[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) Washington state has managed the COVID crisis better than most states. Cases, deaths, and economic impact have been lower than in many places across the nation. The state moved to Phase 3 opening last month, which was a giant step toward normalcy. Seven counties across Washington, including Pierce, are at risk of falling back to Phase 2.
Adams, Asotin, Cowlitz, Douglas, Pierce, Pend-Oreille, and Yakima counties currently exceed hospitalization and new case numbers to remain in Phase 3. In addition, Skagit County and King County are on the brink of crossing the line.
On April 12 the state will evaluate the data on hospitalizations, cases, and deaths county by county, and determine which, if any counties, will move back to Phase 2. State leaders have not indicated if this will impact in-class learning in counties that roll backward. Impacted counties would move to Phase on April 16.
ELISE BARRETT PROVIDES A COVID-19 UPDATE
Earlier this month, T-Mobile Park had fans in the stands for the first time in 555 days for the Mariners home opener. Restaurants could start seating indoor dining at up to 50% capacity and bowling alleys crashed with the sound of falling pins. With in-class learning set to start statewide on April 19, the data, while not bleak, doesn’t paint an even picture across the state. The opening hasn’t been smooth with community groups complaining about some retail and restaurant locations exceeding capacity and ignoring mask requirements.
A combination of factors is being attributed to the problems in different counties. Slow vaccine rollout, multigenerational households and exposed labor in Yakima County, and the spread of the more contagious B.1.1.7 among younger populations are pushing numbers upward.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Malcontent News is conducting a series of interviews with 2021 Seattle mayoral candidates. We have contacted, or are in the process of contacting the most viable candidates, inviting them to answer seven prepared questions. Our first interview was with Andrew Grant Houston.
For all candidates, the first interview will be about their platform and vision. Prior to the primary election, we will conduct a second round that will focus on differentiation, and challenging positions and visions. Once the final candidates are selected in the primary, we will invite them for one last round of interviews.
All candidates for the first round will be asked the same seven questions, and have received a copy in advance. These questions were created by our editorial board, and are aligned to topics of key interest to the residents of Seattle.
Malcontent News is committed to providing equal time for all candidates, and operating under a “fairness doctrine” of equal time and treatment for all candidates.
We will be publishing a transcript of each interview. Transcripts may be lightly edited to remove, umms, ahhs, pauses, and aid in readability.
ANDREW GRANT HOUSTON
andrew grant houston, 2021 candidate for Seattle mayor
Jennifer Smith: Thank you so much for being here with us today and, you know, coming to share your vision with our viewers. We really appreciate that.
Andrew Grant Houston: Yeah. I really appreciate being offered this platform and I really appreciate the work that y’all have done throughout the past year.
Jennifer Smith: Thank you. Can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired to run inspired you to run for?
Andrew Grant Houston: I am a queer Black and Hispanic architect originally from Texas and moved to Seattle at the end of 2016 to common design housing to get my license as an architect. And what I really realized is that over time, the progressive and more sustainable city that we always say that we are isn’t quite true once you kind of get into the weeds. And so after having a lot of frustration, trying to support and organize around land use reform climate issues after the last round of wildfires and seeing the city response, which did not feel appropriate, especially given that we have been in a housing emergency and a homelessness crisis since 2015, I finally said, okay, this has got to stop. We have got to stop talking about the city that we say that we are and actually become that city. And so that’s what I’m focused on.
Question one – houselessness crisis
Jennifer Smith: Seattle is facing [an] ongoing housing crisis related to unhomed peoples Washington state experienced a 6.2% increase in homelessness during 2019 and 2020 King County spends over $1 billion per year in public and private investment in support of approximately 12,500 houseless people with disappointing results. If elected mayor of Seattle, how would you address this crisis? And how do you think your plan would provide aid in resolving the crisis both in [the] short and the long term?
Andrew Grant Houston: Well, I really glad that you asked the question specifically looking at a short term solution and a long-term solution because that long-term solution is driving down the cost of housing, which is really tied to allowing for more housing to happen across the entire city and not just in Black and brown neighborhoods like we currently have with the urban village strategy, but in allowing for more duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and even larger, permanent supportive housing to happen in every single neighborhood in Seattle. And so that is how we really focus on that long-term solution. But I know firsthand as an architect, that even if we were to cut every single piece of red tape tomorrow, that it would still take about three years to build all of that housing. And so what that short-term solution really needs to be is tiny homes. If we allow for tiny homes, I know I’m proposing 2,500 tiny homes, that that is our short-term solution, how we truly address the crisis as the crisis that it is because we currently have 5,500 unsheltered people still in King County. That is really how we stem the bleeding.
But at the end of the day, something I really want to point out is just that we had some recent numbers come out from the last point in time count. So that’s where they go in one night and look over everything and see who is unsheltered and who is currently unhoused. It seems like the numbers in King County specifically are fairly stable. And so what that means to me is that as much as we are being successful in taking people out of being unhoused in a houselessness, that people are falling in at the same rate. And so we really need to focus on those preventative measures in order to ensure that less people fall into houselessness. And then that way we’re actually going to start to see some change.
