Happy Solstice! And welcome to the longest night. The sun will set at 4:20 pm today, and won’t come back until 7:55 am tomorrow morning. Solstice “day” is officially tomorrow. Build a bonfire, light candles, get witchy. (The Seattle Times has a roundup of nighttime walks in the woods). And after we celebrate our longest night, the days start getting longer again. 

Harrell’s war on taggers: Lol. King County prosecutors filed more than 30 criminal cases against 16 taggers around Seattle. Most of the charges are for first- and second-degree malicious mischief (which all sounds very festive). The charges focused mostly on two big crews that you’ve probably seen on onramps around town: MSP, or “Making Suckas Panic” and BTM, “Big Time Mobb.” DOTCOM also got a shoutout. At a press conference, Prosecutor Leesa Manion called it “felony-level behavior,” and Seattle police Detective Robert Belshay called it “basically organized crime.” Prosecutors said that they’re only looking for restitution in these cases, so at least they admit that they’re in it for the cash. 

Update from Ashley at 9:15 am!

Seattle's new top hog: Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Shon Barnes as Seattle's new chief of police Friday. Barnes currently leads the police department in Madison, Wisconsin. Unlike in Harrell's last police chief search, he held absolutely zero public forums to solicit public input. If Harrell had, people might have brought up accusations that Barnes mishandled police accountability cases and asked an officer about her sexual orientation in their exit interview. I'd want to avoid that if I was Harrell. Barnes still needs to be confirmed by City Council. 

Obeying (and profiting) in advance: The ACLU announced yesterday that through a FOIA request, they obtained records that revealed that “ICE is actively considering proposals to expand immigration detention in California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington state.” One of the proposals is from GEO Group Inc., which already operates Washington’s only for-profit prison: the Northwest ICE Processing Center, which according to La Resistencia, has seen 13 hunger strikes this year alone. 

Get your flu shots, kids: Vaccination rates are down across the country, but we’re really taking the cake here in Washington. Child flu vaccination rates are down 15.9 percentage points—more than double the nationwide decline. King County’s mostly keeping it together (we only dipped by a few percentage points) but the state numbers are concerning: So far this flu season, the CDC has reported 200 pediatric flu deaths, a record high for a non-pandemic flu year. I know it sucks for like, a second, but get your shot.    

Birds and Cows and Cougars, Oh My: Farmers are calling the bird flu “Covid for Cows.” The virus has hit California dairy farms hard—impacting more than 600 of them in the last four months. Meanwhile here in Washington, two wild cougars died of the same flu. (TIL that our cougar population is small and pretty inbred, so they’re especially vulnerable to disease. The more you know!) So far we’ve had 14 confirmed and probable cases in humans in the state. The CDC still maintains that the risk to humans is low, but cougars and California dairy farmers are feeling anxious. 

Justice for Ayşenur: The family of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Seattlite who was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, met with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week to demand a U.S. investigation into her killing. Eygi’s widower, Hamid Ali, told the Seattle Times that even their “low expectations were not met.” Her sister told the paper that Blinken “essentially said he wouldn’t be doing anything.” The family is trying to talk to members of Congress who might be willing to put pressure on the administration. 

ICYMI: Got a uterus? Got good news for you. Yesterday, Stranger contributor Megan Burbank reported on a new bill that was introduced into the Washington state legislature that would require medical professionals to discuss pain management options before inserting an IUD. From Megan: “If you’ve ever gotten an IUD—or talked to a fellow drunk girl in a bathroom line for just a little too long—the pain that can accompany an insertion is not new information. When I surveyed IUD users—or would-be users—about their experiences most recently, I was immediately flooded with responses describing ‘mind-bending pain,’ prolonged failed insertion attempts, repeated uses of the word ‘brutal,’ and comparisons to things like ‘a small dragon … trying to claw out of my body for 24-36 hours.’” The cervixes of Washington state thank you, Rep. Amy Walen.

The Strike Before Christmas: Get your peppermint mocha somewhere else, Starbucks is going on strike today. Stranger Contributor Conor Kelley reported that their bitter negotiations have reached a breaking point. Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) said that the company has failed to bargain in earnest, so they’re launching 5 days of escalating walkouts, starting today. Read more about it here. 

We did it! Remember when murder hornets were one of the seven plagues visited upon us in 2020? Well officials announced that we’ve eradicated them from the United States. "It is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects," said Sven Spichiger, an entomologist with the Washington state Department of Agriculture, to KUOW.

Keeping the lights on? For the 20-somethingth time since 1976, the government could shutdown tonight. Looming shutdowns always feel like political theater, but this time, the President-elect is trying to swing his dick around before he’s even in office, attempting to shoehorn in a two-year suspension of the federal debt limit. House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected that proposal, but now we’re back to where we started. If the government shuts down, a reminder that it’s a huge worker issue. Many will be furloughed, and their work will halt (which already sucks) but workers that are considered “essential”—including 59,000 TSA workers—will be forced to work through the shutdown without pay. 

Mangione could face the death penalty: Luigi Mangione, who’s charged with the fatal shooting of the UHC CEO, was already charged in New York, where the death penalty is illegal—meaning the most severe punishment he could receive would be life without parole. But yesterday, prosecutors added four federal charges for stalking across state lines and murder.  The majority of states (27 of ‘em) have stopped using the death penalty, including New York and Washington state. Cuz maybe the government shouldn’t kill people. 

A little treat: A touch of very lesbian country for your morning. Julien Baker (who, at the very least, you know as one third of boygenius) and indie singer-songwriter TORRES teamed up for the queer country album of your dreams, and “Sugar in the Tank” is their first single. It’s been stuck in my head for days and I’m not mad at it.