And its killing Canada!!!
And it's killing Canada!!! Demkat/Getty Images

MHA is coming: Finally, the legislation to upzone 27 of Seattle's neighborhoods seems like it's going to pass. Yesterday, the plan that will jumpstart Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability policy passed unanimously through a special committee in the Seattle City Council. But, with amendments and exceptions thrown in, it's not quite as sweeping a policy as planned. Some amendments were proposed to exclude parts of Wallingford, West Seattle Junction, and Crown Hill. Blocks in historic districts like Cowen-Ravenna have also been omitted. Council staff has said that these amendments could cost the city "several dozen affordable apartments over the next 10 years," according to the Seattle Times.


Meanwhile, Mountlake Terrace is going to reach new heights: With light rail hitting the area soon, there's a plan to update the town center by building up, up, up. Mountlake Terrace is planning on upzoning buildings from six to twelve stories. There will be a public hearing about it in March.

The Bezoses donated $2 billion to charity last year: That's the highest amount in the United States. Jeff and MacKenzie, the soon-to-be-divorced billionaires shelled out a buttload of philanthropy to help the homeless and start fancy preschools in low-income areas. It also comes after Seattle's failed head tax and a lifetime of just not donating money despite having a whole lot of it.

Some weather:


Weird smell causes Alaska Airlines flight to turn around: An Orange County, California-bound flight out of Seattle had to return to Sea-Tac Airport after 30 minutes in the air because of an odor. According to this KOMO report, the odor "caused symptoms" in the flight crew. No telling what the odor was. I hope it wasn't the same as this foul-smelling-plane story which turned out to be a passenger whose flesh was literally rotting.

A 115-mile snow-caused backup on I-5 in Eugene, Oregon: Whew, that was a lot of hyphens. It's Oregon's turn for snow hell. A snowstorm that bypassed us for Oregon is wreaking havoc on Track Town USA (and other parts of Oregon I don't know the fun monikers for). Eugene, former home of the only college quarterback I'd happily take home to my family (Marcus Mariota, swoon) and current home of my brother's toxic ex-girlfriend, is buried under a foot of snow. Ninety-four miles of I-5 was shut down for 10 hours. That meant traffic, approximately 115-miles of it. I hope my brother's ex-girlfriend got stuck in it.

Seattle Symphony is getting high tech! Octave 9 is the new, inside-of-a-beehive looking venue in Benaroya Hall. It's not all looks, though, folks! There's state of the art sound technology to make that music really live. It cost $6.7 million.

State lawmakers say the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) has a “toxic culture”: The state legislature isn’t happy with the people regulating pot in this state. A bipartisan group of ten lawmakers asked Gov. Jay Inslee to take back his nomination of Russ Hauge, one of the LCB’s three sitting board members, because he is part of the LCB’s “toxic culture” surrounding enforcement. The agency has engaged in a “gotcha” mentality when it comes to pot businesses, according to one state representative. Read Lester’s story to find out more about how the state’s pot regulators might be fucking up.

Our schools are still segregated: A new report shows that majority-white school districts receive $23 billion more in funding in comparison to school districts that predominately serve students of color. Those districts, the high-poverty non-white districts, on average receive "1,600 less per student than the national average," according to NPR.

Tiny tortoises:


Did you know the average American uses three rolls of toilet paper a week? Yeah, well, that positively rabid consumption of tushy tissue is killing Canada's forests. Your favorite ass napkins come from Canada's softwood. None of the major coochie cloth companies use alternative fibers. Viva la bidet!

Welcome to the dystopia: Our hands were tied by Big Pharma, says Big Pharma.


Report shows shocking numbers of sexual abuse experienced by migrant children in U.S.: Over four years, there were 5,000 complaints of sexual abuse and harassment of migrant children in government-managed shelters according to the Los Angeles Times. That includes inappropriate touching and being shown pornographic videos.

The House of Representatives voted to end Trump's bullshit "national emergency": Two Republican members of Congress from Washington State joined with more than 230 Democrats today in an attempt to rescind President Trump's declaration of a "national emergency" along the US-Mexico border. Every single Democrat from Washington State voted to end Trump's so-called "emergency."

Did you see that feel-good fluff piece about that guy buying $500 worth of Girl Scout cookies? It was a classic touching local TV news story about a man who bought all of the Girl Scout cookies from two Girl Scouts so they didn't have to stand outside in the rain. New reports show that the man was just arrested in a long-standing federal drug investigation. I guess we should've questioned why he had $500 worth of cash on him.