Good morning: In my last two Slog AMs I told people that it would rain, but then it was sunny, so just know that fact when planning for the weather today. The National Weather Service says today's mostly sunny with a high of 62 degrees, and its also windy, with gusts up to 21 mph. So, I don't know, expect a downpour?
City Attorney Ann Davison is heavily invested in City Hall protester cases: In an email to a legal assistant, a supervisor in the City Attorney's Office pushed to quickly file the cases against six City Hall protesters because "20th floor wants them filed asap" due to press interest. The 20th floor refers to Davison's office. Love to see the City using the criminal legal system, with all its collateral consequences, as a place of political theater. Yesterday, the Seattle Police Department released body camera footage of the arrests:
New video from SPD shows cops arresting public commenters at City Hall February. SPD arrested five people in council chambers. A sixth protest left, cops grabbed him and tried to pull him back, but they arrested him later outside. https://t.co/ebjypaXp8U
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) April 2, 2024
Saunatina Sanchez launches City Council race: Community organizer and housing-advocate-transit-nerd Saunatina Sanchez has announced her run for City Council Position 8, joining Tanya Woo and Alexis Mercedes Rinck. In a conversation with Hannah, Sanchez called out Mayor Bruce Harrell for his lack of compassion toward the unhoused, promised to shift responsibilities away from cops, and talked about reclaiming the land wasted on car infrastructure. But she resisted the idea of raising taxes, except on driving and on car tabs. I don't love relying on car tabs because I see them as a regressive tax that progressives try to justify as an environmental policy. Driving isn't a vice, for many people it's a necessity, especially lower-income people. Still, points for wearing an old Stranger shirt.
SPD detective pulls over a King County Metro bus: Did you all see that video on TikTok of that cop arguing with a King County Metro bus driver? Watch the Slog because I've got details about what happened there, including who the cop is and how he's behaved in the past.
Land Day March: More than 2,000 people marched from South Lake Union toward Denny and back on Saturday to show support for Palestine. Land Day marks the anniversary of when in 1976 Israeli forces killed six and injured more than 100 Palestinians during protests over the confiscation of Palestinian land.
In case you missd it: Scenes from yesterday’s Land Day protesthttps://t.co/cnHkOSBy8T
— Guy Oron (@GuyOron) March 31, 2024
America's Test Kitchen hits Seattle Teriyaki spots: I've been thinking a lot about what Seattle's signature dish is, and then I watched J. Kenji López-Alt bopping around on his Seattle Teriyaki tour and sitting down with America's Test Kitchen, and I was like oh, right, this is Seattle's dish. My dad argued with me, saying people can get Teriyaki in a lot of places, but that argument seems meh because you can get "New York" pizza everywhere as well. City food culture is just about confidently declaring your city to have the best whatever and then shouting down anyone who argues with you. So in Seattle we need to be louder and more annoying about Teriyaki (as we have here at The Stranger for years) if we want to make it our thing, which we do, because right now when people think about us and our signature foods and drinks they picture either a union-busting coffee conglomerate or the image of uncooked salmon flying toward their faces.
Right-wing group shows up to protest Seattle Public School teacher: A right-wing group showed up outside a Seattle high school yesterday to protest a teacher who has posted pro-Palestinian messages online. The group, "Accuracy in Media," dragged a stupid digital billboard to the school in a display of their low-rent tastes and limited capacity for complex thought. After all, this group once declared in a subhead that "Waterboarding is Not Torture." Anyway, the teacher has encouraged people to write letters of support for him, instead of the letters of hate the Accuracy in Media folks plan to drum up. Don't use the link from AIM, but just maybe use this comment form on SPS's site.
From the targeted teacher: People could support by revising AIM's suggested email against him to letters of support and publish said letter if you feel called to do so (Here's what AIM's action was: https://t.co/mLJIBBEbrb)
— Kelsey Hamlin (@ItsKelseyHamlin) April 1, 2024
The DOJ may reopen an old criminal case against Boeing: In 2018 and 2019, two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people. The DOJ put a criminal case against Boeing on hold back then as the company promised "to improve regulatory compliance, oversight and transparency," according to the Seattle Times. That agreement recently expired, and the DOJ must consider whether Boeing fulfilled its promise enough for the government to ask the judge to dismiss the case against the company, especially given the recent problems with the Boeing 737 MAX 9. The DOJ plans to meet with the families of the victims from the 2018 and 2019 crashes ahead of making a decision.
Genuinely chuckled: Erica Barnett wrote a pretty good rebuttal to the Seattle Times Editorial Board doing a classic impression of a man waving a fist at a cloud. Last week, the Board complained about the Cascade Bicycle Club's annual fundraising event, saying they were upset that the event would close part of the West Seattle Bridge for a couple hours in May. The Board was really dramatic about it. Their opening line is, "What’s not to like about a refreshing bike ride on a Sunday morning? Turns out, it’s not so simple." The writers then twist themselves into knots trying to make the issue more complicated to justify that terrible lede.
Portland recriminalizes drugs: The New York Times reports that after three years of not really trying a decriminalized approach to drug addiction, Portland has reversed course, returning to the previous strategy of criminalizing drug offenses—you know, the old War on Drugs strategy that has failed over and over again and has filled our jails and prisons with people addicted to drugs. But, you know, when you half-ass decriminalization by not actually making massive investments in behavioral health and standing up those systems, then, yeah, it makes sense that you'd be forced to return to the established policing infrastructure.
Israeli airstrike kills seven aid workers: An Israeli airstrike killed seven people working for celebrity chef Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen charity, according to Reuters. Israel confirmed the strike Tuesday. The strike killed Palestinians and people from Australia, Britain, Poland, and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. The airstrike hit two of the charity's armored cars, which were clearly marked with the organization's logo, according to World Central Kitchen. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths "tragic" and "unintended."
The big ideas are buried here: I saw some dumb internet critiques of Beyoncé and her new album Cowboy Carter, mostly people complaining about her choice to deck herself out in red, white, and blue for the cover art. But, goddamn, this album has some serious heft to it. As my friend and unpaid-slog-music-critic Kevin put it, "I love that her interrogation of 'who is allowed to be country?' is essentially 'who is allowed to be American.'" Pitchfork has more on the album for those of you aren't so lucky as to be in a group chat with Kevin.