We need those.
We need those. PetitNuage-/Getty Images

The EPA gets cold feet: Trump's Environmental Protection Agency backed out of a plan to enforce water-quality standards at federal dams in Washington, specifically in regards to temperatures. Hot water around the Columbia and Snake rivers has been killing salmon. The EPA was spearheading drafting the permits that would change water-quality standards. Suddenly, the agency pulled out of the process and left state Ecology to handle it on its own.

Traffic backs up in SR 99 Tunnel: Wednesday was the first time the tunnel got truly tested since it opened this week. The morning traffic was slow-going and the exit onto Mercer Street and I-5 backed up into the tunnel. This is to be expected as drivers grapple with new things, which are, scientifically, very scary. Or, maybe, the two-lane tunnel wasn't a good idea?

Lime is valued at $2.4 billion: Lime had a modest start out here in Seattle in the Bike Share Battle of 2017. It wasn't really that dramatic but hey. Lime won. It's since expanded its bike share and scooter share into over 100 cities in the U.S. and 27 international cities. Seattle can only dream about what the scooters are like. I hear they're quite zippy.

I spoke too soon: E-scooters have been embroiled in, and the cause of, over 1,500 accidents since the latter part of 2017. Most riders ride without helmets, there have been some hardware malfunctions, and riding at night time all lead to a less-than-safe holistic scootering experience. Let's coin that phrase. These scooter companies (looking at you, Lime!) may have to beef up their safety measures. Especially when people have died!

UW student dies after falling on campus: The 19-year-old student slipped and fell on the southern part of the UW campus. She hit her head. She was transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition and later died. It is unclear whether the weather and icy conditions played a role in her death.

Sooo, some UW students hosted an event to pour water on campus last night: Because they wanted another snow day. According to the now-deleted event page and this Reddit post the event actually happened. It seems like the water-pouring and thus ice-making was at Red Square. The woman who died slipped east of Drumheller Fountain and north of the Electrical Engineering building.




The stock market loves Canadian pot companies: It's valuing Canada's ten largest pot companies at $43 billion. That means these companies are valued at almost 9 times more than what every single Canadian will spend on weed next year (an estimated $5 billion by 2021).

Poor stego:


Go green with Lyft in Seattle: You can now request an electric car on Lyft starting today in Seattle. I guess Lyft is the better ride share. Not that it was much of a debate.

District 3 City Council candidate didn't clean up his tweets: Ah, to be a public figure.


2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record: The last five years IN HISTORY have been the warmest on record. Annnnnd 18 of the 19 warmest years have happened since 2001, according to the New York Times. Global warming is happening now, my friends. We're living it! What are we going to do!!!

Virginia is fucked and its government? Racist: The Virginia Governor dabbled in blackface. The man who would succeed him is facing sexual assault allegations. And the man who would succeed him admitted that he also wore blackface. What is Virginia going to do? We talked about it on Blabbermouth.