Each week on The Newsfeed, host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists dive deep into one topic and provide impactful reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.
WA’s longest hotel workers’ strike comes to an end
By Jaelynn Grisso, story published 09/21/2026
The longest-running hotel workers’ strike in Washington’s history came to a close when Hilton and its workers agreed to a contract earlier this month. We previously reported on the workers’ efforts and concerns ahead of the World Cup. Now, we’re bringing you an update with what’s in the workers’ new contract.
The first strike Aspen Desmarais joined turned out to be historic.
“85 days was a lot. It was in the first couple of weeks. It was really fun. And then for a second there, it felt really hard fought and like what we were doing wasn't getting any impact. But I will not be out stubborn by anyone until I get the things that we need to protect people,” said Desmarais, a bartender at Embassy Suites by Hilton.
Desmarais and other workers went on strike on June 18th during the FIFA Men’s World Cup. The strike lasted a total of 85 days. The union hopes the contract agreement will pave the way for other hotel workers in the state.
Some of the changes in the new agreement include:
- Improved protections for immigrants
- Year-round health insurance coverage
- Increased wages
- Reduced workload for housekeepers
Hilton responded to a request for comment, saying: “This agreement reflects a collaborative outcome and our commitment to our valued Team Members. We look forward to welcoming our Team Members back to work and continuing to deliver exceptional hospitality to our guests.”
But for Desmarais, perhaps the biggest win was laying the groundwork to help protect immigrant workers.
“When people come to online commenting about our immigrant workers and being saying that they shouldn't be afraid if they're legal, they are all legal. It's just a scary world and Ice does not care if you're legal or not... In an extremely oppressive system right now towards immigrants. I think any win is a win,” Desmarais said.
Bikini baristas win $1.85M in back pay from coffee hut owner
By Lizz Giordano, story published 09/22/2026
During our week of coverage on wage theft, we told you about two groups of bikini baristas suing their bosses. Now, a King County judge awarded one of the groups more than $1.85 million in back pay after finding the owner violated state labor law.
Mykie, who worked for Tagle for about a year, estimates she is owed between $10,000 and $15,000 in unpaid wages.
“It's a huge win, not only just for us in our class action lawsuit, but for workers everywhere. It doesn't matter what you wear as a work uniform. It doesn't matter what people's opinions are of the work that me and other women do. It’s still work at the end of the day, and we still deserve to be paid correctly for the work that we do,” said Mykie, who asked to only be identified by her first name.
The class action lawsuit involved 70 baristas who worked at 5 bikini coffee huts across King and Snohomish Counties owned by Alan Tagle between 2021 and 2024.
The Judge determined that Tagle did not issue paychecks to the baristas, nor regularly track their hours worked. And that Tagle implemented strict sales goals, and baristas said they were threatened with being scheduled for less desirable shifts or losing their jobs if they didn’t meet those goals.
“There were days where I went home with nothing. There were days where I put my own money from my purse that I brought. It was really standard practice to at least for me and some of the other women that I had worked with to bring our own cash, just in case we needed to put some money into the till. So, there were days where I actively lost money for working,” Mykie said.
Tagle’s lawyers didn’t respond to a request for comment.
His brother Johnathan Tagle, who also owns a string of bikini coffee huts, is facing a similar lawsuit. He is accused of not paying his workers in accordance with state law, and of sexually harassing them.
Weighing the World Cup’s impact on Seattle
By Venice Buhain, story published 09/23/2026
By a lot of measures, Seattle won the FIFA Men’s World Cup.
“I think the gross numbers were pleasingly surprising to us. I mean, when we see 548,000 people descend upon our downtown on any given day, that's pretty exciting,” said Chris Copacino, Vice President of Communications for the Downtown Seattle Association.
Local public radio station KUOW estimated that state and local entities spent $120 million to host six matches of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. From June 15 to July 6, Seattle’s downtown saw about 3 million domestic visitors over the three weeks, according to the Downtown Seattle Association. Match days saw about a 17% increase in foot traffic over those same days in 2025.
The numbers – based on cell phone data – didn’t include international visitors.
Copacino called it a success, with lessons to be learned for future big events.
“People, especially our members and and people in the community see what can happen when we activate public spaces, when we create great pedestrian walking experiences, when public and private partnerships come together just to make sure that our city shines and is ready to receive people,” Copacino said.
