King County’s garbage can is getting too full: A single landfill serves 1.4 million people in King County, but it might be getting too full to take on any more of our shit. According to the Seattle Times, this is a story we’ve heard several times before. In 2006, that got pushed to 2016. Then they revised it again in 2013 to full capacity by 2025. Now officials believe we’ve got until about 2028 until our garbage completely fills up this mountain of trash. But a proposal by Dow Constantine could extend that even further, with a $270 million plan to modify the current dump, extend the dumping grounds, and allow them to make the mountain of trash 30 feet higher. Bonus fact: The dump is one of the best places in King County to find wildlife like elk and bald eagles.
BREAKING: Chicago police drop all charges against Jussie Smollett: Do you remember this story? It seems like years ago in Twitter-time, so here's the broad strokes. Smollett, an openly gay actor who stars in the show Empire, reported a racist assault back in January by what he said were two Trump supporters. Everyone freaked out. Then the Chicago police came out and said Smollett was lying and that he had hired two African personal trainers to pose as the Trump supports and assault him. Everyone freaked out again. This morning, in what I hope is the final twist in what feels like a real-life episode of Empire, the Chicago police dropped all charges against him without elaborating on how the evidence had changed.
Cherry blossoms in UW quad will fully bloom by this weekend: An arborist at the University of Washington said the trees were about 25 percent blooming and she expects them to hit peak bloom by March 30. The cherry blossoms are Seattle’s most iconic spring landmark and hundreds, if not thousands, of people show up every spring to see them. Mostly they just take pictures in front of them. By my senior year at UW, I learned to dread the cherry blossoms because it meant the entire north side of the campus was swimming with people.
All lanes of I-5 are closed in Tacoma: After a semi-truck jackknifed across the southbound lanes and started spilling diesel gas across the northbound lanes. The crash happened at about 4 this morning, and crews have been working to clear the wreck, which did not involve any other cars and produced no injuries. Sorry if you got stuck in the traffic this morning, as if waking up and driving at 4 a.m. isn’t terrible enough on its own. The wreck should be mostly clear by the time you read this, and crews will then open all lanes.
Crews working to clean up the diesel while we wait for a tow truck to arrive at the scene. pic.twitter.com/qsigStzea4
— Trooper Johnna Batiste (@wspd1pio) March 26, 2019
NASA cancels all-female spacewalk due to lack of medium-sized space suits: Yes that is correct, a milestone in space exploration and extraterrestrial feminism is being put on hold because NASA has only one medium-sized space suit. Both these women wear a size medium, so there’s no way for both of them to go outside the ship at the same time. Now, the spacewalk planned for Friday will go ahead with Anne McClain being replaced by one of her male colleagues, who I presume does not wear a medium. She’ll still get to go on a spacewalk later on in the mission, just not this week. It’s also baffling that these suits aren’t custom to each astronaut when you can get a custom suit online for like $300.
I can see the blue skies right now: But rain is on the way. Just remember the sky is always blue above the depressing gray skies.
Rain this evng turning to showers tonite. Locally breezy N Interior & Coast. Lows tonite lower to mid 40s. Tue thru Fri looks partly to mostly cloudy with at least chance of showers. Daytime highs mainly 50s to lower 60s. #WAwx pic.twitter.com/MpLM88FPxm
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) March 26, 2019
Purdue Pharma settles with Oklahoma attorney general for $270 million: The company who makes OxyContin was concerned about the optics of a televised trial airing incriminating internal communications about the opioid epidemic in a state that has been hard hit by it. They still have 1,600 cases stacked up against them for their role in allegedly incentivizing doctors to overprescribe OxyContin to patients and running a PR campaign that put the blame solely on people using these drugs. The Sackler family, who many medical schools (including UW) and museums are holding at arm's length now despite millions of dollars in donations, runs Purdue Pharma and is reported to be exploring bankruptcy for their company.
Mercedes-Benz hired Linkin Park to develop the sound of their electric cars: I’m confused by this news, even at their peak, this would be a weird band to be sound designing electric cars. They had that album with Jay-Z, which was pretty cool, but I would defy you to name a song they’ve put out in 15 years. If you ask me, Mercedes needs to pick someone a little more contemporary—like Amon Tobin, who will turn your car into a driving robot of perfectly EQ’d sonic mastery. Or maybe Migos, I would love for my electric car to have endless adlibs.
Bump stocks are heading toward the grave: Chief Justice John Roberts denied a request for a stay by gun rights advocates on the Trump administration’s ban of bump stocks nationwide. Possession of a bump stock is now a felony that could land you 10 years in jail or up to $250,000 in fines. Bump stocks became notorious after the fatal mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others.
Morgan Freeman converted his Mississippi ranch into a bee sanctuary: The 81-year-old actor icon living legend transformed his 124-acre farm into a place where bees can thrive with native plants and undisturbed colonies to grow the population. While not all bees are at risk of going extinct in the near future, pesticides and habitat loss have hit certain bee populations hard. I didn’t know I could love Freeman any more than I already did. Apparently, he never wears a beekeeper suit or hat and also hasn’t been stung yet, which makes sense because he is God.
Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: Opening night of Andrew Lloyd Webber's T.S. Eliot-scripted feline musical Cats, a night of easygoing folkadelia with Cass McCombs, and a poetry reading with Sally Wen Mao.