Free preschool? Free community college? Okay, Ill bite.
Free preschool? Free community college? Okay, I'll bite. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

A smattering of fraudulent ballots: King County Elections is investigating 17 fraudulent ballots, Snohomish County is also investigating 17, and Pierce County is looking into eight. In all cases, the ballots belonged to dead people.

Biden introduced the second part of his economic proposals: This morning, Biden announced a $1.8 trillion plan that's mostly aimed at expanding education and child care access. This bill, the American Families Plan, follows the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package Biden already introduced. He will elaborate on the full details in his first address to Congress tonight at 6:00 p.m. PDT. Here's what's in the new plan, according to the New York Times:

The package includes financing for universal prekindergarten, a federal paid leave program, efforts to make child care more affordable, free community college for all, aid for students at colleges that historically serve nonwhite communities, expanded subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and an extension of new federal efforts to fight poverty

But how will he pay for it? Tax raises, baby. Biden will up the marginal tax rate on the top 1% of earners from 37% to 39.6%. Emphasis on marginal. Other than that, Biden will "increase capital gains and dividend tax rates for those who earn more than $1 million" annually, and he'll do away with a provision in the tax code that reduces capital gains on some inherited assets, according to the New York Times.

Seattleites are moving south to South King County. In 2020, more Seattleites than ever before migrated to Vashon Island, Normandy Park, and SeaTac to find more affordable homes with more space, the Seattle Times reports.

Mayor Jenny Durkan would really like you to get vaccinated: Durkan is tweeting out the number of available appointment slots at Seattle's mass vaccination sites multiple times a day. Thousands are still available. For the record, I'd like you to get vaccinated, too.

Need to schedule your second dose? Go to this link. You'll need to provide proof of shot 1.

New York Post reporter resigns after false article: She wrote an article last weekend about how the government provided migrant children in Long Beach, California copies of a children's book Kamala Harris wrote as part of a "welcome kit." Conservative media went bonkers over the story. However, not a lick of the story was true. The reporter later resigned, writing on Twitter that she had been "ordered to write" the "incorrect story." Conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch owns the Post.

Martin Scorsese doesn't know what a Diva Cup is: Stop the presses.

Sorry, Burners: Burning Man is cancelled again because of COVID-19.

NRA head kills endangered elephant: The executive vice president of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, and his wife shot and killed two endangered elephants in Botswana, according to video of a 2013 hunt. Well, actually, LaPierre attempted to kill the elephant by shooting it three times at point-blank range. Despite his efforts, he was ultimately unable to kill it. One of his guides, who also tracked the elephant for LaPierre, fired the killing blow. Weirdly, the footage was filmed for a NRA-sponsored television series that never aired due to public relations concerns.

Zimbabwe hopes hunters can save their national parks: Zimbabwe wants to sell the right to shoot 500 elephants to hunters willing to pay up to $70,000 per elephant kill. The fund will go toward the upkeep of the country's national parks. This is some next-level galaxy brain thinking.

Shockingly: Tear gas isn't good for you. Of the 2,257 respondents in a study about the impacts of tear gas in Portland's protests, over 90% reported that they experienced physical or mental health effects for days and weeks after being exposed to the gas. Maybe this is why this shit is banned in wars?

Lots of Utah representation at the Capitol insurrection. A fourth Utah man is facing federal charges for allegedly entering the Capitol Building on that fateful January day.

Russell Wilson and Ciara dole out financial advice: West Seattle kids learned about saving and investing from the NFL star and singer. Wilson and Ciara spent $35,000 to start savings accounts for 900 kids at Denny Middle School. Each account had $45 of seed money in it. Wilson told kids to learn about technology because he wished he had invested in Facebook.

Go Dawgs: The University of Washington women's soccer team is moving on in the NCAA soccer tournament:

India's COVID-19 deaths pass 201,000: India recorded nearly 3,300 just on Wednesday. However, the true death toll may be much higher due to underreporting. Health officials believe that India's spread may be the result of variants, but it's unclear which variant is doing the heavy lifting here. Some doctors believe India has its own variant, while others say the British variant could be driving infections. “The current wave of Covid has a different clinical behavior,” said Dr. Sujay Shad in the New York Times.

Dr. Anthony Fauci disagrees with Joe Rogan: Yesterday, the podcaster said he didn't think healthy young people needed to get the vaccine. Fauci said that there's some degree of "social responsibility" with getting vaccinated.

Oregon's cases rise: Restrictions are coming to our neighbors to the south. COVID-19 cases have risen 54% and hospitalizations are up 39% in recent days.

Citizen Kane loses its top spot: The Orson Welles film boasted the top spot on film-rating site Rotten Tomatoes because of its 100% positive rating. A recently-added negative review from 1941 just knocked the film down a few pegs. People on the internet are saying that Paddington 2, the delightful film about a bear who loves marmalade, is the highest-rated film now. The Guardian disagrees, saying that the 1934 comedy "It Happened One Night," is now the number one film.

Florida private school says it won't employ people who have been vaccinated: The co-founder and CEO of Centner Academy in Miami announced that teachers who received the COVID-19 won't be allowed to work at the school, and vaccinated people won't be allowed near children. She then cited a bunch of misinformation about the vaccine to explain her reasoning.