The plot thickens in Bruce Harrell's 1996 gun drama: Last week, KUOW broke the story that Bruce Harrell pulled a gun on someone in Iowa in 1996. Harrell said he was packing heat because he'd received death threats as a candidate for the housing board and that this incident was loosely related to those threats and a symptom of racial profiling. KUOW interviewed the people Harrell pulled the gun on—Rose Sanchez, who was eight months pregnant at the time, her husband, and her mother. The three had gone to the casino and arrived at a parking spot simultaneously with a Jeep driven by Harrell. The Sanchez family took the spot. As they exited the parking garage, Harrell in his Jeep drove up to them, said, "You took my parking spot," according to Rose Sanchez and pointed his gun at them. Harrell had claimed "multiple men" approached him in the parking garage, that he pulled his gun, but that everyone "amicably settled the dispute... and entered the establishment together." Rose said that didn't happen. This interview with KUOW was the first Rose had heard the man who pulled a gun on her family was the mayor of Seattle. 

WA State Trooper released from jail: A state trooper struck and killed a 20-year-old motorcyclist in Richland on Saturday as she attempted a left turn at the intersection of Highway 240 and Village Parkway. The trooper refused to take a breath test or any field sobriety tests. According to police reports, "she had glossy eyes and slurred speech at the scene, leading to probable cause for her arrest." She was released from jail on Monday and placed on administrative leave. 

Replica Liberty Bell recovered: Okay, first of all, I didn't know there was a Liberty Bell replica at the Evergreen Washelli Cemetery. Apparently, there is, or, really, there was. The replica—one of 20 in the world—is worth $100,000 and was stolen in the night over the weekend. Though it wasn't missing for long! A Seattle Police Department parking enforcement officer spotted the stolen bell under a tarp on Northwest 83rd Street. No weird National Treasure spin-off happening here.

Wet today: There's nothing to write home about the weather today. The clouds, at least, will have a function today, emptying themselves of rainwater periodically. 

Cuts hits HUD: The Department of Government Efficiency will set its sights on cuts to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs in the northwest. The only regional office slated by DOGE to close is the one that covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In Seattle, 150 people are expected to lose their jobs. The number is higher in Oregon and Idaho. As KING5 reports, HUD's duties include "expanding home ownership, increasing access to affordable housing, fighting housing discrimination, and tackling issues surrounding homelessness." Cool, cool, cool. Just what a region impacted severely by a housing affordability crisis needs.

Trump withdraws military aid from Ukraine: Trump suspended all military aid from Ukraine, resources critical for the country trying to fend off a Russian invasion. A spokesperson for Trump said the president is committed to reaching a peace deal and pulling aid is a way of ensuring the U.S. “is contributing to a solution." According to a former Ukrainian defense minister interviewed by The Guardian, this is the "White House trying to 'bully' Volodymyr Zelenskyy into accepting a bad peace deal on Moscow’s brutal terms." At its basest level, this is the U.S. turning its back on an ally. 

Here come the tariffs: The 25% tariffs against goods from Canada and Mexico as well as the 20% tariffs on goods from China went into effect Tuesday. A trade war seems imminent. In response to the U.S. tariffs, China said it would impose tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods such as an "additional 15% tariffs... on chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton" as well as "further 10% tariffs on sorghum, soya beans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products." Meanwhile, Canada is imposing 25% tariffs on U.S. imports of beer, wine, bourbon, home appliances, and Florida orange juice, but will target more goods if Trump's tariffs are still kicking after 21 days. Life is going to get even more expensive. 

Well, that seems like a First Amendment violation: Trump threatened to pull all federal funding from colleges that allow what he called "illegal protests." 

 

he thinks he’s king. he issues executive orders (royal decrees) and the entire society is expected to obey

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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) March 4, 2025 at 5:40 AM

 

Time to strap your eco warrior helmets on: In a new executive order, Trump has expanded tree-cutting in national forests to 280m acres to increase the timber industry. He also ordered the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to circumvent the Endangered Species Act. The move, while probably super illegal, means under the order nothing is protected, not even the most ecologically important trees. Trump's order, which is clearly meant to help the logging industry at the expense of our forests, is built on the lie that thinner forests would decrease wildfires. In fact, scientists say, "felling forests, particularly established, fire-resistant trees" makes wildfires burn faster and more aggressively. Do you know what does decrease wildfires? Decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels, not pulling our country out of international climate accords, not undoing climate policy, etc. 

Save our trees: In the Northwest, national forests have been largely protected from logging old-growth forests since 1994. The impact locally is unclear. However, I feel confident that the Save Our Trees NIMBY groups will become militarized if need-be and wage war against anyone coming for our forests. Cause that's their whole thing right? I better see beautiful tree-focused war songs penned on the front lines of a forest fight:

 

 

RIP Carl Dean: Dolly Parton's husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died Monday at the age of 82. 

Scientists try to revive woolly mammoth: So far, they have created woolly mice—mice with thick, woolly hair.

RSVP no to this party: Amidst a growing measles outbreak, parents in Texas are allegedly hosting "measles parties" so their children can catch the virus and gain natural immunity to it, rather than getting a vaccine. Public health officials think this is stupid. "Please don’t do that, it’s just foolishness, it’s playing roulette," one official said. The best way to protect yourself, your children, and your community from measles is to get fully vaccinated. 

A song for your Tuesday: Mindless pop is necessary in these hard times. Don't listen if you don't want an ear worm, though.