Save the Light Rail: City and county officials are trying everything to keep Sound Transit 3 intact after Sound Transit proposed cutting several stations and lines due to rising costs. Councilmember Dan Strauss has proposed an amendment to save Ballard’s line by building from Ballard to Westlake directly rather than building a brand new downtown tunnel. That might be good in the short-term, but the new tunnel is pivotal for the future of the regional transit system. Meanwhile, Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay are trying to save the south Seattle Graham Street in-fill station with their own amendments. All of it will come to a head in a big ass Sound Transit board meeting this afternoon.
Trouble in YIMBYdise? PubliCola reported that Jon Grant, Mayor Katie Wilson’s chief advisor on homelessness and housing resigned on Wednesday. He was asked to step down. Grant was one of two mayoral staffers at the center of recent drama between the executive’s office and the city council. Grant and another recently-fired staffer, former chief of staff Kate Kreuzer, allegedly told the council to pull a draft of a shelter bill since they didn’t like the council’s amendments. The council did not like this overreach. Ironically, Kreuzer ran Grant’s failed 2017 city council campaign.
Eleven Presumed Dead in Longview Paper Mill Explosion: Two people are confirmed dead from Tuesday’s Nippon Dynawave plant chemical tank rupture and explosion. Nine people are still missing and presumed dead. Gov. Bob Ferguson said this could be the “deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.” Officials don’t know the full scope of the environmental impacts either. Some of the corrosive chemical inside the tank, a caustic substance called white liquor, spilled into the Columbia River. Hopefully that’s chill?
Denny Blaine on Trial: The trial of the century is here. Wealthy, lakefront dwellers are seeking a permanent court order to kill the nudity at Denny Blaine Park or entirely close the public park. They’ve called the nudity at the beach a “public nuisance.” The defense says the plaintiff’s attempts to un-free the nipples, dongs, and taints at Denny Blaine are a distortion of the public nuisance doctrine. The attack on the park is also an attack on four decades of LGBTQ history. It should be a lively trial.
Nobu Is Coming to Bellevue for Some Reason: Not only will the glitzy sushi chain open a new 10,000-square-foot restaurant, it will also be unveiling its first residential project. They’re rebranding two residential towers as the Nobu Residences so now you can live in sushi paradise. The people involved in this deal are calling Bellevue “a global destination for business and luxury entertainment.” No one has ever said this about Bellevue before.
The Weather: Seems like it’ll be pretty nice. Cloudy later. Rain overnight.
The Presidential Enemies List: The Justice Department launched a criminal investigation
into E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine columnist who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in 1996. She sued the president for assault and defamation, and a jury found him liable. She later sued for more defamation and won again. Carroll, the latest of Trump’s enemies to be speciously investigated by federal agencies, is being probed for perjury in those suits.
To Name a Few: James Comey, the former FBI director and shell artist fired by the President while the FBI investigated his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia. Letitia James, the New York Attorney General who won a civil case accusing the President of inflating the value of his assets. Various federal reserve officials including then-chair Jerome Powell and Fed governor Lisa D. Cook. And Fani Willis, the Georgia district attorney who charged Trump with interfering with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The President has sent the hounds after them all.
Trump-Nominated Judge Declined to Limit Trump’s Power: The Thursday ruling from US District Court Judge and Donald Trump nominee Carl Nichols leaves in place the President’s March executive order to create a US voter list and limit vote by mail. Democrats and Schoolhouse Rock fans have observed that Congress has the power to set election rules, not the President.
The War: Iran and the US are trading missile strikes. Iran fired missiles toward American bases in Kuwait. Those were intercepted. The US struck four attack drones Iran launched over the Strait of Hormuz. It does not seem like the Strait will be opening very soon, contrary to the news a few days ago that suggested the Iran and US were close to an agreement that would allow commercial shipping to continue on the waterway. No dice.
Get Hard at the White House:
Rare Blue Micromoon Rises: Hopefully it’s good at head! Uh. Anyway. The “most distant and smallest-looking full moon” of the year will be in the sky this weekend. No more size jokes. Small is actually in these days.
Bring Back the Tests: Zoinks, it looks like standardized testing might’ve been onto something. At least according to the more than 600 University of California professors calling on their university system to reinstate SAT and ACT requirements for STEM students. In the six years of test-free admissions, professors say they’ve had to teach middle school math to these dummies and they’re sick of it!
Former CIA officer accused of stealing 300 gold bars: Alleged schemer extraordinaire David Rush, a former manager with top-level security clearance, claimed the $40 million plus in gold bars at his home were needed for “work-related” expenses. He’s charged with criminal theft of public money.
Dog Shoots Woman: In Nebraska, a dog shot a woman. The dog was in a parked truck with a loaded shotgun. Its owner had run to the store. The dog moved back and forth in the backseat and bumped the shotgun’s trigger. The gun fired… and hit a woman stopped at a nearby traffic light in the arm.
Patagonia sues drag queen Pattie Gonia: The company, which named itself after a sprawling region at the tip of South America, filed a trademark lawsuit against a drag queen who named herself after their company. Wyn Wiley, who performs as Pattie Gonia, raises money for the environment by doing drag in the great outdoors. The company is seeking $1 (yes), plus legal fees, and took action after Wiley filed a trademark application to sell “Pattie Gonia” clothing. “While we wish we didn’t have to do this—and actively engaged with Pattie for several years to avoid this—it has become necessary to protect the brand we have spent the last 50 years building,” the company said in January. In a Wednesday Instagram video, Wiley said the suit betrayed the company’s core mission. “If they’re ‘in business to save the home planet’, why are they suing a climate activist?”
White House Honors Harambe, Slain Gorilla, in Post: They called him a “true patriot.” I had no idea he was at January 6th. (If you can remember 2016, you may recall that the alt-right loved Harambe jokes).
