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Disney Parks will lay off 28,000 employees in the United States: Two-thirds of the employees are part-time, reports Variety. The Disney Parks chairman said these layoffs were "the only feasible option" the parks have. Disneyland has been shut down since mid-March, although Walt Disney World opened in mid-July with some restrictions because, well, Florida.
You know what time it is: It's almost debate time. 6 pm. All over the internet. Everywhere. Will Trump manage to bring up Hillary Clinton? Will Biden's eye bleed? The bar is so low. We're just looking for complete sentences at this point.
Some people won't watch. Most of us will. Honestly, there's not much to say about the debate right now—this post is publishing before it even begins—so let's do ourselves a favor and focus quickly on some other big headlines from today... Not everything can be about our deranged president and crumbling democracy...
Will our skies cry orange ash again tomorrow? The Washington Smoke Blog has the answers, duh:
Starting Tuesday evening, there will be a little smoke in western WA. Not expecting populated areas to get worse than Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, although Moderate will be the most common. Higher elevations will see more smoke. This will not be a prolonged event. Please keep an eye on the smoke forecast. Get ready to enjoy some resplendent sunsets Hardly any impacts expected east of the Cascades
"Get ready to enjoy some resplendent sunsets" is the silver lining I needed today. Read more of the blog's highlights here.
A Texan town near Houston is purging its water for 60 days: The city is attempting to clear any "old water" from its system after a six-year-old boy tragically died from brain-eating amoeba found in the city's water. Having grown up on the Gulf of Mexico, brain-eating amoebas are pretty run-of-the-mill around those parts. The Gulf is North America's beautiful, warm toilet. (Gross! I know!)
Washington state confirmed 404 new COVID-19 cases and 24 new deaths today. 2.4% of people diagnosed with coronavirus in Washington have died. As Rich noted in Slog AM this AM, we've passed one million COVID-19 cases worldwide. Nearly half of those deaths come from the US, Brazil, and India.
The NFL gets its first outbreak: The honor goes to the Tennessee Titans. They have suspended in-person activities through Friday after three Titans players and five personnel tested positive for COVID-19. We're in Week 4 of the NFL season, which is honestly later than I expected the season's first outbreak to happen... Good job? Again, the bar is so low.
I don't follow sports: But Jermaine Kearse announced that he's retiring.
Mayor Durkan revealed her 2021 budget proposal: The Stranger's Nathalie Graham breaks it down here. For more overviews:
Crosscut: "Durkan so far has not proposed paradigm-shifting changes to the Seattle Police Department, at least not immediately." PubliCola: "Durkan’s plan would keep some parks facilities, including many pools, closed throughout 2021, and would cut back spending on many transportation projects, including bike, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure improvements." Capitol Hill Seattle blog: "While this summer’s back-and-forth has highlighted long standing tensions between City Hall and the mayor’s office, common ground appears to have been found with some police duties, like 911 operations and parking enforcement removed from the department." Seattle Times: " Under the mayor’s plan, Seattle’s budget would remain flat for the first time in quite a while, after growing by leaps and bounds during the city’s tech-powered boom."
I'm missing a few, don't @ me.
The Portland Mercury did a little digging into the $7,517,276 Portland Police Bureau spent on the first two months of Portland's racial justice protests: Here's a snippet.
The vast majority of PPB expenses during this time period went to overtime costs: Officers raked in $5,012,418 in overtime pay for working extra shifts. Much of the remaining $2 million is divvied up between regular officer pay, benefits, and pensions—which is to be expected.
Where the city spent non-payroll funds, however, is arguably the most interesting.
Over the course of 61 days, PPB spent nearly $300,000 on food and drinks for officers assigned to protest duty. That includes thousand-dollar orders to Red Robin, Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread, Olive Garden, and Baja Fresh. (It also includes a $27.98 purchase at Donut Land)
Read their whole report here. Of course cops love Chick-fil-A. (To be fair, I also love Chick-fil-A. I know that makes me a gay-traitor.)
Justice Ginsburg was buried today at Arlington National Cemetery: She lies next to her husband, who passed away in 2010.
Meanwhile, the White House formally sent Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination to the Senate: "Judge Barrett arrived at the Capitol flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff—an unusually high-level escort that underscored what Republicans see as the high stakes of her confirmation for the court as well as their political fortunes," writes the New York Times. "Republicans who met with her throughout the day were unanimous in their praise, leaving little doubt that she would be confirmed."
Last week's rainstorm triggered an hour-long "quake" on Mt. St. Helens: But the shaking was due to debris flow. From KOMO:
...the sensor was picking up a series of debris flows in the north and south fork of the Toutle River, according to University of Washington research Professor Steve Malone with the Department of Earth and Space Sciences.
Malone says the debris flows are not unusual when there are big storms, "though this one seems a bit larger than most I have seen in the past."
They're especially noticeable with the inaugural rain storm of the fall. The dry summer allows dirt, rocks, ash, and sand to accumulate and then a sudden heavy rain makes for flash flood.
Okay, here goes... Ahead of tonight's debate, Biden released his 2019 tax returns. Kamala Harris did, too. Obviously, Joe paid quite a bit more than Donald. Maybe none of that matters. As Matt Baume predicted this afternoon:
Trump will wear tax dodges as a badge of honor. On the left, there’s plenty of justifiable outrage about Trump’s $750 tax bill, and I think the Biden ads highlighting how many people pay more than Trump will probably find a sympathetic ear with the base. But among his supporters, his ability to cheat the tax code is going to come off as aspirational—like, “wow, he’s brilliant! I wish I could dodge taxes as well as Trump.” He’ll pick up on that and start boasting about how he was able to avoid paying for years, and his supporters will eat it up because everyone hates taxes. He may even turn it into a cudgel against Biden: “Look at how much this chump got suckered into paying in taxes—and you want HIM to run the country?"
Watch the debate live, below: Unless you're following Mudede's advice: "Tonight, read a book, or smoke a pipe, or watch the stars while they are still visible. Do everything you can to miss this and other presidential debates."
