⢠Republican state representative Elizabeth Scott (R-39) cast the lone house vote against a bill criminalizing marital rape in the third degree, which is now law. Asked why she opposed the bill, Scott told a voter by e-mail last week that the word rape had been "twisted beyond recognition," adding, "I am concerned that a divorcing spouse could lie about it just to make more trouble on the way out the door." Scott did not respond to a request for further comment by press time.
⢠On May Day, after an immigration reform march passed peacefully through the bowels of downtown, a radical march also happened, for the second year in a row, resulting in less damage to property but more damage to humans. Officers say protesters threw rocks, and then officers fired explosive pepper-spray "blast balls" directly into the crowd and were caught on video pepper-spraying people who clearly weren't any kind of physical threat. SPD spokesperson Sergeant Sean Whitcomb explained: "At the point where the order [to disperse] is given... the assembly is no longer lawful."
⢠"Walking your dog is the new smoke break. You should really give it a try," remarked one Amazon employee to a smoking colleague as his dog took a shit recently on Amazon's South Lake Union campus. Amazon allows employees to bring their dogs to work but, like all Washington businesses and public spaces, prohibits smoking indoors.
⢠Seattle may soon require some new commercial buildings be prepared to use solar power. Legislation being proposed by the Seattle City Council could require developers to reserve roof space for future solar panels, among other things. As the price of solar panels continues to drop, city energy code advisor Duane Jonlin speculates that "people will be slathering their buildings in this stuff."
⢠In an unusual move, Mayor Mike McGinn chastised Seattle Times editorialist Bruce Ramsey on his mayoral blog for publishing a garbage article littered with unsubstantiated garbage facts. Ramsey's opinion piece published last week denies our city has a problem with wage discrimination. He argues that Seattle jobs just happen to "disproportionately benefit men" because men happen to choose high-paying jobs like tech work and wielding chain saws, while women choose "indoor" jobs like nursing and secretarying. Ramsey cites no data to back up his claims about wages or job preferences, which McGinn takes issue with by pointing out that "women in Seattle make 73 cents for every dollar earned by a man." Our mayor then proved women aren't selecting "pink collar jobs" with lower pay by citing a recent study of MBA graduates that foundâeven with similar levels of experience, education, and ambitionâwomen were still paid nearly $5,000 less than men in their first job out of their MBA program. "So when Bruce Ramsey says 'the 'gap' everyone talks about is not between men and women with the same jobs,' he's just factually incorrect," McGinn concludes. Finally, on behalf of everyone everywhere, fuck the Seattle Times editorial board. 
