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
2024 NHL Draft Recap: Every pick the Seattle Kraken made
The 2024 NHL Draft continued starting with the second round Saturday, and the Seattle Kraken kicked off the day in a similar fashion to Friday’s first round by tapping into an in-state Western Hockey League squad.
Morosi: Why Dan Bylsma is ‘best possible’ coach for Seattle Kraken
Rounds 2 through 7 took place on the draft’s second and final day. Here’s a look at the seven players Seattle picked on Saturday, plus Friday’s first-round pick.
Round 1
Eighth overall: Berkly Catton, C
The Kraken kicked off their fourth draft as a franchise by taking a talented offensive prospect in Catton from the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. The 18-year-old center racked up 54 goals and 62 assists with the Chiefs last season. Catton, a 5 foot 10, 170-pounder, was the WHL Rookie of the Year in 2022-23 with 23 goals and 22 assists.
🎥BERKLY CATTON – HIGHLIGHT REEL🎥
The purrfect highlight reel doesn’t exi—@spokanechiefs | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/EMoIJ3MfkP
— The WHL (@TheWHL) June 28, 2024
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native is a left-handed shot and the eighth-ranked North American skater in the draft, according to NHL Central Scouting.
Round 2
40th overall: Julius Miettinen, C
Seattle’s second pick came from one of Spokane’s cross-state division rivals in the WHL. Miettinen, a 6 foot 3, 203-pounder, netted 31 goals and added 36 assists for the Everett Silvertips last season.
Hey @SeattleKraken.
You’re gonna LOVE Julius Miettinen.#SeaKraken | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/6SiKXEBKq7
— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) June 29, 2024
The Helsinki, Finland, native is another left-handed-shooting centerman, but much larger in stature than Catton. Miettinen was a late riser on draft boards, moving from 49th to 18th in NHL Central Scouting’s final international skater rankings.
63rd overall: Nathan Villeneuve, C
The Kraken continued their early run on centers by taking Villeneuve from the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves with their second second-round pick. Villeneuve, an Ottawa, Ontario, native, amassed 23 goals and 27 assists in 56 games with the Wolves last season.
2024 #NHLDraft prospect Nathan Villeneuve capped the @Sudbury_Wolves‘ comeback Friday night with the OT winner! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/80ZoZy4B9C
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) February 24, 2024
The 5-foot-11, 192-pounder made it three for three in terms of left-handed shooters taken early by Seattle. Villeneuve, 18, is the 60th-ranked North American skater.
Round 3
73rd overall: Alexis Bernier, D
Bernier, 18, had four goals and 27 assists in 67 games for the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League last season. Bernier, a 6-foot-1, 189-pound right-handed shot, is the 62nd-ranked North American skater.
88th overall: Kim Saarinen, G
Saarinen, 17, is a big-bodied goaltender who played across multiple levels in Finland this past season. The 6-foot-4, 176-pounder from Finland is the third-ranked international goalie.
Round 4
105th overall: Oliver Josephson, C
Josephson, 17, was the third left-handed WHL centerman taken by the Kraken. He totaled 12 goals and 35 assists for the Red Deer Rebels last season. Josephson, who measures in at 6-foot, 178 pounds, is the 40th-ranked North American skater.
It’s a shortie for Ollie Josephson!@Rebelshockey | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/dPIfYJeeGH
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 6, 2023
Round 5
141st overall: Clarke Caswell, LW
Caswell, 18, scored 26 goals and dished out 51 assists for the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos last season. The 5 foot 11, 170-pounder is the 77th-ranked North American skater.
Round 7
202nd overall: Jakub Fibigr, D
Fibigr, 17, netted seven goals and had 36 assists in 61 games for the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League last season. The 6-foot, 171-pounder is a left-handed shot and the 67th-ranked North American skater.
Potential Sonics return may have played role in Kraken coach change
SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old boy injured early Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood.
At about 12:48 a.m., dispatchers received multiple reports of rapid gunfire near Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street.
Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip area. Medics transported the teen to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Before officers located the victim, they found a car that had crashed and become disabled near Sylvan Way Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest. Police said multiple suspects were seen running from the vehicle through a nearby Home Depot parking lot.
Officers cordoned off the area and searched for the suspects with assistance from the K-9 Unit, but were unable to locate them. Police recovered the vehicle and impounded it for processing.
During the incident, gunfire struck at least three vehicles and two buildings. No other injuries were reported.
Officers processed multiple nearby scenes and recovered evidence before clearing the area. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit will lead the investigation.
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.”
-
Politics6 minutes agoSupreme Court rules Trump may end legal protection for Haitians and Syrians
-
Science9 minutes agoDrug overdoses in L.A County drop for third straight year. Here’s why
-
Sports14 minutes agoDrug charges against U.S. skiing great Bode Miller to be dropped, his attorney says
-
World24 minutes agoPrioritise workers’ health during heatwaves, says ETUI
-
News51 minutes ago
Federal judge halts Trump’s election executive order seeking to create a federal voter list
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoBoyle Heights warehouse cleanup begins as crews face 85 million pounds of spoiled food
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoWould Detroit Lions Salary Cap Be Wrecked If Terrion Arnold Gets Cut?
-
San Francisco, CA3 hours agoTwo more Presidio Heights homes reach $10M range as luxury supply dwindles
