Category Archives: Breaking News

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

Governor seeking input from business and union leaders for state shutdown

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Governor Inslee’s office has reached out to business and union leaders across the state by e-mail, requesting input on broader COVID-related restrictions starting after December 15. Washington state continues to add 2,000 or more COVID cases daily with no sign of slowing down, with a record number of people in hospitals and on ventilators. The state reported 31 deaths from COVID yesterday, the highest number since a summer spike.

Despite significant evidence that social distancing, limiting indoor interactions to essential needs, and wearing a mask is highly effective in slowing the spread, growing COVID fatigue works against these efforts. Hospital officials at a local, state, and federal level are concerned about wave upon wave of COVID patients as hospitalizations reach record levels. The looming issue isn’t beds or ventilators, but doctors, nurses, and specialists to staff the incoming waves of patients. In Washington state, Snohomish County reported that their 911 system is almost overwhelmed with calls for ambulances, and patients are arriving at hospitals in worse shape than the spring. 

With the CARES Act set to expire on December 31, 2020, the spike in cases, hospitalizations, a looming shutdown couldn’t come at a worse time. Hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians will see their unemployment benefits end, and 172,000 families will face eviction or foreclosure without federal government intervention. 

This is a breaking story and will be updated when more information is available.

BIPOC, Breaking News, Local

Seattle City Council votes to fund police hiring in 2021

After six months of protests, a council vote, a mayoral veto, and a veto override, The Seattle City Council reversed course again, voting to fund police hiring in 2021. The Seattle Police Department in October reported they had 1,203 uniformed officers. If fully funded, the hiring plan for 2021 could grow the police force to more than 1,300 officers.

Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Teresa Mosqueda, Alex Pedersen, Lorena Gonzalez, Dan Strauss, Andrew Lewis, and Debora Juarez voted to hire more officers in 2021. The council’s reversal shatters six months of conversations and promised action to the BIPOC community, seeking sweeping changes to the Seattle Police Department. Although cuts to the police budget for 2021 remain, the consent decree coupled with an onerous contract with the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild has made cuts in logical places a near impossibility.

Compared to other west coast cities, only Oakland and San Francisco have larger per-capita police forces and budgets. In San Francisco, the cities approach to crime, drug addiction, and homelessness is mostly considered a failure. In Seattle, backers of the police frequently comment on how they don’t want the city to become San Francisco, yet are often the biggest proponents of a San Francisco approach to policing.

City leaders in Seattle continue to form advisory committees, hire Street Czars, and commit to studies without action. The continued issues of “legal redlining,” underfunded schools in BIPOC communities, and a non-approach to drug addiction and homelessness have gone unaddressed for decades. Despite the police budget growing 50% in the last ten years to the third-highest per-capita on the west coast, there has been no appreciable movement on crime rates. Some crimes, including assault and sex crimes, have increased over the last ten years – with assaults growing dramatically.

Other cities in the United States have been able to make more progress with less disruption and protests. Austin cut their police budget by over 30%, Minneapolis voted to abolish their police force and create a new one from the ground up, and Denver passed a series of reforms. Protests for Black Lives Matter and police reform began on May 26, 2020, in Seattle, peaking in mid-June while the world watched CHAZ/CHOP on Capitol Hill.

Breaking News, Local

Wind storm moving into Puget Sound for Tuesday

Rain and wind are coming to Puget Sound as another wind storm event approaches the area. The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for Tuesday, from 8 AM to 5 PM. The official forecast predicts south winds, typically for a northern tracking storm, from 25 to 35 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH.

This particular system won’t be a significant rainmaker by November standards, with .25 to .30 inches of rain expected. Wind will arrive around 10 AM to noon on Tuesday, with the east side seeing the forecast model’s lower range.

Residents should prepare for power outages, especially in the areas commonly impacted, such as Finn Hill in Kirkland. Because most residents panic bought everything that wasn’t nailed down in the stores yesterday, everyone is already well-stocked with their French Toast supplies!

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local, National

[Updated] Washington state announces new restrictions as COVID cases explode

Update: 12:05 PM – the announced restrictions will be in place for four weeks.

Governor Inslee of Washington state will be holding a press conference at 11 AM to announce new restrictions on activities and businesses due to a dramatic increase in COVID cases. The sweeping restrictions will prohibit indoor dining, reduce capacity at all retail locations including grocery stores to 25%, and requires entertainment venues such as movie theaters and zoos to close.

Washington state has seen a record number of new cases, exceeding 2,000 a day, while hospitalizations have started to increase. Late last week, UW Medicine announced it was implementing its surge plan which includes adding hospital beds and staff while dialing back on elective surgeries and in-office visits.

