Please vaccinate your kids: Measles is running rampant among unvaccinated kids in Texas and New Mexico. The outbreaks have seen a total of 300 cases and two deaths so far. Isolated measles cases are popping up across the country, even in Seattle. You'd think this would be enough to sway the anti-vax parents, yet according to data the Washington State Department of Health measles vaccination rates in kindergartners declined in 36 of 39 Washington counties. The only county with a kindergarten vaccination rate above the herd immunity threshold of 95% was Yakima County where 96.4% of students are vaccinated.
Go Dawgs: The University of Washington's women's basketball team will head to the Big Dance, otherwise known as the 2025 NCAA Tournament, for the first time in eight years. They'll square off against the Columbia Lions on Thursday.
Not dead yet! Elon Musk and his team of doofuses at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) believe dead people are receiving Social Security benefits. They've dedicated a whole team to rooting out those deceased freeloaders. Except, according to the Seattle Times, the opposite just happened. Leonard Johnson, an 82-year-old very much alive Capitol Hill resident was essentially erroneously declared dead by the Social Security Administration (SSA) last month. His wife received a notice from his bank explaining the SSA requested the return of Johnson's Social Security funds after his death. The bank had pulled $5,201 in payments Johnson received for December and January. He hasn't received payments for February or March. He's been trying to resurrect himself by convincing the SSA he's alive. After unsuccessful calls, Johnson went to a physical office, waited for hours, and finally proved he had a pulse. The bank returned the money it took from his account, but those other monthly payments from the SSA have yet to show up. The whole thing is like this Monty Python sketch:
Remember the teen killed during CHOP? Antonio Mays Jr., 16, was shot and killed inside a stolen Jeep in 2020's Capitol Hill Organized Protest Zone when the "autonomous" area took a darker turn. Yet, five years later, police have filed no charges in his death, reports the Seattle Times. They won't answer questions about it either. Mays' family is embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and recently sent a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform urging Congress to probe into CHOP and the Seattle Police Department's homicide investigation.
The weather: We have a true Seattle week ahead of us. Rain, rain, rain, and—you guessed it—more rain. So, wear a raincoat today.
Storms kill 39: Severe weather events including "unusually vicious and damaging" tornadoes, dust storms, and wildfires killed at least 39 people across multiple southern states.
Public transit is still kicking: Knock on wood, but things are looking good for Seattle-area transit ridership. Local transit agencies saw a 12% increase in ridership between 2023 and 2024. Everett Transit had the biggest jump with a 32% increase in ridership—the only local agency to report more transit ridership than its pre-pandemic levels. What's their secret sauce? Frequent ridership. Take notes, other agencies.
Give her back: French Socialist member of parliament Raphaël Glucksmann said if the United States embraces dictators then it should give the Statue of Liberty back to France. The current goings ons in America are contrary to the values that led to France bestowing Lady Liberty upon us 140 years ago. “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,” she said.
Exhibit A: The Department of Defense removed a Black Medal of Honor winner from its website. US Army Major General Charles Calvin Rogers received the award after being wounded three times while defending a base in the Vietnam War. Rogers was the highest ranking Black person to receive the award. Now, the Department of Defense's page on Rogers results in a "404 – Page Not Found" error. The URL to his page on the site was changed, too: "medal" was replaced with "DEI medal."
Seems bad: The US stock market lost over $5 trillion in value in just three weeks.
Immigration gets messier: A British Columbia woman's family says she has been detained for 10 days after "attempting to cross the [US] border with a job offer and visa paperwork in hand." Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a doctor and professor at Brown University, returned to the US after a trip to Lebanon. Customs and Border Protection deported her back to Lebanon despite her having a valid US visa. The deportation occurred despite a court order demanding Alawieh not be removed. A German green card holder and New Hampshire resident was detained at Logan Airport in Boston and is being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a facility in Rhode Island. He told his wife ICE agents had "pressured him to give up his green card" and described inhumane treatment.
El Salvador deportations could violate court order: Over the weekend, the US government deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a prison in El Salvador after Trump signed an executive order Friday invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to "rapidly arrest and deport" people he labeled as "gang members." The law allows the deportation of those from countries at war with the US. Unsurprisingly, since all of this occurred without legal oversight, Judge James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court in Washington D.C. issued a temporary restraining order to block these deportations. However, the deportation occurred in spite of the court order. Whether or not the administration violated the order will depend on when the flights took off.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! All of this deportation news and hostility toward immigrants makes celebrating St. Patrick's Day—a celebration of the Irish—feel a little off. Still, kiss an Irish person today. Gorge yourself on Guinness. Eat corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Remind yourself that we are a country of immigrants.
A song for your Monday: Sticking with the Irish theme, here's U2.
