Gotta do more learnin about COVID-19.
Gotta do more learnin' about COVID-19. UW LIBRARIES

Cougs and Dawgs and Vikings driving up COVID-19 cases: King 5 reports on efforts at Washington State University, the University of Washington, and Western Washington University to slow the rise in infections among college students. Some students have been partying hard because bro people are just tired of being all cooped up and SPRIIIING BREAKKKKKKKKKKKK *pukes.*

Hey, college students: You're not immune to COVID-19.

Hey, older people in power: Biden thinks some states should pause reopening efforts. Just saying, Governor Jay Robert Inslee.

This week in GoFundMe capitalism hell: It's not technically a GoFundMe, but Roxhill Elementary is having an "emergency fundraiser" to buy air purifiers, extra masks, thermometers and other supplies the school says the district is not providing, West Seattle Blog reports.

Seattle's housing market remains hot hot hot: Seattle has taken a close second place to Phoenix in year-over-year home growth prices for a full year now, reports the Seattle Times. The "collision between robust demand and rock-bottom inventory" drove the high prices, a Zillow economist said. Prices have risen the most in Pierce County and on affordable homes.

21-year-old sentenced to 40 months in prison and three years probation for burning two cop cars at May 30 George Floyd protest: A judge sentenced Kelly Thomas Jackson on Monday, which is weird because I thought we were DoInG nOtHiNg AbOuT aNtIfa. A tipster led the cops to Jackson, who lives in Edmonds, and investigators found screengrabs of websites with Molotov cocktail recipes saved to his phone, among other pieces of evidence. "In a memorandum seeking a more lenient two-year prison term, Jackson’s attorney, Robert Goldsmith, noted that Jackson suffers from bipolar disorder and has substance abuse issues, but has never been in trouble before," the Seattle Times reports.

Two JBLM soldiers accused of kidnapping a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint: Olympia Police say an officer pulled over a car driving the wrong way down a one-way street and found the delivery man zip-tied in the backseat, King 5 reports.

Students to return to class in Bellevue: The Bellevue School District reached an agreement with the union representing educators to bring students in grades 6 through 16 back to in-person class for part of the week beginning April 8 or 9, according to Q13. Elementary students have already returned for half-day schedules.

Twenty-four world leaders call for a pandemic treaty: After a hike in cases led to another major lockdown across Europe, after the European Union limited vaccine exports to the United Kingdom due to shortages, and as the global vaccine rollout remains extremely slow and dangerously inadequate, a lot of countries think we should all agree to help each other out better the next time, and they all signed a letter saying as much. According to the BBC, a treaty would "help to establish better systems for alerting people about potential pandemics, they say, while also improving the sharing of data and distribution of vaccines and personal protective equipment." The U.S. did not sign the letter.

Today is the second day of testimony in Derek Chauvin's trial: On Monday, jurors heard opening statements from both sides and watched "several excruciating videos and images of the moments leading up to" George Floyd's death, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. A witness who can be heard on the video, Donald Williams II, testified that he called out to Chauvin "who made eye contact once and looked away." Williams will be back on the stand this morning.

Watch Day 2 of the Chauvin murder trial: This morning Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson, spent a lot of time talking with martial artists about different sorts of chokeholds in an attempt to start splitting hairs on which chokeholds choke less than others. Knowledge of martial arts appeared as one of the questions the attorneys used to screen jurors.

If you've been ignoring the Federal courts: The Washington Post published a great piece on Biden's first 11 nominations to fill vacancies. If confirmed, one of the nominees, Zahid Quraishi, will serve as the first Muslim on a District Court. Three of the President's nominees are Black women, including Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi (who was a public defender) and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (also a former public defender), who should be considered for a Supreme Court nomination once Justice Stephen Breyer retires, which he should do instantly. Every second Breyer refuses to retire is a dereliction of duty approaching treason. I'm kidding. Sort of.

Myanmar military continues brutally executing protesters after weekend of slaughter: Over the weekend the junta warned demonstrators "could be shot 'in the head and back'" if they kept speaking out against the Feb 1 coup and gathering for vigils to honor the dead, reports Al Jazeera. Following that announcement, the soldiers killed 114 people in cities across the country. On Monday they killed three more people in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. Nearly 500 dead so far, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the Myanmar killings a "reign of terror:" Blinken will work "with and through the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose members were also heavily represented at the military parade" where officials foreshadowed their bloodshed, Politico reports. Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese dignitaries attended the parade, which is "tantamount to endorsing the coup leaders," and which means U.N. security forces won't step in any time soon.

New working paper shows the wealthiest Americas hide 20% of their wealth: Random audits fail to detect "most sophisticated evasion," and so don't work as a solution to the problem, according to the paper published at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Today in "it's too expensive to be poor:" Lump sum or monthly payments? The IRS gets to decide how to deliver the substantial child tax credit ($3,600 per kid) contained in the last stimulus package, which will determine how people might spend the money that analysts hope will cut child poverty by 40% for the year. In an interview with the Washington Post, a mother in D.C. said "monthly payments could easily be swallowed up by monthly expenses," and a big payment would raise the question of whether to pay off big debts or "finance a change," like a move out of town. About half the stimmy went to debt collectors, according to a report.

Marianne Williamson applies the teachings of Avatar to Israeli–Palestinian conflict: 🤔

A fun fact about the first ship to pass through the Suez Canal after the Ever Given: Following the Ever Given was a 1,207-foot Hong Kong container ship that "had little reason to gloat," according to the New York Times. Six years ago, the YM Wish ran aground in Germany, though it took less than a day to free. Of course I've been privately calling these ships "barges" throughout this crisis, and will miss doing so now that world's absolutely sustainable and totally healthy commercial trading schedule is back on track.

It's Tracy Chapman's birthday: