Ugh, this guy.
Ugh, this guy. Getty Pool
After almost three weeks of striking, the Northwest Carpenters Union has reached a tentative deal with Associated General Contractors. KIRO 7 reports that the strike is on hold until members can vote on the deal, with carpenters returning to work today in the meantime. As part of the tentative deal, carpenters will get a "total package" increase of $10.02 per hour over three years, retroactive pay from June 1 through the tentative contract's end date, and an expanded parking zone in the city.

But over at Kellogg: All workers in their factories have gone on strike as of yesterday, protesting the "loss [of] premium health care, holiday and vacation pay and reduced retirement benefits," reports AP. Kellogg is apparently threatening to send jobs to Mexico if workers won't comply with their offer. A business representative said they were "disappointed" by the workers' decision to strike and have "contingency plans" (a.k.a. bringing in non-union workers) to control any supply interruption.

The Shorewood High School mascot will be no more: Since 1975, the school's mascot had been the Thunderbird, a creature from many Indigenous American traditions. But since Washington recently passed legislation banning "disrespectful use of Native American imagery in schools," Shorewood will retire the 46-year-old mascot at the end of this year. The Shoreline School District says a new mascot will be selected before then, reports KING 5.

Mark Zuckerberg has something to say: In a blog post, Facebook's founder said that many of the claims from whistleblower Frances Haugen "don't make any sense." He said that Haugen's assertion that the company prioritizes profit over users' well-being was "just not true." "The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical," wrote Zuck. "We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry content." Whatever, dude, the pitchforks are coming:

Big changes coming to federal student loan forgiveness program: The US Department of Education has retooled their Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives debt to public-sector workers after 10 years of monthly payments, after receiving harsh criticism from borrowers that the program is difficult to navigate. CNN reports that over the next few months, the agency will "restore the promise" of relief through a series of actions aimed at getting more eligible people onboard the program.

I was trying to enjoy my last day of vacation: But all anyone on (my very curated and specific subset of) Twitter could talk about was this "Bad Art Friend" story from the New York Times. If you have time this morning to read the nearly 10,000-word piece, I recommend you perhaps do something else.

CHOP protester gets 2 years for lighting a fire outside the East Precinct: On June 12, 2020, Isaiah Thomas Willoughby of Tacoma lit a pile of debris on fire outside the abandoned police station, reports the Seattle Times. The U.S. attorney's office argued that the fire "put some protesters who were camping in the area at risk" as well as "scorched the side of the police building" before being put out. After serving his two-year sentence, Willoughby will also undergo three years of supervised release.

Missouri executes man for murder, ignoring advocates calling for clemency: The state killed Ernest Johnson by lethal injection on Tuesday, despite his pleas that had support from the Pope and two members of Congress, reports the BBC. In 1994, Johnson, a Black man, killed three convenience store workers in a robbery. His attorney argued that Johnson was ineligible for the death penalty because "multiple IQ tests had shown he had the mental capacity of a child and read at a primary school level." Missouri killed him anyway.

Weather break: Not technically weather, but here to remind you that we are losing minutes of daylight everyday.

Nationwide, new COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the decline after a summer surge: According to the New York Times, cases are down 24%, hospitalizations are down 20%, and reported deaths have decreased 12%. But around 68 million eligible people are still holding out on getting vaccinated, which public health officials warn could provide fodder for COVID surges to come. Get vaxxed!

2022 is about to be a doozy: 36 states will vote on governors next year. And with how crucial state executives have been during the pandemic, as well as the GOP-ification of our nation's state legislatures, these elections will be a big fuckin' deal. Politico has a cheat sheet warmed and ready for you.

The internet keeps breaking: Reports are coming out that Twitch has been hacked, according to The Verge. The hacker apparently posted the 125GB torrent on 4chan, saying they did so to "foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space." Here's some of what's included in the hack via The Verge:

  • 3 years worth of details regarding creator payouts on Twitch.
  • The entirety of twitch.tv, “with commit history going back to its early beginnings.”
  • Source code for the mobile, desktop, and video game console Twitch clients.
  • Code related to proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch.
  • An unreleased Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios.
  • Data on other Twitch properties like IGDB and CurseForge.
  • Twitch’s internal security tools.

    • Literally, what's it going to take for hackers to target student loan companies!?!?

    Human remains found in Stampede Pass area: A hiker called the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office after finding what appeared to be human remains in the Stampede Pass area, reports the Seattle Times via AP. The Sheriff's Office said the remains appeared to be there "for some months" with the decomposition of the body making immediate identification difficult. They are investigating the case as a homicide.

    What the hell is going on in Idaho? Republican Gov. Brad Little left the state yesterday to, uh, tour the Southern border for some reason with other GOP governors. That's weird. But in his absence, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R) used her executive authority to ban state officials from requiring "'vaccine passports' from new or current employees," reports WaPo. What's wild is that this is the second time McGeachin used her power while Little was out of town. Back in May she issued a ban on mask mandates while the governor attended an out-of-state conference. Little has promised to reverse McGeachin's ban as soon as he's back from the U.S.-Mexico border.

    For your listening pleasure: Something to get you going on this cold-ass morning. Yaeji's "SPELL 주문 (feat. YonYon, G.L.A.M.)."