PubliCola⁠76%

This Week on PubliCola: August 2, 2026 ⁠37%

By ericacbarnett⁠62%

8/2/2026, 4:59:20 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Self-Serving Bias, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 19.2% saturation with 296 hits. Analysis detected 2,082 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,543 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 37.6% and a BS Rank of ⁠37% (17,265 of 27,323 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 63.20% of the article peer group.

Police chief resigns, Burien city manager fired, school meals resolved, and much more. 
By Erica C. 
Barnett 
It was a busy, busy week for PubliCola, with news about now-former Seattle police chief Shon Barnes starting on Sunday night, when we broke the news that he was out of town during the mass shooting at Seattle Center, an absence we later learned contributed to a five-hour delay in information getting out about the incident. 
I spent the week burning up the phones and breaking news. 
Meanwhile, on KUOW’s Week In Review this week, two guests (including one of KUOW’s editors) dedicated a huge chunk of time to insulting PubliCola and our work, calling me an “influencer” who just “hung out a shingle” and “called myself a news person.” 
(They didn’t name PubliCola directly, but every reference was to our reporting). 
KUOW editor and reporter Catherine Smith and their guest Angela Poe Russell, who’s making the rounds as a Barnes defender, erroneously claimed that every police chief going back to Gil Kerlikowske has been out of town as much as Barnes has. 
“Don’t give us one-sided narrative and call it journalism,” Russell said, and Smith agreed that I didn’t have the goods, saying it was not “fair” for me to “criticize him for that when other chiefs travel like that.” 
Russell and Smith presented zero evidence for their assertions. 
Smith claimed her story this week included information about those past chiefs’ schedules that contradicted my reporting, but it did not; the only “reporting” she had on that subject was a summary of a spokesman saying “Barnes’ level of travel is consistent with past chiefs of police.” 
Then Russell said biased and false reporting like mine was why people should support public radio like KUOW instead The host of Week In Review, a show on which I am sometimes a guest, did not push back as the two women insulted me and said my work this week was inaccurate. 
(For the record, I’ve been a full-time reporter in Seattle since 2001, and at PubliCola since 2009—and I stand by my reporting). 
So! 
This is your reminder that PubliCola is a paywall-free independent news source brought to, and our ONLY source of funding is direct contributions from readers who appreciate this work. 
If you can, please consider ma<a href="https://publicola.com/support/">king a one-time or ongoing contribution</a> via Patreon, Paypal, Venmo, or check, or subscribing to my Substack newsletter below. 
Thank you for reading and supporting PubliCola! 
Monday, July 27 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/27/councils-school-meals-plan-will-require-cuts-to-other-services-reposted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>Council’s School Meals Plan Will Require Cuts to Other Services</strong></a> 
An early plan by city councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth, Dionne Foster, and Dan Strauss to dip into the city’s general fund to pay for universal school meals would have required Mayor Katie Wilson to come up with cuts elsewhere totaling around $3 million. 
The proposal, which changed later in the week to one the mayor and council could both accept, came after Hollingsworth and Foster proposed delaying universal school meal funding to pay for take-home food vouchers for low-income kids as part of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) levy. 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/27/seattle-police-chief-out-of-town-during-mass-shooting-councils-school-meals-plan-will-require-cuts-to-other-services/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>Seattle Police Chief Out of Town During Mass Shooting</strong></a> 
I broke the news on Sunday that then-police chief Shon Barnes was out of town at a conference in Dallas during a shooting at Seattle Center, part of a planned absence of at least two weeks during the height of the summer’s public festival season. 
As I previously reported, Barnes’ family and permanent home are in Chicago, where he has traveled frequently, and he also spent much of his time as chief giving keynote speeches and attending out-of-town events. 
Tuesday, July 28 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/28/confrontation-with-reporter-was-just-passion-on-full-display-police-chief-says-opa-complaint-filed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>Confrontation With Reporter Was Just “Passion on Full Display,” Police Chief Says; OPA Complaint Filed</strong></a> 
When South Seattle Emerald reporter Connor Nash asked Barnes about my reporting on his frequent absences from the city, Barnes lashed out verbally; his chief of staff and longtime friend Alex Ricketts inserted himself physically between Barnes and Nash and hustled Barnes away. 
Asked about his outburst at a press conference, Barnes claimed he was just being “passionate about what I do as a police office.” 
One person who disagreed with Barnes’ takeaway filed a complaint against him with the city’s Office of Police Accountability. 
Although KUOW’s story described the OPA complaint as a <a href="https://www.kuow.org/2026-07-29/seattle-police-chief-barnes-defends-travel-schedule-as-shooting-investigation-intensifies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">mere assertion by me as an individual</a>, I obtained a copy of the complaint and quoted it in my piece. 
Wednesday, July 29 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/29/on-narrow-vote-council-gets-rid-of-local-appeal-process-that-delays-land-use-legislation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>On Narrow Vote, Council Gets Rid of Local Appeal Process that Delays Land Use Legislation</strong></a> 
On a 5-4 vote, with Bob Kettle serving as a swing vote, the Seattle City Council approved legislation to eliminate one of several avenues for opponents to appeal land-use legislation, such as the city’s comprehensive plan. 
The bill, sponsored by Councilmember Eddie Lin, eliminates pre-legislative appeals to the city’s hearing examiner while still allowing people to appeal legislation to the state Growth Management Hearings Board or to King County Superior Court after it passes. 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/29/partial-altered-schedule-shows-police-chief-out-of-town-nearly-7-weeks-so-far-this-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>Partial, Altered Schedule Shows Police Chief Out of Town Nearly 7 Weeks So Far This Year</strong></a> 
A partial schedule that was altered to removed time then-police chief Barnes had previously planned to be away in August showed that the chief was out of town, mostly at conferences and visiting his family, about seven weeks over less than three months. 
(SPD only provided an accurate schedule between March 29 and July 26; Barnes had also planned time off in August, but the schedule was altered to show him in town after the shooting). 
In other words, Barnes was out of town or otherwise not on the job at least 40 percent of time time during the 17 weeks for which SPD provided his schedule. 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/29/multiple-sources-say-police-chief-barnes-is-out-mayors-office-not-responding-to-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>Multiple Sources Say Police Chief Barnes is Out; Mayor’s Office Not Responding to Questions</strong></a> 
As of Wednesday, what we knew about Barnes’ departure was vague and unverified; my sources told me Barnes had started calling some of his captains to say he’d been fired, and that he had been seen entering Wilson’s office late in the day and leaving a couple hour later. 
At the time, Mayor Katie Wilson’s office was not responding to questions; later, it would become clear that she had asked him to resign and he had refused, launching negotiations over a settlement that would not wrap up until late the following day. 
Thursday, July 30 
<strong><a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/30/burien-council-fires-ccontroversial-city-manager-mayor-and-council-say-theyve-found-money-for-universal-school-meals-after-all/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink">Burien Council Fires Controversial City Manager </a></strong> 
<strong>Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon, who’s been on paid leave pending an investigation into his conduct o</strong>n the job, was fired by the city council this week. 
In addition to months of pay while the investigation was ongoing, he’ll get six months’ salary as a settlement—about $117,000. 
You can read about some of the many issues that have been raised about his performance in my post. 
<strong><a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/30/burien-council-fires-ccontroversial-city-manager-mayor-and-council-say-theyve-found-money-for-universal-school-meals-after-all/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink">Mayor and Council Say They’ve Found Money for Universal School Meals After All</a></strong> 
As mentioned above, the mayor and city council manage to identify “underspend” in the 2026 budget that will pay for universal school meals, with the FEPP levy picking up the tab for both low-income food vouchers and universal school meals the following year. 
The city is banking on the success of the so-called millionaires’ tax at the ballot box in November to pay for school meals after that. 
<a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/30/mayor-finally-confirms-police-chief-shon-barnes-is-out-his-deputy-andre-sayles-will-serve-as-interim-chief/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink"><strong>Police Chief Shon Barnes is Out, His Deputy Andre Sayles Will Serve as Interim Chief</strong></a> 
Mayor Wilson made it official at 3:30 on Thursday afternoon: Police Chief Shon Barnes resigned and will be replaced on an interim basis by one of his two deputies, Andre Sayles. 
Negotiations over the terms of Barnes’ settlement stretched into Thursday, contributing to a frustrating delay in information out of the mayor’s office. 
Friday, July 31 
<strong><a href="https://publicola.com/2026/07/31/wilson-new-interim-police-chief-sayles-address-barnes-ouster-spds-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener permalink">Wilson, New Interim Police Chief Sayles Address Barnes’ Ouster, SPD’s Future</a></strong> 
At a packed, rowdy press conference, Wilson and new interim chief Sayles took questions about Barnes’ resignation and the mayor’s plans for appointing a new police chief. 
I reported that Barnes will receive a total of $700,000 as a settlement. 
Although reporters repeatedly demanded that Wilson lay out her reasons for firing Barnes, the settlement agreement reportedly includes standard non-disparagement language that would prevent Wilson from going into too many specifics. 
