Dont get caught in a gridlock
Don't get caught in a gridlock Kelly O

Don’t even try to drive this weekend: We’ve got closures upon closures, folks. Name a major roadway in Seattle. It’s probably closed this weekend. I’ll name them for you: I-90, I-5, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and U.S. Highway 2 are all getting refurbished and repaved to some extent this weekend. That’s a lot of roads! Not to mention big events around the city like the Sounders game, but more importantly Pride, will add to the congestion.

Think of the children: The opioid crisis is bad. You don’t need me to tell you that. But, the people who are impacted most by it are the children of addicts. In King County, 1,000 kids were removed from their drug-addicted parents and put in foster care in 2017 alone. The kids show the effects of their troubled homes at school—there’s low attendance, tardiness, stressed out kids, and, one of the playground games for 7 and 8-year-olds is pretending to revive someone having an overdose.

Reunification day in Pierce County: Children taken away from their parents because of abuse or neglect were able to reunite with them yesterday. About 80 children and 40 families participated in Reunification Day, a sign that the parents have gotten back on track to being responsible and healthy guardians for their children.

Benny, the dog who smells ivory: He’s a wildlife protection dog and he’s out to stop the illegal trafficking of animals and animal byproducts. He’s also very cute and very enthusiastic about his job. Benny’s repertoire is pretty extensive; he can sniff out “elephant ivory, bear gallbladder, shark fin, firearms and spent casings, and will soon be certified to detect rhino horn,” reports the Seattle Times. Where can I go to get my rhino horn detection certification? Benny and Bear, the dog who can sniff out porn, should team up and become the ultimate crime-fighting duo.

Man held on suspicion of murdering his teenage girlfriend: On Saturday, an 18-year-old woman was found shot to death on a Kent hiking trail. Now, a judge has ordered that her 19-year-old boyfriend be held in custody. The boyfriend initially tried to pin the murder on another man, saying that he had killed his girlfriend to get back at him. Then, he tried to pin it on his brother. Witnesses in the Kent park say they saw a young man and woman walk into a park, a “boom,” and then the man exited the park alone. Witnesses also said the man drove away in a white Nissan Altima—the same car the boyfriend drives.

Itty bitty chance of rain: Don’t give up on some moisture just yet.


Light rail escalators break down a lot because they’re cheap: Sound Transit selected a more cost-effective escalator option when they constructed transit stations. As my dad says, life is a series of tradeoffs. The tradeoff here is that these escalators are less sturdy. This is leading to more wear and tear than should happen in such a short period of time. The UW station escalators are some that break down all the time and aren’t aging well. Sound Transit has paid more than $1.5 million maintaining the UW station escalators alone since 2016, according to KUOW. The original cost of the escalator was $3 million.

Kirstjen Nielson might want to consider not being such a shitty person: The Homeland Security Secretary may have been woken up by protestors this morning outside her Virginia home. The protestors gathered outside Nielson’s house at 7:30 a.m. in the pouring rain and played the audio of detained migrant children. They shouted through megaphones and chants of “free the kids!” as well as “shame!” when Nielson exited her home.


Atlanta mayor signed executive order barring ICE from using the state’s prisons: Atlanta’s jails are now prohibited from accepting new detainees of the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms recognized that ICE may still send detainees to substandard, private jails. However, Atlanta needs to act. So, that’s what Lance Bottoms is doing.

Who says crime doesn’t pay? Florida man strikes again. This time, he was sentenced to life in prison for a fatal robbery that earned him a whopping $4. The accused meant to just steal his victim’s wallet but accidentally shot him twice in the head. Oops.

Teen shot in Pittsburgh wrote poem about not “becoming a statistic”: Antwon Rose wrote a poem two years ago in his 10th grade English class about how he never wanted his mother to have to bury her son. Soon, his mother will have to bury his body. Rose, 17, was fatally shot by police on Tuesday when he ran after police stopped a car believed to be involved in a nearby shooting. The officer was placed on administrative leave. Here’s Rose's poem:


The NBA draft was yesterday: I don’t have any noteworthy news about that because I barely know anything about current basketball players let alone the fresh-faced ones who are new to the NBA. I wanted to bring it up, though, because look at Ted Cruz’s new Senate campaign strategy:


If you actually care about the draft, here’s this link.

Trump opens up the oceans for business: Yeah, while everyone was dealing with the most recent human rights violation Trump was rescinding Obama-era protections on “oceans, coastlines, and Great Lakes waters,” writes Second Nexus. It undercuts conservation efforts and will focus on “energy production, fishing, and national security.”

Russia is running out of beer: Soccer fans are drinking like nobody’s business and they’re sucking up the last dregs of all of Russia’s beer. “We just didn’t think they would only want beer,” said one waiter at a Russian restaurant. Beer sales had declined for the past decade in Russia. They’re soaring now.

Jailbait courtship ends in… well, jail: This 23-year-old man was talking to a 15-year-old boy online. The boy was actually an undercover cop. The man was a master of courtship. His go-to seduction tactic? The age-old temptations of Chicken Alfredo and Sprite. He packed those to meet the “boy” along with some lube. He was arrested.

A fun fact for your Friday: France was still executing people by guillotine when the first Star Wars movie came out.

This weekend's best Seattle entertainment options include: Volunteer Park's For the Love of Plants fundraiser, the Paramount's 90th Anniversary Celebration: The People's Theatre, and tons (we mean tons) of Pride events.