Government officials in Idaho have made things more complicated for Washington state. While Idaho does not havee a mask requirement, the hospitals in the panhandle region have become overwhelmed, and the state has started sending its COVID patients to Seattle and Portland, Oregon. In eastern Washington and Clark County in southwestern Washington, positive test rates range from 10.4% in Clark County to 37.7% in Whitman County. Less than 5% positive is ideal, and anything over 10% indicates under-testing and widespread transmission. Anything over 20% is considered a critical situation.

The state of Washington has released the following statement.

In order to slow the spread of rapidly increasing COVID cases in our state, and ensure that hospitals and medical systems are not overwhelmed, we are taking the very difficult but necessary steps to protect public health.

We recognize this will cause financial hardship for many businesses and the governor and staff are exploring ways to mitigate the impacts.

These rules are effective Monday, Nov. 16th at midnight (12:01 AM Tuesday), except for where noted as in the case of restaurants (detailed below).

If the activity is not listed, it should follow its current guidance. All K-12/higher education and childcare are exempt from the new restrictions and will follow current guidance. These restrictions do not apply to courts and court-related proceedings.

  • Indoor social gatherings with people from outside your household are prohibited.
  • Outdoor social gatherings should be limited to 5 people from outside your household.
  • Restaurants and bars are closed for indoor service. Outdoor dining and to-go service are permitted. Outdoor dining must follow the outdoor dining restriction. Table size limited to 5 for outdoor dining. These restaurant restrictions go into effect at 12:01 AM Wednesday, November 18.
  • Fitness facilities and gyms are closed for indoor operations. Outdoor fitness classes may still occur but they are limited by the outdoor gathering restriction listed above. Drop off childcare closed.
  • Bowling Centers are closed for indoor service.
  • Miscellaneous Venues: All retail activities and business meetings are prohibited. Only professional training and testing that cannot be performed remotely is allowed. Occupancy in each meeting room is limited to 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
  • Movie Theaters are closed for indoor service. Drive-in movie theaters are still permitted and must follow the current drive-in movie theater guidance.
  • Museums/Zoos/Aquariums are closed for indoor service.
  • Real Estate open houses are prohibited.
  • Wedding and Funeral receptions are prohibited. Ceremonies are limited to no more than 30 people.
  • In-store retail limited to 25% indoor occupancy and must close any common/congregate non-food-related seating areas. Food court indoor seating is closed.
  • Religious services limited to 25% indoor occupancy no more than 200 people, whichever is fewer. No choir, band, or ensemble shall perform during the service. Soloists are permitted to perform. Facial coverings must be worn at all times by congregation members and no congregational singing.
  • Professional Services are required to mandate that employees work from home when possible, and to close offices to the public. If they remain open, occupancy is restricted to 25%.
  • Personal services are limited to 25% of maximum occupancy.
  • Long-term Care Facilities outdoor visits only. Exceptions can be made for essential support person and end-of-life care.
  • Youth (school and non-school) and adult sporting activities are limited to outdoor-only for intrateam practices, masks required for athletes.

A household is defined as the individuals residing in the same domicile.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

UW Medicine implements “surge plan” due to growing COVID-19 cases

UW Medicine announced they are implementing surge plans due to a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in Washington state. In a publicly available memo, UW Medicine indicated that the rapidly growing cases are starting to impact the patient load within the hospital system.

Part of the surge plan includes increasing resources in its Emergency Operations Center to support the increase of bed capacity, staffing, and supplies. The memo goes on to hint that there will be a reduction in in-office visits and a shift to more telemedicine appointments to balance patient and healthcare provider safety.

Additionally, although no specific information was provided, prioritization of surgical procedures will be evaluated. The memo went on to indicate that emergency and critical surgeries would continue.

The memo is available online.

Breaking News, Health and Lifestyle, Local

Governor Inslee to address Washington state 5:30 PM today

Governor Jay Inslee will address Washingtonians at 5:30 PM as the numbers for COVID-19 infections in the state of Washington accelerate. According to the Washington Department of Health, COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased 22% from November 3 to November 9, the most recent data available. Additionally, the rate of newly diagnosed cases, a gauge on how quickly COVID-19 is spreading, is near the highest levels recorded for the state, 145.2 per 100K.

Hospital capacity statewide remains positive, but the number of COVID patients is increasing, as well as those critically ill. ICU availability also remains. Idaho has been sending their sickest patients to Western Washington, with the state outstripping their hospital capacity. Idaho does not have a mandatory mask requirement and officials in the panhandle, where the infections are the worst, recently lifted pubic health restrictions.

