Always in the news.
Always in the news. Lester Black

Welcome to day 275 of January 6th. The White House just blocked an attempt by Trump lawyers to withhold documents related to the right-wing attack on the Capitol, which means that soon the National Archives will provide a House committee with texts, call logs, emails, photos and more relating to that awful day that will never end. Surely, THIS will be the scandal that undoes Trump. Surely.

An alarming robbery in the U District: Just before 4 AM last night, cops claim that two motorcyclists pulled up alongside another man on a motorcycle, shot him, and stole his vehicle. No further details are available, including on the victim’s condition — though the wounds were to his legs, so hopefully he’ll make a quick recovery.

In other police news… The Seattle Police Department expressed “concern” today over a bunch of particularly alarming tweets that were allegedly written by an officer. The tweets, which espouse various violent right-wing ideas, were linked to the officer via correlated phone numbers and mutual follows. Not exactly ironclad evidence, but certainly worth an investigation, which is what will happen now that the Office of Police Accountability is involved.

We’re cooking up something special on Monday. There will be no Slogging on Monday, October 11 (which is both Indigenous Peoples’ Day and National Coming-Out Day). Stranger staff will take a break from the blog to spend all day judging entries into the new short-documentary-focused SCOOP film fest. We'll accept submissions until the end of the day today, so you’ve still got a couple hours to get yours in.

It's been a bad day for Kathy with a K. Kathy Lambert's racist mailer is going to go down as one of the great misfires of recent Seattle political history. She continues to lose endorsers, some of whom are asking for their donations back. The Washington Association of Realtors, The Seattle Mariners, and The Seattle Times Editorial Board are among those who no longer wish to be associated with her campaign. Of course, Lambert was terrible long before this mailer went out — nice of her to make it clear for organizations that were too obtuse to notice.

North Carolina’s lieutenant governor wallows in filth scandal. North Carolina’s Republican (of course) Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson gave a speech in which he referred to “transgenderism” and “homosexuality” as “filth,” and he doesn’t see anything wrong with that. A spokesperson who would doubtlessly rather be talking about anything else tried to walk the comments back by saying he was only talking about “transgenderism” in an educational context. What does he expect people to say to that? “Oh, well in THAT case…”

Where would you like to hold new-train-station parties next? Sound Transit would like your input on light rail in Ballard. This is no simple online survey, however; if you want to get involved, you’ll need to commit to joining an advisory group and attending frequent lengthy meetings. I can say from experience that it is in these kinds of settings that you will encounter some of the most interesting people you will ever meet. Not necessarily anyone you’d want to take home to mother; just … interesting.

Seattle should just be honest that we refuse to do anything about climate change that might be inconvenient. Talk to any elected official, government employee, and armchair urban planner and they’ll agree that “climate change is real” and “we believe in science.” And then they won’t blink an eye about constructing new parking garages or preserving golf courses.

Dual-endorsed??? Can't wait to find out what the justification is for this:

Seattle teenagers are insular and stand-offish. More than usual, I mean. As young people return to school, some are finding it hard to reconnect after more than a year of growing accustomed to solitude. That linked KUOW story reminds us of this week's I, Anonymous submission.

It’ll be months before we’ll know how many sequoias were killed in wildfires this year. But the number could be in the hundreds — or more. Last year, over ten thousand trees were killed, around a tenth of the entire population. Meanwhile, here is a fascinating portrait of a criminology professor accused of setting multiple forest fires in the past year. The speculation about his motivation is compelling, as are the details about how he was surveilled and caught.

Move your car. SDOT is about to start giving "warnings" again.

Here’s the short version of the housing situation: You can’t have one. Housing prices continue to skyrocket around the region, with inventory at a historic low. Washington home prices increased by 14% in the last year, with similar hikes for condos.

Well, it’s Friday afternoon. And you know what that means it’s time once again for: