Good morninggggg. After a full week and a day of vacation I'm back. The time away dulled my memory of how truly terrible it is to wake up and write Slog AM. But, you know, it is what it is. C'est comme ça.  

Now the weather: The weather gods promise rain today, with a high of 53 degrees. We're talking lots of rain. Seattle Weather Blog predicted today would be the "Wettest day of the year." Nice.

Parking fines increasing: Seattle Municipal Court plans to increase parking fines next year from a range of between $29 to $53 depending on the fine, to between $43 to $78. A huge chunk of fines will increase from $47 to $69. Normally I'd say, nice, but this is not nice.

Shake up at Seattle Police Department: As the City prepares to potentially announce a new police chief before the end of the year, Seattle Police Department Interim Chief Sue Rahr has made some changes to leadership at the department. Deputy Chief Eric Barden announced his plans to retire, and Rahr will elevate Assistant Chief Yvonne Underwood to acting deputy chief and Capt. Lori Aagard to acting assistant chief over professional standards. Underwood's most recently handled use-of-force investigations and made some pretty good calls in that role. Recently, her analysis helped sustain findings against a detective who shot at a stolen car.

Meanwhile, the choice for SPD's permanent chief continues to happen mostly behind closed doors. As KUOW pointed out, the last time Mayor Bruce Harrell picked a chief of police, he announced three finalists before making his final selection in former Chief of Police Adrian Diaz. He also held public forums to discuss the potential finalists and what people wanted to see in a new chief. Harrell's done none of that this time around.

But, Harrell may be considering Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin. All eyes were on Barnes this week when a shooting Monday killed at least three people, including the gunman, and left more wounded. That story got out through Jason Rantz, a Seattle conservative radio host and the Seattle Police Officer's Guild's (SPOG) go-to person to leak stories to. It seems the cops' union may already want to undermine Barnes, by leaking his name and some of the controversy that followed him. In Madison, Barnes was accused of asking an officer about her sexual orientation in an exit interview, and mishandling police accountability cases. 

On that shooting: On Monday, a shooter walked into Abundant Life Christian School and shot and killed two people, a student and a teacher, before turning the gun on themselves. Barnes identified the shooter as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, a student at the school who went by the name Samantha, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. The shooting injured at least six other people, leaving two students with life threatening injuries, as of 8:30 pm Monday. An unverified manifesto, supposedly belonging to the shooter, has circulated online. However, law enforcement officials have not confirmed that Rupnow actually wrote it.

The apps: Seattle rose to the number two spot for singles using dating apps, right under Washington DC, according to FYI Guy. A higher percentage of people using the apps are men, both single and married. 

Bus stops close at 12th and Jackson: King County Metro has suspended service to 12th Avenue and Jackson Street, citing concerns for passenger and driver safety, according to KOMO. Affected bus routes include 1, 7, 9, 14, 36, 60 and 106, and King County Metro has listed alternative stops for these routes.

Official vs unofficial felonies: A New York judge upheld Trump's convictions on multiple felony charges Monday, despite the U.S. Supreme Court saying earlier this year that presidents had almost total immunity to do crimes while in office. The judge reasoned that when Trump tried to secretly arrange and cover up a payment to his former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen in 2017, he wasn't performing his official presidential duties. He called it logical to assume when a president is falsifying business records to cover up payments to keep the public in the dark, a president is probably acting unofficially. 

Drone spotting: The US Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Defense, and the Federal Aviation Administration all say that these drones people keep spotting across the US all appear to be totally normal. The agencies reported receiving more than 5,000 tips about drone sightings in the last few weeks. Of the tips the agencies have been able to investigate, most involve either "lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars." None so far have presented a national security or public safety risk.

Fundraiser for Luigi Mangione hits six figures: A fundraiser for Mangione—who law enforcement officials charged with the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson—has raised more than $120,000, according to the Guardian. The fundraiser had to be held on GiveSendGo, because GoFundMe refused to host the campaign, despite it being specifically for Mangione's legal defense.

Ok that's it for today: Honestly, that wasn't that bad, I was being a baby at the start of the Slog. I guess its nice to wake up informed about the world around me. It is what it is.