Free Rider Crack Down: King County Metro (KCM) will start reminding people that the bus, in fact, is not free. According to KCM's estimates, about 34% of riders don't pay to ride. Fare inspecting will begin starting March 31. That last time KCM did any sort of fare inspecting was before the pandemic—over five years ago (yeah, the pandemic started five years ago). Fare evaders receive two warnings before they're charged with a $20 fine. However, fare evaders will have the option of loading $20 on an Orca card rather than paying a fine. Still, you may never see a fare inspector; KCM plans to deploy 30 inspectors across 139 routes and 920 in-service buses.
The Weather: Significant rain is expected through Tuesday. Winds will also whip through the area. Stormy!
U-District Hit and Run: On Friday, a driver in a white Kia struck three pedestrians in a crosswalk at the intersection of 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 47th in the University District. The driver reportedly sped around a bus, crossed a double yellow, and hit two 21-year-old men and a 20-year-old woman. According to the Seattle Times one man suffered broken bones and a possible head injury, the strike broke both of the woman's femurs and also incurred a head injury, and the other man has a broken arm and leg. One man and the woman are in satisfactory condition, while the other man remains in serious condition. Police arrested a 15-year-old who was believed to have stolen a white Kia earlier that day in connection with the crash.
Federal Firings Hit Washingtonians: According to KUOW, 362 federal workers have applied for unemployment in Washington state since Trump took office. This same time last year saw 200 fewer unemployment applications for federal workers.
Manager of the Year: Speaking of this administration's (mis)management of the federal workforce, on Friday, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency sent out an email to all federal workers asking them to report their accomplishments and achievements that week or risk firing. After backlash, Musk says the email was a ruse to see if the workers were "capable of responding" and to see if they "had a pulse." Sure. Or, he's just a terrible manager and has no idea this is not actually what management looks like.
At least the dumb email made good jokes: Hehehehe.
Dear Manager,
1. I drank a whiskey drink.
— Will Burrows 🖖🍞🥀 (@bajoran-orbison.bsky.social) February 23, 2025 at 7:39 AM
2. I drank a vodka drink.
3. I drank a lager drink.
4. I drank a cider drink.
5. I sang the songs that remind me of the good times; I sang the songs that remind me of the better times.
Greenpeace at War: The environmental group faces a $300 million lawsuit in North Dakota over its protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The suit filed by the company behind the pipeline, Energy Transfer, alleges the protesters camping near the pipeline construction site delayed progress for months and cost the project $300 million. A federal court knocked down a similar suit in 2017, but a similar one filed in North Dakota courts in 2019 is now headed to trial. If it's successful, the lawsuit could force the group to shut down. Greenpeace says this is meant to muzzle free speech.
The right team won! The Philadelphia Eagles will reportedly reject the White House's invitation to visit after the team's Super Bowl win. The last time they won the big game was also during a Donald Trump presidency and the Eagles also refused the invitation. We love a team with morals. You just know the Kansas City Chiefs would have been all up in the White House had they won.
Holt Out: Lester Holt is stepping down from NBC Nightly News after nearly a decade of steady, scandal-free anchoring. However, he’s sticking around to anchor Dateline, presumably to deliver more ominous narrations about suburban crime sagas.
Killing Us Softly, One Last Time: Roberta Flack, the former schoolteacher who schooled the music industry with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly," has died at 88. With a voice that could melt hearts and win Grammys, she proved that you don’t need to shout to leave an unforgettable mark.
Distress Call Coming from Yosemite: Yosemite National Park workers hung an upside down American flag, a sign of distress, off of the Yosemite Valley's famous granite rock face, El Capitan. The protest comes in the wake of federal firings of parks workers. “We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties. It’s super important we take care of them, and we’re losing people here, and it’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open," a park maintenance mechanic told CNN.
El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.
— Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social) February 23, 2025 at 10:01 AM
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Vouching for it: Candidate Rory O'Sullivan announced that he became the first person in the city attorney race to qualify for Seattle's democracy voucher program. Any campaigns claiming otherwise are wrong, according to the O'Sullivan camp.
Pray for the Pope: If you're into that kinda thing. But, yeah, 88-year-old Pope Francis seems to be circling the drain. He's reportedly in "critical condition" from a yucky mix of double pneumonia and bronchitis. He also has a "kidney problem." He's on his tenth day of hospitalization and is awake and resting. It seems we may have a Conclave situation arising soon.
Heartstring-Tugger: An NPR host's girlfriend was on the American Airlines flight involved in the helicopter crash in Washington D.C. He remembered her here.
Right-Wing Podcaster Selected as Deputy Director of FBI: Dan Bongino, the right-wing commentator, 2020 election conspiracy theorist, and host of The Dan Bongino Show, is now in charge of supervising all domestic and international operations of the FBI. Bongino has run for Congress three times and lost. He lost a suit against the Daily Beast for defamation after the site reported the National Rifle Association fired him for being "unfit for his duties." Neither of the two people selected by Trump to lead the FBI have any experience. What could go wrong?
Meanwhile: The International neo-Nazi group, the Base, seems to be rebuilding both globally and in the US as the new regime at the FBI rolls back longstanding efforts to counter far-right extremism.
Rightward Shift in Germany: The mainstream center-right conservative party won Germany's national election which means party leader Friedrich Merz will become chancellor. In disturbing news, Germany's far-right party, Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), came in second place in the election. The AfD had the strongest showing for its party since World War II. You know, back when the far-right party was the Nazis.
Layoffs at Starbucks: Our local coffee peddler is cutting 1,100 corporate workers in a bid to "simplify its structure" and create "smaller, more nimble teams.”
A song for your Monday: Style is heading back toward the twee of the mid-aughts. That means folk music is going to rear its head again. Get ahead of the curve and start listening to North Carolina folk husband and wife duo, the Chatham Rabbits.