Question two – infrastructure and economic recovery
Jennifer Smith: It’s actually gotten worse as a result of the COVID pandemic. So as a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic, economic recovery, and development, as well as addressing Seattle’s crumbling transit infrastructure, such as the West Seattle bridge is of great importance. Moreover, some are expressing concern about the large corporations and many in the workforce, leaving Seattle. The question then is threefold. How do you plan on tackling the infrastructure issue, aiding economic recovery and development as we actually start to move beyond COVID? And what concerns do you have about the loss of corporations and workers in the city?
Andrew Grant Houston: What I really have seen is not necessarily that we’re losing corporations. It’s more that people are recognizing that during the pandemic, they’re not able to enjoy the things that really make them want to live in a city in the first place. And so if you look at some of the numbers, especially in some of the movements happening in some of the other high-cost cities, like Los Angeles and New York and San Francisco, they’re actually people from those more expensive cities, particularly San Francisco that are moving here. And so we have actually seen a slight increase in our population during this time, even though it doesn’t quite make sense, like in our minds, like it does not quite compute, but it’s because they are having similar issues where they’re saying, look, San Francisco is just way too expensive. We need to go somewhere less expensive. And that’s here.
What we are seeing is that people from Seattle are actually moving to the suburbs in the area of moving to Kent and Renton and Auburn. And one of the reasons for that is because they’re looking to purchase homes. And so in that way, like I said before, we really need land-use reform so that we can allow for more people to purchase condos or townhomes or row houses. So in that way, they start to enter homeownership because that’s the thing that many people want to do. And as much as we know about the history of the United States, that that is how you build generational wealth for yourself and for your family. And so in that way, hopefully, we can bring people back to the city. Once we start to open up. My solution for a long-term strategy is really related to building more housing. And so in that way, investing more funds into not just housing, but also streets improving sidewalks and actually building sidewalks where we currently don’t have sidewalks. And all of those things that we have to do, all of those construction-related jobs are great living wage, union jobs. And so in that way, we are taking people from our communities and telling them, you can be a part of the positive change within your own community and build wealth that way as well.
Jennifer Smith: One of the things too that happens is when people start to migrate to these places like Kent, and Auburn, and Renton is it drives up the rent. It drives up the price of housing and it exacerbates the homeless crisis. It makes it really difficult for people who were living in those areas because it was reasonable to continue to do so.
Andrew Grant Houston: And in that way, that’s kind of why Seattle, as much as we are dealing with a regional homelessness crisis, that a lot of that crisis came from us because what ends up happening is that people move to those cities and they don’t have the same kind of protections that they have here as renters in Seattle. And so in that way, we do need a regional response, but a lot of the origin of our current crisis in the region is directly tied to the exclusionary policies that we have had here in Seattle for decades.
Question three – does Seattle have a crime and/or inequity problem
Jennifer Smith: Police violence and ongoing racial…inequality. Seattle has earned a national reputation as a crime-ridden, dirty, and unsafe space. At one point, the city was labeled by the previous presidential administration as an anarchist jurisdiction. Do you agree with this view, what will you do to shift perceptions? And do you feel racial inequality exists within Seattle? And how do you plan to address it?
Andrew Grant Houston: I would say that we’re not necessarily an anarchic jurisdiction as much as we are an anti-fascist jurisdiction. And I really say that with a lot of heart because I am a huge Seattle Sounders supporter. And I just remember whenever we were having a lot of the protests, especially within June and July of last year. And the president was complaining about Antifa and you would see Sounders supporters and the Emerald city supporters come out and say, no, yeah, we are Antifa – like three arrows down. Like we are going to be a part of this and support and really recognize that a lot of this police brutality is in essence state-sponsored violence. We need to provide methods of public safety that ensure people who look like myself are actually able to go out in public and feel safe themselves.
In that way, really thinking about how we redefine public safety, how we address our current methods of policing and say, this currently is not working. And I recognize that someone who is not just an architect, but an urban designer, that part of the safety is actually redesigning how our streets work and function. And so that is why I’m making not just policing, but also transforming our pedestrian infrastructure, transforming our bike infrastructure because there are a lot of deaths currently happening on our streets that are completely preventable. And then that way we’re really focusing on a true vision zero, that anyone can be outside in public space and feel safe at any time, day or night
Question four – police reform
Jennifer Smith: When compared to the west coast cities of Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland, and San Diego, Seattle has the second-highest cost per police officer tied with Oakland and the second-highest officer per capita behind San Francisco. Additionally, the average officer makes $153,000 per year before benefits, according to the Seattle Times. Despite this large force and supporting budgets, Seattle police report slowed response times and claim the issue is a lack of staffing. The budget was cut [by] approximately 18% and staffing levels were adjusted to support roughly 1,325 officers. How would you define defund the police? And what is your position? How do you restore community trust in SPD?
