Fucking airports.
Fucking airports. DAVE ALAN/GETTY IMAGES

Two giant, ornamental bronze gates were stolen from the entrance to the Washington State Arboretum: Originally commissioned in 1971 and designed by sculptor George Tsutakawa, the gates were stolen on March 19. A suspect has been found by Seattle police, reports Seattle Times, but one of the gates has been "been cut up into scrap and the second was found largely intact." You can see pictures of the destroyed gate here.

Two King County Councilmembers join the Seattle City Council in calling for a rent freeze: “Thousands of King County residents are terrified. Not only of COVID-19, but of losing their livelihood and their homes," reads Councilmembers Girmay Zahilay and Jeanne Kohl-Welles' statement. "An eviction moratorium is a great first start, but it doesn’t address the mounting debt that will be waiting."

Can lawmakers actually force a rent freeze? Probably not. At least not on their own. Rich Smith has a good article on that here.

Andrea Bocelli's Easter livestream on YouTube became a blockbuster hit: It got 30 million views in under 24 hours. It's still the top trending video on YouTube.

ICYMI: A big update in Eli Sanders' ongoing reporting on Facebook's political ad transparency in Washington state.


Did East Coast media finally pay attention? Not really. Reuters and AP picked it up though.


Washington airports will receive millions in bailout money from the federal government: The CARES Act will provide our state's airports with $310 million dollars in relief funding. Here's how the largest grants break down:

Sea-Tac: $192.133 million
Bellingham International: $5.015 million
Port of Friday Harboe: $1.055 million
Orcas Island Airport: $1.041 million
Paine Field $157,000

Speaking of bailouts: The Postal Service deserves a permanent bailout. (We do too.)

Are you playing any board games? What about pandemic-themed board games? Vulture has a good list of suggestions. I'm partial to, uh, Pandemic. That game got me through a lot of long Minnesotan winters.

The race for a COVID-19 vaccine is on: There are three potential vaccines that are quickly progressing through early-stage testing in the United States and China. Seattle plays a critical role in developing a vaccine.

Shameless plug: Spend your Thursday night watching dance with me and Jasmyne Keimig. We're going to give a ~20 minute pre-show talk and then lead everyone on over to OntheBoards.TV to watch Diana Szeinblum's Alaska—for FREE!

The "Pledge 1200" campaign encourages people to spend their $1,200 stimulus checks at local businesses: The campaign was started by a Capitol Hill resident. I'd love to commit to spending $1,200 on takeout at Tamari Bar, but I have bills to pay.

Trump says he will halt WHO funding: He made that announcement at his Tuesday briefing. An important point courtesy of NPR: "It's unclear whether the president has the authority to unilaterally halt funding for an international institution such as the WHO. Congressional Democrats have argued he doesn't."


November feels like an eternity away, but heads-up: We may not know who wins the presidency on Election Day, since many states will likely vote by mail. Washingtonians, you know the drill.

Let's end the day with a catfight: Two wild Florida panthers (yes, those exist—for now) were caught fighting on tape. Nature is so metal.