Did you hear the news?
It's fall y'all. #wawx
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) September 22, 2024
That means today it will be cloudy. But, also kind of warmer than you'd expect.
Carjackings are up: In Seattle and around the US, carjackings are hot right now. Nationwide, the crime has more than doubled over the past few years "from 7,626 in 2019 to 19,258 in 2022," reports the Seattle Times. Locally, we've seen 66 carjackings so far this year and 46 of them have been armed. Last year, we saw 16 armed carjackings. Officials warn to be wary. Some jackers plan a small fender bender to initiate the crime. If you're in a fender bender, the Washington State Patrol says to "pay attention to how many people emerge from the car" that struck yours and drive away if anything seems suspicious.
Dan Evans is dead: The former Washington state governor died Friday at age 98.
Alaska tech outage: Alaska Airlines requested a ground stop to slow or halt air traffic at SeaTac Airport Sunday night after experiencing a significant IT outage. This year has really reminded us how fragile our little digital worlds are.
Microsoft goes nuclear: Microsoft inked a deal with the clean energy company Constellation to restart a nuclear reactor at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island facility. You may recall Three Mile Island experienced a partial meltdown in 1979. The tech company hopes the 835-megawatt nuclear reactor will power data centers while still abiding by Microsoft's ambitious climate goals. Hell yes, let's get nuclear back on the menu, boys.
Washington GOP hurting for cash: The state Republicans are cash poor as we near election day. The GOP only has $76,000 in its state accounts, which seems like a lot until you compare it to the $4.3 million that the state Democratic Party is holding. In the gubernatorial race, the trend seems the same. Republican former US Rep. Dave Reichert has raised $5 million while Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson has raised more than $11 million. Sources tell the Seattle Times that big Republican donors backed off after the state GOP's chaotic convention and their endorsement of candidate Semi Bird, who failed to win the primary.
Cards Against Humanity sues Elon Musk: The raunchy card game company is suing Elon Musk’s SpaceX for trespassing. Cards Against Humanity (CAH) owns a vacant plot of land in Texas. SpaceX bought several plots near the CAH plot and, according to CAH, "has placed construction materials, such as gravel, and other debris on the [CAH] land without asking for permission to do so," according to the Associated Press. Why does the Chicago-based card game company own a vacant plot of land in Texas? Back in 2017, CAH crowdfunded the purchase as a way to oppose Donald Trump's border wall. CAH is asking for $15 million in damages from SpaceX.
John Mulaney's Dreamforce roast: The comedian took the stage at Salesforce's tech conference and roasted everyone present. “If AI is truly smarter than us and tells us that [humans] should die, then I think we should die," he said. "So many of you feel imminently replaceable.”
john mulaney @ dreamforce set
— 🕺🏽😎🪩 (@cockjuring) September 22, 2024
oh to be there. we should bully tech nerds much more often. they should get cop treatment at this point pic.twitter.com/D0wubhMY6K
Trump's would-be assassin left behind a note saying he planned to kill Donald Trump. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, tracked Trump to a West Palm Beach golf course and hid behind a bush with a rifle. Secret Service agents spotted Routh before anything could happen. Now, authorities have discovered the note Routh left at an unidentified person's house with a box full of "ammunition, a metal pipe, and other items." The note started with "Dear World" and was written as if Routh had failed the assassination attempt. “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job," reads the note. In Routh's car, authorities found a list of places Trump had been or would be, as well as six cellphones.
Israel kills 182 in Lebanon: Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 182 people and injured around 700 people. The strikes, Israel says, were meant to target Hezbollah, the armed Iranian-backed militia. Israel expects retaliatory fire from Hezbollah. The latter force claims it will keep fighting against Israel until the country agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Well, this can't be good: Israel had a busy weekend. Israeli troops raided news network Al Jazeera's satellite offices in the West Bank and ordered them to shut down for 45 days. Back in May, Israel raided Al Jazeera's offices in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment, blocking its websites, and preventing broadcast. Israel's attempt to stifle information that does not suit its agenda is terrifying. This should ring alarm bells. Israel explained the raid by saying Al Jazeera's newsroom "was being used to incite terror, to support terrorist activities and that the channel’s broadcasts endanger ... security and public order.”
Homeward-bound: Rayne Beau, a cat, got lost in Yellowstone National Park after a noise startled him. After searching for him for four days, Rayne Beau's family had to return to their home in Salinas, California. Two months later, the family's microchip company alerted them that Rayne Beau was 200 miles away in Roseville, California, which is 900 miles from Yellowstone. The family has no idea how Rayne Beau journeyed back to California, but they choose to think he was trying to get home. Now he is.
A gradual landslide in California: There's active land movement in the Southern California cliffside neighborhood of Rancho Palos Verdes. Likely caused by excess rainfall over the last few years, the shifting land has made it too dangerous for gas and utility companies to keep supplying services to homes. Around 300 homes are without electricity and 224 are without gas. There's no plan to turn those services back on since there's really no telling how to stop the shifting land.
Did you hear the news? It's fall, so it's time to listen to the Over the Garden Wall soundtrack on repeat.