SUV drives over tents: On Tuesday night, an Acura SUV drove onto the sidewalk downtown at Third Avenue and James Street and mowed down the tents pitched there. Luckily, the tents were empty. Police pursued the SUV through downtown but abandoned the chase when they learned no one was in the tents. The SUV returned to the area later and fired a gun multiple times. Police are now looking for the SUV again. What's most disturbing about this incident is the seeming intent to harm unhoused people, which, with several targeted attacks and even a murder of those living on the streets, is seeming like a growing trend in our city.
Chipotle pays up: The burrito bowl purveyor came under fire for allegedly violating the city's Secure Scheduling and Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinances. Chipotle settled with Seattle's Office of Labor Standards, paying nearly $3 million to more than 1,850 employees over accusations of retaliating against workers who called out sick, not providing the correct sick time accrual rate, retaliating against employees who requested specific schedule changes so as not to conflict with other jobs, and more.
Rolling library closures: In case you missed it, Seattle Public Library branches across the city will be closed intermittently through June 4 due to staffing issues that would not be an issue if the City of Seattle lifted its hiring freeze, a budget-preserving measure implemented by Mayor Bruce Harrell.
This is a wake-up call. Unless we take action, we're going to see even deeper cuts to essential services like libraries. I am calling on my colleagues to work with me and explore solutions that don't just rely on cuts.
— Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (@CMTammyMorales) April 11, 2024
Statement ➡️ https://t.co/5EeGI1qZTi https://t.co/aZzgyCBVIP
Sunny and 60s: Break out your light cardigans, it'll be perfect spring weather Friday and Saturday.
Burien's latest beef: Burien is a mess right now, thanks to a constitutionally dubious camping ban the city updated last month. The ban severely restricts and criminalizes the act of sleeping outdoors in the midst of a housing crisis. In response to the ordinance, the King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO), the entity responsible for Burien's policing via an interlocal agreement, filed a complaint with the US District Court saying it couldn't enforce the ban because it wasn't constitutional. Burien then sued the KCSO for not enforcing the ban. Now, Burien's city manager wants to fire Burien's police chief. In a letter to the KCSO, the city manager wrote: "I can no longer state that I trust Chief [Ted] Boe to fulfill the requirements listed within the Interlocal Agreement." This has to be more camping ban drama.
In case you forgot to be worried about the Great Barrier Reef: Things are bad. Australia's Great Barrier Reef is showing signs of severe coral bleaching. Damage to the reef extends nearly 60 feet below the surface. The bleaching is so bad even coral species that had previously been resistant to bleaching are being affected. The cause, of course, is consistently warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures. The cause of that? Climate change.
Unbleached reefs this year are coloured blue.
— Terry Hughes (@ProfTerryHughes) April 9, 2024
This is the most widespread and most severe mass bleaching and mortality event ever recorded on the Great Barrier Reef. https://t.co/eE5LCrSwtL
Trump and Putin shared a view of Ukraine: According to a new book by former Donald Trump advisor Fiona Hill, "Trump made it very clear that he thought, you know, that Ukraine, and certainly Crimea, must be part of Russia." Hill's book continued: "He really could not get his head around the idea that Ukraine was an independent state." Huh, sounds like a really similar position to Vladimir Putin.
Who says baseball isn't exciting? Major League Baseball's biggest star, Shohei Ohtani, who signed a 10-year $700 million contract with the Dodgers, is embroiled in scandal. His close friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, has been charged with bank fraud for allegedly stealing $16 million from Ohtani to cover Mizuhara's own gambling debts. The case forming against Mizuhara paints him as controlling Ohtani's bank accounts, and, as his link to the English-speaking world, taking on the role of a de-facto manager. So, Ohtani, who could be kicked out of the league if found gambling, is being portrayed as a blind victim here. Yet, in Mizuhara's first statement on the matter, he said Ohtani paid the debts at Mizuhara's request. The next day, Mizuhara corrected his story and said Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts. What's real? We just don't know!
Trump's hush money case: Jury selection in Manhattan for Trump's first criminal case—and, yes, he faces four criminal prosecutions—will start Monday. This case concerns Trump "fudging his company’s books as part of an effort to conceal payments made to hide claims of extramarital sex during his 2016 campaign." You know, normal president stuff. Anyway, the jury selection process should be difficult to say the least. The court needs to find 12 jurors in Manhattan who are impartial and unbiased toward Trump.
"Abnormally dry"on Oahu: Severe and persistent droughts are stressing Oahu's water resources. Fresh water on the Hawaiian island comes from an underground aquifer, yet evidence suggests the groundwater will lessen even more by 2030. With tourists sharing the island and the tourism industry building giant, freshwater, artificial surfing wave pools, locals are pissed. "We may come to a point where we have to decide … who gets water and who doesn't," said Wayne Tanaka, director of Sierra Club of Hawai'i.
Water stores are looking good in California: The last two very wet years have been good for assuaging the Golden State's seemingly perpetual drought.
California's water storage is at its healthiest levels in over a decade.
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) April 12, 2024
Virtually every major reservoir in the state has average to above-average storage, with a substantial 115% of average snowpack still to melt.
The last two years have been an amazing reprieve from the… pic.twitter.com/PUm8Kca1wR
US confirms famine in Gaza: Famine has started in Gaza, according to US official Samantha Power. Despite Benjamin Netanyahu's promises to Joe Biden of "a surge in aid" to Gaza, nothing has changed. Israel reported an increase in truck crossings into Gaza, yet those numbers conflict with the United Nation's reports.
How bad is the cost of living in some cities? So bad that FBI agents are "struggling to make ends meet." They're even—gasp—rooming with other agents to save money on rent. The FBI's Agents Association asked for $165 million to be added to the Justice Department's budget for a housing allowance for FBI agents.
We're all trying to find the guy who did this: An Arizona court ruled 4-2 on Monday to reinstate a 1864-era law criminalizing abortion at any point during pregnancy unless the woman's life is at risk. Former Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, said he thought the law went too far and that it was “not the outcome I would have preferred.” When he was governor in 2016, Ducey expanded the state Supreme Court from five justices to seven, then appointed four conservative justices to the bench. Those justices made this ruling.
A song for your Friday: Shakira proves on her new album "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran" that she's still got it, tax fraud be damned.