Measles comes to King County: An infant in King County is the first person in Washington state to test positive for measles this year. The baby, who is less than a year old, may have contracted the illness while traveling abroad. Children are supposed to receive two doses of the childhood MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine—the first dose when they are between 12 and 15 months old and the second dose between the ages of 4 and 6 years old. If traveling, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises 6- to 11-month-old infants to get their first dose. This traveling baby didn't have its first dose of the vaccine. For herd immunity, communities need 95% of people to be vaccinated. Currently, in King County, 87% of 2-year-olds have had their first MMR dose, while only 72% of 4- to 6-year-olds have had both doses. Shame the anti-vax parents in your life!
Heads are rolling: The Pike Place Market Foundation refused to host a planned Day of Remembrance Event to commemorate the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. After public outcry over the decision, the foundation's executive director Lillian Sherman, who has held the position since 2012, will resign effective March 7.
The weather: Partly sunny... almost 60 degrees... could it be... spring? No! Don't be fooled by the illusory siren song that is False Spring. Be cautious in your Vitamin D-dopamine high.
Cherish those weather reports: Trump cuts to the federal workforce hit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS). In two rounds of layoffs, NOAA will first lose 500 employees and then 800 employees—about 10% of NOAA's workforce. For NWS, 375 probationary employees will lose their jobs. It's still unclear how the cuts will hit the Seattle arm of NWS and NOAA Fisheries workers. Whatever happens, if they come for our geeky scientists and meteorologists, we should all be mad. The NWS employees curate little playlists that align with their free weather reports during their all-night shifts and they get so excited about snow. The fisheries workers help our maritime commerce and recreational and tribal fisheries. These are critical services that cannot be replaced by the private sector.
From a climate scientist: NOAA and NWS save lives with their emergency weather reports—and, as we know, extreme weather events will become more and more frequent due to climate change. Plus, most of the forecasts from private companies are built on the systems and information provided by NOAA and NWS.
I have written a short statement responding to mass firings today of #NOAA / National Weather Service (#NWS) staff (which were concentrated among recent hires as well as highly experienced staff who had recently been promoted). Please see below screenshot & below for full text.
— Daniel Swain (@weatherwest.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 3:17 PM
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Big bad budget shortfall: Whew, it's penny pinching time at the state. Gov. Bob Ferguson announced $4 billion in cuts, plus another $3 billion in cost savings identified by former Gov. Jay Inslee last year. All these reductions will help patch up an expected $12 billion budget deficit in the state. To bridge that gap, Ferguson announced a plan to make state workers take one unpaid furlough day a month for two years. He'll also cut around 1,000 full-time employees. He's making cuts across state government spending, too. Democrats in the legislature think it's time to consider new taxes to patch these budget holes. Ferguson said taxes are a last resort. You can read more on the Washington State Standard.
Don't buy anything today: It's economic blackout day, baby. Grassroots group The People's Union USA is urging people not to spend money for 24 hours, and to especially not spend on credit or debit cards to send a signal to the powers that be that we are not down to be ruled by kings. If you do need to buy something, make sure you buy local. Look, I know Mudede had some valid criticism of the economic blackout and argued instead for showing up in person to yell at Republican town halls, but I see validity in a boycott. This is something anyone can do to feel like they're doing something, like a gateway drug to resistance. Plus, isn't it always a good thing to reckon with the hold capitalism has on us? Regardless, the economy is a lever we can all try to pull on. This is an action that anyone who is upset, and confused, but not yet ready to take to the streets or risk being dragged out of a Republican town hall, can do. Will anything come of it? Let's see.
Unlawful firings: A federal judge in San Francisco found the firings of probational federal workers are likely unlawful and "ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees." The ruling doesn't mean fired employees will automatically be rehired and it doesn't stop future firings, but it establishes that the courts believe the firings were unlawful. So, maybe that will help?
It was all ball, ref! An unexpected, um, foul occurred before a German soccer match that caused the game's cancellation. Ahead of the FC Taxi Duisburg II and SV Rot-Weiss Mülheim, while the referee was conducting ID checks on the players, one of the FC Taxi players' kids ran up to the ref and bit him in the testicle. "He came closer and closer to me, then suddenly—to my complete surprise—gave me a sharp bite in my left testicle," the ref said. He couldn't officiate due to the pain, so the match was called off.
What the hell is going on with the DOJ and the EPA? The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency are trying to "claw back" $20 billion in grants the Joe Biden administration awarded to climate and clean-energy projects in his Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Trump's EPA administrator Lee Zeldin claimed there was fraud involved in awarding these funds. A senior prosecutor resigned "rather than carry out the administration’s demand to freeze the funds over possible wire fraud," according to the Washington Post. Then, interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin submitted a seizure warrant for the money that was rejected by a U.S. magistrate judge in D.C. for having, essentially, no probable cause that a crime occurred. Even after that, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove’s office tried to find someone to launch a grand jury investigation. Prosecutors rejected that, too. Still, three grant awardees have reported their accounts from CitiBank, the bank in charge of dispersing the funds, have been frozen.
Funding ended for 5,800 USAID contracts: “This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,” read a wave of emails received by United States Agency for International Development workers around the world. The emails ended the funding for 5,800 projects around the world including refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, polio vaccination projects, H.I.V. treatment programs, malaria control programs, the main supply channel for tuberculosis medications, and so much more. “People will die,” Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, told the New York Times, "but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
Cats keep getting bird flu: Two different cats in Oregon and two others in Washington contracted bird flu from their food. The raw pet food company, Wild Coast Raw, is recalling two lots of its product.
A long read for your Friday: "How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy."
A song for your Friday: This Italian disco-y song is great for a sunny day. I first found it six years ago on a companion playlist for a Bon Appetit brown butter sage gnocchi recipe. I just discovered this live performance video today:
