No train to mall town until 2025: The light rail train to Bellevue was supposed to start rolling this summer, but last year Sound Transit discovered that thousands of "concrete supports, known as plinths, were deficient," and needed repair, according to the Seattle Times. Now, the agency admits they plan to abandon the repair job and just rebuild the plinths. This move pushes back the open date to at least spring of 2025, but it will probably be later.

Syphilis cases rise in King County: According to the Centers for Disease Control, there's been a 32% increase in syphilis between 2020 and 2021. Locally, Public Health - Seattle & King County, says the problem is way worse, especially in vulnerable populations. They're seeing a big rise in congenital syphilis, when fetuses contract the virus in utero before birth. Sexually active women 45 and under should take a syphilis test if they haven't since 2021. 

The devil you know: In early April, the co-founder of Cash App was killed in a "pre-dawn knifing." The culprit? For nine days, people jumped to conclusions and assigned blame to San Francisco, warning of "random acts of violence." Mission Local found out yesterday the real culprit is allegedly another tech worker who knew Lee personally. The suspect, Nima Momeni, 38, is a tech entrepreneur and consultant. He and Lee were allegedly driving together in Momeni's car around the time when Lee was killed. 

ProPublica keeps busting Clarence Thomas's balls: Republican supervillain mega donor, real estate magnate, lavish vacation bestower, and Hitler enthusiast Harlan Crow reportedly bought property from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 2014. Crow paid $133,363 to Thomas and his relatives for a single-story home and two vacant lots in Savannah, Georgia. Thomas never disclosed the sale, despite a post-Watergate rule requiring Justices disclose most real estate sales over $1,000. Crow, who thankfully doesn't know when to say "no comment," said he bought the home—the one where Thomas's mother was and is still currently living—to preserve it and one day make it a museum about Thomas. He did not clarify how the additions he added to the home helped preserve it, or what the two vacant lots had to do with the museum. 

Ethics, shmethics:

Speaking of that upstanding institution: This morning the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to keep the abortion pill available nationwide as it seeks to appeal the Fifth Circuit's decision to dramatically reduce access, the New York Times reports. In the meantime, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson wants you to know that mifepristone will remain as available as it has been right here in the Evergreen State: 

Update: This afternoon, the Supreme Court decided to keep the pill available nationwide at least until Wednesday, when they'll likely have reviewed arguments from anti-abortion people and the Food and Drug Administration, Axios reports. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the dumb opinion overturning Roe, authored this order because he's a fucking troll. 

21-year-old might have leaked secret documents: Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Douglas Teixeira had a no good, very bad day yesterday. Heavily armed law enforcement officers and FBI agents rolled up to his mom's house is North Dighton, Mass. on Thursday. "Knock, knock, is Jack home? We think he may have leaked highly classified information about the war in Ukraine and the U.S.'s surveillance of Russia onto a Discord channel called Thug Shaker Central." That's how I imagine the conversation went today. The New York Times assures us is Teixeira is "no whistleblower." 

Rainiest day in history for Fort Lauderdale: A "1-in-1,000-year rainfall event" rocked Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. In 24 hours, nearly 26 inches of water drowned cars, triggered flash flood warnings, and closed the airport for days. 

Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis signs six-week abortion ban into law: If the Floridians believe in their god so much that they would enact a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, then they must choose to interpret the aforementioned flooding as a sign of his wrath. DeSantis signed the bill—dubbed the "Heart Beat Protection Act"—into law just hours after the Legislature passed it. 

Abortions tick up in Oregon and Washington: Since last year's Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, abortions increased by 270 per month across Oregon and Washington. Pre-abortion ban Idaho used to see 150-190 abortions per month. Since August 2022, Idaho clinics report fewer than 10 abortions monthly. According to OPB, "researchers estimate that there have been 32,260 fewer abortions provided to Americans in the months after the Dobbs decision."

I can't believe it's not parody: A six-pack of Conservative Dad's Ultra Right Beer will run you $20—and that's not including shipping. Conservative dads will pay anything to crack a cold one without having to ask a beer its pronouns. The founder of the beer said he's sold "thousands" of pre-orders thus far. 

Sad news: One of Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos died after a collision with an SUV on a highway in Bogota. The slight good news here is these hippos, which were imported to Colombia by the drug kingpin in the 80s, are an invasive species and they keep reproducing.