Guerilla Stop Signs Removed: A street safety vigilante took power into their own hands when they installed three unsanctioned, unofficial stop signs at the notoriously-blind intersection of 14th Avenue East and East John Street. It's a spot where that steep slope of John Street finally crests and where people are trying to get to Safeway via all modes of transportation. Plus, now that Safeway has shuttered its more-pedestrian-friendly entrance on 15th Avenue East (remember when you could just walk into a Safeway via all of its entrances?), everyone is funneled into the entrance attached to the parking lot. It's a messy intersection, one the city doesn't seem to think of as much of a problem since they removed the three stop signs.
But Maybe It Worked: The guerilla stop signs did prompt Seattle Department of Transportation to gather data on that intersection and see if stop signs would be necessary.
Duke's Closes Alki Location: Duke's Seafood on Alki Beach will close immediately, ownership announced. The restaurant never recovered from pandemic and West Seattle Bridge closure-induced lows. Duke's still operates six locations in Bellevue, Green Lake, Kent, Lake Union, Southcenter, and Tacoma. If you want a restaurant with sweeping, unobstructed views of the Seattle skyline—it's for sale. Unfortunately, I doubt it'll be a bargain.
Buying a Home? In This Economy? King County saw an 11 percent increase in homes-for-sale last month. The prices keep climbing. The median sale price rose 3.3 percent to a laughably-high $977,500.
Existing? In this economy? The stock market remains abysmal. In fact, it's even worse than yesterday because China's 34 percent tariffs on US goods went into effect. I'm just going to quote the Associated Press for these market updates. Here they are: "The S&P 500 was down 2.8% this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,049 points, or 2.6, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 3.2% lower." It's bad out there. Meanwhile, Trump doubling down. He says his "policies will never change."
Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq crater after China announces first retaliatory tariffs
— Yahoo Finance (@yahoofinance.com) April 4, 2025 at 6:41 AM
finance.yahoo.com/news/live/st...
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So Much for Job Growth: Despite federal layoffs, US employers added 228,000 jobs last month. We'll see how this forced global recession impacts things in coming months.
International Duck Has Visa Revoked: The Department of Homeland Security cancelled an international University of Oregon student's visa without warning for unspecified criminal charges. The university is trying to figure out how to respond.
The Weather: Ignore Mudede. Today, with its sunny skies and low-60s highs, will be glorious. Last week, it seemed the whole weekend would be glorious, but it does not appear to be anything special anymore and instead will be cloudy and rainy. Enjoy today.
The Economics of Mass Deportation: A new report out of the Washington State Budget & Policy Center found that undocumented immigrants are vital to our state in many ways. We have around 1.2 million immigrants here, which includes 619,000 non-citizens and 325,000 undocumented immigrants. On an economic level, we depend on our immigrant population, especially when it comes to state funds. Our undocumented immigrant population contributed around $1 billion in 2022 to our state economy in the form of state and local taxes. According to the report, if even 10% of our undocumented immigrant residents in Washington are deported, Washington state would lose $100 million per year in revenue. That's not even considering the contributions they make to providing goods and services. Industries such as farming, restaurants, care and domestic work, and construction rely on immigrant employees. Mass deportation is cruel, senseless, anti-American, and bad economically. You'll hear more on this from Marcus Harrison Green later today.
Don't End Up Like a Case on The Pitt: Wear a helmet if you ride an e-scooter or an e-bike. According to Harborview Medical Center, last year 163 serious injuries from e-scooters or e-bikes came through their doors. Many of them were head injuries. E-bike and e-scooter injuries went up 37 percent from 2023.
Also, On That Note: No one spoil last night's new episode of The Pitt. I missed it. I'm loving the return of episodic, appointment-viewing for television, but it is terrible for spoilers in this social media landscape. Can't we have at least a 24-hour embargo before people start clipping things and blasting them on every platform? This is why it's terrible that there's really only one text-based social media platform these days (Bluesky). The influx of video everywhere else sucks. Numbs the brain. Spoils the shows.
Assault and Rape Charges for Russell Brand: United Kingdom police charged comedian and actor Russell Brand, 50, with "one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault." Four women brought the charges against Brand, who in recent years has become more of right-wing social commentator.
Enjoy this The Onion article from 2023:
Nation Could Have Sworn Russell Brand Was Already Convicted Sex Offender
— The Onion (@theonion.com) April 4, 2025 at 6:50 AM
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RFK Jr. fires Health and Human Services Department Comms Teams: Instead of making public health more transparent like he promised, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing the opposite. In Tuesdays spate of layoffs, seven employees in charge of communicating the health department's work and its guidance to the public lost their jobs. According to these people, the communications offices of five HHS agencies housed in the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health have lost pretty much their whole staff.
Oopsie: RFK Jr. now says that the Department of Government Efficiency's cuts, where around 20 percent of Department of Health and Human Services—or 10,000 people—were laid off may have been a mistake. He may reinstate some roles. I suggest he reinstate all roles and also leave his. Just a thought. Not sure he has many of those himself.
Meanwhile: Dr. Oz will lead Medicaid and Medicare programs. Thanks for nothing, US Senate.
Laura Loomer Calls the Shots: Far-right conspiracy theorist and white nationalist Laura Loomer told Trump to fire six National Security Council officials after an Oval Office meeting where Loomer "vilified the staff members by name," writes the New York Times and attacked their loyalty and character. Trump then fired them. Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, was powerless to prevent the firings, showing that Loomer, who is a 9/11-was-an-inside-job truther, wields more power than he does. Trump denied Loomer played any role in this, but said she was a “very good patriot and a very strong person.”
Here's Who Was Fired: From NYT: "The people fired included Brian Walsh, the senior director for intelligence; Maggie Dougherty, the senior director for international organizations; and Thomas Boodry, the senior director for legislative affairs."
A Song for Your Friday: Heard this in a coffee shop the other day and it brought me back to 2011 when I listened to it on repeat.
