*** REGIONAL NEWS FROM THURSDAY ***

+ The Weather Channel: No rain in the forecast for the rest of the month – today marks 66 consecutive days without measurable precip. – the previous record was 55 days set in 1960 and broken last week.

+ The Olympian: About to lose unemployment benefits next month? Washington won’t keep the program going

+ The Seattle Times: Washington’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate is among the strictest in the nation

+ KING-5 TV: Vaccine mandate for Washington school workers comes amid staffing shortages – Bus drivers in particular face shortages as school districts prepare for the 2021-2022 school year. [Ed. note: Unemployment set to rise on top of 10 million unfilled jobs in the U.S.]

+ CNBC: [Seattle-based] Amazon is reportedly planning to open department stores, its latest experiment in physical retail

+ South Sound Business: Public Works Board Approves More Than $123M in Pre-Construction, Construction Loans

*** AFGHAN NEWS FROM THURSDAY ***

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: ‘Wheels up’: The story of one desperate vet, and how he saved his Afghan interpreter [Ed. note: This is a must-see story!]

NBC News: Images of bloodied Afghans contradict Taliban’s claims of moderation

*** NATIONAL NEWS FROM THURSDAY ***

NBC News: Three vaccinated U.S. senators test positive for coronavirus

CNBC: Scientists blast U.S. push for Covid vaccine booster shots as premature, say data isn’t compelling

KING-5 TV: Start-up US airlines say bookings sag as COVID cases rise [Ed. note: leisure travel is the bell-weather of consumer sentiment concerns.]

University of Michigan via Forbes Magazine: What Are These Three Shocking Charts Telling Us?

Bloomberg News: Soaring Cost of Food Is Forcing Families to Scrimp at the Dinner Table – Inflation is slamming fridges shut and leading households around the world to make sacrifices

CNBC: Oil falls for a sixth straight day, sinks to the lowest level since May on fears of slowing growth [below $64 a barrel]

Common Dreams: ‘Resounding’ Climate Win as Judge Blocks Alaska Drilling Project Defended by Biden

Daily Kos: GOP-led Maricopa board seeks $2.8 million from Arizona GOP Senate for equipment damaged in fraudit

Wikileaks: Julian Assange speaking in 2011: “The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the US and Europe through Afghanistan and back into the hands of a transnational security elite. The goal is an endless war, not a successful war” #Afghanistan [Ed. note: And Biden’s Justice Department doubled down on persecuting him. Assange must have hit on a truth the powers do not want revealed!]

The New York Times via The Seattle Times: Potential GOP takeover of Atlanta-area election board inches forward

*** TRUMP NEWS FROM THURSDAY ***

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: Ken Kurson, friend of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was pardoned of federal charges by Trump before he ever went to trial, now faces charges from New York State, which is not bound by federal pardons.

Daily Kos: Donald J. Trump pardoned a cyberstalker, but failed to grasp he didn’t have that power