Boating to beat the rent: Ballard’s Shilsole Marina is booming with activity. It has a waitlist longer than ever. People can wait from one to three years for a spot these days. Why? Between 550 and 600 people are living in the marina permanently — they’re liveaboards. That’s the lingo. About 60 percent of people seeking to store their boats in the marina are seeking residence there as a liveaboard. That’s higher than ever, the Seattle Times reports.
Construction workers not willing to trade livelihoods to house homeless: Construction workers have been impacted by the head tax already and the thing hasn’t even been passed. That's Amazon's fault since they stalled construction on a downtown project. The vote is today (woo). Workers fear the tax will jeopardize their construction jobs. There’s a boom in construction currently — there are 52 projects underway between South Lake Union and South Lander street — with a 6.6 increase in the number of Seattle construction workers since 2016, Crosscut finds. The boom is fickle and a slowdown could come at anytime.
Democratic challengers running in Washington’s GOP districts: In Washington, Democrats are fighting to keep their slim majority in the state House and Senate during the midterms. Republicans are hoping they can win enough seats to get things more even. Democratic challengers have cropped up in districts that haven’t voted Democrat in ages, some haven’t voted that way ever. In some cases, like in Colfax, in Whitman County, Joe Schmick, the Republican candidate, has been out raised by his Democrat opponent. That county hasn’t seen a Democrat challenger since 2008. The GOP isn’t too worried about these opponents. Some cite the head tax as just the thing constituents don’t want to be seeing coming out of Olympia.
HQ2 cities benefiting from Amazon’s interest: The 20 cities shortlisted by Amazon are soaking in the spotlight. They’re recycling the presentations they put together to lure Amazon and using them to attract other companies. In Philadelphia, a London investment firm felt “OK about taking that risk” specifically because of what it says in Philly’s pitch to Amazon. Toronto has seen 15,000 downloads of its bid as of last month, the Wall Street Journal reports. Even Newark, New Jersey is getting attention.
State of emergency for flooded eastern Washington counties: Ferry, Okanogan, and Pend Oreille counties are flooding. Seventeen other counties face the same fate this week because of recent rain and snow melt. Gov. Jay Inslee has issued a state of emergency. The Washington Department of Natural Resources is sending a team of 100 firefighters to assist.
Seattle is searching for an AIDS memorial: Seattle and King County were big actors in the AIDS crisis. There’s no memorial to showcase that. A $2.5 million project of donated and public funds is going to solve that. It will be a living memorial in Cal Anderson Park that will allow people to access real stories. Artists have until the end of the month to submit their designs.
It’s going to be another nice day:
First rays of the rising Sun setting the slopes of Mount Rainier aglow this morning. 🏔️🌄#wawx pic.twitter.com/bba1P8nOzs
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) May 14, 2018
Record-breaking temperature yesterday: It hit 85 degrees yesterday. I felt it. I broke out my fan last night for the first time this year. My friend got heatstroke. He's also very pale and doesn't go outside much so maybe that's not a great example. It’s going to be another hot one today.
Sunny & warm again Mon with highs in the 70s to mid 80s for much of W WA. The Coast will be cooler on Mon with highs in the upper 60s. Cooler on Tue for all of W WA with highs in the 60s to mid 70s. #WAwx pic.twitter.com/4fX6PPjhtw
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) May 14, 2018
Which Kyle MacLachlan are you today? You watch Twin Peaks. Or Portlandia. C'mon, you've at least seen Blue Velvet. Either way, pick the MacLachlan that describes you best currently. Mine is #2.
Which me are you today?
I’m #5. Mondays, am I right? pic.twitter.com/6UyysNyFQA
— Kyle MacLachlan (@Kyle_MacLachlan) May 14, 2018
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are opening the Jerusalem U.S. Embassy: Palestinians say that this move disqualifies the U.S. as a Mideast peace mediator. The Lebanese Prime Minister called it provocative.
Ivanka Trump: "On behalf of the 45th President of the United States of America, we welcome you officially, and for the first time, to the Embassy of the United States, here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel." https://t.co/G4j3a0AAC4 pic.twitter.com/C1b6fsMT9P
— ABC News (@ABC) May 14, 2018
Meanwhile: Protesting Palestinians were demonstrating their opposition to the embassy. Israel opened fire on them. At least 1,700 were injured. Reports are still coming in about how many were killed.
BREAKING: Gaza health officials say the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire on the Gaza border has risen to 37.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 14, 2018
Recent number updates puts the number of Palestinians killed at 43.
There are now 17 fissures spewing lava on the Big Island: Hawaii is bracing for possible violent eruptions. Take a look at some of the damage currently.
Astonishing drone footage shows the extent of damage from Kilauea volcano lava flows in Hawaii’s Leilani Estates. https://t.co/OeoIiEj76W pic.twitter.com/iLnOHJ5uT8
— ABC News (@ABC) May 14, 2018
Breaking news: You can gamble on sports. The Supreme Court has struck down a federal anti-gambling law and given the green light to states to allow betting on sports. Huzzah.
Remember that Malaysian flight that disappeared? I’m not a religious person, but I assume that if there’s a higher power, when you die you get to ask them whatever question you want. My first question is obviously whether Adnan Syed did it. My second is what the fuck happened to flight MH370. I might not need to wait to know that answer to that one. Investigators now believe that the pilot of MH370 meticulously planned his flight path so the plane would disappear. They believe it was a suicide mission. There is still no firm proof. The aircraft hasn’t been found despite multiple efforts combing the seafloor in the Indian Ocean west of Australia.
Bounce house flies onto freeway with child inside: The inflatable structure turned into a deathtrap when it came untethered from a San Bernardino, CA home and flew onto a nearby freeway. A 9-year-old boy was imprisoned inside. He’s fine. He didn’t die. But, boy, did he take the ride of his young life.
There’s really a lot of weird news today: Like, for instance, the Chinese family whose pet dog of two years turned out to be a black bear. It took them two years and 250 lbs of dog bear to figure out their error. They got suspicious when the dog developed an affinity for walking on two legs.
This Miami high school earned its stripes: Prom was more than good for some Florida teens. It was grrrreat. The prom organizers brought a real life tiger to prom because that was the little bit of extra spice the event needed. The school is facing some backlash.
Uproar after prom organizers invite surprise guest to the dance floor: a fully-grown tiger. https://t.co/65Xd43KVrM pic.twitter.com/skbBOXyHk8
— ABC News (@ABC) May 14, 2018
Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: A night of beachy pop withWashed Out, Jennifer Haley's The Nether, and James and Deborah Fallows with Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Our Towns.