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Jim Hammerand

@jimhammerand.bsky.social
508 followers 1.1K following 345 posts

Journalist and photographer in the Pacific Northwest (Edmonds, WA)

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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 6h
Mount Rainier’s peak peeking through the clouds this morning as viewed from a commercial flight at 16,000 feet.
A photo of Mount Rainier
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Brett Hamil @bretthamil.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Totally Normal Initiative" #seattle #doomloop @nohateinwastate.bsky.social
-Brian Heywood here! I want to address some disinfo about Initiative 638
-It will not, as they claim, force all children to undergo mandatory genital inspections
-the *truth* is it would only require *girls* to have their genitalia inspected
-and that's only if they want to play organized sports!
-[zooming in] this is totally normal stuff, folks
-[extreme closeup of Brian's bloodshot eyes] Don’t get all weird about it!
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Linda Holmes @lindaholmes.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
When you see things on X that seem impossible for a human being to believe (like a desire to turn over parenting to AI), keep in mind that you can make money with raw attention over there.
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 02/10/2026
This is the dodgiest and most-desperate thing I’ve seen in the bubble so far. Amazon selling their chips to a group of investors and leasing them back - an off balance sheet arrangement done in plain sight. Really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. And they’ll probably buy more!
Amazon is seeking to offload about $8bn of advanced Nvidia chips to external investors through a new vehicle aimed at strengthening its balance sheet, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Seattle-based cloud giant has held talks with investors in recent weeks to gauge interest in the deal, which would allow the company to spin off thousands of Grace Blackwell chips it is deploying in data centres across the US into a special-purpose vehicle.
Amazon will then lease the advanced AI chips back from the SPV, which would tap outside investors through debt issuance. By unloading the expensive semiconductors to investors, the company could adopt a more asset-light approach to its balance sheet.
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered supercarrier sailed out past the Point No Point Lighthouse today and I happened to be looking out at the water with my camera in Edmonds
USS Ronald Reagan sailing along the Kitsap Peninsula on Puget Sound USS Ronald Reagan sailing past Point No Point on the Kitsap Peninsula
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 29/09/2026
Reuters got some of the IPO docs. Anthropic is a total dog of a company. Spent $12.6bn to make $4.6bn in revenue in 2025, $7.33bn of which was compute costs. Operating loss of $8bn. Losses getting worse year over year. Amazing stuff www.reuters.com/business/fin...
Summary
Companies
• Anthropic IPO could value the company at more than $2
trillion
• Anthropic lost $42 billion in 2025
• Al lab spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure last year
• Operating loss widened to $8.06 billion in 2025 from $2.98 billion in 2024
• Execs, industry analysts have expressed concerns over harms of Al tech
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Anthropic is making a massive bet that Al will transform the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters.
But the cost to get there will be staggering. Anthropic reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, and plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in coming year, according to the
prospectus.
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No Hate in WA State @nohateinwastate.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I-001 & I-638 threaten the safety of all Washington students. Marblemount resident Linden Jordan writes in Cascadia Daily News about the harmful impacts of both initiatives, especially for LGBTQ+ youth. Take a stand against hate. Vote NO on I-001 and I-638 when your ballot arrives. #NoHateWAState
A quote is written in dark purple text on a lavender background: “People like Brian Heywood use initiatives to cultivate violence. He attacks children and youths. This is why these initiatives must be thrown back in his face with a resounding defeat in November. I can’t fix what is happening in Louisiana, but I can stand my ground here at home. Vote no on I-001 & I-638!” Below the quote is the author’s info: Linden Jordan, published in Cascadia Daily News. This is written next to a small circular photo of Linden. He has gray hair and is wearing a plaid shirt. He is smiling at the camera sitting on a brown leather couch. A dark purple footer with white text says “Vote NO on I-001 & I-638.”
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J. BOO!👻ma @broccoliwizard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Choe and Adams in old timey mustaches: “Yes I’m-a Mr Sacco and this is-a my friend Mr Vanzetti and-a we hate-a da government.”
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Frank Chiachiere @fchi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is a spicy opening from Lindblom. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
North Seattle's new Pinehurst Station will welcome passengers at 5 a.m.
Wednesday with less hype and lower expectations. It will be near-empty for a long time.
The aerial stop is surrounded by Interstate 5, a park, a golf course and single-family homes spread out among evergreen trees. Seattle had a full decade to plan for nearby blocks of apartments or condos to make the $240 million station more useful, but none of that construction is underway.
Sound Transit once hesitated to build here. Early data models said if housing and jobs didn't pour in, as few as 1,100 people a day would board a train at Pinehurst, far below industry standards.
But agency leaders acquiesced to the doggedness of one Seattle City
Council member, Debora Juarez, who insisted her district deserved a second rail stop besides Northgate.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026
Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵
Selfie taken by ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson, a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and an orange T-shirt.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is the trailer that all the major platforms refuse to run as a paid ad:
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Steve D. @crazystevied.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A solid investment in local reporting. I highly recommend it!
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Mayor Katie B. Wilson @mayor.seattle.gov · 25/09/2026
We live in an incredible place. I am proud that our city was recently named one of the top five in the world by Oxford Economics using the five criteria of Economics, Human Capital, Quality of Life, Environment, and Governance.