Andrew Grant Houston: Well, what you’re really talking about are two things you’re talking about reforming, and then also defunding. And so in essence, these two decisions that people are kind of going between when I say it’s more of a yes, and. I pride myself on wanting to become a mayor that is the “yes and” mayor that we both need to reform our current police department so that we can restore trust. But also during that process, we have to start redefining what public safety means. And that means 100% public safety, but less than 50% of that is the police. The number that really draws my attention that comes from the work that has been done for many, many years here in Seattle, since the start of the Consent Decree are from groups like Decriminalize Seattle, as well as the no new youth jail movement. So in that way, coupled with the King County Equity Now Coalition of which I am a member, as part of Share the City, looking at the nearly 70% increase since 2010, in terms of the budget.
I don’t know about you, but if I look at numbers and response times, I don’t feel like there has been a 70% increase in the effectiveness of the Seattle police department. And so in that way, we really need to focus on more of a model that looks at preventative care that looks at harm reduction that looks at really addressing the issues that a lot of people are facing before they enter into an event of a crisis. Because it’s not just about not responding to a crisis with a healthcare or someone or mental assistance, someone that is not a person with a gun. It’s also about addressing the instability that has created these crises. So in that way, that is why housing is such a big part of my platform is that if we reduce our number of unhoused individuals, we reduce the number of times that those people are facing the police or engaging with the police. If we reduce the number of people who are just getting by just struggling to survive, that commit crimes of poverty. Then again, we reduce the reliance on our current policing systems. And so in that way, it makes a clear message that we are working in ways that are.
Truly creating public safety has nothing to do with [the] police. And so it makes it that much more possible to be able to do the deep work, which has been asked for by [the] community for many, many years. But I’m really saying to people, especially as the only mayoral candidate who has committed to continue the work of defunding the police is I am listening to the community, especially those who are most impacted. People who look like me, fear for their lives every single day, they go outside that we are going to address this issue, head-on. We are not going to walk back any promise. I am committed to defunding the police and establishing a new method of public safety.
Question five – public mental health crisis
Jennifer Smith: So one of the many things that COVID has shed light on is the ongoing mental health crisis in the country. Seattle’s not exempt from this. And recently a man in the throes of a mental health crisis was fatally wounded by SPD near the Seattle waterfront. Would you consider implementing something similar to the STAR program in Colorado, which replaces traditional law enforcement responders with a medic and mental health professional for some emergency calls as a way to deescalate situations where there is a clear mental health component?
Andrew Grant Houston: Yes, 100%. And I feel like that model in particular is an excellent example of how we can provide public safety and maintain our public safety levels while also shifting resources from the police department into our new emergency center that has been established by the Seattle city council. And so just in that way, we are providing different types of public safety, different types of care that can address crises when they happen. Because at the end of the day, as someone who watched that video, someone was in crisis and was really, truly suicidal. But if you’re not addressing those issues head-on and directly engaging with that person, even though he did have a weapon, then we are never going to get to a point where we will truly address a lot of the trauma that we know is coming from COVID, like you were talking about specifically.
I know even for myself, there have been many days, especially as a high-risk individual, someone who just got my first dose of vaccine, so really excited, but I have spent as long as six weeks indoors without going outside, even once, clearly that is going to have a mental impact on myself that I don’t even fully recognize, but I know for myself and I have the privilege to have healthcare, to have mental health services so that I can go and get help. And so in many ways, when we talk about true public safety, we need to be investing in mental health services for those who can not afford it currently. And then that way we can avoid issues and incidents like the one that occurred on the waterfront.
Question six – Zoning and Seattle housing crunch
Jennifer Smith: I know this is another thing that’s in your platform – land use. Eighty-eight percent of Seattle’s land that is zoned for housing is zoned for single-family. Over the last five years, most of the new construction has been centered in the 12% that supports high density, housing. Developers and builders focused on small footprint properties with minimal parking and luxury appointments. Housing affordability is a major problem for Seattle. Do you support changing zoning rules for ADUs (Additional Dwelling Unit) and more dense construction to alleviate the housing crisis? And what changes would you support?
Andrew Grant Houston: This is something very near and dear to my heart as someone who is a lifelong renter. Since I was born and raised by my mother, a single parent, but also something that I have direct professional experience on. Before I moved here to Seattle, I was a land-use consultant. And so in that way, I was actually working with cities and aiding them in rewriting the rules that really define how their cities would develop. And so truly understanding the system that in many ways was established solely as a way to keep people of color out of neighborhoods in cities. Zoning in general has a very long history, but it does not have a history that has existed the entirety of the lifespan of even Seattle. Zoning that has become restricted and restrictive land-use codes in general in Seattle did not start until the twenties. And so what you see in a lot of neighborhoods that are currently zoned for only having one house per plot of land is that there are actually a lot of duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings that exist in these neighborhoods.
And so what we are saying is that this current system is not only a continuation of the white supremacy of the past, because that’s exactly what it is. We are saying that this is not sustainable environmentally, economically, or culturally. The thing that you really touched on is the urban village strategy, which focuses a lot of the density into areas, which are effectively either industrial land, downtown, or communities of color and the “gayborhood,” which I know firsthand because I live on Capitol Hill. I cannot tell you how many bars we’ve heard of during the pandemic have essentially shut their doors. Not because they could not afford to continue paying their rent, but because their landlord said, sorry, your lease is up and we actually want to redevelop a piece of property. When we allow for development to occur across the entire city, we are not going to see the displacement, and why I don’t call [it] gentrification. I call it “communacide.”
The cultural destruction of our Black and brown neighborhoods of Capitol Hill. That when we spread out that development across the entire city, not only will people then get to choose where they want to live, because I know a lot of people who want to live in Wallingford. And I know a lot of people who want to live in Laurelhurst and other places in the North End. There just is nowhere for them to be able to afford [it]. We will also be able to have a more sustainable city for everyone else that we will relieve the pressure that we currently have on our Black and brown communities, especially. So that they can also continue to enjoy their lives in the communities that they have developed there over time.
Question seven – Taxation
Jennifer Smith: So moving on Seattle has a reputation for having high taxes compared to other Washington cities. A number of initiatives have added incremental taxes to fund transit, homeless programs, education, and the general fund. These taxes are small on paper, 1/10 of 1% per example, but most of these taxes are regressive due to Washington state’s tax structure. Will you pledge no new taxes on the citizens of Seattle?
Andrew Grant Houston: No. Because we are going to shift to progressive taxes. We are going to establish an income tax and I am specifically establishing an income tax because legally we’re allowed to. A flat tax of 1% that I am calling the Just Transition Tax. In establishing this tax, I want it to fund specifically four things. One of them being apprenticeships. So we talked earlier about jobs and infrastructure and construction in order to build the housing that we need because we have a lot of housing to kind of backfill. We need to be able to train people to do that kind of work. And so I want to specifically dedicate some funds there.
You talked about earlier, how are we going to support small businesses coming out of the pandemic? The second thing that I want to do is reduce our business occupation tax, that they can be able to have that kind of recovery.
The third thing that I want to do is establish a new public development authority and what that is really going to be focused on is that research and development, the thing that private dollars really can’t do in order to focus on net-zero buildings. So in that way, all the new housing that we need does not additionally contribute to our carbon emissions because we know we just simply need to reduce those certificate money.
And the last thing that I want to do is invest more money into our equitable development initiative because that money is specifically going back to our Black and Brown communities, our BIPOC communities so that they can self determine the types of housing, the types of communities that they are able to develop for themselves.
Jennifer Smith: So you referenced creating an income tax. Could you talk more specifically about what you mean by that?
Andrew Grant Houston: So there was a recent decision, and I want to say it was [it was] summer of last year where the Washington Court of Appeals essentially said that Seattle itself actually has the right to tax income as property. Because that’s really what we’re getting at when it comes to the Washington State Constitution is that income is seen as property. And so in essence, this is being treated like a flat property tax. And so they have given us the legal go-ahead to tax up to 1%. Now I know that there definitely needs to be a way to make that flat tax more progressive. And so when I am in office, I definitely am focused on looking at how are we actually going to implement this? How are we going to get credits if people who are below a certain income. But, at the same token, what this really shows for myself and I believe is that when it comes to proposing policy, I’m not just spitting out words. I really am planning on doing the diligence and my team is already doing that due diligence in order to ensure on day one, I’m able to start an app and improve the city or all Seattlites.
Additional Questions
Jennifer Smith: Thank you for clarifying that for me. I really appreciate it. Now. I kind of have a selfish question because I am a historian. My primary field is American Indian and indigenous history. Now I noticed on your website that you referenced that you advocate for indigenous sovereignty. You know, Seattle is home to the Duwamish peoples, who were federally recognized for a short period of time and then had that federal recognition revoked. But Seattle in itself has a very rich indigenous history and contemporary presence that is often overlooked and ignored, or sometimes, celebrated as a relic of the ancient past. So what do you mean when you say you advocate for indigenous sovereignty?
Andrew Grant Houston: What that really means is recognizing the past and present of native indigenous people in Seattle and the larger Puget sound region. One of the things that I really love about Seattle is not just our land acknowledgment, but also that in our office of intergovernmental relations, that they specifically speak between the city and local tribes in the area. And so in that way, upping that engagement and really recognizing one, that should happen and continue to happen, especially as we address a lot of these regional problems and crises. Which for example, the homelessness crisis disproportionately falls on our native and indigenous people, as well as really recognized that one of our biggest responsibilities, especially as a holder of land, is to be good stewards of that land and do that in concert with our local indigenous people.
Jennifer Smith: Thank you so much for answering that question. I saw it on your website when I was reading up earlier and I really want to ask this question.
