Google Is Muscling in on South Lake Union: The tech giant could fit as many as 4,000 employees in four sprawling new building planned for an area on Mercer Street. The company will work local real estate developer Vulcan on the buildings. "The new office complexes will be nearly double the size of Google’s massive Kirkland campus, which itself recently doubled in size after an expansion project," the Seattle Times reports. Google joins Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Uber in opening Seattle offices.
Motorcycle Crash Leaves One Dead, One Injured: The crash happened on Airport Way in SoDo at about 2:30 a.m., KOMO reports. "Police have been poring over the scene all morning as they try to determine the circumstances leading up to the crash."
Light Rail Struck by Gunfire in Rainier Valley: Damage from the bullets and shell casings were found at the scene Thursday afternoon, but no one was injured, the South Seattle Emerald reports. Rail service was temporarily suspended at nearby stations.
Speaking of Light Rail: Heidi has all the details about the future of light rail in the Seattle area over the coming years and decades—a future you'll need to vote for come November (the expansion package is called Sound Transit 3) if you want it to happen.
New Program Aims to Offer Jobs to the Jobless: Jobs Connect is a partnership to have vans drive around downtown Seattle and offer entry-level cleaning jobs to those who appear to be unemployed. The Millionair Club, United Way of King County, the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) and the City of Seattle came up with the idea. The DSA will act as the "anchor employer" and offer jobs on its downtown "clean team... picking up trash, removing graffiti and pressure-washing sidewalks." Crosscut reports that the idea for the program originated with wealthy donors, not with surveying the population being targeted for intervention and assessing their needs and wants. That is often a recipe for failed charity programs.
City Wants Two-Person Driver-Narrator Teams on Ride the Ducks: "We just felt that that level of distraction merited having a narrator," SDOT Director Scott Kubly said in a city council briefing, particularly in light of the Aurora crash involving the company. I called this one.
KOMO Reporter Blocked From Covering Hillary Clinton: ...by Clinton's own staff. Cohen was in Everett to cover Clinton's rally, but was inexplicably blocked from getting a shot of the candidate by a staffer as he allowed other reporters to pass through. "We tried to explain this was a First Amendment issue, Cohen writes, "and he was limiting press access. So [the staffer] called over security."
We Answered Your Questions on Slog About Our Presidential Endorsements: Before you type, "[INSERT CANDIDATE HERE]?!?! WTF!!" and send us an e-mail, just check it, on Slog, right here.
On This Week's Blabbermouth Podcast: More Hillary vs. Bernie talk, this time with Chelsea Clinton and State Senator Pramila Jayapal, as well as primer on caucusing—remember, the Democratic caucuses are tomorrow! Go listen.