Photo of the Seattle waterfront skyline on a sunny day, showing downtown buildings, the waterfront piers, and a large Ferris wheel. Text over the bottom portion reads, ‘Seattle Ranked 4th Best City in the World by Oxford Economics,’ alongside the Mayor’s Office logo.Graphic titled ‘2026 Global Cities Index’ with a subtitle reading ‘Ranking the world’s 1,000 largest cities.’ Below, a bar chart lists the top 10 cities by overall score: New York, London, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, Dublin, Boston, San Jose, Tokyo, and Zurich. Each bar is color-coded by region: US & Canada, Europe, and APAC.
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TrickyC (he/him) @trickyc66.northsky.social · 24/09/2026
snake, that's deadeye fraudmouse; if you aren't careful she'll make transactions on your PSN account. Press O to cancel the transaction!
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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 24/09/2026
Jim DeFede of CBS News Miami flagged this over on the other site. @jimdefede.bsky.social x.com/DeFede/statu...
Screenshot of a tweet from @DeFede dated 23 September 2026. It shows the Trump propaganda video (paused in my screenshot to show Trump above the words "Paid for by the U.S. Government"). Jim DeFede's tweet reads: "So I was just watching Fox News and this commercial played during Jesse Watters show. It says 'Paid for by the US Government.' This is clearly a campaign ad. And the singers are just singing over and over again, 'Love me' - over images of Trump.  @CBSMiami @CBSNews" Original link: https://x.com/DeFede/status/2102928979254792260
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I agree they should all be fully covered, but they’ll warn you when you go in for a screening that you make face at least a co-pay if they find something and remove it.
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
But while insurance covers them for screenings, get ready to pay up if you go in to diagnose a symptom.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Four-byline alert: 🚨 “.. the second company in a week to be wrongfooted by concerns about a slowdown in the AI sector.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/4a80...
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Stephanie 🍉 @ageofoddish.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
mmygod
the slut gnomes of false berlin jeopardy bluesky posttoday's jeopardy categories. the last 2 are "false berlin" and "bizarre little men"
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The Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
OK - Coming attractions time. I found this wonderful paragraph in a federal court filing (specifically, in a motion to dismiss). It's one of the most amazing string cites (kinda) I've seen. The full case is amazing; I'll do a litigation disaster tourism thread tomorrow.
Hundreds of years before the Common Era, Herodotus wrote of the Neuri, a
tribe northeast of Scythia that would reportedly transform into wolves for several days once a year.
Herodotus, The Histories, 4.105 (circa 440 BCE). Werewolves continued to appear in folklore from
antiquity through modern times, and across a wide range of cultures. See, e.g., Pausanias, Description of
Greece, 8.2 (circa 160-180 CE); Ovid, The Metamorphoses, I 219-239 (circa 8 CE); Pliny the Elder,
Natural History, VIII.34 (circa 77 CE); Augustine, The City of God, XVIII.17 (circa 426 CE); King
Canute, Ecclesiastical Ordinances, c. 26 (circa 1020 CE); Anonymous, The Tale of Igor’s Campaign (circa
late 1100s) (Slavic folklore); Marie de France, Bisclavret (circa 1200); Völsungasaga, ch. 8 (circa 1250
CE) (Nordic folklore). Bram Stoker depicted Dracula as a werewolf in Dracula’s Guest. Werewolves came to the silver screen first in Werewolf of London (1935) and then Lon Chaney’s definitive
performance in The Wolf Man (1941), and have essentially never left it since. And animal
shapeshifting has not been limited to wolves. Greek mythology is replete with humans (or humanshaped gods) who transform into animals or monsters. In Tlingit folklore, Kóoshdaa are wereotters. Celtic mythology includes selkies (were-seals) and kelpies (shape-shifting water-horses that
live in lochs). DC Comics has featured numerous shark-human hybrids since its Silver Age,
including Guppy (a small-time criminal in Nightwing’s rogues’ gallery, first appearance in 2018),
King Shark (the son of a shark god and a human mother, first appearance in 1994), and Karshon (a
mutated shark, first appearance in Green Lantern 24, October 1963). Other examples abound.
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CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Spud the bulldog is crowned the fastest dog in Minnesota at Canterbury Park, crossed the line face down in a photo finish (via Canterbury Park)
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Clouds are lighting up at sunset over Lake Chelan #wawx
Orange clouds over Lake Chelan
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Snohomish County Indivisible @snocoindivisible.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
We've had Commissioners Robin McGee and Demi Chatters both speak at separate meetings about what is happening with the Charter Review, but this is only one way they're trying to gain control here. Sno Co is a swing county for the state, making us a big target. There is a lot of work to be done.
theurbanist.org
Op-Ed: Brian Heywood’s Plan to Take Over Snohomish County Government Must Be Stopped
Two 2026 charter amendments are at the heart of a Republican megadonor's plan to take over Snohomish County. If they pass, it would have rippling impacts on transit expansion, housing growth, and safe...
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Timelapse: Dramatic clouds over Lake Chelan to end a stormy day #wawx
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Fantastic cloud watching at Chelan today #wawx
Anvil cloud over Lake Chelan Storm clouds over Lake ChelanCumulonimbus cloud mushrooming through break in foreground clouds Rain clouds over Lake Chelan
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Thunder’s rumbling over Lake Chelan right now #wawx
Storm clouds over Lake Chelan
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Tesla Cybercab with manufacturer’s plates on I-5 north of Seattle with someone in the front seat, but I couldn’t tell if there was a steering wheel
A Tesla Cybercab A Tesla Cybercab
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Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Don't feel guilty about the joy you will feel. Countless souls have suffered and continue to suffer immeasurably because of him. Joy and relief will be the appropriate emotions.
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Rolled into Chelan - tons of firefighters camped along the way for the Little Big Fire - and the city’s a ghost town. The air is clean, the lake is quiet and I bet there are lots of last-minute lodging deals to be had.
A photo of cloudy skies over Lake Chelan
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
“.. an Nvidia-backed AI developer is renting computing capacity from an Nvidia-backed cloud provider, using an Nvidia-leased data center that will be filled with Nvidia’s hardware.” @barrons.com $NVDA www.barrons.com/articles/nvi...
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_Mark 🏳️‍🌈 @marxgbaker.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Funniest possible example to choose
As a result, Armstrong has no plans to start a charity or a foundation.