Andrew Grant Houston: Absolutely. And I think at the end of the day, for me, when it comes to especially any group of color, whether it be Black, indigenous, Asian-American that people are allowed the ability to self-determine and that when it comes to a lot of the solutions that I want to provide, that I want to provide them in a way that picks up those with the least first. And so that is why my campaign is even called The Rising Tide in the first place. A rising tide lifts all boats, but that it starts at the bottom and works its way up.
Jennifer Smith: And I think that’s such an important thing because so much of settler colonization in the United States was justified through this brown people can’t self-govern. Brown, black people can’t self-govern. And so self-determination is such a huge thing for people to recognize. Is there anything else that you would like our viewers to know
Andrew Grant Houston: Currently, I have a clear vision for the city should look like in 2100, but I recognize that myself as the potential incoming mayor will have a significant role to play in the next eight years, ideally in the next few terms, because ideally, the next mayor is actually going to start out two full terms and not decide to not run again. That policy and those policy points, and those plans will be coming out beginning next week. So we are going to be releasing our full slate of names and then get into more details and so I’m really excited to share that with people because a lot of the work from that came directly from the community when they looked at the vision and we asked them, we recognize that we share this vision together, that we all want to see the city improve in a number of these ways, but we have to also agree on the steps to get there. And so in doing that work already and having those conversations, we don’t have to repeat the Seattle process over again. We can say with certainty that I will be a mayor of action and on day one, start to implement the things that people are asking for.
Jennifer Smith: Thank you so much for being here and speaking with us and sharing your vision. Look forward to seeing what you put out next week.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) A Washington state man pleaded guilty today to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Cameron Shea, 25, a leader of the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division, pled guilty to federal conspiracy and hate crime charges for threatening journalists and advocates who worked to expose anti-Semitism. Shea was arrested on February 26, 2020, in Kirkland, Washington outside of the Totem Lake Fred Meyers where he worked. The FBI made the arrest with support from the Kirkland police department.
CAMERON SHEA NEO-NAZII AND WHAT IS ATOMWAFFEN
Shea pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit three offenses against the United States: interference with federally-protected activities because of religion; mailing threatening communications; and cyberstalking. He also pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with a federally protected activity because of religion.
Shea and three co-conspirators were charged with conspiring via an encrypted online chat group to identify journalists and advocates they wanted to threaten in retaliation for the victims’ work exposing anti-Semitism. The group focused primarily on those who are Jewish or journalists of color. The group created posters, which featured Nazi symbols, masked figures with guns and Molotov cocktails, and threatening messages, to deliver or mail to the journalists or advocates the group targeted. Local KING 5 reporter Chris Ingalls did several reports on Atomwaffen and was a target of the organization.
Shea will be sentenced on June 28 and faces up to 15 years in prison.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Sixty-one years ago, the FDA approved oral contraceptives, also known as the pill, as a form of birth control in the United States. Decades later, the pill has expanded as a tool to fight moderate to severe acne, control menstrual cycles, migraines, and endometriosis. The ability to access contraceptives remains a surprising challenge in the United States. Dr. Sophia Yen, co-founder and CEO of Pandia Health, is working to change that.
Pandia Health, a Bay Area based telemedicine company that recently expanded into Washington state, provides women reproductive health services through the Internet. “We bring birth control to wherever you have Internet and a mailbox,” said Dr. Yen. “If you could imagine in rural parts of the country where the nearest doctor is two or three hours away, this is a problem with access.”
The timing of this new choice couldn’t be better for western Washington residents. Planned Parenthood recently announced they were closing its Seattle First Hill, Shelton, and Kent facilities. The closures are due to slashed Medicaid reimbursements from the federal government, making continued operation impossible. Insurance rules on when patients can refill prescriptions adds to the complexity of maintaining reproductive health.
“For just $20 once a year, you have access for the entire year for any follow-up questions as much as you want. Most birth control pills are generic, so it’s less than 50 cents a day,” Dr. Yen said. “Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, if you do have insurance, no copay, and no deductible.”
The $1.9 trillion Save America package passed by the Biden Administration capped ACA premiums at 8.5% of income, and COBRA payments are covered 100% through September. These benefits and expanded enrollment will help reverse the trend of uninsured Americans, which added 2.3 million people under the Trump Administration.
Dr. Yen explained her company serves patients in ten states and can ship birth control to all 50 states and Washington D.C.. There is an additional benefit to telemedicine; legally, you don’t have to reside in one of the ten states served by Pandia Health. Suppose you’re physically in a state where a telemedicine physician provides services when you complete your online evaluation. In that case, you can have your birth control shipped to your home state.
“We’re promoting a kind of birth control tourism. If you happen to be in Seattle at the airport, you could fill out the questionnaire. Then we can deliver it to Kansas or Arkansas or whatever state you reside in.”
In 1988, the original high-dose birth control pill was taken off the market. Today a woman can choose from 40 different birth control pills, some with low-dose and high-dose variants, that use eight possible progesterones. If that sounds complicated, it can be. The medical community is just beginning to understand the differences these options can have on the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and Person of Color) community.
“Medicine is based on a Caucasian female model,” she continued. “It doesn’t [account] for a person of color. We are looking and asking our customers to self-report their ethnicity so we can correlate it with side effects and see which birth control works best.”
Not only is Dr. Yen an advocate of female reproductive rights and services, but her company also has a program called Pandia Health Social Good. “If you can’t afford [birth control] and you can’t afford 50 cents a day to cover your birth control, you can apply to our birth control fund. And if you have money, you can donate to the birth control fund and take a tax deduction.”
Updated: April 5, 2021 @ 9:30 AM to include a statement from the Marysville police.
[MARYSVILLE] – (MTN) Parents and students gathered in Comeford Park on Saturday to express their anger at the Marysville School District’s handling of threats against students. JJ Frank, the parent of a student threatened with death due to her race, held a press conference with city, county, and Black leaders, speaking to a diverse crowd of supporters.
“I’m here in the capacity as a father,” Frank told the crowd. “I’m hearing that these students that made these death threats said it was just a joke. When another student threatens another student’s life and says that they want to kill him, that is not a joke.”
“When another student threatens another student’s life that threatens all of our children’s lives, let us not turn a blind eye because these were Black students and minority students that our lives are any less,” Frank continued. “Black lives do matter.”
Two students at Marysville Pilchuck High School made death threats in December 2020. In that incident, which Malcontent News reported, the students received a short suspension and moved to a different high school. The Snohomish County prosecutor officers did not pursue charges stating that one family did not want to press charges and the students posed a low risk after a threat assessment. They were both referred to a deferment program through the juvenile court. Malcontent News is not naming the students or victims as they are juveniles.
Frank spoke about the incident during his speech on Saturday in vivid detail. “They said, what about that n*****’s sister? They said, yeah, we want to kill that n******.” This is in the police report.”
“They said that they wanted to kill my daughter, my 15-year-old daughter,” Frank said fighting back his tears as Black leaders gathered around him to provide support.
Screen capture of the Snapchat threat made on the same account as a student that made death threats in a December 2020 Zoom meeting
In the second incident, a January 2021 Snapchat message stating, “killing minorities soon,” showing a white hand holding a handgun, was made from the same phone and e-mail address of one of the students involved in the Zoom meeting. That student denies that they made the post and that a 20-years old relative did it. The 20-year old has not been named but is a son of a Marysville police officer. Because of the conflict of interest, Marysville police moved the criminal investigation to the Snohomish County Sheriff.
Frank accused the Marysville School District of misrepresented the status of the students after this second incident. He claims the district told him the students had been removed from school again, which they haven’t.
In response to growing media coverage, the school district released a statement. “In recent days, information about incidents against students of color, specifically Black/African American students, were shared publicly in the news, on social media, and through community forums. These incidents included online threats made against Black/African American students and confirms Marysville School District’s recognition and acknowledgment that racism and hate continue to exist in our community.”
“We will strive to do everything in our power to make certain that each student we serve feels safe physically, socially, emotionally, and free from racial or other forms of discrimination.”
For Marysville residents, many we spoke to expressed concern about the existing threats, given the history of a prior mass shooting event at Marysville Pilchuck High School. Later in the afternoon, a Black Lives Matter rally was held on the Salvation Army’s roof about a mile away. As a band played and a small group solicited support from the cars passing by, many drivers honked and waved. One person confronted the group briefly, asking when they would start breaking windows. A couple of pickup trucks circled the group, with one driver making a white power symbol as they created a black cloud of exhaust.
According to a KOMO news article, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s department has completed its investigation into the January incident and has recommended criminal charges to the prosecutor’s office.
The Marysville Police also released a statement on April 2. ” I want to update the Marysville community that this investigation is now complete. The Major Crimes Detectives from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office have referred this case to the Snohomish County Prosecutor with a recommended charge of hate crime, RCW 9A.36.080(7). The Sheriff’s office can answer further questions on their investigation.”
Frank and his supporters want further action. “If Jason Thompson, who’s on administrative leave, and Lori Knudson acting deputy superintendent, Rod Merrell, and the consortium consultants do not resign, we are asking Vanessa Edwards, the school board president and the board of directors to use their authority to terminate their employment immediately. This leadership must end, and enough is enough.”
Because it is a holiday weekend, the Marysville School District, the Snohomish County Prosector’s Office, and a public information officer with the Snohomish County Sheriff were not available for comment.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) Governor Jay Inslee announced today that COVID-19 vaccinations will be open to all Washington residents 16-years old and over on April 15, 2021. Citing the concerning increase in new cases, promises of a continued increase in supply by the federal government, and multiple counties exceeding Phase 3 guidelines, the state is accelerating vaccine availability. The three vaccines currently available in the United States, Pfizer, Modera, and Johnson and Johnson, are FDA approved for people over 15 years of age.
On Wednesday, vaccines became available to everyone age 60 or older, or with two co-morbidities, people who live in congregate settings and workers in restaurants, construction, and manufacturing. Additionally, to schedule an appointment a person did not have to verify their eligibility through the state portal.
Washington state has been lagging behind other states in vaccinating its citizens and has the lowest general vaccination rate in the nation before COVID-19 struck. States have wrestled with equitable distribution to vulnerable populations versus those eager and willing to get the shot.
The Biden Administration set a goal of 100 million vaccinated within 100 days, and recently changed the goal to 200 million vaccinated in the first 100 days.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) Over the past year, racial incidents have occurred in multiple suburban school districts highlighting inequality in our schools. In Kirkland, old wounds reopened from an incident at Juanita High School, while in Marysville, an ongoing criminal investigation is looking into death threats at Pilchuck High School.
In Marysville, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department is investigating racist threats made by a relative of a Marysville Police officer. The unnamed 20-year old allegedly used the account of a Marysville High School student to send a Snapchat image holding a handgun, with the caption “Getting ready to kill minorities.” The Snapchat account used was the same account of a 16-year old student suspended earlier this year for making death threats to Black students in a Zoom meeting.
Our coverage and full interview with dr. janice greene of the Snohomish county naacp
“You have our kids getting ready to go back to school. They’re going to be face-to-face, you’ve got people threatening their lives and there’s doesn’t seem to be anything happening,” said Dr. Janice Greene, President of the Snohomish County NAACP. “Children of color are going to [that] school. They don’t feel protected. They can’t. How do you learn in that environment?”
Located about 30 miles north of downtown Seattle, Marysville borders the Tulalip Indian Reservation. The community has experienced rapid growth in the last 20 years, with more than 65,000 residents calling the city home. Once known as Strawberry City with a quaint downtown, Marysville has transformed into a bedroom community next to a vast outlet shopping center and sprawling casino complex. Before COVID-19, bumper-to-bumper traffic clogged Interstate-5 with commuters, gamblers, and shoppers.
When Marysville officials learned that a police officer’s relative made the threat, the county sheriff department took over the case. Officials say that the investigation will conclude in April. However, Washington governor Jay Inslee has ordered a return to in-class instruction by April 19, 2021.
“You’re sending our kids back into school with threats hanging in the air,” Dr. Greene went on to say. “People are not being held accountable with that. People not having to deal with the consequences of their behavior.”
Dr. Greene also talked about the challenges for victims of racial incidents. “I’m concerned about the way we keep pulling our young people that are racially traumatized out in front of people to tell their story over and over again. So we retraumatize our children.”
She added, “I’m going to say Marysville right now is at the crux of it, but that’s not. They’re not the only ones.” To both those points, Kirkland’s Lake Washington School District highlights both of these challenges.
An incident at Kirkland Juanita High School has remerged. In early 2020, a conflict between students devolved into a Black student being called a racial slur. A school guard who intervened is also accused of using a racial slur in the incident. In that incident, it isn’t clear what action the District took against the guard or offending student. As COVID-19 gripped the region less than two-months later, community attention shifted to remote learning.
Over the summer, the high school wrestled with its mascot, “The Rebels.” Some viewed the imagery as too close to the Confederate flag. Historically, a rebel was picked as the mascot because Juanita High School was founded as an alternative learning school. During the 1980s, the artwork of the mascot was modified to add stars and bars with more than a passing resemblance to the Confederate battle flag. In the end, students voted to eliminate the mascots and become the ravens.
We reached out to the Lake Washington School District for additional information, and they released a statement. “Lake Washington School District has been made aware that there are concerns being shared in the community about an incident that occurred over a year ago at Juanita High School. The District is reviewing the incident in further detail and has communicated directly with stakeholders on this matter.”
“Lake Washington School District is committed to providing safe and inclusive learning and working environments for our students and staff.”
We reached out to the parties involved, but none of them wanted to comment on the record. Our ongoing investigation has learned that a public records request was recently made into the incident.
As for the next steps, Dr. Greene had a clear vision for Marysville. “We would like to see appropriate charges and actions for the young people that made the threats [and] for the 20-year old that was holding the gun. We’d also like for Snohomish County [to] put some type of oversight so that we can see what’s going on outside of the school districts. So you have a community-type oversight, so we can address these issues when they come up.”
In both communities, it appears fast action won’t be forthcoming. Students are returning to classrooms after a polarizing election year and George Floyd’s death. Protests in more than 650 cities and towns across the United States erupted – including Kirkland and Marysville. Students have interacted within tighter groups over the last year due to COVID. Polarized conversations on politics and race are unreconciled, just as children and teens are coming back together to learn. It can be a powderkeg, and historically, Marysville Pilchuck High School is no stranger to gun violence.
Editor’s note: This article links to content to validate our research and findings. They are in no way an endorsement or an attempt to validate disproven conspiracy theories.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Weeks after Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States, ardent believers of “stop the steal” have moved to a new message – stop the vaccine. While a shrinking fringe clings to the idea that Trump is or will be President, a loose affiliation of far-right, neo-fascist, and QAnon followers has taken to the Internet using various tactics to interfere with national vaccination efforts.
Within hours after the polls have closed on November 3, groups were forming to support the message of “stop the steal.” Amy Kramer, a Tea Party activist, created a Facebook page before election coverage had even finished. Before Facebook removed the page, she had amassed more than 360,000 followers. Facebook and other social media channels removed pages as quickly as they popped up, so the movement became more decentralized.
A review of Telegram, Parler, and the darker corners of Reddit shows a begrudging acceptance of the 2020 election among the believers and architects of stop the steal. It isn’t clear if that motivation is because the message of an illegitimate election no longer resonates among a widening group of Republicans or if organizers are chasing donors. The new mission is to erode trust, discredit the government, and slow down the vaccine rollout.
For far-right and neo-fascist groups such as Boogaloo and Proud Boys groups, the message is about government overreach. They see vaccination efforts, which are voluntary even among military members, as government overreach and control. For these far-right militias and anti-government groups, the anti-vaccination message is the actions of a controlling government.
British conspiracy theorist David Icke has produced a video called Murder by Vaccine. Icke is better known for his theory that lizard people run the planet. In a rambling 1 hour and 10-minute production, Icke tries to build a case that the COVID vaccine permanently alters human DNA with lethal consequences.
For QAnon adherents, the message is a hodge-podge of beliefs. Among them are ideas steeped in the distortion of Biblical prophesy that receiving a vaccination is getting the mark of the beast. QAnon followers have been wrestling with the “great awakening” concept since former President Donald Trump endorsed getting the COVID vaccination. On social media, some have accused the former President of being part of the deep state, while others have accused him of being paid off by Bill Gates.
COVID-19 has created a perfect storm of misinformation at the same time that numerous groups either are actively trying to build distrust or inherently distrust the government. Anti-vaccination physician and founder of America’s Frontline Doctors, Dr. Simone Gold, was arrested on January 20 for her part in the Capitol insurrection. Her organization includes Doctor Stella Immanuel, who infamously stated she believes in “demon sperm” as the cause of sexually transmitted diseases and alien DNA.
America’s Frontline Doctors pushed hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID. An idea embraced by the Trump Administration resulting in millions of purchased doses using federal and state tax dollars. Some states have attempted to force distributors to repurchase the doses, with Oklahoma leading the charge.
The more sinister efforts are happening at the state and local levels. On Telegram, groups have organized to take advantage of vaccination schedules.
In some regions, a hodge-podge of disconnected systems finds and assigns vaccination slots. Different insurance networks, providers, government agencies, and pharmacies don’t share information across these systems.
Small but organized efforts are clogging the queues with fake appointments using fake information. On Telegram, one person in Michigan wrote, “Me and my coworkers creating fake appointments to keep people from getting the vaccine. Let’s make Biden look bad!”
Other groups have shown similar efforts, but it is hard to determine if this is online bravado or an honest attempt to disrupt and slow down distribution. Nationally, the number of no-shows for vaccination appointments is around 20%. While the Johnson and Johnson vaccine doesn’t require specialized handling, the Modera and Pfizer vaccines do and have a short shelf life.
A growing number of experts are becoming concerned that a fourth wave of COVID cases is building in the United States. Twenty-seven states show growing infection rates, with Florida leading the way. Variants from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and California are taking hold. Here in Washington state, 14 counties are outside of the requirements to remain in phase three opening, including Pierce County. Detected cases have almost doubled in the last two weeks, with schools on the brink of reopening and office workers returning to Microsoft and Facebook.
Among those recruiting new members into the anti-government movement, fear of COVID-19 and vaccine efforts is a fertile hunting ground.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) By local standards, this past winter wasn’t a hardship, especially for a La Nina year. The forecast models point to a sunny and dry week ahead, but nighttime temperatures will hover at or below freezing during the start of the week. The long-range forecast shows a cooling trend into next week and a wetter pattern.
A common question the gardening community asks us is when will the last frost be. Statistically speaking, we are past the point of having a hard frost (below 27 degrees), and the average date for the last possible frost in the Kirkland area is April 4. Historically speaking, Kirkland has had measurable snow as late as April 11, so temperatures below freezing are still possible deep into April.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday will see lows from 30 to 33 through the Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville region. Sunday night will be after a rainy day, so it’s unlikely there will be frost. Monday and Tuesday night look like solid possibilities, so gardeners should plan their planting accordingly. The long-range forecast shows lows in the high 30s through the first week of April.
Our prediction for the last possible day for frost in our region is April 11. If you’re getting tired of the cool weather, don’t despair. By the end of the week, daytime highs will be approaching 60 degrees.
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