Affordable housing at risk during earthquake: Nearly 2,000 units impacting specifically low-income renters are ill-equipped for an earthquake. The buildings arenāt retrofitted and the fix could cost $80 million.
Okay, but what about bridges: The Big One is lurking around every corner, itās the monster under your bed, and that uneasy, shifting mass you keep seeing in your nightmares. To unsettle your nerves a bit, about two thirds of Washington bridges still need to be retrofit. Thatās 591 bridges that arenāt earthquake secure. There are 317 that have been retrofitted and 100 that have been partially retrofit. Apparently, the Aurora bridge is all set. Thatās good, because bridges arenāt just dangerous during an earthquake. Theyāre vital for recovery after one. KING5 compiled a really hard to read map of the retrofitted bridges by county.
Jayās big day in Washington (D.C.): Yeah, our boy Gov. Jay Inslee stuck it to Trump on gun control yesterday at a meeting for the National Governors Association. He stood up against arming teachers and told Trump to stop tweeting and to start listening.
If you hadnāt heard Insleeās two cents: You probably heard about how Trump said he would have run into the Florida high school and stopped the shooter himself, even if he didnāt have a weapon.
Breaking News: President Trump condemned officers outside the Florida school shooting who didnāt stop it, saying heād run in āeven if I didnāt have a weaponā https://t.co/yWqcpcDby3
ā The New York Times (@nytimes) February 26, 2018
Pause right there for a moment: Letās start a list of other catastrophes Donald Trump couldāve have stopped if he had just been there.
Obviously, heād stop the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Thatās a given. Hindenburg? Saved. What? You think Trumpās full of hot air or something? Heād do it all, man. Heād stop the Kennedy assassination, for sure. Juryās out on the Holocaust. But, whatās for sure is he could single-handedly stop 9/11. Put him on Flight 93 all on his own, heād land it in one piece, wonāt even break a sweat. Heād pump the editorial brakes on Jar-Jar Binks, stop Spider-Man 3 entirely, and make sure Tom Hanksā FedEx plane landed safely in āCastawayā because those packages needed to be delivered. And FedEx loves the NRA.
Okay, I'm done. If you have more please comment.
Inslee has bigger to fish to fry, though: Jay's gotta knock some sense into our idiot lawmakers back home. He needs to veto the legislative-secrecy bill. By now, youāve probably heard about how Washington state lawmakers have voted to exempt themselves from the stateās Public Records Act. The bill will attempt to ban access to lawmakersā past emails, texts, calendars, and more. It is regressive toward transparency and stunts government accountability measures voters approved back in 1972. Newspapers across Seattle are urging Gov. Jay Inslee to veto this bill.
Washington more liberal than conservative: It sounds like common sense. Our liberal bastion of a state hasnāt gone red since we [shudder] voted for Reagan in ā84. But, for the first time in state history, more people have personally identified as liberal than conservative. About 30 percent of residents identified as liberal and 36 percent said they were moderate in 2017. Washington is one of five states that flipped from the conservative side. Others were California, Oregon, Maryland, and Rhode Island.
Tacoma liquified natural gas plant meets Seattle: The Seattle City Council unanimously voted to express concerns over the natural gas plant. The Puyallup tribe and other Native nations have been protesting the plant for well over a year. Part of the issue is that it infringes on some of the Puyallup tribeās parcel. The other issue is that the tribes believe the environmental review process conducted was not sufficient.
6 in 10 concerned about U.S. elections: They think Trump isnāt taking the Russia investigation seriously enough. The same number believes he isnāt doing enough to stop further interference. By George, I think they're onto something there.
Eastern Washington school district has 19 armed administrators: Since 2014, the Toppenish School District on the Yakima Reservation has been packing heat. The Sandy Hook massacre rattled Superintendent John Cerna. 19 trained administrators are authorized to carry a gun on campus. Cerna is the only one who carries one openly. The other 18 are anonymous.
Immigrant activist targeted by ICE for political views: Maru Mora-Villalpando, 45, is an outspoken pro-immigration advocate and harsh critic of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She is being put in deportation proceedings. ICE first learned about her from an interview she did with a local paper where she stated she was undocumented. However, ICE noted her anti-ICE sentiments and her involvement with Latino advocacy programs.
The apocalypse is here: Itās disguising itself as light, fluffy, and romantic snowflakes. But snow in Rome is fucked up, right?
WHEN IN ROME: Massive snowball fight breaks out at the Colosseum amid the cityās heaviest snowfall in six years. https://t.co/KmWSiCyNpS pic.twitter.com/Min3jWuliv
ā ABC News (@ABC) February 27, 2018
Right. Because the North Pole is above freezing right now. Itās the dead of winter. Whatās going on? This is a result of sea ice shrinking, a result of global warming. It exposes warmer water below and releases more heat into the atmosphere. This fucks up jet streams and is why thereās snow in Rome and polar chills hitting Europe. Man-made global warming will continue to cause weird weather events and destroy the planet. Let's throw hands, Cliff Mass.
Tuesday mood board: Which driver do you relate to more?
This driver thought that his SUV could brave flooding in Cincinnati, Ohio. He thought wrong. Luckily, the driver was able to get out of the vehicle. https://t.co/98q6rCabW9 pic.twitter.com/OqeDS260er
ā ABC News (@ABC) February 27, 2018
OR:
Disturbing video shows a naked man driving an ATV against traffic on a highway in Missouri, leading police on an hour-long chase. https://t.co/dIaaYi1Xn1 pic.twitter.com/JZQTtdY4Aj
ā ABC News (@ABC) February 27, 2018
Disney donating to STEM programs: In honor of āBlack Panther,ā and with all of that āBlack Pantherā cash, Disney is donating $1 million to the Boys & Girls Club of America to expand its STEM programs in underserved communities.
Can anyone confirm how accurate this is to life in New York? Iāve never lived there. Iām okay with this being relatively status quo.
Googleās political ad data ambiguous: Google has handed a notebook full of political ad data to the City of Seattle to comply with the law on election ad transparency. However, first glance at the information provided shows a glaring omission: the exact audience the ads were intended for and targeted to. The Stranger is still sifting through the documents and will be reporting back.
Worth a read: This incredible feature not only showcases Donald Gloverās brilliance as a person and an artist, but it discusses the struggles of trying to make something truly Black in a world, and a media, ruled by white gatekeepers. Read that, watch āAtlanta.ā
Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: a Shamir, Pardoner, and Michete concert (which "may be the most versatile lineup of the year so far"), The Stranger's Night School: What They Wore (And Why It Doesn't Matter), and the Black and Tan: Reimagining Seattleās Legendary Jazz Club talk.