First things first: Seattle, don’t get your hopes up for a super sunny day. Though the skin care girlies would still recommend applying sunscreen at least on your face, we will see mostly to partly cloudy skies. The forecast shows that temperatures will crawl up from the mid 60s this morning and peak in the comfortable lower 70s. So if you’re dying to bust out a new pair of jeans, today might not be such a bad day for them!
You’re invited: Today, the Seattle City Council will convene in a special meeting to discuss the highly anticipated findings of the Progressive Revenue Stabilization Taskforce. The report basically listed (and specifically did not endorse) nine taxes, only three of which are definitely legal. I complained about all the Seattle Process nonsense here, but the fun has just begun. In the coming weeks, the council will actually get serious about finding more revenue before the looming budget shortfall forces cuts to social programs.
Uhhhhh, guys: COVID-19 hospital admissions have spiked 12% in the last week nationwide, and Seattle public health officials are bracing for another wave of the virus after months of steady, low levels. A UW lab said this summer they usually see a positivity rate of 1% to 3% in the 500 samples they test each day. On Tuesday, the lab reported a positivity rate of 5%. Still, officials say not to panic. The wave is not to the scale of the January 2022 uptick, where cases per 100,000 people sat about 100 times higher than they do now. I’m not seeing any updated guidance, but if you’re in the market for another booster, experts say you should wait a little bit for maximum benefit.
The going rate: Winning an election is expensive business, and some candidates for City Council made their money go further than others. Now that the dust has basically settled on the results, I looked at how much each candidate paid for each vote they got. On average, across all council races, candidates spent about $10.42 a vote, which is like buying every voter two Dick’s deluxe burgers.
The big (and small) spenders: District 6 City Council candidate Jon Lisbon got the best bang for his buck, spending 62 cents per vote. To be fair, he came in dead last in his race, but at least he got a good deal! On the other side of the spectrum, District 3 City Council candidate Alex Cooley spent more than $78,000 for just over 1,100 votes, pricing his votes at about $70 a pop. Out of the candidates who made it through the primary, Council Member Dan Strauss cut himself the best deal, spending about $5.22 per vote. Rob Saka, the second-place candidate in District 1, spent the most per vote out of any surviving candidate at about $13.47. That cost goes up to about $21.45 a vote when you consider the fact that a bunch of Trumpers and corporate lobbyists spent $50,000 in a last-ditch effort to get him out of the primary. So much for budget-finding inefficiencies, Mr. Saka.
Sharks live in the sea, not in cells: In their tireless pursuit of terrorizing marine life, the City Council helped secure a bank loan for the Seattle Aquarium’s big expansion, which includes a shark jail. The legislation they passed Tuesday would not give the aquarium any more money, but the council has already spent $34 million on the project and lent $20 million more. This week’s vote just re-ignited animal rights groups’ call for the City to reverse course, as I wrote here.
Tragedy strikes Maui: At least 36 people have died in a large wildfire tearing through the Hawaiian island Maui. Maui County officials said that more than 270 structures have been damaged or destroyed, dozens of people have been injured, and thousands have been forced to flee their homes. Officials fear the death toll will rise as the fires continue.
Don’t mess with Joe: The FBI killed a guy in Provo, Utah yesterday while they attempted to arrest him. The FBI sought him out after he posted a death threat against President Joe Biden, who will visit the state soon.
In other visits: Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Seattle next week. Want to see her? You’ll have to shell out $5,000 to hear her speak about climate change policy at a Biden fundraiser. So nice of her to be accessible to the peasantry.
More transphobic clownery from Ronnie: Florida schools rolled out a slew of new anti-trans policies earlier this week after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to bring more bigotry into the classroom this year. Some counties in Florida now require a fucking permission slip for kids to go by a nickname in school. Additionally, new Orange County policies require misgendering trans teachers, staff, and students, banning them from using the pronouns and bathrooms that correspond with their gender.
News from Ecuador: Someone shot and killed Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio as he was getting in his car in Quito Wednesday.
End of an era: Last night pop superstar Taylor Swift played the last show of the first US leg of her Era’s Tour—she’ll come back in November to hit Miami and a handful of other cities she skipped over. She closed this chapter by announcing she will release the re-recording of her album, 1989. If that’s all gibberish to you, here’s some help.
This show also held historical, cultural significance for a small but mighty segment of her fanbase who believe that Swift dated supermodel Karlie Kloss. Kloss and Swift had a huge falling out several years ago after a very public, touchy-feely friendship. Last night, Kloss attended the tour to the utter shock of Swifties. Swifties believe that the pop star does nothing on accident, so when she announced the re-recording in front of the the first person she let listen to the 1989 album when she originally released it, it felt huge. That means nothing to almost all of the Slog readers, I’m sure, but holy shit was it was a wild night on Swiftie TikTok.
KARLIE KLOSS IS LITERALLY HERE SHE IS AT THE ERAS TOUR WE JUST SAW HER WALK IN pic.twitter.com/i8QApH75Ps
— riss ミ☆ (@dickinscns) August 10, 2023
In honor of 1989: New Romantics.
