Lady Liberty, symbol of freedom, recent site of protest
Lady Liberty: symbol of U.S. freedom, recent site of (small) U.S. protest. GBlakeley/Getty

A woman climbed the Statue of Liberty on July 4 to protest the Trump Administration's immigration policies: Therese Patricia Okoumou climbed onto the stone pedestal of the statue—300 feet up its base, near the upturned right foot. The three-hour stand-off led to the landmark's evacuation on Independence Day. No one was hurt, and Okoumou was taken into custody peacefully after police brought her down.

An inmate tried to escape King County Jail: The suspect in a Kent area homicide case claimed he wasn't feeling well, and was sent to Harborview Medical Center, which usually treats inmates at the jail. He slipped out of the ER, a King County Corrections officer pursued, and the chase made it a few blocks to Eighth Avenue and Yesler Way (where the inmate attempted to get into an occupied car). He ignored the officers' demands that he stop, so they opened fire. His injuries are being treated at Harborview; there are more people supervising him this time around.

Today is the first International #LGBTSTEMDay. It stands for 'LGBTQ+ People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths. According to the site dedicated to it, "LGBTQ+ people in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) continue to struggle to openly be themselves (see: 2013 Queer in STEM survey, 2014 Factors Impacting The Academic Climate, 2015 American Physical Society survey, 2018 Coming out in STEM: Factors affecting retention of sexual minority STEM students). We believe that a day of recognition could go a long way in helping raise awareness and increase support. We want this to be a new and important component of the global push to increase diversity and inclusion in STEM." July 5 in 2018 was chosen because "it can be written as ‘507’ which is (in nanometres) the wavelength of the color green featured in the rainbow flag and is representative of nature. If you’re in the US, then it’s ‘705’ which is the wavelength of the color red, representing life."


In other Statue of Liberty news, the U.S. Postal Service committed a big oops, and now has to pay up big: The 2010 Forever stamps featured a close-up of the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, it wasn't the face of France's infamous gift to the U.S., but that of the smaller replica in Las Vegas by sculptor Robert Davidson. A federal judge ruled that the Postal Service will have to pony up $3.5 million to Davidson.

Actual CNN headline: "All the world's a stage for Trump for next 11 days." They're referencing the Cheeto-in-Chief's upcoming series of big events—revealing his pick for SCOTUS, the NATO summit, a photo op meeting with Queen Elizabeth, and then his much-anticipated prostration before summit with his Russian bud/President Putin. The world is holding its breath; we here at ground zero are just trying not to vomit.

Despite the general feeling of impending apocalypse, there were fireworks yesterday! Seattle Times has a slideshow and video of the July 4 pyrotechnics at Lake Union. Washington Post got in on the fire in the sky action, too. And finally, here are some photos from Business Insider of people celebrating across the country, somehow looking like things here are still normal.

Wildfires in California, fire in SoDo: According to the LA Times, the Yolo County fire has consumed 86,000 acres and was only 27 percent contained as of yesterday. In Seattle, a big plume of smoke was visible across the city after a three-alarm fire at a warehouse in SoDo.


Seattle welcomed 498 immigrants into the U.S. fold yesterday: It was part of the city's Fourth of July naturalization ceremony, the largest in the PACNW. There were newly inducted citizens from India, the Philippines, Mexico, China, Canada, and Ethiopia.

A man was shot in the leg at the Central District's Midtown Center: Witnesses reported multiple vehicles speeding away from the scene and people fleeing on foot. The victim did not cooperate with police and declined medical treatment.

The Independence Day cover of the New York Daily News (and this angrily optimistic story) was another classic:

A cover we can get behind
A cover we can get behind

Finally, if you're looking for things to do tonight, there's excellent Ohio-brewed hiphop from Blueprint at Nectar, drag burlesque duo Kitten N’ Lou present Camptacular!, at the Triple Door, and the Seattle International Butoh Festival, which runs today through July 15.