Mazel to the Menopausers: Gov. Bob Ferguson signed an executive order to create workplace accommodations for the nearly 600,000 working women experiencing perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause. Symptoms include hot flashes, mood swings, and insomnia, and they can be the reasons women leave their jobs. The executive order doesn’t list the specific workplace accommodations, but the governor’s office will work with the Washington State Women’s Commission to figure them out.
Whimsy Is So Dead: The Federal Way Wild Waves will have its last splash this year. After the park’s impending closure this November, it’ll be turned into a 1-million-square-foot industrial warehouse with parking. Cue Joni Mitchell.
Bad Day at Blackstone: Investment management company Blackstone is eating a 54 percent loss in the sale of the US Bank Center skyscraper downtown. Blackstone purchased the office space for $612 million in 2019, one of the all time worst years to buy an office. It’s selling it for $280 million—which is less than the $427.8 million owed in debt from lenders.
Seattle Population Keeps Growing: Population growth is slowing in big cities nationwide. Do not fret, mid-size cities like ours are still gaining. Seattle was the fifth fastest growing US city with a population of at least 20,000 last year, gaining 11,572 residents according to estimates from the US Census Bureau. We were the only West Coast city to crack the top 10. Our secret? A mixture of domestic and international migration, plus building new housing.
Bird Population Keeps Shrinking: Seattle bird populations are down. Bird counts dropped by 21 percent between 2023 and 2025, according to a new study by nonprofit Birds Connect Seattle. Diversity is down, too. At eight sites across the city, Birds Connect found the number of bird species present had dropped by 18 percent. The numbers mirror national trends. The culprit is climate change.
At Least They Can Still Beat Off: Just so you know, birds can jerk it and it’s totally normal. Researchers want to inform bird owners that it’s a natural thing for birds to rub one out, spank the monkey, or shake hands with the milkman. Self-pleasure is common among parrots, ducks, turkeys, and chickens, The Guardian reports. If you are a bird owner, please do not punish birds’ exploration of their own bodies, or they’ll develop a kink.
The Weather: Break out the Birkenstocks, it’s going to be in the 80s today.
And, now, a quick update from Stranger contributor Guy Oron.
In Denny Blaine Legal News: The trial over the status of Seattle’s historically queer nude beach is expected to drag on for several more weeks. What a lovely way to spend Pride month! The plaintiffs are still presenting their case about why the park should be considered a public nuisance. Yesterday, several witnesses took the stand and described how, in the late 2010s, Denny Blaine transformed from a relatively tame, hidden beach into a nudist destination no longer suitable for families. Today, multi-millionaire Stuart Sloan, the guy who anonymously donated $1 million to build a playground at the park, plans to testify. If it’s stressful, at least he can cool off from the whole ordeal with a dip in the lake at his $23 million beachfront property.
Thanks, Guy! Back to me.
60 Minutes, Murdered: The bad times at Bari Weiss’s CBS are coming for 60 Minutes. Firings, turnover, and a new boss have made the show’s long-time reporters furious. Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley told off new boss Nick Bilton, a former New York Times tech columnist, in a Monday meeting, telling him he was unqualified for the role, and saying CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss had “murdered” 60 Minutes.
Trump Picks New Intelligence Chief: Goodbye Tulsi Gabbard, hello Bill Pulte. President Donald Trump named Pulte, his Federal Housing Finance Agency director, as the new acting director of national intelligence. He has no intelligence experience, but Trump thinks his “deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac,” will be enough. Pulte will run both agencies. Always good to multi-task with these things.
War on Science Continues: The Trump administration plans to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a decade-old, $368 million deep-ocean observation system that monitors currents, ecosystems, and coastal environments. Its work has been instrumental for tracking the impacts of climate change on the ocean and how that affects the entire world. The system costs $48 million annually to operate. The dismantling will take 15 months.
Why Fund Science When You Can Fund Yourself? Unsurprisingly, the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund created by the justice department to compensate Trump’s political allies is not popular. The slush fund, a deal to settle Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for sharing his tax returns, has angered Democrats and Republicans alike. “I call it a payout pot for punks,” North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said. Former Vice President Mike Pence called the fund, which could potentially go toward Jan. 6 rioters, “deeply offensive.” The Democrats call it a corrupt scheme.
Midterm Primaries in the Golden State: It’s a big primary day for the country, especially in California. Voters will winnow down a crowded field of gubernatorial candidates to two. Polls show the Democratic favorites are billionaire financier Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra, a former California attorney general and health secretary under Joe Biden. Trump endorsed Republican and Fox News alum Steve Hilton. Meanwhile, Los Angelenos are deciding between their incumbent mayor Karen Bass, the progressive city councilwoman Nithya Raman, and reality TV asshole Spencer Pratt who has vowed to be so harsh on LA’s homeless population that they’ll move to cities like Seattle “where the mayor will welcome them,” reports MyNorthwest.
In non-California land, Iowa’s Senate and governor primaries are significant because Democrats could replace retiring Republicans. So is Montana’s House primary where the candidates include Montana’s 2024 Republican nominee for governor and a Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-backed progressive smokejumper.
A Good Read for Your Tuesday: A San Francisco Gate reporter took a ride on Elon Musk’s Las Vegas Loop. It fucking sucked.
Pentagon’s War on the Press: The Defense Department has declared that its press office is inaccessible to journalists because it’s a “classified space.”
This One Goes Out to Wild Waves:
