I-137: House Our Neighbors (HON) gathered and submitted 37,819 signatures in support of their ballot measure, and now they await verification. To fund social housing construction, the measure would tax companies that pay anyone on a payroll more than $1 million. As I reported before, the tax would raise an estimated $52 million a year.

When can I vote for I-137? To get this thing on the ballot for the big-turnout election in November instead of kicking it down the road to February, the Seattle City Council would need to vote on it by the primary, August 6, according to the campaign. It takes roughly three weeks for King County Elections to verify signatures, then the clerk has 20 days to put it on the agenda, and the council then has 45 days to vote, so there’s a chance that council gets it done in time, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. For one, they love the wealthy and big business. For two, they can’t even do the things they want to do very quickly. See: Nelson’s rollback on the gig delivery driver minimum wage. So, given how close we are to the November election, HON is prepared to fight for their tax in February. They’ve won a special election before!

Big win for free speech: The cops fucked up and now owe four anti-cop protesters $680,000 for throwing them in jail under a “protest exception” despite Seattle and King County banning most misdemeanor bookings due to the COVID pandemic. They argued the very existence of such an exception showed that the City wanted to undermine free speech and the right to peacefully assemble. Now the City will have to pay the protesters $20,000 each and the individual officers have to pick up the rest of the bill. 

Enough malarkey: Judges blocked parts of President Joe Biden’s plan to lower payments on student debt for eligible borrowers. Biden’s used to having the courts foil his campaign promise to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for up to 43 million Americans. It’s not a total bust, though. According to the US Department of Education, the Biden administration has granted $5.5 billion in debt relief to 414,000 borrowers. The recent rulings do not undo that, Reuters wrote. 

Before I forget: I’ll be in endorsement meetings all day (there’s an election in August lol), but I’ll be motivated by the promise of a walk home because god damn will it be nice out today. Seattle girlies, you can expect the mid 60s to rise into the 70s this morning. In the afternoon, temperatures top off at about 76 degrees, and it won’t dip below 70 until 9 pm. Oh yeah, and no clouds. Get out there!

ICYMI: This story should be a bigger deal in my opinion. For The Stranger’s Queer Issue 2024, a source former Stranger staffer Katie Herzog quoted to support her infamous “detrans” article admits his feelings about his detransition were much more mixed than he let on in the interview. In the piece, he gives a fuller picture into his thinking at the time as a way to help repair the damage done to the LGBTQ community. Please read. 

STRIIIIIIIIKE: Reporters at the Everett Herald went on a one-day strike yesterday after 10 journalists got laid off last week. They decided to keep the pressure on and continue the strike today.

Save the children: Infant deaths increased by 8% after the Texas abortion ban went into effect in 2021. 

1,901 days: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is sooooo close to freedom after he agreed to a plea deal to avoid going to prison in the United States. Once the deal gets approved by a federal judge, the Justice Department will give Assange a 62-month sentence and credit him for the 62 months he’s already spent in Belmarsh maximum security prison. But he got out of jail yesterday on bail and got on a plane to go to the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Pacific, to appear in court tomorrow

A long time coming: The cargo ship that crashed into Francis Scott Key bridge finally left Baltimore nearly three months after the collapse first made headlines. The crew had to stick around on the ship to participate in the investigation, but they did not have valid visas to enter the US to do that more comfortably, according to the BBC. After questioning, the crew no longer needs to stay in the US to cooperate with the rest of the investigation. 

Sleepless in Seattle turns 31: I’ve never seen this movie, but I hear it takes place in Seattle, which is where I live btw. Here’s a song from it.

Hannah Krieg is a staff writer at The Stranger covering everything that goes down at Seattle City Hall. Importantly, she is a Libra. She is also The Stranger's resident Gen Z writer, with an affinity for...

21 replies on “Slog AM: Julian Assange Agrees to Plea Deal, Cops Owe Four Seattle Protesters Big Money, Social Housing Payroll Tax Campaign Submits Signatures”

  1. “It takes roughly three weeks for King County Elections to verify signatures, then the clerk has 20 days to put it on the agenda, and the council then has 45 days to vote, so there’s a chance that council gets it done in time, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. For one, they love the wealthy and big business. For two, they can’t even do the things they want to do very quickly.”

    Seems weird to preemptively blame the Seattle City Council for the time pressures, when HON could simply have submitted their signatures earlier, thereby avoiding the problem.

  3. @2 Even that seems a bit optimistic. The Seattle Social Housing Developer board doesn’t really strike me as a group that is likely to deliver economical and efficient housing projects. They are, however, collectively quite experienced in spending public funds.

  4. @1 the real issue is that Feb special elections are undemocratic or at least that was TS position when there was an election they didn’t approve of a couple of years ago. I do hope this gets on the Nov ballet. Any tax increases should be part of the general election and not subject to special elections where only 25% of the city votes.

  5. I watched the M/V Dali leave this morning, it is being towed to Norfolk, and I hate to be a nitpicker, but the corre t term is merchant ship, not cargo ship.

    As for Assange, the guy who helped elect tRump (likely on Putin’s orders) I texted a friend, he will be denied service at Godfather’s on Saipan.

  10. So, the cops who illegally arrested peaceful protesters are now on the hook for $600K.

    About fucking time. This should be SOP: cops get caught doing something illegal, THEY pay the restitution, NOT the taxpayers. No doubt, the hand-wringing, pearl-clutching LEA uber alles brigade here will whinge about how this will only further discourage people to get into law enforcement, but OTOH, maybe it’ll encourage people who actually want to “protect and serve” instead of those who prefer to “bust heads & let the citizens bail us out when we fuck up.”

  12. @5, 12 I don’t think that Assange will be stopping long enough for pizza. He’s got a quick trip into the courthouse and then it’s off to Australia.

  13. @13: Godfather’s is a bar

    There are not a lot of flights off Saipan.

    Unless hecwants to travel through Guam, he will need the flight to Japan or Korea.

    Unless of course he plans to travel by yacht

  14. @8, The best they can do is post articles like the one they shared yesterday that make an effort to set the record straight. Outside of her detrans stuff, her work was mostly harmless, albeit poorly researched rage bait that was out of step with the editorial stance of the paper itself.

    It’s interesting to go back and reread some of her blog posts and see how wrong she was about nearly everything she covered. It’s hard to believe someone thought the “cancel culture” panic deserved that much attention but the Trump years were a much different time than anything before or since.

  15. @10

    Would you be on board with holding protesters to the same standard?

    When they damage property while they are out and about burning, looting and vandalizing, said protesters are responsible for repairs?

  18. @16 this is the most pathetic attempt at Whataboutism I’ve ever seen. Damage to property is punishable as the crime of Malicious Mischief and people convicted of it are subject to restitution orders requiring they compensate the property owner. It’s a core premise of our legal system that people who cause harm are responsible for compensating the harmed party, so it’s good these cops are (for once) being held to the same standard as anyone else.

  21. “The cops fucked up

    and now owe four anti-cop

    protesters $680,000 for throwing them in jail…

    Now the City will have to pay the protesters

    $20,000 each and the individual officers

    have to pick up the rest of the bill.”

    oh Thank You Gawd

    Personal Responsibility

    Strikes again! I didn’t

    Realize with their

    ‘Union’ they’d

    EVER be held

    Accountable.

    B.r.a.v.o.

    @10 & 19:

    bingo &

    danke.

Comments are closed.