Somethings gone wrong.
Something's gone wrong. Karen Ducey / Getty Images Stringer

We just killed a bunch of people. The leader of ISIS is dead, Biden says, having killed himself during an attack by US soldiers in Syria. Rescue workers say thirteen adults and six children were also killed. Coincidentally, yesterday Patty Murray introduced a bill that would allow Congress to block the sale of weapons to countries that "commit war crimes against kids or innocent civilians." Spiderman pointing at himself dot gif.

Let’s goooooo. Washington’s dumb off-year legislative sessions are the worst, but at least they’re over quickly. While we wait to see which contestants (bills) made it through to the final round in the beauty pageant (passed out of committee), there’s lots of suspense over whether we’ll get a transportation package passed this year. A coalition of nearly two dozen mobility orgs just released a letter urging more spending on sustainable transpo projects. Good stuff in there. The senate transpo committee will meet all this week and next to hear various bills while also trying to hammer out a deal.

Washington threw out Black votes at four times the rate of white votes. One in forty Black voters had their ballots thrown out in Washington in 2020. Other minority groups were disproportionately disqualified as well. It’s hard to say exactly why this is happening — the people inspecting ballots have no information about the voter’s race — but there’s some speculation that it’s somehow connected to signature inspection.

Somebody please take Lola home. Look at that face. Look at it!!!

Hey Seattle what’s up with all the bigoted graffiti? First that MLK Jr mural was defaced, now Jewish Family Service got targeted. The city helped clean up the wall, but there’s clearly a larger problem here that someone’s throwing up racist, anti-Semitic graffiti around the city.

Thank God, an excuse to not eat salad. Got any Wish-Bone salad dressing in the house? Check the label — a batch of thousand island and blue cheese dressings have been recalled due to “undeclared egg,” which is also an excellent name for a band.

Vote vote vote vote. Starting tomorrow, Amazon workers in Alabama will vote (again) on whether to form a union. Didn’t they already do that? Yes, and then Amazon interfered, leading the National Labor Relations Board to order a do-over. Meanwhile, Starbucks workers in LA just announced plans to unionize.

Speaking of unions … If you’d like to organize your workplace, check out this online training session that launches in March.

This is your chance, NUMTOTs. Washington State DOT is looking for a few good interns right now. Okay kids, you know what to do — get in there and make sure the next generation of engineers is dedicated to the demolition of highways.

Happy Museum Month! Guests at certain downtown hotels get half-off admission to local museums, which is the least the city can offer in exchange for visiting during the rainy season. Various art museums, MoPOP, the Science Center, and the aquarium and zoo are all participating. It’s a great list, and now I’m thinking I might just book a night somewhere just to have a reason to visit all these places I’ve been meaning to check out.

What’s to be done about Wallingford? A small group of residents are trying to have the entire neighborhood designated a historic zone so that they can preserve the racist red-line zoning of a hundred years ago, and keep out the filthy poors. Another group of neighbors is trying to stop them. Should be a spicy community meeting tonight.

Check your contractor. If your home has sustained damage during recent storms or flooding, look out for unlicensed contractors who might make things worse. Whatcom County is sounding the alarm on unscrupulous construction companies, and recommends checking with a handy state database to make sure whoever you hire to repair your home is actually licensed and bonded.

Alex Pedersen orders off the menu. Bicycle advisory board members — all volunteers — say they spent 17 hours interviewing candidates for an open seat. Then CM Pedersen’s office went and picked someone none of the board members had met with.

Hello, new neighbors. Check out this handsome development planned for Chinatown, just a few blocks from The Stranger offices. Nine stories, 238 units, no parking. Alas, it’s exempt from affordability requirements due to its location in a historic district.

Here come some rent reforms. A bill that prohibits landlords from requiring tenants to pay their rent online — a process that can often come with additional fees — passed the Senate yesterday. Now a House bill, HB 1904, which would require six months’ notice for major rent increases, which are sometimes used as de facto economic evictions, is up for consideration.

Leave home. If you’re feeling particularly cooped up inside lately, now’s a fine time to volunteer with the teams that restore Washington’s parks. With the most extreme winter weather (mostly) behind us, it’s time to tidy.

Calling all queer elders. Do you know any elder-gays or senior-lesbians? People who were denied the right to marry and could not access Social Security benefits for deceased partners are now eligible for compensation from the federal government. There’s just one problem — the government isn’t doing much to tell them. It’s up to them to check. So if you know widows or widowers, pass this article along to them.

You're going to make it after all. My colleagues often end these roundups with a song, something I've been meaning to copy but keep forgetting about. Well! There must be something in the air this morning, because I've finally remembered. Here is Joan Jett covering the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme.