Seattle (FINALLY!) Swore in a City Council with a Women Majority: Heidi Groover points out that the new city council is, on the whole, "younger, more diverse, and more progressive" after these last district elections. Among the new class: our first ever Latina city council members (Lorena González and Debora Juarez) and our first Native American city council member (Juarez). GOOD JOB, SEATTLE!
In Honor of the New Council, This Post Will Be Periodically Interrupted by Ruth Bader Ginsburg GIFs:
Here's What Happened When a Seattle Police Officer Called Someone a "Fag" Online: Ansel has the documents and the story of how the Seattle Police Department handled a police officer's social media rants before they caused "image damage."
A Seattle Uber Driver Says She Was Sexually Assaulted by a Passenger: And, perhaps most tellingly, here's what she had to say about it: "Even when they ask you out in the beginning of the ride and you say 'no' you're constantly worried, is that going to affect my rating?"
After 14 Terms, Congressman Jim McDermott Said Goodbye to All That: So who's gonna chase that seat? King County Council Member Joe McDermott has the name recognition (albeit, not exactly his own), state representative Brady Walkinshaw announced his campaign last month, and socialist City Council Member Kshama Sawant isn't ruling out the possibility of running, either.
Tunnel Boring Machine Bertha Moved Through Some Sand Again: The machine has yet to break through the wall of its concrete repair pit. That's expected to happen today.
Gene-Editing Medicine Company Backed by Bill Gates Files for IPO: Editas Medicine Inc. could become the first publicly owned gene-editing company. Gene-editing investors are "hopeful that new, more precise DNA-editing capabilities will yield treatments for conditions as diverse as blood diseases, cancers, auto-immune disorders and inherited eye disorders," reports Bloomberg Businessweek. At the same time, gene-editing CRISPR/Cas 9 technology has divided some of the scientific community over concerns that editing the human genome could create dangerous glitches, or that editing genes in, say, disease-carrying mosquitoes, could cause unknown consequences.
Seattle Police Released a Sketch of a Suspect in Artist-Teacher Brent McDonald's Shooting Death: It's one of the first real leads we've seen since McDonald was shot in Belltown last month. McDonald's family and friends are holding a memorial for the much-loved teacher this coming Sunday.
In a Surprise to No One: The Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, and National Shooting Sports Foundation filed an appeal against Seattle's new guns and ammo tax. Seattle's "gun violence" tax, the first of its kind, charges an additional $25 per firearm and two to five cents per round of ammo. Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb said in a statement that the measure is tantamount to "social bigotry."
A Seattle Homicide Detective Is Looking into One of Seattle's Oldest Cold Cases: The mystery bombing—yes, bombing—of West Seattle widow Pearl Kongsle in 1959.
If We're Going to Talk About the Bundys' Claim That Land Is Being Stolen from Ranchers: We should talk about what ranchers did to the Northern Paiutes of the Malheur Basin, where Bundy and his friends are squatting right now.
Using IRS Data, Paul Krugman Shows Why Voting Matters: If we hadn't elected Obama in 2012, the country could look very different. Krugman uses IRS data to show how taxes on top incomes have increased, thanks to the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts under Obama. If the Republicans had won in 2012, they'd also have killed Obamacare. Krugman's final point: The new Republican candidates are even more extreme than their historical peers and "presidential elections matter, a lot, even if the people on the ballot aren’t as fiery as you might like."
