Car-tab taxes, please.
Car-tab taxes, please. COURTESY OF SOUND TRANSIT

Quit hacking baby monitors! Whoever is doing this, please knock it off! Someone allegedly hacked into a Seattle family's baby monitor and started talking to their 3-year-old daughter, said her name, and said he loved her. The parents now believe their baby camera—something called a Fredi camera—was hacked. There were reports of Fredi cams being hacked in 2018. If I were one of these parents, I would douse myself, my house, and my baby in Purell for a week.

Sound Transit gives I-976 the finger: Sound Transit stated during a meeting that it was ignoring Tim Eyman's tax-averse initiative that would siphon off funding from transit projects across the region. Sound Transit will keep collecting car-tab taxes in its transit district, since 51 percent of voters here voted against I-976 and, as recently as 2016, voted for Sound Transit 3 which imposed these tax increases.

'Tis the season: For emphasis patrols. Over the holidays, police presence will increase wherever there's high holiday traffic starting November 30. Here's the list:

  • Ballard

  • Downtown retail core between 3rd and 6th Avenues between Olive and Union

  • Capitol Hill

  • Fremont

  • Columbia City

  • University District

  • Westwood Village/Roxhill Park

  • West Seattle Junction/California Ave SW

    • And also the well-known neighborhood, the University Village shopping center.

    Snohomish graffiti rock has a different sort of message: The boulder on Highway 9 is usually a canvas of niceties—the "Congrats Class of 2009" kind of niceties. The most recent message spray-painted on the rock has a different ring to it. In bright red, it reads: "EPSTEIN DIDN'T KILL HIMSELF."

    Apt: Tesla reveals Cybertruck, but breaks its "unbreakable" windows during unveiling.

    I'm not going to just leave you with the headline: Here's the video of them actually demonstrating the "unbreakable" windows. I love it. "It didn't go through," Elon Musk says. "That's a plus side."

    Attorney General William Barr has thoughts on the Epstein case: Barr has described the financier and convicted sex offender's death as a "perfect storm of screw-ups." He said he was also suspicious of the circumstances around Epstein's jail cell suicide but, after further consideration, chalked it up to human error. Barr probably wasn't the one who spray-painted the Snohomish boulder, but we can't be totally sure.

    Another frosty morning: Don't do what I did yesterday, which was wear only tights and a dress on what felt like the coldest day of the year.

    Foggy, too! Extremely dense!

    Careful out there: Last night, there was a pileup of more than 50 cars on a Denver street. The accident was weather-related.

    Washington kept placing kids with abusive foster parent: There were multiple instances of this man sexually abusing the girls he was fostering. Girls had reported the man's abuse. The state still placed more girls under his care. Then the man reported himself, saying he had abused those girls. The state determined that it failed to investigate the first report thoroughly and additional mistakes led to other girls being put in the man's care. A judge ruled that the girls would be paid $8.5 million.

    This is what it's all about: An aerial comparison of the Alaskan Way Viaduct to now, post-removal? I'll bite.


    Jerry Sandusky seeks reduced sentence: Back in 2012, the Penn State football coach was accused of sexually assaulting teenage boys. It was a whole thing. You probably remember. Sandusky was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in jail. Aged 75 when sentenced, he wouldn't be eligible for parole until he was at least 98 years old. He will appear in court Friday to ask for a shorter sentence.

    An Ohio city council with a secret: The Hamilton City Council kept a giant sewage leak under wraps until reporters went sniffing around. The council members have known since January about a four-year leak that let out 10,000 Olympic swimming pools' worth of sewage. The reason these 24 billion liters of untreated sewage escaped? Someone had left a gate in the tank open for four years.

    I'm feeling wintry and cozy: It's cold outside and warm inside. There's fog and frost. Thanksgiving is next week. This video is really getting me in the winter spirit:

    Netanyahu indicted: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political future is in limbo. On Thursday, he was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

    Since I've been doing this all week, I'll continue: This is the long read I'll be delving into today: What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say.

    A fun fact for your Friday: Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal made only one three-pointer in his entire career. He made more than 12,000 baskets, however.

    This weekend's EverOut picks are: Columbia Tower Club's Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival, the opening of Enchant Christmas, and Sleater-Kinney. See more on our EverOut Things To Do calendar.