Tragedy strikes at Chuck E. Cheese: A 22-year-old man brought a concealed weapon into the family restaurant. It accidentally went off and he shot himself. It is apparently not critical but the man has been hospitalized. No one else was injured. Especially not Chuck E. and the rest of his weird, animatronic band.
After 16 days striking, Tumwater teachers reach an agreement: They ratified a new work contract earlier today. They’ll get a 16.7 percent pay raise. It could’ve been more if they hadn’t been sued by their school district. A judge ruled their strikes were illegal. They’ll be back in school this week.
There was a scrap-metal fire in Tacoma: Classic, Tacoma! But yeah, it surely brought back some unhappy air-quality memories from August. The fire sent noxious plumes of smoke into the air. The fire department thinks the fire was started from the combustion of lithium-ion batteries. That’s not what caused the wildfire smoke in August. Nope. That was climate change. Anyway, the air quality is better now. The situation? Under control. The fire. Not climate change.
Spontaneous combustion of lithium-ion batteries from electronic equipment is the suspected cause of today’s scrap metal pile fire. There were no injuries to report. pic.twitter.com/20yoLVdBmf
— Tacoma Fire (@TacomaFire) September 17, 2018
Good news for freight: The (is using “the” here okay, commenters?) I-5 corridor in the Pacific Northwest is the best for automatic vehicles. “Researchers compared 100-mile or longer freight routes, looking for roads with low congestion, high potential to reduce labor costs by eliminating drivers, and high numbers of accidents and incidents that could be reduced by self-driving trucks,” reports GeekWire. The winner? Shockingly, our I-5 checked all these boxes. Robo-truckers are the future.
The Mariners are getting a $135 million handout: Want to know more? Cool, me too. Either scroll down one post on Slog or read this.
Enjoy the beautiful Alaskan Way Viaduct for three more months: Try to blissfully ignore the bitter disappointment that the new Highway 99 Tunnel will not, in fact, be opening this fall despite the assertions that it would, in fact, be opening this fall. We should have known better. I mean, it’s basically fall. Where was the 99 tunnel? In progress, as usual. This officially makes the project three years behind schedule. The Viaduct will close for three week prior to the opening. Look for it next January!
Oh no, they’re digging deep into Brock Long: Thanks for the Brock updates, Michael!
WOWZA pic.twitter.com/l5uSNDYNm9
— Michael Bell (@justsomebell) September 18, 2018
What’s up with Our Good Pal Brock? Well, if you read Slog AM this morning you would know. But if you didn’t I’ll give you the skinny. The dealio with Brock is that he sucks. A lot. Brock is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator and he’s being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security for pulling a Scott Pruitt. Brock has allegedly been using government vehicles to commute between D.C. and his North Carolina residence. All on the taxpayer’s dime. Shaking my damn head, Brock.
Oklahoma police chief resigned because he was too close to neo-Nazis: By “too-close” I mean that interim police chief Bart Alsbrook was the former leader of a neo-Nazi group. It was called Blood & Honour USA. Yikes! Also, why the use of the “u” in “honour.” That seems contradictory to the next word, you know, USA. Anyway, Bart did a lot of Nazi shit. That came all came to light and Bart resigned. He got another job at another police station nearby, though.
The diver Elon Musk called a pedophile is suing Elon Musk for calling him a pedophile: Diver Vernon Unsworth, an English fellow, helped rescue those Thai boys in that Thai cave a couple months back. Elon Musk, sad because he couldn’t use his dumb Thai-boy-saving submarine, lashed out at Unsworth and called him a pedophile. The lawsuit seeks more than $75,000 in damages.
The Emmys are happening! Here’s some red carpet highlights aka what I saw on Twitter:
Hell yeah, Issa:
Issa Rae is "extremely proud" of Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7): "This man put everything on the line to speak up about something that he feels passionately about" #Emmys https://t.co/QILf2nBd4b pic.twitter.com/evAyRQsQCI
— Variety (@Variety) September 17, 2018
Sandra Oh is the first Asian woman nominated for an Emmy: That’s pretty fucked up but we love you Sandra.
Sandra Oh's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oh, share how proud they are of their daughter #Emmys https://t.co/QILf2nBd4b pic.twitter.com/9vZcPWxK9l
— Variety (@Variety) September 17, 2018
Okay, that’s all you get for Emmys.
This will be… hard to watch:
BREAKING: Senate panel sets public hearing for next Monday with Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh, woman accusing him of sex assault.
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 17, 2018
The myth of the firenado is busted: We had heard about firenados but we had never actually seen them. Until now. Little known fact: the only way to fight a firenado is to throw rocks at it.
"That's definitely a first."
"Firenado" in British Columbia is so strong it sucks up the firefighters' hose, pulling it "100 plus ft in the air before melting it." https://t.co/JTl7Tp3F5P pic.twitter.com/BF1AxQ8VON
— ABC News (@ABC) September 17, 2018