Planet Seattle

This roundup will help you plan the week of November 19–25, 2026 in advance. The schedule includes hockey and basketball, concerts by Rodrigo y Gabriela, Julien Baker, Thundercat, Alter Bridge, and Gwar, stand-up comedy, theater productions, classical music, a Christmas market, and special programs such as The Nutcracker and Mozart’s Requiem. The busiest lineup is expected from November 20–22, when sporting events, club shows, comedy performances, and family activities will take place...

The province stands on the threshold of change: an election race in which the Conservatives hold only a narrow lead over the NDP, multibillion-dollar deficits have become a political norm, and a legal battle over Cowichan Nation land threatens to reshape property ownership and infrastructure. British Columbia: Deficits as the New Political Norm The election campaign in British Columbia promises voters a miraculous rescue of the province’s finances. But, as Rob Shaw’s analysis for Business in...

This digest covers a B.C. Ferries collision with a humpback whale off the coast, BC NDP campaign promises to open new urgent care centres on Vancouver Island, and an expert column arguing that the hospital crisis is being driven by underfunding of long-term care. Canadian ferry collides with humpback whale off British Columbia coast Last weekend, an incident off Canada’s Pacific coast once again drew attention to the challenge of coexistence between large marine vessels and whales. Ferry...

Vancouver residents elected Green candidate Pete Fry as mayor in the 2026 municipal election. He defeated incumbent Mayor Ken Sim by approximately 23,000 votes. The Green Party and COPE dominated all elected bodies—the city council, park board, and school board—while ABC Vancouver won just one council seat. Voters also approved three borrowing plebiscites authorizing $790 million for the 2027–2030 capital plan. Turnout rose to more than 43%, up from 36% in 2022. Official results will be...

Vancouver and all of British Columbia are voting in municipal elections amid record early turnout. The mayoral race is “neck and neck,” with plebiscites on drug policy and involuntary treatment also on the ballot, while CBC examines key campaigns in nine Metro Vancouver cities—from a changing of the guard in Richmond to controversies in Surrey and Delta. Meanwhile, Air Canada is filming an advertisement for its new Airbus A321XLR over the Lower Mainland, promising to expand its long-haul...

Canada news digest: short-track speed skating returns to the arena of its 2010 Olympic triumph, Vancouver heads toward a municipal election with a fractured protest vote, and British Columbia debates secret ballots in union certification. Canadian Speed Skaters Return to the Arena of Their 2010 Olympic Triumph Short-track speed skating in Canada is more than just a sport; it is part of the national identity, built on dramatic finals, milestone medals and tactical schemes with memorable names....

Vancouver is preparing for record voter turnout, Canada is building its largest icebreaker, and the weekend promises festivals and concerts. Vancouver Votes: Record Early Turnout Signals a Tense Finish Residents of Vancouver, Canada, are preparing to bring the 2026 election campaign to a close. After early voting broke all records, residents will have one final chance to make their choice this Saturday, October 17. City officials are reporting an unprecedented surge in civic engagement:...

Digest: Bruno Mars will voice a SkyTrain station in Vancouver, the election campaign in British Columbia is gaining momentum, and AGAT Laboratories is opening a laboratory in Vancouver. Bruno Mars Will Speak in the Vancouver Subway: The Star’s Voice to Be Heard at a SkyTrain Station Vancouver’s transit authority, TransLink, has decided to turn the wait for a concert into a show of its own before fans even step inside the stadium. The voice of global pop star Bruno Mars will play over the...

A new poll found that 72% of Vancouver voters believe the mayor and city council are out of touch, while the cost of living is their top concern. Meanwhile, Washington state officials have advanced planning for a high-speed rail link between Portland and Vancouver that could bypass the American namesake city. Business in Vancouver magazine has also announced the winners of its 2026 Forty Under 40 awards, recognizing young leaders from across the region. Vancouver Poll: 72% of Voters Say Mayor...

The Senate race in Kansas is evolving from a predictable Republican contest into an unexpectedly competitive campaign in which party affiliation is no longer the only factor at issue. Trust in the candidates, the cost of living and voter fatigue with political aggression have also moved to the forefront. Democrat Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest Methodist congregation in the United States, is trying to attract independent voters and moderate Republicans by presenting himself not as a party...

The materials provided show that the 2026 US congressional elections are unfolding around more than just partisan rivalry. Their overarching theme is a struggle for voters’ trust amid a high cost of living, foreign-policy crises, and politics’ growing dependence on major financial resources. Donald Trump is turning the campaign into a personal plebiscite on his ability to retain the Republican majority, while Democrats are trying to capitalize on economic discontent and controversial...

