14.5 mph, baby.
14.5 mph, baby. LimeBike

LimeBike ups the ante: with electric bike (“e-bike” if you’re in the know) rollouts starting next week. A continued part of LimeBike’s plan for dockless bike share world domination, the e-bikes will cost $1 to unlock, plus $1 for every ten minutes of riding—a little bit pricier than the current $1 per half-hour it’s rocking now. The added cost comes with the added benefit of having to do little to no exercise on a contraption built for you to do exercise. The e-bikes will have pedals still but it will also have a electric assistance capable of giving a 14.5 mph boost. It’ll be like dad never stopped pushing you when you first started to ride a bike.

But, the ferocious war for bike share dominance is still waging: as Spin also plans on rolling out an e-bike. It has all the same bells and whistles (minus actual bells and/or whistles) as the LimeBike e-bike but will cost $1.50 per 15 minutes. Spin’s e-bikes aren’t rolling out in Seattle just yet but will be probably be implementing the model soon.

While ofo promises free rides amid rumors of poor working conditions: The Chinese bike share giant has promised free rides on all of their garishly yellow bikes for the entire month of January. The company is looking to expand its fleet in Seattle (it’s currently capped at 4,000 bikes) but may face difficulty since a disgruntled worker took to Reddit to spill the the tea on ofo’s employment practices. Ofo uses the Millionair Club Charity — a charity that gives homeless people employment opportunities — for all of its daily labor. The employee alleged that ofo does not provide workers safety equipment, breaks, and there are no intentions of promoting people to positions where they could receive a livable wage. Let’s see how well free rides for January overshadows the taking-advantage-of-Seattle’s-homeless scandal.

Starbucks is dyeing it all blonde: with the first new espresso option in 43 years. Blonde Espresso is already taking the coffee world by storm with a huge social media blitz that has people — stalwart Starbucks aficionados and skeptics alike — drinking up every last drop of information that has leaked. The details are still mostly under wraps. So sit tight Seattle, no matter how much you pretend to like their coffee, Starbucks knows you’re itching to go Blonde.

Trump sent a cease and desist letter to “Fire and Fury” publishers: in a shocking (is anything actually shocking these days?) display of a sitting president actively trying to stifle the First Amendment. The letter sent to Henry Holt, the publisher, cited New York’s libel laws but, as Holt’s lawyers pointed out, it failed to identify “a single statement in the book that is factually false or defamatory.” After receiving the letter, Holt decided not to stop production but instead moved up the publishing date four days. The President’s outrage and attempt to delegitimize and stifle the book have had the adverse effect, naturally, and millions of copies are being printed (Holt had only planned on first printing 150,000 copies).

A surprise to no one: Trump is alienating the Latino diaspora. Right from the start — either when he called all Mexicans rapists or when he tweeted “I love Hispanics!” with a picture of him eating a Trump Tower Grill taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo — it was apparent that Latinos were not Trump’s biggest priority.

Now, it’s clear that they’re far from even a priority as the Trump administration has ended protected status for Nicaraguans, Haitians, and now Salvadorans. He’s also expected to cut of Hondurans this year. Puerto Rico is still in shambles and the war for DACA rages in Congress. The Washington Post has an excellent breakdown on how this is a strategic ploy to make America less hospitable for immigrants.

Seattle Public Library security guards say, “#MeToo”: They both said they were kissed non-consensually by a manager and one said she was bent over another co-worker’s lap and spanked. Yolanda Cooper and Michelle Chun Fook went to their supervisors and city investigators. Chun Fook said her direct supervisor laughed and said she’d received a few “birthday spankings.” Nothing was done. Cooper and Chun Fook sued a while back on grounds that their managers and the city did not investigate the claims. Today, we learned that Seattle will award both women $220,000. The manager was not punished and is still working for the city in a different department.

Suspect arrested in connection with death of Pierce County deputy: Daniel McCartney, 34, was shot while responding to 911 call late Sunday night. One suspect was found dead at the scene. Yesterday, law enforcement tracked down the man they believed to be the second suspect. He is now in Pierce County Jail booked on a first degree murder charge.

Nature hates California, apparently: After a hellacious wildfire season, one that extended into December, California is now being battered with rain. Los Angelenos rejoiced yesterday when precipitation fell from the sky for the first time in a year (or what felt like a lifetime). Seriously though, the amount of social media posts I saw about rain was absurd. But, California rain isn’t Seattle rain. The storm system is expected to dump 6 inches of rain on parts of Southern California in just a matter of hours. LA has seen .12 inches since October. This is devastating for traffic (LA driving in the rain is like Seattle driving in the snow) but also for burnt landscapes where the ground is unstable and mudslides and floods are imminent. Some residents of the most fire affected areas have already been evacuated. Pray for rain, they say, but everything in moderation, okay?

That unique Seattle law about election ads: owes its existence to political trailblazer and all-around-bad-ass woman, Jolene Unsoeld. In the Nixon era — an era we can relate to more and more each day — she pushed for the landmark Washington Initiative 276 that would provide transparency about campaign financing and political advertising. Despite the naysayers, support flooded in from Washington State and it passed with 72 percent of the vote. It paved the way for the current law in Seattle that requires companies to disclose data about their political ads and ad targeting in local elections.

In celebrity news: Dubs, the beloved canine mascot at the University of Washington, will no longer be bowing down (to Washington) but will be bowing out after the 2018 football season. He wrote, with his dexterous paws, a goodbye letter that he posted on his Facebook page, which will have more followers than I will ever have.

Speaking of football, there was apparently a big game last night: when Alabama faced off against Georgia in the NCAA National Championship. According to my brother, a huge football fan but not an expert, this game was insane. Alabama came back from a 13 point deficit to win the game in overtime. Was it comparable to the Patriot’s Super Bowl comeback last year? I’m not sure, my brother (source for all football news) only likes college ball. But, that Super Bowl game was cited as proof that we’re living in a simulation so maybe a second game like that proves that theory.

If you give a shit about affordable housing, today is the fucking day: to show up for public comment about the affordable housing proposal at Fort Lawton. The City of Seattle will be holding a meeting tonight at 6pm at the Magnolia United Church of Christ about what to do with the unused plot of land near Discovery Park. There’s been some vehement neighborhood opposition that could squash affordable housing plans. If you care, which you should, either come out in support or submit your comments here: OH_Comments@seattle.gov

Nathalie Graham covers anything she finds fun, weird, or interesting. You can find a lot of that in her column, Play Date. Her work has also appeared around town in The Seattle Times, GeekWire, and the...