Seattle’s LGBTQ community members say they hope that this Friday’s World Cup “Pride Match” between Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is criminalized, can be an opportunity to change minds.
Seattle, WA
Seattle Kraken voice details key to team’s surprising start
The Seattle Kraken have been one of NHL’s biggest surprises at the quarter poll of the 2025-26 season.
Seattle Kraken get top goalie back from IR, but lose another to injury
After a disappointing 2024-25 campaign led to the firing of head coach Dan Bylsma following his first season, the Kraken have turned things around early on under new bench boss Lane Lambert.
Seattle entered Saturday in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a 10-5-5 and 25 points, just two points behind first-place Anaheim in a crowded race.
Kraken play-by-play voice John Forslund shared his insight on how the team has taken a step forward this year when he joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Friday.
“Lane Lambert has done a remarkable job from day one of training camp just coming in and letting everybody know I’m the new sheriff, this is how we need to play, it’s not that complicated, I need a buy-in from the players,” Forslund said. “And as you know, that’s the most important thing in pro sports. You have to have a buy-in no matter what the game is, and they have (bought in).”
An identity that fits
One look at the stat sheet gives a pretty clear indicator as to why the Kraken have taken a step forward early on. Seattle’s 56 goals allowed are tied for the lowest mark in the Pacific Division and the fourth-lowest across the NHL. It’s held opponents to two goals or fewer nine times.
Last year the Kraken allowed the 10th-most goals (265) in the league.
“It gets back to where they were last year. So last season, for me – and I said it over and over again, wasn’t afraid to say it – but it was their lack of defensive recognition, their lack of awareness in the defensive zone, the (lack of) trust they had in each other as a five-man group in front of the goalie,” Forslund said. “That’s hockey. That’s how you play the game. And Lane had to come in and lay down a system that would get to those basics. (It’s) like building a house. You don’t start with the roof. You start with the foundation and you work up.
“So if you do that, you can awaken a team. You can provide more energy.”
While their defense has been among the league’s best, the Kraken have struggled to score this year. Their 54 goals are tied for the third-lowest mark in the league, and they’ve been held to two or fewer goals in eight games.
The lack of firepower on offense has been a troubling sign for Seattle, but it also illustrates why a shift to a more defensive identity under Lambert is a better fit for this group, according to Forslund.
“The Kraken do not have high-end offensive talent. That’s the one thing they need,” Forslund said. “… They don’t have guys who can break the game open on their own talent. Other teams do. (Other teams) can get away with playing a game that maybe isn’t as based in a work ethic but more or less based on talent, and they can win and they can outscore their chances or outscore their problems. The Kraken don’t have that.
“So you had to get back to that (defensive identity) and he did it, and he did it in short order. And because he did, they started to gain momentum, and momentum leads to energy, leads to a new way of playing.”
Forslund highlighted how Seattle’s attempt to get more scoring out of its group a year ago ultimately led to exposing its defense.
“If you stretch out your game, take risks, try to do what they attempted to do last year and score, you’re gonna get victimized,” Forslund said. “So for me, I think this is a great starting point (this year). And I think if they just continue to play this way, it’ll get better and better and better. And who knows as you get into the second half of the year? The league is asleep on them, no one expected them to be very good. So that’s where they’re at right now, but people will become more aware of their style as we move forward with the season. It’ll get tougher and we’ll see where it goes.”
Why Forslund likes Seattle Kraken’s chances in Pacific
The race in the Pacific Division is very crowded early on with just four points separating its first- and sixth-place teams.
Forslund views Vegas, which is currently tied for second with 26 points, as the team to beat in the Pacific Division. He also highlighted a rising Anaheim squad as another contender.
But Forslund likes Seattle’s chances to continue surprising thanks the identity it’s taken on so far this season.
