Happy Earth Day. Heres a portrait of you from a million miles away.
Here's a portrait of you from a million miles away. Handout/Getty
Happy Earth Day, everyone: I hope you take this opportunity today to open your window, or touch grass, or lean against a tree to remember how essential our home is. On a cosmic scale, we are just a mote of dust suspended on a sunbeam—we gotta take care of each other.

Greta Thunberg is in the House: The climate activist spoke in front of the House subcommittee on environment, which is holding a hearing on ending federal subsidies for fossil fuel companies. "You still have time to do the right thing and to save your legacies, but that window of time is not going to last for long," she said. You can watch some of her testimony here:

Toll increases are likely coming to the 520 bridge to make up for reduced revenues due to the pandemic, reports KING 5. The Washington State Transportation Commission is discussing a potential toll increase of 25-35% that could be set by June 15. Maybe it's time to start taking a bus if you haven't been already. Especially if you're vaccinated!

Washington will ban polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) in food service containers, packaging peanuts, and coolers by June 2024: That's all thanks to a bill introduced by state Sen. Mona Das and passed by the state Legislature. The bill's goal is to make reusing plastics much easier. According to the Seattle Times, the bill also would "require plastic containers for beverages, household cleaning products and personal care products sold in Washington state to contain up to 50% post-consumer-use recycled content by 2031." It'll also increase the recycled content in plastic garbage bags and "cut down on the use of plastic straws, utensils, condiment packages, and cold-cup lids." Gov. Inslee is expected to sign the measure into law.

In more WA Leg news: Olympia passed a bill that makes it easier to decertify cops when they do something bad. The proposal requires departments to conduct broader background checks for cops, and it also requires cops to report to their supervisors any wrongdoing they see from their colleagues. It also expands civilian representation on the Criminal Justice Training Commission and requires the commission to "maintain a publicly searchable database of officers, what agency they work for, what conduct has been investigated and the disposition of any investigations." Inslee is also expected to sign this into law.

Biden promises that the U.S. will cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half compared to 2005 levels by 2030: The announcement came during his opening remarks at the virtual Leaders Climate Summit hosted by the White House this morning. The president said his $3 trillion infrastructure bill will help the U.S. get there.

An Italian hospital employee is being accused of skipping work for 15 years: He hasn't shown up to his job at at the Ciacco hospital since 2005. In that time, he's reportedly received €538,000 ($648,814) in pay. No one noticed he'd been absent until recently. That's called living the dream.

We did it everyone: LeVar Burton will join the Jeopardy! guest host roster after fans campaigned for the iconic Reading Rainbow host to lead the trivia game show.

The COVID situation in India is absolutely dire right now: The country recorded 314,835 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, "the highest one-day tally of new Covid-19 cases anywhere in the world," reports the BBC. The oxygen supply in many hospitals is extremely low or entirely non-existent as they become overwhelmed with COVID patients. The latest wave was caused by lax and non-uniform restrictions in several states, giant religious and political gatherings, and a "double mutant" strain making the rounds.

547,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week: A drop of 39,000 from the week previous and the lowest it's been since the pandemic started last March, reports The Hill. Pandemic unemployment assistance, however, rose to 133,319 new claims and continued claims were at 3.7 million for the week ending on April 10.

It's been above 70 degrees for 7 days in a row: A new April record! Between April 15-21, the average high temperature was 75.7 degrees. I hope you enjoyed it because gray is on its way:

An Indonesian submarine goes missing in the Bali Sea: 53 sailors are onboard the lost sea vessel with time (and oxygen) quickly running out. The Indonesian navy says the submarine, KRI Nanggala, was conducting a training exercise yesterday when it dived into the sea and did not make radio contact again, reports NPR. Fingers crossed they get these sailors back on land soon.

If you're over 60 and live in King County, you can get the vax at the Rainier Beach or West Seattle vaccination sites without an appointment: All you gotta do is walk up and you'll get your prick—as long as there are doses available. If not, staff will schedule you an appointment for when there is, reports KOMO.

In other vaccine news: The Tacoma Dome will turn into a mass vaccination site for six weeks, opening on April 27. Their goal is stick at least 1,170 people every day, and give 34,000 shots by the time the site shuts down. For the first three weeks, it'll only give first doses and they plan to offer Pfizer. Keep your eyes peeled for appointments!

Good news for some street artists: Scientists have developed a new method to clean murals of graffiti that removes the top layer of paint while leaving the bottom layer intact. It's a chemically complex process that I won't try to explicate here, but don't you think it takes some of the "street" out of street art? Graffiti and tagging on a mural can be an interesting conversation!

For your listening pleasure: "Softly" by Clairo. I needed something gentle this morning.