(That didn’t stop the Seattle Times editorial board from <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/ericacbarnett.bsky.social/post/3ms4n45hels2h" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">accusing her</a> of firing Barnes to create a “distraction” from her incompetence and saying without specific reasons, the public would be right to believe he was “scapegoated.”) 
Also this week: We did two Seattle Nice podcasts about the police chief’s departure—recording <a href="https://seattle-nice.beam.ly/episode/emergency-edition-seattle-police-chief-sean-barnes-refuses-to-resign-then-does">one on Wednesday</a>, during the chaotic period when rumors were swirling and we didn’t know the details, and another on Saturday, after the mayor’s decision was official and Sayles (whose family also lives out of state) was officially the interim chief. 
The second one is behind a paywall as bonus content—<a href="https://www.patreon.com/seattlenice">subscribe</a> to Seattle Nice on Patreon to listen now, or <a href="https://seattle-nice.beam.ly/episode/preview-seattle-police-chief-shon-barnes-has-left-the-building-part-deux" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">check out the preview </a>first! 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 6.2%ericacbarnett: 6.2%PubliCola: 6.2%Confirmation Bias6.2%This article: 3.1%ericacbarnett: 0.4%PubliCola: 0.4%Anchoring Bias3.1%This article: 6.1%ericacbarnett: 2.0%PubliCola: 2.2%Availability Heuristic6.1%This article: 2.2%ericacbarnett: 0.7%PubliCola: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic2.2%This article: 2.8%ericacbarnett: 0.3%PubliCola: 0.4%Hindsight Bias2.8%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.9%PubliCola: 0.9%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 1.9%ericacbarnett: 4.5%PubliCola: 4.9%Framing Effect1.9%This article: 1.6%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.2%Loss Aversion1.6%This article: 1.4%ericacbarnett: 0.3%PubliCola: 0.3%Status Quo Bias1.4%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.1%PubliCola: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 1.6%ericacbarnett: 0.6%PubliCola: 0.6%Optimism Bias1.6%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.3%PubliCola: 0.3%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 19.2%ericacbarnett: 12.0%PubliCola: 11.4%Negativity Bias19.2%This article: 12.2%ericacbarnett: 2.4%PubliCola: 2.1%Self-Serving Bias12.2%This article: 2.0%ericacbarnett: 0.9%PubliCola: 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error2.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.3%PubliCola: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.1%PubliCola: 1.0%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 1.2%PubliCola: 1.6%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 2.8%ericacbarnett: 2.0%PubliCola: 1.9%Recency Bias2.8%This article: 1.4%ericacbarnett: 0.5%PubliCola: 0.4%Primacy Effect1.4%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.3%PubliCola: 0.2%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 2.8%ericacbarnett: 1.6%PubliCola: 2.5%Ad Hominem2.8%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.7%PubliCola: 0.8%Straw Man0.0%This article: 5.6%ericacbarnett: 1.5%PubliCola: 2.4%Appeal to Authority5.6%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.5%PubliCola: 0.9%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.1%PubliCola: 0.1%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 5.8%ericacbarnett: 3.1%PubliCola: 3.4%Hasty Generalization5.8%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.1%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.4%PubliCola: 0.5%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 1.7%ericacbarnett: 1.1%PubliCola: 1.3%Appeal to Emotion1.7%This article: 2.7%ericacbarnett: 0.1%PubliCola: 0.3%Begging the Question2.7%This article: 7.8%ericacbarnett: 1.5%PubliCola: 1.4%Post Hoc (False Cause)7.8%This article: 3.4%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.2%Tu Quoque3.4%This article: 7.3%ericacbarnett: 1.1%PubliCola: 1.0%Burden of Proof7.3%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 6.0%ericacbarnett: 1.4%PubliCola: 1.3%Anecdotal6.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 8.7%ericacbarnett: 1.2%PubliCola: 1.0%Ambiguity (Equivocation)8.7%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.1%PubliCola: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.2%PubliCola: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 2.4%PubliCola: 2.4%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 2.7%ericacbarnett: 1.0%PubliCola: 1.0%Quote-first Misdirection2.7%This article: 6.4%ericacbarnett: 7.7%PubliCola: 9.6%Biased Writer Voice6.4%This article: 1.9%ericacbarnett: 0.1%PubliCola: 0.3%Indoctrination1.9%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.4%PubliCola: 1.0%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%ericacbarnett: 0.0%PubliCola: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 7.6%ericacbarnett: 2.3%PubliCola: 2.1%Attempt to Sell a Product or S
7.6%

1543 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers6.2%attributed speech1,448writer words
100%flagged-word coverage
41 attributed words43% of attributed speech66% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Quote-first Misdirection+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Seattle Times editorial board: 100.0%100.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -8.1 ptsWriter: 8.1%Seattle Times editorial board: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-6.8 ptsWriter: 6.8%Seattle Times editorial board: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination-2.0 ptsWriter: 2.0%Seattle Times editorial board: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.