By Sunday evening, arrested nine protesters were arrested and five SPD officers were injured.
By Sunday evening, arrested nine protesters were arrested and five SPD officers were injured. Anel Herz

Yesterday Was May Day: We ran a play-by-play here. Festivities began peacefully, including an El Comite march for immigrant and worker rights. In the evening, things escalated when the black bloc protesters began throwing rocks, fireworks, molotov cocktails, and other objects at police officers, who responded with pepper spray and blast balls. According to The Seattle Times, 9 people were arrested and five SPD officers were injured.



Now That the Festivities Are Over: Read this thoughtfully written piece about white privilege and rioting from The Seattle Globalist. And then read it again.

To Avoid "Viadoom", Use Public Transportation, Walk, Bike, or Work From Home: Monday's commute is predicted to be far worse than last Friday's, MyNorthwest reports. As of Sunday, Bertha had tunneled 39 feet of its 385 foot goal. You can track Bertha's progress here.

In Case You Needed a Reminder That the People Living in the Jungle Are People: KUOW took a tour of the homeless encampment, which is home to about 400 people, including some former child soldiers from South Sudan. For some, it becomes home because of the community it provides.

“I think for most of us, by the time we’ve gotten here to the point where we’re living under a bridge in tents, we feel very much alone,” [resident Kara] Bernstine said. “When you’re out on the streets, there’s absolutely no normalcy at all, there’s no routine. And so, when I found this place, it had felt so long since I’ve felt safe and welcomed.”

But there are dangers, too. At the edges of the Jungle, drug dealers prey upon residents, some of who use heroin. But people living nearby the encampment volunteer to keep the dealers away simply by pulling weeds around the area. "You can only be so tough when there are 30 young people who are eager to pull weeds all around you,” Beacon Hill resident Craig Thompson told KUOW.

A Sinkhole Opened up in Ravenna Because of Light Rail Tunneling: The six-foot sinkhole opened up near the sidewalk on a residential street when a Sound Transit boring machine tunneled more than a year ago, KIRO reports. Residents living in the two nearby houses are being put up in a hotel while crews fill the hole with cement. According to KIRO, the neighborhood is no stranger to sinkholes.

Coincidentally — the hole is situated roughly 4/10 of a mile from where a massive sinkhole opened up on Nov. 12, 1957.

The 1957 sinkhole occurred in the 1600 block or Ravenna Boulevard. It was about 100 feet long, 66 feet wide and 40 feet deep.

The sinkholes are not related.

The International District Did Some Spring Cleaning: More than a few hundred volunteers were expected to attend a cleanup event in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority, and the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area, The Seattle Globalist reported. Aside from picking up trash around the neighborhood, the event helps small business owners who wouldn't otherwise have the people power to clean trash from their storefronts or even make small repairs. "With so many people living in the neighborhood, sanitation can help improve not only community satisfaction but safety," the Globalist wrote.

New Study Finds That Babies Are Dying Because of Unsafe Sleeping Conditions: Washington state’s Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds headed up the study, which examined infant mortality in families that came into contact with the child welfare system. "One of [director-ombudsman Patrick] Dowd’s key recommendations to reduce sleep deaths is to expand services for vulnerable expectant and new mothers including home visits by nurses," Northwest News Network reported. The King County Health Department began distributing cardboard boxes outfitted with foam mattresses as cribs for low-income families. Similar boxes have been used for decades in Finland, KING 5 reports.

A King County Judge Made a First-of-Its-Kind Ruling Against Washington State in a Climate Change Case: Eight kids filed the initial lawsuit in November. "Judge Hollis Hill has ruled that the threat of climate change is so urgent that the state must be placed on a court-ordered deadline to hold polluters accountable now," Sydney reported.

Two Mt. Vernon Businesses Went Up In Flames: Hansen's Furniture and Craft Stoves were "gutted" by the flames, which caused about $1.5 million in damages, The Seattle PI reported.

It's Official—This April Was the Hottest on Record: The average temperature was "56.7 degrees, totally obliterating the old record of 53.6," KOMO reports.

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