He said that another big takeaway is to ensure that other neighborhoods – such as the Chinatown-International District, or CID -- also see the benefits. Neighborhood activists in the CID had been concerned about how the FIFA World Cup games would affect the neighborhood – which often sees negative impacts such as traffic and congestion from stadium events without seeing much benefit. After the games began, the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area and others organized an official watch party in Hing Hay Park for the last game in Seattle, and held additional watch parties for later matches held in other cities.
“I think that making sure that all of our communities are in and around the stadium feel the excitement,” Copacino said. “We need to make sure that all of the neighborhoods are feeling this.”
Some local boosters hope the city can get a chance to apply these lessons if Seattle is one of the cities picked to host when 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup comes to the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica.
Seattle promises funding in response to trans refugee crisis
By Jaelynn Grisso, story published 09/24/2026
With an increasing amount of anti-trans bills proposed nationwide – including two here in Washington – more trans people are relocating to Seattle., As we reported in June, this prompted local advocates to raise the alarm that the influx is creating a crisis in available resources.
TRACTION, a nonprofit focused on trans and gender-queer individuals, began a program in 2023 called project Open Arms. It helps trans folks in so-called hostile states relocate to a safer place. So far, they’ve been able to help more than 100 people relocate and hundreds more with smaller requests, but TRACTION Executive Director C. Michael Woodward says the demand is much higher.
“There's been periods when we've been getting requests like ten or more a day. I think the last time I counted the total number of applications we've had is nearing 1,800. We haven't been able to help nearly that many people because we just have the capacity,” Woodward said.
Seattle’s LGBTQ Commission heard from community organizations about the crisis and brought concerns to the city in May.
Three months later, both the mayor’s office and city council dedicated funding to address the crisis. City Council passed a one-time funding measure to provide $300,000 to community organizations. The mayor’s office also approved an additional $450,000.
Woodward said the city hasn’t announced an application process for the funds yet, but if TRACTION receives part of that money, it will be going directly into trans folks hands.
TRACTION and a coalition of other queer and trans organizations also created a public survey to gather more information on the crisis.
“We want to help the city know, like what's going on here so that they really have data to be able to justify," Woodward said. “Because I know people [who say], ‘Oh, it's not a crisis.’ I'm like, well, it is a crisis. You know, a lot of people are really being threatened. And there's been death. You know, people have been killed. This is a crisis.”
New archival space highlights Seattle Black Panther Party history
By Paris Jackson, story published 09/25/2026
Beyond the downtown hustle of Seattle’s Pioneer Square, inside the historic Metropole Building, lives a different kind of historical significance.
A new immersive and living archival space - the Seattle Black Panther Party Interpretive Center.
During our interview with Seattle Black Panther Party co-founder Elmer Dixon in February, he recounted his work to keep the chapter’s legacy alive.
Then, he also shared details about the center that was in the works to memorialize the group’s legacy.
This summer, the center opened to the public. Program manager Naudia Miller says it’s drawn a crowd from across the country.
“We opened up in June, but we've already had over 1,300 people join us this far in Pioneer Square,” Miller said.
When guests walk into the modern and industrial space, on one wall, they're greeted by a chronological history of the Seattle Panthers: before its founding, after it, and up to the present day.
The gallery includes mixed mediums from paintings by local artists, to a documentary teaser about the Seattle comrades, to a sitting area near front entrance filled with shelves of Black non-fiction literature that Miller says was part of the Panthers’ reading list.
“Right now, we have our Panther Reading Circle, which is a tribute to the academia that was involved in being a Black Panther. We're just encouraging folks to come down from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Friday through Sunday,” Miller said.
Miller says the center is important because it's a continuation of their legacy.
“A lot of people, when they come through these doors are asking what are they .. what are the Panthers doing now? And, you know, we need them and we want them to be doing this work again. But our Panthers are in their 70s. Some closer to their 80s. You know that they've done the work. And this is .. this is the beginning of the final chapter I would say. Nothing like this exists in Seattle. So this is, you know, the first ode to the Black Panther Party, where you can get an education on what the party was, not just Seattle, but, you know, the whole Black Panther Party. And, you know, as someone who grew up here, I had no, I didn't know about the Black Panther Party until I was in my 20s: just through my own research. But then finding out that we had a chapter and getting to meet the former Panthers, it changed my life. So I'm getting to work with my heroes. And my hope, my goal with this place is to inspire everyone, but especially young people,” Miller said.
“I think that more of us... if we had known. If I had known about Angela Davis when I was a little girl, it would have ignited me a lot sooner. The diversity that comes through the door and the people who see those Ten Points and ‘they're like, oh, that makes sense to me.’ It gives me a lot of hope.”