Rural counties and counties where mask compliance is lower, or outright resisted is seeing some of the worst numbers. Positive test rates in Whitman County are 37.3%, Adams County 22.1%, Spokane County12.4%.and Clark County along the Oregon border is 10.4%.

This is a breaking news story and we will provide more information as it becomes available.

Breaking News, Local

Seven Seattle police officers threaten art gallery with confiscation of display

John Mitchell created an art installation highlighting Black Lives Matter artwork and scenes of Seattle Police Department brutality at his Capitol Hill studio. The art installation uses projectors, valued at $25,000 each, to display the video clips and still images through windows and on to the Seattle East Precinct station’s ecology block barriers. Police officers complained that the installation was problematic for exiting the garage, and tonight officers confronted Mitchell.

In a video shot on October 31, seven Seattle police officers approached Mitchell, demanding he removes the projector and threatening to confiscate the art installation. In the video shared on Facebook, one of the officers says, “We’re going to give you a warning. If the officers complain some more [sic] about this light blinding you, we’ll write up a report and confiscate it. You’ve been warned [sic] multiple times.“

Earlier in the video, the same officer asks, “Have you tried driving a car out of there yet?” The ramp the officer is talking about is gated and has a small, no trespassing sign. One protester and one citizen journalist have been arrested at different times for walking up the ramp, indicating that accessing the ramp would likely be met with force.

This is a breaking story and we will continue to monitor.

BIPOC, Breaking News, Local

Seattle police meet Every Day March protesters in riot gear at Mayor Durkan’s home

The Seattle Police Department’s Community Response Group were waiting outside Mayor Jenny Durkan’s home in the Windermere neighborhood of Seattle on Saturday when protesters from the Everyday March arrived.

The police, dressed in riot gear and armed with “less lethal” weapons — along with other munitions — immediately gave a dispersal order to the peaceful demonstrators, witnesses said.

The SPD also stopped and cited every vehicle that was part of the “car brigade,” according to an EDM organizer. The vehicles were there to keep protesters on foot safe from road traffic.

A small group of officers was still on-site when we arrived on the scene.

Today represents the 155th day of continuous protest in Seattle.

This is a breaking news story.

Breaking News, Local

UPDATED Amazon security guard drives car through protesters, at least 1 injured, driver in custody

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A vehicle drove through protesters outside of the Seattle West Precinct police station, striking at least three protesters with reports of at least one injured. A group from Seattle’s Every Day March, on their 151st day of protest were outside of the police station when a car exited from a parking garage and drove through the crowd. Reports from the scene indicate the driver is an Amazon security guard, who was asked by protesters to drive a different route but instead drove through the group. Seattle Police are reporting they have a driver in custody.

Earlier reports of Seattle car brigade drivers being ticketed appear to be untrue based on video from the scene, with drivers issued written warnings.

Among the victims was a person who was with Summer Taylor and Diaz Love on July 4, when Taylor was killed and Love gravely injured in an early morning motor vehicle attack while protesting on Interstate 5. Washington State Patrol had closed the freeway, but left access to the off-ramps open.

Video shows a large group outside of the precinct, and screams of terror as the car drove through the protesters. After there was a scene of chaos with Seattle Police working on issuing written warnings to the car brigade drivers and later harassing Every Day March leaders while they were trying to leave.

This is at least the sixth car attack against protesters in Seattle since June 7, 2020. Nikolas Fernandez drove his car into protesters on June 7, shooting one in the arm before surrendering to the police. Fernandez has been charged with felony assault. Retired Seattle police officer Molly Clark drove her car through a Seattle protest while hurling racial slurs. Clark retired from the Seattle Police Department was never charged. A Doordash driver drove through the bike brigade during a march, clipping a person and destroying a bike. That driver was never charged. Dawit Kelete drove his Jaguar SUV into protesters on I-5 in the early morning hours of July 4. He was arrested and has been charged with vehicular homicide and reckless driving.

Seattle Municipal Code Section12A.12.015(A)(4) allows protesters and vehicles to block traffic and be in the street while exercising their First Amendment rights.

Renee Raketty contributed to this story.

BIPOC, Breaking News, LGBTQIA, Local, Weather

Malcontentment Happy Hour: October 22, 2020

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Happy Hour for October 22, 2020

  • Washington reaches a grim C Disease milestone
  • LGBTQ Commission calls for Mayor Durkan Resignation
  • Bobby Jones struggle to play soccer at as a transgender teen and seeking equality for all
  • The Say Their Names Memorial Arrives in Kirkland
  • Winter is coming, and I’m not talking in metaphors BOOKMARK, LIKE, FOLLOW,