Good morning: Cloudy this morning, but that should burn off at some point this afternoon. High of 73 degrees.
Seattle Municipal Court (SMC) Judge Pooja Vaddadi returns to work: After several months on maternity leave, SMC Judge Vaddadi arrived back at work Friday and immediately dropped an op-ed calling out Republican City Attorney Ann Davison’s attack on Seattle’s independent judiciary. In March, Davison’s prosecutors began bouncing Vaddadi off every single criminal case, effectively blocking the elected judge from doing her job. In a memo circulated within the City Attorney’s Office (CAO), former CAO Criminal Division Chief Natalie Walton-Anderson accused Vaddadi of bias against prosecutors. Vaddadi argued that accusation point-by-point in her op-ed. SMC Judge Damon Shadid also shared a statement in support of Vaddadi, calling out Davison’s attack on a “woman of color on the bench.”
“The Seattle voters made it clear that they want Judge Vadaddi to adjudicate criminal cases in Seattle. For one individual to thwart the will of tens of thousands of voters is troubling,” Shadid wrote.
In 2022, Judge Vaddadi won her election with 61% of the vote, compared to Davison’s 51% in 2021.
Lynnwood Light Rail extension draws huge crowds: Literally about 1,000 people showed up to be the first to ride the Lynnwood extension that opened Friday, according to the Seattle Times. King County Executive Dow Constantine, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers all showed up the ride the new part of the 1 Line. Hannah went and saw an Elvis impersonator and bought a 1 Line branded bucket hat. I know we need to hate on how slowly we’re building out public transit system, but I’m glad we all celebrated so hard on Friday. Now back to the hating.
After the link extension, it is now quicker to get from capitol hill to LYNNWOOD than to Ballard pic.twitter.com/t0EmXIqtIK
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) August 31, 2024
Everything basically OK now at Sea-Tac Airport: After a cyberattack caused internet and technology glitches at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the Seattle Times reported Monday that things basically appeared to be OK, aside from the lack of Wi-Fi.
Prison “Betterment Fund” is a joke: Washington state collects millions of dollars a year through the dubious practice of charging incarcerated people to make phone calls. That money is supposed to be used to improve the welfare of incarcerated people in the state, but according to a report in the Seattle Times, it’s gathering dust. For example, they raised $4 million in the most recent fiscal year, largely from phone calls. Of that, $1 million went not to incarcerated people, but to a program that helps victims of crimes pay for their injuries. The only dollars used to actually improve the lives of incarcerated people went to travel reimbursements for families and “holiday event décor.”
Four Shootings on I-5: At least four people were injured in four separate shootings on I-5 between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Washington State Patrol believes the shootings were connected, and have made an arrest, according to the Seattle Times.
Madison Park public survey: Do you like Madison Park? Are you sure? What do you like about Madison Park? Be specific. Much like a needy significant other, Madison Park needs you to answer some questions about what you like and dislike about the park. Basically you have to answer two questions, and then fill out some demographic information. Takes two seconds and helps the Friends of Madison Park to check a box that allows Seattle Parks and Recreation to help improve the park.
Mass protests break out in Israel: Hundreds of thousands of protestors demonstrated across Israel on Sunday and Monday after Israeli soldiers found six hostages dead in a Gaza tunnel Saturday. The deaths sparked national outrage as Israelis criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to reach “a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas,” especially given that a deal might have freed at least three of the hostages found dead, according to CNN. Labor leaders in Israel also organized a massive strike, leading to the closure of the Tel Aviv airport Monday. Ignoring the wrath of the public, Netanyahu defended his refusal to concede to Hamas’s demands, such as that Israeli troops withdraw from the border area called the Philadelphi corridor. Even some of Netanyahu’s cabinet criticized the prime minister’s stance.
Harris courts workers in swing states: Vice-President Kamala Harris bounced around Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania on Monday as part of a Labor Day blitz to show her love for the workers in the three electorally fickle states. Harris used her stop in Pittsburgh to state her opposition to U.S. Steel selling its company to Japan’s Nippon Steel, according to the Associated Press. Back in July the Associated Press took an in depth look at the sale, and the realities of steel production in America.
Speaking of the Harris campaign though: A few of the cars crashed at the tail end of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s motorcade on Monday as he headed to a Milwaukee Labor Day event, according to the BBC. The car carrying Walz wasn’t involved in the crash. Still, Biden and Harris both called Walz to check in. Ban cars, am I right?
Shooter kills four on Chicago train: Police in Chicago arrested someone suspected of killing four people Monday morning on a Chicago Transit Authority train. Police believe the four people were homeless, and surveillance footage showed the victims sleeping when the suspect came and allegedly shot them point blank.