Three cases accepted or considered by the U.S. Supreme Court reveal a common trend: the Court is systematically reassessing the boundaries of federal power—presidential, legislative, and administrative—while also clarifying how far the government may intervene in institutional affairs, private life, and education policy. These are not merely separate disputes over the dismissal of an official, home distilling, or a school lottery. In each case, the Court must determine who actually has the...

The materials provided address different topics—the U.S. midterm elections and a measles outbreak in Bangladesh—but they share a common theme: the resilience of public systems depends not only on formal institutions, but also on trust, data quality, the ability to identify risks in advance, and effective communication with citizens. In American politics, this is reflected in the unexpected expansion of the electoral battleground; in Bangladesh, it is seen in the failure to protect children...

The latest escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis shows that Yemen’s decade-long war has once again moved beyond the confines of a local conflict. Strikes on airports, oil infrastructure, and shipping are disrupting daily life in Saudi Arabia, threatening key trade routes, and forcing neighboring states to choose between direct intervention and limited support for Riyadh. The main conclusion, evident in all three reports, is that the balance of capabilities has shifted: despite their...

The launch of the foldable iPhone Duo shows that Apple has entered a new market with exceptionally strong demand, while simultaneously facing limited production capacity and a number of practical compromises. The device, priced from $1,999, was almost unavailable within the first few minutes of preorders, and retail employees were reportedly advised to warn customers that they should not expect to buy one without a preorder on launch day. Against this backdrop, a comparison with the Samsung...

The materials presented show how the Russian-Ukrainian war is increasingly extending beyond the immediate combat zone. Ukraine is striking energy facilities deep inside Russia and disrupting the operations of the country’s largest airports, while Russian pressure on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is pushing more people to emigrate. Together, these developments form an interconnected picture: Kyiv is seeking to raise the economic and political cost of...

The Houthis’ latest strikes on Aden, Saudi Arabia, airports, and oil infrastructure show that the war in Yemen is no longer solely an internal conflict. The Ansar Allah movement has significantly expanded its military capabilities and can now simultaneously pressure Yemen’s internationally recognized government, threaten Saudi cities, and create risks for shipping in the Red Sea. At the same time, Iran is believed by a number of experts to be helping the Houthis with technology, intelligence,...

Pre-election debates in Alaska and Maine showed that the U.S. midterms are becoming not only a contest between platforms, but also a struggle over the candidates’ personal reputations. In both states, contenders sought to portray their opponents either as unreliable politicians or as people tied to corruption, major donors and unacceptable conduct. At the same time, the main national factor remains President Donald Trump and his war with Iran: Republican senators must simultaneously support the...

The crisis erupted during a Syrian basketball championship game between Al-Karama of Homs and Al-Wahda of Damascus: an altercation began in the stands before spilling onto social media and the streets. Al-Karama fans began shouting insults at Omar Al-Soma, an Al-Wahda and Syrian national-team footballer whom they consider a supporter of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. In response, some Al-Wahda fans began chanting slogans about Abdel Basit al-Sarout, who was killed in 2019. This sparked anger...

Venezuelan society is debating an unexpected turn of events: a country that just a year ago called Washington its main threat is now accepting U.S. investment in the oil industry, while acting President Delcy Rodriguez is publicly thanking Donald Trump. Against this backdrop, three disputes are unfolding—over the price of the oil deal, whom Washington is removing from its sanctions lists, and what to do with the memory of Nicolás Maduro. The Oil Deal and Accusations of “Neo-Colonialism” On...

An examination of Venezuela’s economic period from 2019 to 2025 shows that de facto dollarization emerged not as the result of an official stabilization program or institutional reform, but as a spontaneous response by the population and private sector to the loss of confidence in the Central Bank and the national currency. After the collapse of oil revenues in 2014, the state’s interventionist model led to a sweeping institutional and monetary crisis, and citizens began using foreign currency...

The “Sufa 53” project, also known as the “Great Storm,” is an Israeli military-engineering project in the countryside of Quneitra in southern Syria. It is being carried out inside the buffer zone established by the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, along the occupied Golan Heights and in the area of operations of UNDOF. Work began in mid-2022 on the outskirts of Hadar and later expanded to the villages of Jabata al-Khashab, Hamidiyah, Qahtaniyah, Ruwaihinah, Bir Ajam, Barika and al-Asha, reaching...

Over the past two days, Venezuelan public opinion has focused not so much on the return of US Marines to the embassy in Caracas itself as on the broader context: the country is living under tight American oversight, oil agreements with Washington are expanding, while former President Nicolás Maduro is sitting in a New York prison and has nearly disappeared from official rhetoric. It is at the intersection of these developments—the sell-off of oil rights, Maduro’s disappearance, the lifting of...

