Some EMTs donate plasma to make ends meet.
Some EMTs donate plasma to make ends meet. simonkr/Getty Images

We really should avoid having Seattle EMTs striking, right? The negotiations between the EMTs and AMR (their employer) are stalled over pay and health care. Heidi Groover reports for the Seattle Times that “Hundreds of unionized emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in Seattle have set a deadline of Dec. 21 to go on strike,” and that “City officials say they are working on a plan, but won’t say what it is until a strike is called.” Oh boy, whatever could go wrong? Not letting us in on the contingency plans for the bad-bad-not-good eventuality, that city officials are almost certainly not prepared for, is not a good sign.

Mt. Baker and Stevens Pass open ski lifts today! Take a sick day! Play hooky (we’re not your employer why should we care?)! It’s time to go skiing/snowboarding, baby! But if you do go up to check out some of that fresh, fresh pow, consider a carpool?

Knowing the difference between Apple and Google should be a litmus test for whether you can or cannot be a representative in 2018: This man is a U.S. Representative and does less research than a Stranger writer. Watch this, just don’t let your jaw hit your coffee mug.


Governor Inslee drops $675 million to transform our mental-health system: It’s been years now that something this drastic has been needed, so it’s great Inslee is finally making a big move. From the Seattle Times,

Inslee’s $675 million proposal would fund hundreds of new community mental-health beds and create a partnership with the University of Washington to establish a new teaching hospital focused on behavioral health. It would boost the ranks of mental-health workers, who have been in short supply, and provide long-term housing options to ease the bed shortage.
The plan will still need to be passed by the Washington State Legislature, but it certainly appears to be a huge step in the right direction.

ICYMI, Reuben's Brews is hosting their big home-brew contest: It's called the Hop Idol Homebrew Contest. Your deadline to get in your goods is between February 20 and February 27, 2019, so you better get started. For beer-obsessed home brewers this contest is huge—the winner gets their beer distributed on draft and in cans around the PNW, and then their brew will be entered into the Pro-Am category of the Great American Beer Festival. Send me an email if you desperately need a taste tester. I can't help brew, but I can certainly help drink.

Danny Westneat wants us to RESIST: Danny is pissed that while the public owns the Mariners stadium, the profits for the naming “flow right past us to the tenant.” He has the absolute right sentiment, but no great name choices (no offense, I don’t have any either) and there is seemingly no tangible method mentioned of actually accomplishing this resistance. The only option coming to mind is, “Yankee Training Grounds,” but I don’t think people would appreciate that.

There is this little fact: So maybe we should name it something environmentally-related? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Stadium? If you could choose the new name for the Mariners stadium, what would you pick?


Is British PM Theresa May out? Amid backlash from her own party, over her handling of Brexit and withdrawing from the European Union, Theresa May will face a no-confidence vote Wednesday. The hard-line "Brexiteers" don't believe May has been "Brexity" enough. It's easy to forget the whole Brexit mess that is going on over in England because of our own mess here at home.

Speaking of our own mess: President and malignant narcissist-in-chief Donald Trump has reiterated his support for the Saudi crown prince. In Trump's words, "He’s the leader of Saudi Arabia. They’ve been a very good ally." Are you convinced? POLITICO points out that Trump's comments came on the same day "Khashoggi and other endangered journalists were named the persons of the year by Time magazine."

This weather, though: Nathalie Graham, of Slog PM acclaim, warned us about the long night approaching. Feels like darkness has come just a bit early. The whole next week is just rain, clouds, and wind. Yuck.


But we can remember the fair weather times: Remember last week? Those few glorious hours of sunshine during which you were probably stuck working? I snapped some photos in Fremont/Wallingford—we can at least hold onto the memories of the beautiful skies, and bright, low sun in our eyes.

Oooh, pretty Wallingford plants
Oooh, pretty Wallingford plants Michael Bell

And look at this blue sky. Hold on to it.

Pretty Fremont views
Pretty Fremont views Michael Bell

Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: A concert with funk royalty George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, an opening party for a new Dick's Drive-In in Kent, and a 60th-anniversary screening of Auntie Mame with Three Dollar Bill Cinema.