Lets see how you did, Legislature.
Let's see how you did, Legislature. Getty Images

Puget Sound drug bust leads to 35 arrests Wednesday: That’s just the latest in a string of four operations conducted across King, Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, and Thurston counties. In the last four months, 80 drug dealing conspirators have been taken off the streets. The operations resulted in “the seizure of 75 guns, more than 95 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 32 pounds of heroin, more than 7 pounds of cocaine (both crack and powder) as well as ecstasy and fentanyl,” reports Q13 FOX. “More than $327,000 in cash and 22 vehicles also were seized.”

There are 250 new laws going into effect today: Remember way back in the day when the legislative session was happening? That was a time of action, of adventure, of pure drama. The bills that passed during that time are rolling out today. Here’s the highlight reel. The workplace sexual misconduct law prohibiting non disclosure agreements that prevent employees from coming forward about harassment is going into effect. There’s the Voting Rights Act that’s reforming representation of minorities in local elections. There’s one about reducing the wage gap and one about student free speech. Conversion therapy is getting the axe under a new law and net neutrality is going to be protected.

Gentrification is pushing south: Tukwila is feeling the development itch. A planned justice center across the street from the Tukwila light rail stop will displace the cluster of immigrant-owned businesses already located there. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for planned developments. Developers see Tukwila as the next frontier. It’s where people will move when they’re priced out of Seattle. Impacted Tukwila businesses aren’t going down without a fight. So far, they’ve filed a court motion “to stop the city from using eminent domain to take the properties for the justice center” reports the Seattle Times. The site will not be changed. However, the businesses are negotiating to get some relocation money. They have until March 2019 to move.

911 txt it: Pierce County is on its way to getting a 911 texting service so people can text emergency services during, well, an emergency. The county and Washington State Patrol have been working together to make a secure app. They’re wary of the instances when this type of service has been hacked elsewhere — like in Baltimore when the system was seized by hackers in exchange for bitcoin. They’re aiming to have a pilot program by the end of the summer. Pilot season, baby!

Conservation group will sue if orcas don’t get more protection: The Center for Biological Diversity wants more marine waters to be designated to protecting orcas. If that doesn’t happen, they’re going to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service. The main issue is that they don’t the think the government is doing enough to protect offshore areas along the West Coast. I mean, yeah. Our EPA chief is busy finding his wife a Chick-Fil-A franchise and himself a used Trump mattress. Plus, I’m pretty sure the Secretary of the Interior is still planning on drilling for oil over here.

Four years later, police are looking for the suspect in three rapes: The push to actually test the rape kits gathering dust in Washington state has led to the identification of the same suspect in three rapes. The rapes occurred on Capitol Hill in 2014. After testing and additional interviews with the victims, police determined the suspect in the three cases was the same. The suspect was allegedly driving a Ford or Chevy SUV when he committed the crimes. Police have a sketch of what he looks like and are urging anyone who recognizes the man to contact them. There are still 6,000 rape kits untested in Washington.

New Blabbermouth podcast! Could the Results of California's Primary Be—Gasp—A Sign of Good Democratic Strategy?

Seattle voters skeptical about more homelessness spending: According to a survey conducted in March among prospective 2019 Seattle voters, there is an overwhelming dissatisfaction with how the Seattle City Council “has dealt with homelessness, taxes, and housing,” reports Crosscut. This is a stark change from a similar poll conducted in 2016. At that time, 64 percent of respondents said the city needed to spend more to reduce homelessness. Now, people are fed up.

Warriors lead 3-0 in NBA Finals: It’s not looking good for LeBron and the Cavs. Kevin Durant apparently had the game of his life or something last night.


Look at this video, though: That’s fun to watch. Things like that make me consider trying to actually follow sports. But, really, who has the time?


The Washington Post is mapping unsolved homicides: It turns out crime shows are incredibly misleading about how easy it is to track a killer. According to the Washington Post, “out of the 52,179 homicides in 50 cities over the past decade, 51 percent did not result in an arrest.” You can input any city and it will tell you the specific stats. Seattle isn’t on there yet, but if anyone has access to murder data, send it over to WaPo and they’ll map it. Give us the murder data.


Electric scooters are threatening people to ride them: Lime’s new e-scooters are hip and fun and apparently really fucking pushy. They’ve been programmed to yell at people: “Unlock me to ride me or I’ll call the police.” According to the Guardian, this is the first and only thing the bike says. It then repeats itself on high volume. Nothing gets me ready for a nice e-scoot around the city like a threat to call the authorities. Creative marketing strikes again!

All Icelanders are organ donors now: Unless they specify otherwise, Icelanders will be organ donors by default. The law was originally introduced in 2012 but has only now finally passed.

I want to pet these:



US diplomats continue to fall ill in China: Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, is starting an investigation into the mysterious illnesses befalling US diplomats in China. There are concerns that these Americans and their families may be the subjects of “sonic attacks” by China. Those inflicted suffer from headaches, complain of hearing weird sensations of sound and pressure, and experience sleeplessness. These symptoms make me wonder if I'm the victim of a sonic attack.

Wait, I have a better headline of the week: B.C. couple loses child custody after stuffed lion purportedly transmitting the word of God acted as their lawyer

MIT made an AI a psychopath by feeding it gruesome Reddit content: Born of the scourge of the Internet, Norman, named after Norman Bates from Psycho , only sees blood, death, and murder. Scientists fed him the worst of the worst of Reddit content and monitored his responses to Rorschach inkblot tests. With an inkblot where a normal AI sees "a person holding an umbrella up in the air," Norman sees "a man shot dead in front of his screaming wife." With one where a normal AI sees "a black and white photo of a small bird" Norman sees "a man being pulled through a dough machine." It is at Norman's feet where humanity will grovel, begging for its life.

Hey, I need your help: I’m graduating from UW today and I want your opinions on what I should write on my cap. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. The funnier the better. All of my creative energy has been exhausted.

An update from my alley:

Last Friday, my roommate Marcy was sitting on our porch when a man came up to her. He had a backpack. She had never seen him before.

“Do you have any baking soda I could use?” Thinking that maybe he was just a neighbor she had never seen who was missing a key ingredient to whatever recipe he was baking, she said yes and rushed inside.

“Do you know what I’m going to use this for?” He said as he took the offered baking soda, thanking her profusely. Marcy, naive, shook her head. “I’m making crack.”

Oh, Marcy replied. Neat.

“Hey, do you have a spoon, actually? That would make this a lot easier.”

“Uh.” She agreed, for some reason. But, once the door was shut behind her, Marcy polled the rest of our roommates for advice. No one knew what to do. Should they facilitate this man’s crack habit? In the end, everyone said she might as well give him a spoon.

She carefully selected one that wasn’t too big so he couldn’t do too much crack.

“Thanks.” The man said, turning it over in his hand. “Hey, a bottle of water would really help me out.”
She was really in this now. For whatever reason, she complied. She searched for an empty plastic bottle and filled it up with water. At least she was doing a good deed, right?

“Wow, this is great.” He had all of his supplies now. He told her not to do drugs. “Man, I really wish I had somewhere to make this though…”

No. She was going to draw the line. No in-house chemistry today. She made some non committal response and he thankfully moved on.

She had almost made another offer. In the back of her head she thought of the perfect place for this stranger to concoct his crack.

Our alley has some really good spots for stuff like that, she thought, people use it all the time, they rave about it. It's got some fire Yelp reviews.

Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: The First Thursday Art Walk, the Seattle International Dance Festival, and Cafe Campagne's Annual Drink Pink rosé tasting.