Stow your bags in the overhead bins and keep your goddamn hands to yourself
Stow your bags in the overhead bins and keep your goddamn hands to yourself BRIANPIRWIN/GETTY

Alaska Airlines sued over pilot’s alleged rape of co-pilot: Last June, an Alaska Airlines co-pilot was allegedly drugged and raped by her fellow pilot during their overnight stop in Minneapolis. Betty Pina is suing Alaska Airlines for its failure to hold Paul Engelien, her alleged attacker, accountable for the actions she reported. Engelien, despite an eye-witness account, security tape footage, and Pina’s report, is still employed with the airline. Pina filed a suit against the airline on Wednesday. She hadn’t pursued a criminal case against Engelien before because she was worried about her career. Now, back in the cockpit and with one lawsuit filed, Pina is open to it.

Not all bad news about “The Big One”: Single family homes should be okay. The wooden frames are flexible and will hold up with ground shaking. Additionally, even minor retrofitting of older commercial buildings would save a lot of lives. An earthquake during a wet season like winter or fall will be more catastrophic and could trigger landslides in the Seattle area. But, your single family home should be fine in the quake as long as it’s bolted to the foundation. Only 5 percent of homes are expected to collapse.

BREAKING: The U.S. places sanctions on 19 Russians involved with the alleged interference in the American election. This includes the 13 indicted by Mueller.

Space changes your DNA: Seven percent of astronaut Scott Kelly’s genes didn’t return to normal after a one year stint on the International Space Station two years ago. NASA compared his genes to his identical twin Mark’s genes. Apparently, they’re not such identical twins anymore. Being in space impacted five of Scott’s biological pathways. The research is important to a planned three-year manned expedition to Mars. I'm cool with DNA changes. Take me to space, Elon.

Running Start turns 25: Since its inception a quarter of a century ago, the program that allows high school students to earn college college credits while in high school has become widely popular on a national scale. Washington, one of the first states to offer it, should do more with Running Start; it should find a way to include more low-income and minority students. These are the people who could benefit from the program most. According to the Seattle Times, last year “3,111 students earned associate degrees along with their high-school diplomas, saving themselves and their families up to $39 million combined in college tuition.”

Double-homicide suspect shot, arrested: Officers received a call for a welfare check in Tumwater last night. The caller was worried about his 21-year-old brother hurting his parents. The brother might have had a gun, according to the caller. When authorities checked on the house they found the bodies of the homeowners inside. Shortly thereafter, they found the suspect in a nearby Comfort Inn. Officers became involved in a shooting when they attempted to make contact with the suspect. He was shot in the shoulder and is under guard at the hospital.

Bill Gates’ mysterious meeting with Trump: It’s scheduled for this afternoon and is closed to the press. As far as we know, Gates is not Trump’s biggest fan and has been critical about a lot of his policies, especially recently. No one knows what they’re going to discuss.

Poisoned crows in Oregon: Crows dropped from the sky, dead, in January. Others seized on the ground. It wasn’t an omen of grave portent. It was a pesticide. Avitrol is marketed as a bird-control solution. It’s a neurotoxin and it’s highly toxic. The Audubon Socity of Portland says the poisonings were likely illegal.

Washington’s walkout Wednesday: Did you follow along with the school walkouts yesterday? Did the teens give you hope? Here’s our coverage from high schools all over Seattle.

Check out this walkout from Boston:


The kicker: They didn’t even have to be there.


United Airlines is really bad with animals: By now, we’ve all heard about the dog that was killed in the overhead bin on a United flight. More animals die on United than any other airline, research shows. They killed 18 in 2017, triple the amount of animal deaths on all other airlines combined. Well, United fucked up again for the second time this week:


How much do you know about surfing? Not much? Great. Same here. This is apparently a big deal.


All in the family: Morgan Roof, 18, has a notorious brother. You know him as the church shooter from Charleston, South Carolina. Morgan was arrested yesterday for bringing a knife to her high school as well as pepper spray and marijuana. In a Snapchat post, she had expressed anger about the walkouts occurring yesterday. Students warned school officials and Roof was detained.

New Blabbermouth! Students in the Streets, Lamb Ahead in Pennsylvania, and "Flint Town"

Is this how World War III starts? France and Germany are siding with the U.K. against Russia. Is this former Russian spy the new Franz Ferdinand?


An update from my alley: There’s a sort-of war going on between my neighbor and me. It’s not quite combat, yet it’s not ideological enough to be a cold war. Still, diplomatic relations between us are nonexistent. It is a war of silent will.

I’ve lived here for three years. She — I can only assume she is a she since I have never seen her — just moved in this year. Obviously, I have seniority. She doesn’t know this. Anyway, she keeps putting her black trash can in my yard. There’s even a fence to mark the border yet she pushes the trash can into the only meager patch of grass I can call my own.

Naturally, I move it back. Then, the next day, it’s back where I found it. It’s frustrating, especially because one time she left the lid open. Trash accumulated as trash does. So did rain. It rained and rained. The trash can filled. I couldn’t move it back easily because I have the upper body strength of an 11-year-old boy. Still, I tried. It was impeding the walkway. I braced my shoulder against it and pushed with all my might. It tipped. It was like breaking the Elwha dam all over again. A deluge of trash and the most foul smelling water gushed out. It was strewn all over her side of the fence.

This part of the alley story is my confession. You, Slog readers, are my priest. I left it there. I straight up left a pile of garbage on my neighbor's back lawn. Part of me glowed with glorious retribution. But, I couldn’t ignore the uncomfortable guilt, the prickle of shame.

It got worse. It stayed that way for awhile. We're talking days. Silent war, I'm telling you. Until, one day, it was gone. The trash can was upright. My roommate said she had seen a girl wearing gloves and scooping the trash back into its bin. I felt bad. She had paid her penance; I had not paid mine. I've stopped moving the trash can.


Happy Ides of March! Watch your back today: NARAL Pro-Choice Washington's Chocolate for Choice benefit, The Bell & Battery Cabaret: Then and Now, and Telling Patient Stories: A Journalism Art Show.