“I like the fact that they can compete with all of these teams, including Vegas, based on their style,” Forslund said. “And that’s gonna put them in a good position, because of all the teams that we talked about in the Pacific Division, the team that, to me, has the most grit and the ability to grind and make it tough to play against are the Kraken. They don’t have the talent level of Vegas, and they don’t have the talent level certainly of Edmonton and … even (Los Angeles), but they have the ability to grind games.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays form 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
Thursday: Seattle Kraken score 3 in third in 3-2 comeback win over Chicago
Seattle, WA
Council eyes street barricades in fight against violence, sex trafficking in north Seattle
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is expected to vote next week on a plan that would give the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) the authority to close off street access for public safety reasons.
The proposal comes after months of outcry from residents in north Seattle who say sex traffickers and sex buyers are looping through the streets surrounding Aurora Avenue North.
The street-closure proposal passed the council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be voted on by the full council next week.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the crime has gotten much worse, much more violent, and much more predator,” said District 5 councilmember Debora Juarez. “I think that we do have the authority to shut down a street for bullets flying and endangering the lives of those who live there.”
Frustrated neighbors have installed their own homemade barricades after a spate of gun violence between sex traffickers in May.
RELATED | SDOT removes street barricades near Aurora Ave; neighbors doubtful of temporary measures
Councilmember Bob Kettle says street closures will help tamp down sex buying in certain areas, but he emphasizes it must be accompanied by an increase in outreach and enforcement.
“We have to have a sustained effort,” Kettle told KOMO News. “My concern is for every action, there’s a reaction. We need to take this flex and then really attack it … because if we do just a bit and our attention wanders, we could have this conversation three months from now and we’re talking about the same thing.”
A 15-year-old boy was shot near 95th Street and Aurora Avenue North around 10:45 p.m. last night. The teen initially claimed he had been shot while walking down the street, but investigators now say he was shot by a passenger in his car.
RELATED | Seattle police say ‘drive-by’ on Aurora Ave. was actually passenger shooting teen driver
Kettle credited the city’s Real Time Crime Center cameras with helping investigators quickly piece together the events of the shooting.
“Just as important to finding out what happened, the cameras help police determine what did not happen,” Kettle said.
According to Seattle police data, reports of shootings and shots fired in the north precinct area are at their lowest levels since 2021.
Through the end of May, there were 48 total reports of shootings or shots fired, with one fatal shooting and seven nonfatal injury shootings.
That’s down from 63 total reports of shootings and shots fired – one fatal and seven injuries – in 2025; and 64 shootings or shots fired reports – one fatal and 17 injuries – in 2024.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, councilmembers pointed out residents are calling for a new police precinct to be built on Aurora Avenue.
Ten years ago, a new North Precinct building was slated to be built at 130th Avenue and Aurora Avenue North to replace the existing precinct building, which was decades old and did not have enough space for the department’s needs.
Led by former councilmember Kshama Sawant, the “Block the Bunker” movement successfully got the North Precinct replacement project killed in city council.
Kettle said the city’s current financial issues make it essentially impossible to bring back a project similar to the one the previous council defeated.
“We have to connect the dots back,” Kettle said. “If we want to know why we are where we are today, we have to look at decisions made over the last two councils.”
Seattle, WA
Iran and Egypt to play in Seattle ‘Pride Match’ despite earlier complaints | The Jerusalem Post
Seattle revels in its reputation as a welcoming place and Pride flags are visible all over the city, all year round. Its June Pride weekend is one of the biggest in the United States.
So, ahead of December’s World Cup draw, it was only natural that local organizers designated the June 26 match to be held in the city as a “Pride Match.”
Then the draw happened — and the two teams scheduled to play the game were Egypt and Iran.
Egypt’s Football Association urged global soccer governing body FIFA to prevent any Pride-related activities, arguing such events clashed with the Muslim-majority country’s cultural and religious values. The governing body in Iran, where same-sex relations can carry the death penalty, filed an objection with FIFA.
Some in Seattle have doubts over the teams in the ‘Pride Match’
But in Seattle, there is no question that the Pride Match will go ahead as planned.
“The World Cup is going to come and go in three weeks,” Hedda McLendon, from Seattle’s local World Cup organizing committee, told Reuters. “The Pride celebration … has happened on this weekend for 50-plus years.
“It is going to happen this weekend, it is going to happen long after the World Cup.”
Some in the city’s LGBTQ community had mixed feelings given the participants, said Jon Cairns, 49, manager of local LGBTQ+ club Kremwerk.
Cairns, however, said his own view was that it provided a platform to promote acceptance that only the world’s biggest sporting event could offer.
“My reaction is let’s have them,” he told Reuters. “International sports is one of the biggest brokers historically of social change and individual rights and freedoms worldwide, including in the U.S.”
He cited black U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens’ four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany and Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ raised-fist protest in 1968 as moments where “only international sports could reach that big of an audience.”
“They’re not going to turn off the World Cup on state television in Iran or Egypt to block out a Pride flag in the audience,” Cairns said.
The Pride Match is “a host city initiative” and separate of FIFA, a spokesperson for soccer’s governing body told Reuters.
Seattle’s LGBTQ community sees an opportunity
Egypt and Iran’s involvement in the Pride Match is not the first time the World Cup has grappled with stark differences in attitudes between hosts and visitors.
In 2022 World Cup host Qatar, the emir said visitors should “respect our culture” when asked about gay people attending the tournament.
FIFA threatened yellow cards for captains wearing the “OneLove” armband, citing its rules against political slogans. Teams including England and the Netherlands that had been planning to wear the armbands to protest Qatar’s laws against same-sex relationships abandoned the plan.
For Ryan Webster, a 40-year-old lifestyle manager who was at Kremwerk the weekend before Pride, Seattle’s “Pride Match” was an opportunity to show solidarity with people in countries where their sexuality was outlawed.
“I’m choosing to believe that this is our moment to allow the members of the LGBTQ community that come from those countries to have the opportunity to celebrate themselves in totality that they might not have otherwise,” he said outside the club, which will host a watch party for Friday’s game.
Inside, ‘Venus Fengz’ lip-synced to Cher’s “Believe” before introducing fellow drag performers to the stage, clapped and cheered by a raucous crowd.
Fengz, who only wanted to provide their stage name, said Pride coinciding with the World Cup would bring increased visibility, anticipating perhaps some new audience members.
“I think it’s always great for us to be able to share space and share places with people who don’t have the same experiences as us,” they told Reuters.
“Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and show grace where you can and know that everyone is a human learning (from) different experiences, but also it can get hard — because you’re on the shorter end of the stick, always trying to have to explain yourself around people who don’t grow up with the same worldview.”
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Las Vegas could be years away from landing an NBA expansion team, but the league’s commissioner is now offering a clearer sense of the timeline.
On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told “The Dan Patrick Show” that Seattle and Las Vegas remain the cities the NBA is focused on if it expands. “If we expand, at least we’re thinking ’28-29 season,” Silver said.
Silver had previously signaled before that March meeting that Seattle and Las Vegas were at the center of the expansion discussion, while cautioning that no decision had been made.
“We will make decisions in 2026,” Silver said in February.
At the time, Silver said the league was not expected to vote in March but could emerge from those meetings ready to take the next step and begin discussions with potential ownership groups.
Las Vegas has long been viewed as Seattle’s most likely expansion partner if the NBA grows from 30 to 32 teams. Silver, however, has repeatedly said the league could expand by two teams, one team, or not at all.
The potential of an NBA Las Vegas expansion team has already drawn interest. This week, majority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bill Foley, announced he is putting together a bid for the expansion team in Las Vegas.
-
Nevada5 minutes agoNevada Secretary of State calls court ruling on Trump election order a ‘big victory’
-
New Hampshire8 minutes agoNew Hampshire has highest share of adults who identify as atheists
-
New Jersey13 minutes ago2 tractor-trailers crash on NJ Turnpike, burst into flames snarling traffic
-
North Carolina18 minutes agoGreat Horned Owl kills barn owl owlet on North Carolina Wildlife Live Cam
-
New Mexico20 minutes agoGovernor asks AG to investigate DEA agents over fentanyl in New Mexico
-
North Dakota28 minutes agoFargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
-
Ohio35 minutes agoProperty transfers in Marion County, sales range from $40K to $415K
-
Oklahoma38 minutes agoWhat are the Oklahoma City Thunder getting in Kentucky star Otega Oweh?
