Yes, Bruce, give us nothing: Hannah covered yesterday’s State of the City address and, boy, it was one of the speeches of all time. Mayor Bruce Harrell told Seattle that he’ll be going back to basics, innovatively, which translates to doing the bare minimum and satiating the conservatives that built our new city council. The biggest news was his announcement of his “One Seattle” comprehensive plan, which he will release about a year behind schedule. The city promised us those goods in April 2023. Read more about a little levy and a big deficit.
Ceasefire now: Hundreds of people gathered on the Capitol steps in Olympia Tuesday to urge state lawmakers to pass a resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza. The event was the first “advocacy day” held in Olympia by the Washington Coalition for Peace, a group of Palestinian Americans and 39 organizations statewide that represent different religious and cultural groups, according to the Seattle Times. No state legislators attended the rally.
WA prisoners are being exploited: Incarcerated people in Washington work for as little as $1 per hour while paying high costs for hygienic products like soap and phone calls, according to a new report from Columbia Legal Services. The report called the status-quo “nothing short of modern day slavery.” Inmates say they are even forced to buy food to compensate for inadequate meals. In state prison, a 24-pack of chicken ramen could set you back a full day’s pay.
Planned Parenthood endorses State Sen. Emily Randall for District 6: Randall is running to replace Congressman Derek Kilmer over on the peninsula. Little distinctions like this Planned Parenthood nod may help voters separate candidates, who now include Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean, and State Sen. Drew MacEwen.
BIG news 🌟 I’ve just been endorsed by @PPact!
I’ve been so proud to fight together to expand #healthcareaccess & defend #reproductivefreedom here in this WA & to have Planned Parenthood Action on #TeamEmily as we take our fight to Congress. 💪🏽 #abortionrights pic.twitter.com/3wLLTJQOrf— Emily Randall (@EmilyRandallWA) February 15, 2024
WA woman charged with daughter’s death 18 years later: In 2005, a dead baby girl was found wrapped in newspapers and a towel in a trash can at a Phoenix, Arizona airport. Two days later, a medical examiner determined she’d been suffocated. The case went cold for nearly two decades. Then this year DNA evidence identified 51-year-old Annie Anderson of Snohomish County as the mother. Police say she’ll be charged with first-degree murder for the crime, but they did not share details of Anderson’s account.
Can Boeing build planes or what: Part of 2024 involves wondering which part of a Boeing plane is going to fail next, and this time it’s the wing. A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Boston emergency landed in Denver after the plane began to shake. United said in a statement that it was an issue with “the slat,” or the moveable front edge of the wing used for takeoff and landing. The company did not say what caused pieces of it to fly off, though.
A United flight from San Francisco to Boston had to be diverted to Denver after it was discovered mid-air a portion of the wing was damaged. Passenger Kevin Clarke took this video. What he says he saw before getting on the plane on @boston25 this morning. pic.twitter.com/0GIaOmS46t
— Kelly Sullivan (@ksullivannews) February 20, 2024
The SGN has a new editor: Former managing editor Renee Raketty is replacing acting editor Benny Loy. Loy, who had been with the paper since 2022, took over a few months before the former publisher sold the paper to current owner Mike Schultz. Raketty, who is transgender and who first joined the paper in 2001, said that it was great to be back at the paper, particularly as the trans community faces “the same vitriol and onslaught we faced in the ‘90s and 2000s.”
US vetoes UN resolution for ceasefire in Gaza: The US said the Algerian-proposed resolution would disrupt sensitive negotiations between Israel and Hamas. President Joe Biden has used the word ceasefire, and called the IDF’s actions “over the top.” We proposed our own draft “temporary ceasefire” that warns Israel against invading Rafah without a plan to keep civilians safe, but we’re not doing all that we can to stop what has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians. In fact, today the US defended Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem in the United Nations’ highest court.
Non-binary student beaten at Oklahoma school later died: There’s still a lot we do not know, but from what we can tell, students began bullying 16-year-old Nex Benedict a few months after Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill that forced trans kids like Nex into school bathrooms that matched the sex on their birth certificates. Then, on Feb 7, Nex and another transgender student had allegedly gotten into a fight with three cis girls in a bathroom at Owasso High School, police said. It’s still unclear what started the altercation, but Nex was knocked down and Nex’s head hit the floor. The school did not call an ambulance and instead suspended Nex for two weeks. The next day, they collapsed in the family living room and died. Police are still waiting for toxicology and autopsy reports before determining if anyone will be charged, but once a cause of death is determined, then “all charges will be on the table.”
https://t.co/xmCYBKInCd pic.twitter.com/IRq3q3bMuU
— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) February 21, 2024
Kratom might be killing people? A Washington Post review of federal and state records show more medical examiners and coroners than ever are attributing deaths to the drug, a herbal powder with opioid- and stimulant-like effects. Between 2020 and 2022, they listed Kratom as contributing to at least 4,100 deaths in 44 states. A couple caveats: The vast majority of those cases included at least one other drug, and that only accounts for a small fraction of the 300,000 overdose deaths in that time frame, but it is significant enough that an increasing number of people have begun filing wrongful death suits involving the substance, which is banned in six states.
Two men charged with murder for Kansas City parade shooting: The charges come a week after two teens were also charged for the shooting, which injured 22 people and killed a local radio DJ. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker told reporters that suspect Lyndell Mays and another person at the parade started arguing. Mays then allegedly drew his weapon, prompting others to pull guns, including suspect Dominic Miller. Bullets from Miller’s gun allegedly killed the DJ, Lisa Lopez-Galvan.
Chilldren: In yet another blow to reproductive rights in this country, Alabama’s Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos count as children. Now anyone who destroys one in the state can be sued for wrongful death. The court’s ruling does not prohibit in-vitro fertilization treatments, but it could make it a hell of a lot riskier. Critics worry it could make an already expensive process pricier by sending liability insurance rates through the roof and forcing families to pay lifelong storage fees for embryos they could no longer legally dispose of. Not to mention that IVF could become scarce in Alabama if enough doctors are spooked away from offering it.
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