"So far, I've just been like 'I'm not going to do that.' My fear is that it just gets captured by some ideology and I lose control over it," he said. "If you look at the Ford Foundation, I think Henry Ford would be turning over in his grave if he knew what they were up to."
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Guy Oron @guyoron.net · 19/08/2026
INBOX: The Seattle Office of Labor Standards has announced a settlement recovering $4.4 million in back pay and damage from Uber Eats to more than 14,000 gig workers. The department says the company repeatedly failed to follow the city’s minimum payment laws for app-based workers.
Nearly $4.4 Million Returned to Over 14,000 Workers for Uber Eats Violations of the Minimum Payment Ordinance 
The Office’s Second Largest Settlement   
Seattle, WA – (August 18, 2026) Mayor Katie B. Wilson announced The Office of Labor Standards (OLS) second largest settlement with Portier, LLC dba Uber Eats (Uber Eats) for alleged violations of the App-Based Worker Minimum Payment Ordinance. Uber Eats agreed to settle the claims for a total of $4,386,682.28 in back pay, interest, liquidated damages, and civil penalties to 14,421 affected workers and $5,982.90 in fines to the City of Seattle.  

Under the Ordinance, OLS alleged Uber Eats failed to consistently provide minimum payments for cancelled orders when required, including when workers went to a pick-up location and reported to Uber Eats that an order needed to be cancelled for cause.  

