects, including the arch. The federal agency next will review updated designs for all three projects at a future meeting before taking any final votes. The proposed monument features a giant arch topped with a...

Seattle is ramping up cleanup efforts as it prepares to welcome tens of thousands of visitors for the FIFA World Cup this summer, with a new report highlighting millions of pounds of waste removed, hundreds of thousands of sharps collected, and growing community participation across neighborhoods. The Seattle Clean City 2025 Community Impact Report, released April 14, outlines what the city calls a year of major milestones, stronger partnerships, and expanded, data-driven strategies aimed at keeping streets and public spaces cleaner and safer. In 2025, Seattle Clean City and its partners collected and removed 5.3 million pounds of waste from...

The first direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in move 40 years began today (Tuesday) at the American State Department. The meeting is taking place at the US State Department in Washington, with Israel making it clear before it began that the talks will have no impact on the fighting in Lebanon. At the same time as the talks opened, the IDF announced preparations for increased fire from Hezbollah. As they began, incessant alarms sounded in Kiryat Shmona and other settlements in the Galilee region, after a drone strike at the entrance to Nahariya. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio...

120 workers in Kent, Washington showed up to work -- and found out their jobs are gone. Not because the company is failing... but because it’s expanding somewhere else. In this video, we break down what really happened with Rise Baking Company, why those jobs are moving to Utah, and how the timing lines up with Washington’s new tax law signed by Bob Ferguson.

Wife and I will be in Seattle in June for an Alaskan cruise. We've got an AirBnB reserved in the 400 block of Vine Street. Any concerns with the location as we'll be flying in around 7:00 a.m. and will need to kill some time before we can get in around 3:00. Plan is to take an Uber from the airport to a Bounce luggage storage area a couple minutes from the AirBnB. What's good to eat around there for all three meals? Is the area we're staying in "safe," or would you avoid? An touristy things in walking distance?...

A monument honoring Indian spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda was unveiled Saturday at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, marking a milestone event for the city and its growing Indian American community. The ceremony took place Saturday afternoon at the park along 1900 Westlake Ave., across from the Westin Seattle. The statue is a gift from the Government of India to the City of Seattle. Swami Vivekananda, who lived from 1863 to 1902, is widely recognized for introducing the philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to Western audiences. His address at the 1893 Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he spoke on universal...

Two high-profile Democrats on Sunday called for Rep. Eric Swalwell to exit Congress as controversy continues to grow after sexual assault allegations surfaced against the California candidate for governor. Eugene Vindman said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that Swalwell should resign from Congress and drop out of California's gubernatorial race. "The accusations are absolutely heinous, and his admissions betraying his family are deplorable," Vindman said to host Dana Bash. "So Eric Swalwell needs to resign. He needs to drop out of the race… we should not tolerate this behavior, and Representative Swalwell needs to go." Vindman made the...

The initial wave of a massive bloodbath at Oracle has begun to show up in public filings — with 700 workers expected to lose their jobs by June 1, according to California state records. The software giant headed by billionaire Larry Ellison will cut 310 workers in Redwood City, 184 in Santa Clara, 158 in Pleasanton and 50 in Santa Monica. The statewide tally of roughly 700 job cuts, in addition to 491 firings in Seattle, is part of the software maker’s recently announced bloodbath that is reportedly in the thousands of jobs. Analysts at investment bank TD Cowen predicted...