The Super Bowl MVP left town this morning. Kenneth Walker ran for 135 yards against the Patriots in February and was handed the Lombardi Trophy. Today he signed a three-year deal worth up to $45 million… with the Kansas City Chiefs. The team we are probably facing in the playoffs next year… He confirmed it himself on Instagram in cursive script. The Seahawks, for their part, had Zach Charbonnet on a torn ACL and exactly zero other options. The cap math was always going to be brutal. Nobody said it was going to be this specific.

Meanwhile: Washington gas hit $4.63 a gallon this morning. A U.S.-Israeli war knocked out 20% of the world's oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz, and somehow the Pacific Northwest… which doesn't even get most of its gas from the Persian Gulf… is paying the second-highest price in the nation. Three weeks ago in the State of the Union, the president was bragging about $1.99 a gallon. We're now at $4.63. That's not a typo.

And starting at 5 AM today, the entire northbound First Avenue South Bridge closed for three days of emergency repairs! The same stretch that's been half-closed since February 18. I-5 over the Ship Canal is still two lanes. Gas is $4.63. The legislature has until Thursday to pass a state income tax. The Super Bowl MVP is in Kansas City. Welcome to March 9th.

Here's your Monday.

Kenneth Walker III agrees to $45M deal with the Kansas City Chiefs
The negotiating window opened at noon today. Walker was signed, confirmed, and posted about it in cursive before most people finished their coffee. Three years, up to $45 million… the largest free-agent deal ever for a running back. For context: Walker rushed for 135 yards in Seattle's Super Bowl win over the Patriots in February. He now plays for the Chiefs. In 2026. This is real. John Schneider never planned to pay $15M a year for a running back, and that philosophy held... right up until the Super Bowl MVP left for the team he just beat. Zach Charbonnet is recovering from an ACL tear. Tyler Allgeier and a second-round running back pick are now Seattle's most likely path forward. Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba extensions are still coming. The cap was $59 million. Walker's new deal would have eaten most of it. The math always said this was coming. The destination just stings.

Washington gas hits $4.63/gallon as Iran war chokes global oil supply
Oil is at $93 a barrel after briefly hitting $120. The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz | 20% of the world's daily oil supply, stranded. Washington sits at $4.63 a gallon as of this morning, second highest in the country behind California at $5.20. The national average is $3.48. Washington was already paying $4 before any of this started. In the greater Seattle area, the average is $4.59. Diesel is over $5.59 in parts of the state. The Federal Reserve's inflation target is 2%. Seattle's was already running at 3.1% for the year ending in December. Whatever the commute looks like Wednesday when the First Ave S Bridge reopens, it's going to be expensive.

State income tax heads to House floor with 3 days left in the session
The legislature ends Thursday. The latest version of a proposed 9.9% income tax on earnings over $1 million finally has Governor Ferguson's backing after a revised amendment was unveiled last week. Democrats already passed an $80 billion supplemental operating budget… the largest in state history, and it assumes this revenue. Republicans are calling it a "seismic generational shift" in Washington's tax structure. The state has no income tax and, according to the constitution, isn't supposed to. Whether this survives a court challenge is a very different question from whether it passes Thursday. The house that was drunk for the $79 billion budget hearing is now sober enough to vote on an income tax. Feels stable.

Kraken drop 7-4 to Ottawa, holding second wild card by a thread
Saturday night at Climate Pledge was rough. Ottawa came in desperate for playoff points and scored four times in the first two periods. Shane Pinto ran the offense. Brady Tkachuk closed it out. Matty Beniers and Brandon Montour scored late garbage goals that did nothing. Jaden Schwartz took a skate to the face in the first period and didn't return. Seattle has lost four of its last six and is holding the second wild card in the Western Conference… "holding" being the operative word. Nashville comes to town Tuesday. The Kraken are still in. Barely

Armed robbery at West Seattle gas station: four masked men, stolen Hyundai, 2 AM Early Tuesday morning in the 4500 block of Fauntleroy Way Southwest. Four men in masks drove a stolen Hyundai Sonata to a gas station, robbed the clerk at gunpoint, took $500-600 cash, and drove off. No arrests. This is a story that tells itself: stolen car, masks, guns, a gas station clerk working 2 AM, and a getaway in a Hyundai. The Fauntleroy corridor has had a rough few weeks.

Man stabbed outside Ballard business on NW Leary Way
Monday morning. A 35-year-old man was found outside a business on the 1400 block of Northwest Leary Way with a stab wound to the back. A 34-year-old was arrested. The victim survived. SPD provided aid until Seattle Fire arrived. Ballard has been dealing with a lot of things at once lately -- this one fits the pattern.

CID robbery leaves 21-year-old stabbed on South King Street
Tuesday afternoon in the 1200 block of South King Street, right in the middle of the Chinatown-International District. A 21-year-old robbery victim was found with a deep cut and taken to the hospital. This happened less than 48 hours after the neighborhood hosted its 29th annual Lunar New Year celebration -- dragon dances, 50 food vendors, a full block of community on a Saturday. The contrast is exhausting. SPD is investigating.