Khaled al-Yakoubi, an official representative of the Iraqi presidential administration, said that placing all weapons under state control requires reciprocal commitments from major powers, especially the United States: Washington must respect Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and refrain from interfering in its internal affairs. According to him, this is not merely a wish but an obligation for any prime minister whose legitimacy rests on parliament; the issue is usually included in...

Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez spoke at the World Food Forum of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. She announced the launch of the “Venezuela Feeds” plan, which is intended to bring together all stages of food production and help the country achieve the goal of “Zero Hunger.” Rodríguez stressed that access to food is an inalienable right linked to human life, dignity and development. The president also said that in the coming days she would present...

In Syria, women and children remain among the most vulnerable groups, and domestic violence is a persistent problem. In the provinces, there is no clear mechanism for combating it, while victims often remain silent out of shame and fear of social condemnation. Violence is frequently justified as necessary to “preserve the family,” and even women sometimes endorse such explanations. As a result, battered women and children find neither protection nor a safe place to turn. The case of...

Venezuela’s discussion of the United States in October 2026 is unfolding across two different time zones at once. One is the still-fresh shock of the armed operation that Caracas calls nothing less than the “kidnapping” of the president: on the night of January 3, US helicopters struck targets in Caracas, Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira; Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and taken to New York, while Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was recognized by Washington as head of the...

Imagine a huge, gleaming crystal in the middle of a city, with a ribbon of books inside it slowly rising upward like a mountain trail. This is not fantasy but Seattle Central Library, which opened in 2004. It was designed to change along with the books and the people who use it. Let’s take a closer look at how this unusual building works and why it is considered an engineering breakthrough. A Building That Doesn’t Like Rearranging When the architects began the project, they asked themselves a...

Imagine a road carrying cars with deep lake water instead of solid ground beneath it. Seattle has had roads like this for more than eighty years: floating bridges. It is not a trick or magic, but a clever engineering idea. Yet behind it lies another story too—about how city residents argued, wrote letters, attended meetings, and fought to ensure that roads served people, rather than the other way around. Let’s look at how a bridge floats and whose voices were long overlooked in these...

If you walk along some of Seattle’s streets, you may see houses that resemble one another like brothers: low roofs, wide porches, and thick wooden columns. These homes are called Craftsman bungalows, and behind them lies an amazing story—the story of an entire movement that began far from Seattle but found its perfect home there. It All Began with One Simple Idea In the 19th century, a man named William Morris lived in England. He was an artist, writer, and jack-of-all-trades. He noticed that...

Imagine that your class is choosing a class monitor, and the winner is someone people once thought was “not suited” for the role. Then that monitor goes on to become the principal of the entire school. That is roughly what happened to Bertha Knight Landes, who became mayor of Seattle in 1926. She was the first woman to lead a major American city. But Bertha did not win on her own: behind her stood women’s clubs, voters, her family, and her own habit of seeing things through. Let’s look at the...

Imagine that every spring, steamships leave the port of Seattle carrying thousands of people with small trunks and dreams of earning a living. They are headed to Alaska, to canneries where salmon is cut, washed, and sealed in tin cans. Many of these workers were Filipino. In 1933, they united in a labor union for the first time and succeeded in making themselves heard. It is an almost forgotten story, but its echoes have reached our own time. Alaskeros: The People Who Fed the Country Salmon In...

Imagine a river that salmon return to every year. But its banks are lined with concrete, and its bed is covered with old, polluted sediment. That is what the Duwamish River in Seattle looked like. Scientists and officials were not the only ones who set out to help it. Local residents, many of whom had come to America from other countries, played a huge role. This is a story about how caring for fish turned into caring for one another. Why Salmon Need a “Rest Stop” Salmon are born in fresh...

In the center of Seattle stands a huge glass building resembling a sparkling crystal that someone has slightly twisted. This is the Central Library, and it is arranged very differently from the libraries we are used to. Its most remarkable feature is the “Book Spiral”: a long, gently sloping path that lets visitors move upward without using stairs, with bookshelves running alongside it. Let’s find out why adults came up with this idea and what clever technologies are hidden inside. The Problem...

Imagine a long thread strung with colorful beads. Now imagine that the thread is a streetcar line, and the beads are entire city neighborhoods. That is roughly how Seattle grew more than a century ago: first the rails were laid, and then homes, stores, and parks appeared along them. And when the rails were removed, the “beads” remained—but living in them became completely different. How Streetcars Came to Seattle At first, streetcars in Seattle were pulled by horses. This was slow, and it was...

Imagine a lake in the middle of a big city. A small plane flies over the water, lands on the waves like a duck, and taxis toward the dock. Nearby, on the shore, stand enormous glass spheres, with real tropical jungles rustling inside them. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it’s true: this is what Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood looks like. Let’s find out how planes from a century ago, a streetcar, and the most advanced technology all came together here. When There Were Neither Towers nor...