Here they come.
Here they come. LimeBike

You Could Make a Deck Of Cards Out of the Number of Days Seattle Has Gone Without Rain: 52 days. That breaks a record set in 1951.

Seattle's Car Population Growing as Fast as Its Human Population: Seattle Times data dude Gene Balk brings us the numbers. Between 2010 and 2015, both Seattle's human population and share of car-owning residents grew by 12 percent. Seattle also tops a list for car ownership among the 10 most densely-populated U.S. cities.

Bellevue Bans Safe Injection Sites: Although Bellevue is not among the jurisdictions considered for a safe injection site, the city council preemptively voted last night to ban designated areas for addicts to use heroin and prescription drugs under the supervision of public health professionals. Bellevue is the second regional city to make the move, after Auburn. The Federal Way city council will consider a similar proposal today. One Bellevue opponent of the ban said, "We care more about property values," King 5 reported. One supporter, who is also leading an initiative to ban safe consumption sites countywide, said, "I think if my family members had the opportunity to use sites like these, I don’t think they ever would have gotten off drugs." The mayor said, "It’s not for us – right now."

In January, Seattle and King County approved a plan to create two safe consumption sites, an unprecedented step in the United States.

Bike Share Is About to Explode in Seattle: The two private companies who recently launched bike share programs in Seattle plan to double the number of cycles on the city sidewalks. LimeBike makes bright green bikes. Spin makes bright orange bikes. Combined, they have 1,000 in Seattle. Expect that number to double this week. Ofo, a Chinese company that makes yellow bikes, plans to enter our market soon. As does Dallas-based Vbikes, which makes silver bikes. Those two companies could mean 4,000 bikes.

Farmworker Died After Working in North Washington Blueberry Field. Colleagues Say His Medical Complaints Went Ignored: About 70 farmworkers launched a strike on Friday after their colleague, Honesto Silva Ibarra, collapsed in the fields at Sarabanand Farms. Ibarra later died at Harborview Medical Center. The King County Medical Examiner's office has not stated the cause of his death yet. The striking farmworkers claim that farm management retaliated against them after they stopped working for a day. They also say Ibarra complained of headaches before he died, but a supervisor ignored him. Protests continue today, with a march to the farm near Sumas, according to activist Maru Mora Villalpando.

Your Forecast:

Screen_Shot_2017-08-08_at_8.04.23_AM.png
SH

According to the National Weather Service, expect the haze to persist until Thursday.

In Election News... Urban planner Cary Moon maintained second place in the 2017 mayoral primary after yesterday's ballot drop. Attorney and educator Nikkita Oliver came within one percentage point of Moon, but with just a couple thousands ballots left to count, she faces a steep climb to the general election. As of yesterday afternoon, there were about 1,803 signature challenges and 1,600 alternative form ballots left to count. Oliver needs to make up a 1,664-vote difference, a long shot when there are 21 candidates to split the votes. She and Moon have said they will wait for more ballots to be counted before conceding or declaring second place. Former U.S. attorney Jenny Durkan continues to coast in first place. King County certifies the primary on August 15.

King 5 has made a projection:


A measure levy a .1 percent sales tax for arts and science programs died yesterday after the group pushing for the proposition conceded. After looking defeated on primary election night, Proposition 1 seemed to have gained a lifeline late last week. But the votes aren't there.

"We’ll be back, and we’ll keep fighting until every student in King County has access to life-changing arts, science and heritage education," said a spokesman Access For All, the group pushing for Prop 1. "As I’ve said, we didn’t give up in Olympia, we didn’t give up in the King County Council, and we’re not giving up today."

The Stranger endorsed Prop 1, but The Seattle Times characterized it as a cash grab for big arts institutions while regular folks get nickel-and-dimed. Rich Smith, from the beginning, has pointed out the flagrant dishonesty of that argument. Here's Rich, yesterday, on regressive taxes:

Passing regressive taxes for stuff we want—stuff that we need to build the society we want to live in—is supposed to hurt. That's the whole point of Republicans making and keeping Washington's tax code as regressive as possible: It's supposed to make us hate ourselves for taxing ourselves.

Burien City Council Votes to Put Sanctuary City Repeal on November Ballot: Sydney Brownstone covered the meeting live:


Look out for her story this morning.

King County Home Prices: Up $100,00 from last year.

Would You Be Able to Immigrate Here Under Trump's Proposed Visa Restrictions? I wouldn't. Many of my friends sharing this quiz on Facebook wouldn't. If only we were Nobel Prize winners or Olympic medalists...

The Scientists Are Leaking Too: Thirteen federal agencies contributed to a new climate change report finding that recent years on earth Earth have been the warmest in 1,500 years. The New York Times obtained snippets. It's pretty grim stuff, and you've heard it before: Recent heatwaves can be attributed to climate change, global temperatures will continue to increase even if we cut back on greenhouse emissions, sea levels will increase. But scientists fear that the public won't ever see the full report. Why? For one, the president has said that global warming is a hoax created by China. And EPA, one of the thirteen federal agencies that worked on the report, is headed by man who said the debate over climate change is “far from settled.”

How the Criminal Justice System Pushes Defendants to Plead Guilty Before They Ever See Evidence in Their Case: Read it.