Humans use plane to teach endangered birds to migrate: Scientists plan to spend the next 50 or so days leading 36 northern bald ibis birds from Austria to Spain to try to train the birds to fly their migration route. The scientists set off in mid-August in a plane that looks like a golf cart with a big fan on the back, and also held aloft by a giant yellow parachute. Apparently this the birds’ 17th human led migration. If that sounds like a movie plot, that’s because the scientists said they were inspired to try this by the 1996 movie, “Fly Away Home.” I support everything about this endeavor.
This bird species was extinct in Europe. Now it’s back, and humans must help it migrate for winter. pic.twitter.com/URgPdSzJAS
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 26, 2024
Tinashe drops rest of album Quantum Baby: By this point, anyone who’s chronically online has probably heard Nasty, by Tinashe. But the rest of her album dropped August 16. Worth checking out the whole album, but its a little chiller than Nasty, an undisputed bop.
They will likely build a future Ballard extension if is feasible and won’t disrupt the neighborhoods’ infrastructure and stability.
@ It’s already in the plan, opening in … 2039. Sigh.
https://www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion/ballard-link-extension
Last week I was listening to KIRO-FM and heard Curley yet again bag on ST for the Fare Ambassadors being worthless, then I read the NYT article on fare evasion in the MTA system – a MILLION evaders PER DAY.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/nyregion/mta-bus-fare-evaders.html#:~:text=Two%20years%20ago%2C%20the%20M.T.A.%20lost%20%24315%20million,14%20percent%20of%20subway%20riders%20evade%20the%20fare.
“Ban cars, am I right?” is immediately followed with “Shooter kills four on Chicago train.”
Nice.
@3: I know it would have been incredibly poor taste, but I kinda wish some people carted around a Dori Monson coffin during the Lynnwood extension opening (or maybe just a coffin representing his anti-Lynwood extension thoughts).
I was first introduced to Tinashe via the reality show Stars on Mars, which wasn’t a spectacular show, but it had its moments (plus, it tried to be more co-op than most reality shows, although at each end of the day they were still getting rid of someone). (Marshawn Lynch and Andy Richter were also on it.)
In any case, I thought Tinashe was completely captivating on it. But the “real” her seems so different than the stage/music video persona and I’m still experiencing dissonance from that.
“Ban cars, am I right?”
If car crashes are the problem, we should just ban car crashes.
$1 million out of $4 million being used to help victims of crime who have been injured instead of making life cushier for the criminals.
Oh the humanity…
I’d like to say I was surprised by The Stranger’s indignation, but I’m not.
They made it clear since 2020 (and before) that they’ll side with the criminals.
It’s baffling that income from prisoner fees on phone calls equates to four million a year. How are they paying for it, on a “credit” card from making license plates?
I can’t believe how many antisemitic pro-Hamas Israelis there are. Don’t they know they can just blame the Palestinians for anything bad that happens and call it a day.
@8 Ah, so you wouldn’t be bothered at all if we took a bunch of gas tax money and put it into, say, health care benefits instead of the transportation projects that it’s supposed to go to?
@9 From prison labor where they get paid a few pennies an hour. Or by getting family members to pay.
I rode Link to Lynnwood on opening day. It was nice. But let’s not forget that every time a new section of Light Rail opens, bus routes are “deleted” (AKA killed). Some of these routes are nowhere near the new stations.
For instance, the 20 (which was always a weak replacement for the fantastic 26) through Wallingford and Green Lake will soon be gone, because we now have light rail from Northgate to Lynnwood. Fucking stupid.
So no matter where you live, check your local bus route. It may be gone in 10 days.
Seattle NIMBYs spent years preventing any sort of mass transit rail project from ever starting, so the pace of opening new stations now seems positively breakneck compared to that. Relax. By this time next year Eastside residents will be able to take the train to the Airport, like any normal metropolitan city. And $3 to get to the airport via train is a bargain.
12: That’s so antithetical to the overall transportation and climate change objectives!
Here’s that info.
https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/routes-and-service/service-change
@9 Phoebe – many, but not all, inmates are poor (e.g. Ghislaine Maxwell or Martha Stewart). But every time I have gotten a call from a jail or prison, it was a very expensive collect call. So yeah, friends and families.
“For example, they raised $4 million in the most recent fiscal year, largely from phone calls. Of that, $1 million went not to incarcerated people, but to a program that helps victims of crimes pay for their injuries.”
Yeah, jail phone fees are a capitalist racket and should be done away with. But holy shit, the writer and editor here couldn’t have made the point any worse or less sympathetic. It makes you wonder if the lily-white staff of The Stranger has ever actually witnessed or experienced crime (besides, like, unicycle theft)
Many who don’t get money from family now get it through JPay, there are even whole TikTok channels dedicated to it. Basically they’re like video diaries they upload and people can send them money to hear more from them. The ID state pristine in particular is famous for some thirst trap ones where the more muscular of the inmates post videos and get women, gays, and tiktokkers to send money to their commissary accounts.
I generally think Netanyahu is an authoritarian-leaning twit, but the Philadelphi corridor is a notorious route for smuggling weapons into Gaza, if the goal is truly to strangle Hamas as stated, then it wouldn’t be possible without closing it.
@12 — The 20 is being eliminated because that particular section performs very poorly. It is common for Metro to restructure routes — as they should.
In Tangletown it gets a bit more complicated. The 62 takes an odd route through there that is both slow and leads to a bigger coverage gap than necessary. Planners wanted to fix the gap way back with the Northgate Link restructure (https://web.archive.org/web/20200415091817/https://kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/transportation/metro/programs-projects/link-connections/north-link/route-info/en/route062.pdf). However, this was shot down because there was concern about the streets in the area handling the bus traffic. Basically the road needs to be hardened. I suggest locals contact representatives (both city and county) to get the 62 moved. It would be better for everyone.
@4, right? that segue was awkward. i’d have owned that segue by inserting the I5 shooter story, then the MTA one. because, nobody is safe apparently. Thoughts and prayers don’t stop bullets.
@9, often loved ones of the ‘criminals’ foot the fee for jail phone calls, it’s a totally privatized racket. think like, if republic parking took over a jail phone system. bear in mind, often rich people seldom end up in jail, so this ends up being a very much so, fuck the poor situation, and regardless of how agregious or minescule the crime, it fucks the poor. and poor fucking is sort of how a lot of these people ended up in jail IN THE FIRST PLACE. end caps. sorry.
@18 The 20 “performs poorly” because it’s a stupid route. The 26 should’ve never been killed. But Metro killed it (during COVID) and threw us a bone with the 20, which is a stupid route. And since it’s a stupid route, it has low ridership, which gave Metro a great excuse to kill that too.
Latona Avenue has been a transit route for, what, 120 years. And now that corridor a transit desert. It sounds like you’re defending this decision. Don’t.
It sucks that the 20 is going away, but can that area really be considered a transit desert?
What is the destination for most people that get on the 20 between 50th and 65th?
@phoebs, your one phone call is from a pay phone, after they have emptied your pockets. So you have to call collect.N20. And who hasn’t been arrested at least once?…
If they turned over $4 million to the jail, likely their profit is 10x that.
Good introduction to unfettered capitalism though. Competitive pricing, to buy the monopoly.
…and the collect call isn’t your normal couple extra bucks. Calling from the jail in Seattle to a Seattle land line (indicating my age here…) for 1 minute or less was something like $25 or more. And that was 20+ years ago. They have set it up so you can only call via their service, which is the extremely expensive one for those receiving the call. And they don’t say this call will cost you an arm and a leg, they say, ‘collect call from X, do you accept?’
This is taking advantage of the of people in a really unfortunate situation. Capitalism at its finest.
Imagine if they put a dynamic price on going to the toilet during the 7th inning stretch, or imagine TicketMaster.
And before the normal crowd goes off on ‘guilty should pay’, if you haven’t been convicted (and I still haven’t) you aren’t guilty, according to US jurisprudence. And even if you are convicted and sentenced, is making communication with the rest of the world really expensive serve any purpose other than to make a monoplist rich and a few pennies for the jail? Some things don’t need to make a profit, and prisons and their services are one of them.
“Some things
don’t need to make
a profit, and prisons and
their services are one of them.”
small Wonder you’re
fed up, angryone.
the Citizenry
is here according
to the Profiteering
Class to be Farmed
Harvested & put out
to pasture when they
can no longer Service
the Upper Classes. if we
cannot (legally!) Steal from
‘the Least of Us’ isn’t That actually
Theft — from the Kleptocratic Class?
to hear it here from
some of tS’s commentariat
sure as fuck seems to Confirm it.
@21: UW and Light Rail, to name two. Greenlake (both the park and the neighborhood) for another.
@11
Not an apples to apples comparison.
We get road funds through taxes which is a completely different thing.
Why shouldn’t inmates have to sacrifice to assist the people they’ve injured either on purpose or through their carelessness?
@26
so
sax
losing
their fucking
FREEDOM is Not
Enough? perhaps we
might sell tickets so peeps
can go into our Prisons & Beat
the prisoners? might that make the
Victims More Whole?
the ‘right’ wing
is Strong in
this one.