Remember the nearly 2,000 dairy cows killed in a blizzard in Eastern Washington? A blizzard swept through the Yakima Valley in early February. The storm killed 1,850 cows. That loss totaled $3.7 million. In an attempt to escape the blizzard, the cows had herded together. They died in those bunches, suffocating or getting trampled. The dairy farmers did as much as they could, according to the Seattle Times.
A college admissions scam for the ages: Oh, boy. You know that saying—how does it go? Money can't buy everything? Some wealthy parents put that saying to the test. They attempted to pay to get their children admitted into elite colleges. The money was allegedly spent a variety of ways from fudging SAT scores to bribing athletic directors into recruiting their children for a Division 1 sport that the child never actually played. Everyone involved got busted. There are currently 50 people, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin, charged by the FBI in their criminal investigation. They pulled a Jared Kushner.
Some excerpts from the Department of Justice indictment: This is just part of the thread, but I highly recommend taking a stroll through the whole thing. It's absolutely bonkers.
Here's the tale of another student recruited to USC's crew team with no crew experience — all for a cool $250,000. pic.twitter.com/6NZd5wei6u
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) March 12, 2019
The drama continues:
William H. Macy seen arriving at Los Angeles courthouse after wife Felicity Huffman was charged and arrested in what prosecutors call the largest college admissions cheating scam they’ve ever gone after. Authorities have not said why Macy was not charged. https://t.co/FJMjE1oOHT pic.twitter.com/6bY7g9wrfm
— ABC News (@ABC) March 12, 2019
The gender wage gap is alive in Northwest public radio: A new report from Crosscut shows that two female employees at a Spokane-based public radio station made drastically less money than their male counterparts. The network claims this discrepancy is because of geography. The women work at a Spokane-based public radio. Their male counterparts work in Seattle at KUOW, a partner station.
There's a strip club monopoly in Seattle: It's bad for dancers. They've banded together to create a bill with Working Washington to implement new trainings and workplace standards in clubs.
This is handy: The Seattle Times has compiled a bill tracker for all the transit-related bills in the Legislature this session. Keep an eye on it. I'll be watching HB 1772, which concerns electric scooters. Give us the e-scooter, lawmakers.
Despite best efforts, my hopes are up: I won't believe it until I feel 70 degrees on my skin, but here's to trusting the weather experts.
Are you sitting down, Seattle?
The first 70-degree day of the year is possible this coming Monday.
— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) March 12, 2019
For the time being:
Here's a trend we can all probably embrace! Warming temperatures into next week. 60s, yes 60s, may return! #wawx pic.twitter.com/goIQv9illn
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) March 12, 2019
Minimal road rage in Seattle: Maybe it's our passive aggressive natures or Seattleites are just calmer on the roads, but a new study ranked Washington 29th out the 30 most populous cities for aggressive drivers. Cool! Los Angeles is the worst for aggressive driving. That makes sense.
Another Brexit failure: British Parliament defeated Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to leave the European Union in a decisive 391 to 242 vote. There are 17 days left before the deadline to leave the EU. That means that Britain could exit the EU without a plan or there may be a vote to extend the deadline. Really, the whole thing is entirely up in the air and May's leadership has been called into question again.
Amidst all these California people embroiled in scandals there's a butterfly migration in LA: Painted Ladies are a type of butterfly that are migrating en-masse across California right now. This is the highest population of Painted Ladies seen since about 2005, according to the Los Angeles Times. This is refreshing amidst a current butterfly drought in California. Butterfly populations have been in decline recently. Several species have been slowly disappearing.
Butterfly migration over Los Angeles. Earth is a spectacular place. pic.twitter.com/CSmWHMTja7
— Ashley N. Manz, APR (@AshleyManz) March 12, 2019