Russia has been banned from the Olympics for four years. Credit: Misha Friedman/Getty
Russia has been banned from the Olympics for four years.
Russia has been banned from the Olympics for four years. Misha Friedman/Getty

Trans kids are just like cis kids: A groundbreaking University of Washington study has confirmed that the gender identity of kids who transition genders in childhood is just as strong as kids who identify as the gender they were given at birth. Transitioning also doesn’t affect their sense of self. The study follows 822 children from the United States and Canada and will follow them into adulthood.

Homicide investigation in South Seattle: Police responded to a call about an overdose on Sunday morning. They found a man in an RV who had been dead for hours. It appeared that he had been shot.

Impeachment continues: “President Donald Trump put himself before country” is the new hot-button phrase for the impeachment inquiry. Monday kicks off another round of House Judiciary Committee hearings where lawyers for both the Democrats and the Republicans will make their case for impeachment. Trump and the White House have refused to testify. Some Infowars guy was removed for protesting during opening statements. My favorite part is the futile gaveling happening while this man is removed.

Arizona man takes a stand against service animals: He was fed up with what he saw as anyone being able to register an animal as a service animal. So he registered a beehive as a service animal. He does not own any bees.

SPD apologizes: For its role in Japanese internment. The Seattle Police Department used the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day on December 7 to make the apology.

The Seattle aquarium is ready to grow: On Monday, the Seattle City Council will be voting on whether to give the Seattle Aquarium $19 million to aid in the construction of a new exhibit, a 325,000-gallon tank of sharks and stingrays that would go up between Pike Place Market and Piers 59 and 60. The $113 million project (the non-city money will come from private donors) would be the kickoff for a new and improved waterfront in the post-viaduct era.

Twins rescued after fatal Whidbey car crash: The father of 4-year-old twins was killed when his car went off the road on Whidbey Island, barreling down a ravine and hitting multiple trees. He was not wearing a seat belt. His daughters were in the back seat and managed to unbuckle themselves and climb out of the car and up to the main road where a Good Samaritan stopped to help them.

Dry Monday but a wet week:

Russia banned from the Olympics: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has banned Russia from participating in the Olympics and other sporting events for four years following multiple instances of noncompliance with the WADA code. Athletes can still compete but under a neutral banner, like they did during the 2018 Winter Olympics. At least international sports has some rules when it comes to cheating.

FBI is treating navy base shooting as terrorism: Three men are dead after Friday’s shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. Currently, there is no motive and the gunman, a Saudi Arabian national, has no ties to any terrorist organization. The FBI is considering it an act of terrorism. Part of this comes from a tweet from an account matching the shooter’s name posted at around 12 minutes before the attack took place that referenced Al Qaeda.

A raccoon got drunk at a German Christmas market: The lil guy had too much mulled wine, multiple reports said. Police said the raccoon was obviously intoxicated, swaying through the crowd and playing with a woman’s shoes for a bit. Tragically, “the case was handed over to a local hunter, who subsequently shot the raccoon.” This is a departure from the heartwarming tale of two tipsy hedgehogs during a festival last summer who had their fill of spiked eggnog and were taken care of by the zoo.

Here, watch something crumble: This is what my heart feels like when my Monday morning alarm goes off.

New Zealand’s volcanic eruption: The eruption on White Island has reportedly killed five people. More are missing.

A war of lies: A bombshell report of confidential government documents by the Washington Post details how the US government knew the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable and lied to the public. The report includes interviews by major players in the war and links to the documents themselves. Dive into it this morning.

Today’s EverOut picks are: Your last chance to see Francisco Macias’s Ô flaneur at the Cloud Room, Delancey’s Feast of the Seven Fishes, and a show with indie-rockers Omni. See more on our EverOut Things To Do calendar.

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...