President attacks former vice president via Ukraine: The Wall Street Journal reported the last twist in the ongoing Trump whistleblower scandal: during a July call with the President of Ukraine, Trump allegedly asked the Ukranian eight times to work with Rudy Guiliani on a probe into the business activities of Joe Biden’s son. The WSJ scoop, which was mostly confirmed by the New York Times later in the day, comes as Trump’s cronies continue to block Congress from hearing details about the incident. It appears Trump may have been using military aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip to get the country to investigate the former vice president and current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
My President™ has the best response:
The president asked a foreign power to help him win an election.
Again.https://t.co/EjkE84oCCF
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 20, 2019
Walmart is going to stop selling e-cigarettes… in response to growing health concerns (oh, shit, two more cases of #vapelung in Washington State??) after 530 probable case of vaping-related lung illnesses across 38 states have been reported. According to the New York Times, the nation’s largest retailer will continue to sell e-cigs until their inventory runs out, which could mean sometime in January.
The kids are all right: Because they know that preventing the global apocalypse called climate change is more important than going to school. Millions of students across the world went on strike today, calling for bold action to address climate change, and Nathalie Graham followed Seattle’s protest. Read her post here and thank your local teenagers.
Buh bye, now: The last section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct might be gone before this weekend is over, ending the era of a concrete wall for cars cutting Seattle off from the waterfront. The city is planning on partially replacing the raised highway with a network of parks but there will also be a massive suburban highway that will swell to eight lanes wide in some sections. So, if you thought the end of the viaduct signaled a change in our city’s car-centric transit priorities, think again.
There’s sewage in the Duwamish River: Now a portion of the river is closed due to the overflow of trash. The general public has been asked to avoid doing anything in the Duwamish until further notice while crews clean up. If you happen to come in contact with the contaminated water, thoroughly wash your skin with soap and warm water or else you’re potentially looking at a skin infection or gastrointestinal illness 🙁
Top me, Queen Elizabeth Olivia Colman: A new teaser is out for the third season of Netflix’s drama about Lizzie the Second. A younger version of the queen was portrayed by Claire Foy in the first two seasons with Colman picking up the story of Elizabeth in her mid-40s. Helena Bonham Carter will play her sister, Princess Margaret, and Tobias Menzies will play the Duke of Edinburgh, her husband. The full season will hit Netflix on November 17th.
Which reminds me, the Emmys are on Sunday night! Tune in if you want to watch Game of Thrones get a bunch of gold trophies for its disappointing final season. The ceremony will be airing on Fox from 5-8pm PDT and you can livestream it here.
Or you can just drink lager… at any of Seattle’s amazing Oktoberfest celebrations this weekend. There’s the classic shitshow that is the Fremont Oktoberfest, or you can drink critically acclaimed lager at The Masonry’s party on Sunday, or maybe head down south for Slow Boat’s Hillman City Oktoberfest party on Saturday.
A billionaire follows through: In May, billionaire Robert Smith promised to pay off the $34 million student loan debt of Morehouse College’s 2019 class. Today he made good on that promise, donating the funds to the historically black college, which will then be distributed through the school. The money not only pays off the debt, but will also help reduce or eliminate student loans from future Morehouse grads. Let’s just make college free, eh?
Tomorrow, the Frye Art Museum will be opening a few new exhibitions: They include a new show called Unsettling Femininity: Selections from the Frye Art Museum Collection, which brings together 19th- and 20th-century paintings of women from their collection and how the act of looking at them gives insights about power, gender, religion, and morality. It’s free!
Now there’s no good place downtown to buy tampons, Hot Cheetos, ibuprofen, Windex, and use your mom’s discount code: Bartell Drugs has announced they are closing down their 3rd and Union location after mounting crime concerns. In an interview with KIRO 7, CEO Kathi Lentzsch said that the cost of stolen items was just too damn high (not a direct quote, obviously). The company has decided not to back out of their plans to open a new store in Belltown in the hopes that the criminal incidents won’t be a problem there.
Suzanne Whang, the former host of House Hunters, has died: The 56-year-old actress and comedian passed away Tuesday, it was announced today, after a thirteen year battle with breast cancer. She served as host for the immensely popular HGTV show for nearly 10 years, hosting over 400 episodes in total.
Seattle, eat here! This slice of pizza looks so friggin’ delicious. It comes from Bar Taglio, a new downtown Roman-style pizzeria and bar from Chef Brendan McGill of Hitchcock. I wanna chow down on this puppy while chugging Negronis, licking my fingers, and talking Antonioni.
Chase is out this afternoon, so we took over Slog PM this afternoon. Mmmm spicy!
