In perhaps the biggest Pacific Northwest news of the day, union members near Seattle capitulated (just barely) to a very-profitable Boeing's demands for reduced benefits in a contract extension, after the company ransomed its production of the new 777x. The jetliner will now be built near Seattle (and the contract terms agreed to are better than they might have been) but the precedent Boeing set in the labor talks tasted sour to a lot of folks.

You remember Fallujah, right? The central Iraqi city that gained infamy as site of the bloodiest battle in the Iraq War is once again in the hands of militants. Iraq's rebranded al-Qaeda overtook Fallujah on Friday, as the western part of the country is overrun with violence between tribes, security forces and extremists.

Meanwhile, that selfsame extremist group is on its heels, at present, in Syria.

Turns out the Portland Building—which I'm gonna go on record as not being mad about—might need $95 million in repairs. Leaks and sagging floors and whatnot, you know how it works with these cheaply made and neglected public buildings.

Another pedestrian is struck by a car yesterday in east Portland, which is barely even news at this point. We've got issues.

My favorite Everly Brothers song? Cathy's Clown, no question. Phil Everly, one half of the duo, died yesterday. Everyone is very mournful about it. 'Cept Cathy.

The White House is frantically hoping to prevent mass atrocities in South Sudan—the young nation for which the US is partly responsible, and that's on the verge of ugly civil war. We're dumping millions into humanitarian aid and brokering talks between the government and rebel factions, which began yesterday.

The United Nations is also on the scene. But they're not much help.

You know how I've been saying the obstruction that's stopped up Seattle's enormous tunneling machine could only be the enraged lithospheric face of Mother Nature herself? I forgot to say it could also be just a metal pipe some contractors carelessly left there. At the end of the day, though, aren't they really the same thing?

Lincoln City police came across a couple wanted for a Montana robbery yesterday. It didn't go well.

Roadblocks to abortions are on the rise in many US states, says the New York Times. Probably not gonna be an issue here.

As the president continues to pressure Congress to restore long-term unemployment benefits, a Harvard scholar has estimated this latest political scuffle is costing the country as much as $1 billion a week.

It's still terrifyingly cold in the east. I don't want to call all those people suckers, certainly, but this weekend should be great, here.

I'm late on this, and you don't care, but everyone should nonetheless countenance that the Michigan State Spartans won the Rose Bowl and then celebrated in the locker room with rapper Rich Homie Quan.

Here, watch the entire game (and one of the worst and most overwrought renditions of the "Star-Spangled Banner" you could ever hope for):