OLS also claimed that in some instances Uber Eats did not provide workers with the required minimum payments for the time they worked.
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The Puyallup @ferries.wsdot.wa.gov ferry from Edmonds to Kingston is loaded up with more motorcycles, scooters and trikes than I’ve ever seen on a ferry!
Motorcycles driving on the ferry
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Tim Johns @timjohns.com · 16/08/2026
The M/V Puyallup departs the Edmonds ferry dock under Venus and the crescent moon after sunset on Saturday August 15, 2026. #edmonds #ferry #pugetsound #moon #venus #puyallup
A Washington State Ferry, The M/V Puyallup, at the Edmonds ferry dock, with Venus, the crescent moon, the Olympic mountains, and clouds with a pink and blue sunset in the background. A handful of people milling about on the jetty at Brackett's Landing North are silhouetted against the ferry's lights reflected in the water of Puget Sound.
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Venus showed up for tonight’s Edmonds moonset #wawx
The crescent moon settingThe crescent moon setting
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Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Legal documents released today show federal law enforcement officials extensively surveilled public meetings and activists during the ICE surge, and created dossiers on political enemies. I've been busy, but will post some takeaways on this thread soon: (1) www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
mprnews.org
Attorney: Homeland Security spied on Minnesotans who spoke out against ICE
Defense attorney Kevin Riach alleges that just four days after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents, that Homeland Security Investigations launched Operation Puppet Master. The agency cou...
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Smoky sunset over the Salish Sea tonight (viewed from Edmonds WA)
An orange sun and cloudy horizon
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Matt Pearce @mattdpearce.com · 11/08/2026
I’m learning that the people who gamified paragraphs are having trouble reading books. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...

AXIOS

Al has become my reading buddy as I've plowed through my summer book list, helping me keep track of plots and characters, unpack themes, and make sense of wordy, old prose.
• Why it matters: The way many of us actually read books - a few pages before bed, a chapter at the beach, another on a plane - makes it easy to lose the thread. Al can help you pick it back up without starting over.
Ш I really got into using Al while reading James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans." The text was far too dense for casual vacation reading. My first prompt asked:
• "T'd like a guide as I read The Last of the Mohicans who can help me understand what I've read and where the story is, without giving spoilers or getting ahead of my progress. Can you do this, chapter by chapter?"
• The robot agreed: "Cooper's sentences are long and his diction is archaic."
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Hannah Sabio-Howell @hannahsabiohowell.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Suddenly we’re hearing the Senate Majority Leader — the *only* member of the 43rd LD delegation who never endorsed social housing or Prop 1A to fund it — talk about state level support for Seattle’s social housing developer. 4/
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AMR - Alexis Mercedes Rinck @alexis4seattle.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The winning art pieces of the Jimothy art competition is on display at City Hall! Come check them out through the end of summer!
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Guess we’ve found the cover art for @edzitron.com’s book after the crash
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This is the catastrophic climate change future we’ve been warned about. It’s here. Now.
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Unofficial Washington State Wildfire Aware @wa-fire-watch.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Wellll... Tuesday morning and afternoon might suck for a lot of places... #wawx
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Looks like the Coulson Aviation 737 (#N137CG) did a drop over Spokane
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Another air tanker coming in: DC-10 #N603AX
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I also count at least three Canadair firefighting aircraft that can skim water from lakes/rivers to dump on fires: #N422BT #N389AC and #N386AC (those last two are Super Scoopers like the one pictured here, which I caught on Chelan in July)
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Looks like there are also three military helicopters (one Chinook and two Black Hawks) as well as the WA DNR Huey on this fire
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
At least one air tanker (#N292EA) has arrived over the #OldTrailsFire in Spokane. Stay safe everyone - pay attention to evac warnings and if you’re told to go, GO!
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Jim Hammerand @jimhammerand.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
FAA docs say owner is “MSHR Helicopter Services” with same address as this business: mshrinc.com
mshrinc.com
Mt St Helens Reforestation INC
Official website for Mt St Helens Reforestation INC, specializing in conservation forestry services including tree planting, chemical spray application, pre-commercial thinning, and slash management. ...
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Nathan Santo Domingo @nsdwx.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
This is about a worst case scenario that you can imagine for Spokane. Level 3 GO NOW evacs extend all the way to Division. Absolutely heartbreaking. #wawx #wawildfire #OldTrailsFire
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