Good morning. Here's a horrifying headline from the New York Times: "G.O.P. on Cusp of House Control as Trump Prepares 2024 Announcement." And there's this from the same story: "After notching victories late Monday night in a handful of congressional races in Arizona, New York and California, the party is within one seat of taking the House." Ugh, I hate it.

But now that I think about it... Republicans hate Trump right now. DeSantis is expected to run, too. Yesterday Lara Trump "issued a dark warning" to DeSantis, saying, "Those primaries get very messy and very raw... wouldn't it be nicer for him to wait until 2028?" Oooh, it's gonna get so dark and dirty. Everyone's secrets are going to come out. Is it naive to think they could just end up destroying one another Freddy vs. Jason-style and take the whole Republican party down with them?

If you're looking for the latest in local elections, Matt made sense of yesterday evening's King County ballot drop in Slog PM. Yes for ranked-choice voting is on the move!

Seattle renters sue leasing companies. Reports KING 5, the class-action lawsuit accuses "10 major leasing companies of an agreement to artificially inflate the price of residential real estate in the area."

JULIOOOOOOO! The Mariners' Julio Rodriguez won AL Rookie of the year!

Lookout Landing says "Julio is the first Dominican-born ROY since Neftali Feliz in 2010 (!), and one of eight Dominican players to win the award." Congrats!

Walmart has "agreed to opioid settlement framework." The company will pay out $3.1 billion to resolve allegations "from multiple states’ attorneys general that the company failed to regulate opioid prescriptions contributing to the nationwide opioid crisis," says CNN Business. That said, the company also released a statement saying it "strongly disputes the allegations." Negotiations with Walgreens and CVS are ongoing.

When Meta laid off 11,000 workers last week, 726 of those people worked in the company's Seattle and Bellevue offices, reports the Seattle Times. Before that, the Puget Sound Business Journal said Meta had 8,800 employees in Washington State. One thing worth noting: Unlike cowardly Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg signed his name to those cuts, saying, “Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that."

Four University of Idaho students were found dead in a house near the college yesterday. One of the victims was from Conway, Skagit County, and graduated from Mount Vernon High School, says the Seattle Times. No causes of death have been released, but they're being investigated as homicides.

Happy 8 Billion World Population Day to all who celebrate. The UN says today's the day the global population will reach 8 billion. The 8 billionth Earthling born today will get free Subway sandwiches for life.

More Twitter nonsense. That fake Eli Lilly Tweet that maybe sort of caused the company's stock to drop 4% "sparked panic" within the company, and now, the Washington Post reports, they're pulling all advertising. Elon made $8, but probably lost millions on that one Tweet. 

Cute and cozy! Capitol Hill Blog reports that the Capitol Hill Knitters of Doom will decorate "the hedges near 11th and Denny in Cal Anderson Park with scarves, hats, socks, and other items to keep people warm."

Okay, this is embarrassing but... does anyone else watch Love Is Blind? CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW AWFUL COLE IS PLEASE!? He reminds me of every Mars Hill Church dude I've ever met. Barf-o-rama.

Seattle's Music Scene is in trouble. 

In this package, we have seven stories that shine a light on all the ways in which the music scene is struggling. Venues are having trouble selling tickets, some musicians are having to work 60-70 hours a week to make ends meet. There are organizations to help—SMASH and Black Fret do great work—but they're facing challenges of their own.

Writer Ma'Chell Duma proposes one idea that might turn things around: What if Seattle had its own version of the Met Gala? It could be very cool! 

I hope you'll read the whole package. I hope you'll comb through Bandcamp and look for a new local artist to fall in love with. I hope you'll go to a local show and buy a T-shirt and ask your friends to do the same.

Speaking of Seattle music, here's a banger from way back when: