The Record: August 21

The Mariners' losing streak seems to be blowing in the wind (just like wildfire smoke). Are they doing well enough to justify tax money for a Safeco Field upgrade? We asked King County Executive Dow Constantine about that city landmark and another controversial one: the Showbox Theater.

Unlike its beleaguered baseball team, Seattle sees the Supersonics as the ones that got away. In a new book, New York Times Magazine staff writer Sam Anderson has told the story from the antagonists’ side – how it felt to Oklahoma City to get that team in the wake of 1990s tragedy. The book is called Boom Town.