First Ave S Bridge: full northbound closure today through Wednesday, 8 PM This is happening right now. All northbound SR 99/509 lanes are closed from South Cloverdale Street until Wednesday night. WSDOT found cracked steel deck grates back on February 18, closed two lanes, promised an update by March 6, and delivered: a three-day full closure starting this morning. The detour routes northbound traffic across 14th Avenue South, north on East Marginal Way, and back onto SR 99. Cyclists and pedestrians are on the Duwamish Trail. I-5 over the Ship Canal is already reduced to two lanes from the Revive I-5 project. Gas is $4.63. Full deck replacement is planned for 2027. WSDOT wants everything buttoned up before the World Cup in June. Light Rail is right there.

2 Line Crosslake Connection opens March 28 -- Seattle to Bellevue by rail, finally Three weeks from Saturday, Sound Transit opens the piece of light rail Seattle has been waiting on since the ST2 ballot measure passed in 2008. The 2 Line's Crosslake Connection links Seattle and the Eastside across the I-90 floating bridge, adding Mercer Island and Judkins Park stations and expanding the regional system to 63 miles. Combined 1 Line and 2 Line service will run every four minutes through the downtown core. Simulated testing has been running since Valentine's Day. If you have commuted across 520 or I-90 at any point in the last decade and thought "there really should be a train for this," March 28 is your day. Also: the World Cup is in June and we're going to need every option.

West Seattle light rail cost-cutting scenarios coming; community forum set for April 1 The Sound Transit Board is expected to have cost-reduction scenarios for the West Seattle Link Extension before its March 18 retreat, with a public forum at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on April 1. West Seattle has been in line for light rail since ST3 passed in 2016 and has watched Lynnwood, Federal Way, and Bellevue all get served first. The current record: the 2 Line crosses Lake Washington on March 28. West Seattle's link to the grid is still pointed at 2032. The April 1 forum date was not chosen as a joke. Probably.

Jeffry's (Capitol Hill) - OPENING WEDNESDAY. Renee Erickson is collapsing Bateau and Boat Bar into a single steakhouse called Jeffry's, reopening March 11 in the same Capitol Hill footprint. The dry-aging program from Bateau survives. A martini cart has been added. The neighboring former General Porpoise is becoming a private dining space. The press release notes that former staff are being welcomed back and that Jeffry's will continue operating as a unionized workplace. Eight months between closing and reopening is a long time to hold your breath, but if the result is Erickson doing steak and martinis with that room, the wait makes sense.

Death & Co (Pioneer Square) - OPENING THIS SPRING. The nationally acclaimed New York cocktail institution is opening its Seattle location at 419 Occidental Ave. S. in the RailSpur development, a renovated warehouse complex in Pioneer Square. Death & Co is not a bar that coasts on reputation… its cocktail programs have been setting national standards since 2006. Pioneer Square has been quietly becoming one of the more interesting dining and drinking neighborhoods in the city. This is the kind of anchor that confirms it. No exact date yet. Show up prepared.

The Vine at Chophouse Row (Capitol Hill) - CLOSED. The wine bar at Chophouse Row is gone after five years. Good indoor-outdoor room. The kind of place that worked for a lot of different occasions without demanding too much from you. Capitol Hill still has La Dive and Flight Wine + Chocolate. The loss is real, even if the block keeps moving.

Lectric XP Lite Electric Bike Gas is $4.63. The bridge is closed. The I-5 Ship Canal crossing is still half-gone. The Lectric XP Lite folds up, weighs 46 pounds, and will get you from Georgetown to Capitol Hill for roughly eight cents in electricity. There has never been a better week to own an e-bike in Seattle. There will probably be a better week next week. But still.

Marmot PreCip Eco Rain Jacket Daylight Saving kicked in yesterday, which means 7 PM sunsets are back and Seattle will briefly convince itself that spring has arrived. It hasn't. The rain is here through June at least, and knowing this city, it'll be 55 and gray for another six weeks regardless of what the calendar says. Packable, recycled nylon, hood that actually cinches. The days are longer. Dress accordingly.

That's Monday. The Super Bowl MVP is a Chief now. The bridge is closed. Gas will eat your paycheck before the legislature can tax it. The Kraken are technically still a playoff team. And somewhere on Capitol Hill, the next iteration of one of Seattle's best dining rooms opens Wednesday with a martini cart.

See you Thursday with weekend plans.

If this made your Monday slightly less terrible, forward it to someone who needs context for why their commute was awful today. Growing this thing is a word-of-mouth operation.

If you need me, I'll be at Jeffry's on Wednesday night running the math on what it would have cost to franchise-tag Kenneth Walker.

— The Drizzle