Lesson learned: Earlier this week, Ashley called me out for being a “corporate shill” because I used Accuweather for my forecast instead of the National Weather Service. My bad! The National Weather Service is forecasting a suuuuuuper nice day—sunny with a high of 63!
Popular University for Gaza: I overheard two students at UW sorta laughing at how small the Progressive Student Union’s (PSU) encampment was early yesterday afternoon, but not 10 minutes later a bunch of students from the United Front for Palestinian Liberation (UF) rolled in with tents, easily doubling the size of the occupation to a steady population of 150. According to the UF’s media liaison, the students plan to stay in the quad until the University meets their demands: Divest from Israel, cut ties with Boeing, and stop repressing Palestinian students and faculty.
NOW: A large group of student advocates are setting up more tents at the quad at UW, at least doubling the existing Gaza solidarity encampment that's already calling for the Universoty to divest from Israel pic.twitter.com/9PrpN2VXIz
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) May 1, 2024
What’s next: UW has a few options with the protest. They could meet the students' demands, ignore them for a month until the quarter ends, or follow in the violent footsteps of other universities and sicc the cops on them. When I talked to the students from the OG encampment, they said the university did not seem keen to make a scene—“If you stay peaceful, we will stay peaceful,” the students paraphrased UW admin. But now that the encampment has grown so much, campers don’t know how long that will last. The media liaison said they are prepared for the worst. A spokesperson from UW told The Stranger, “We continue to monitor the situation and will respond as appropriate to maintain a safe and secure environment for our campus community." He did not respond to my questions specifically about the students' demands.
Here’s to hoping: Maybe UW will cave! The encampment helped pressure the admin at Evergreen State College!
The only Council Member going to heaven: According to KNKX reporter Lily Ana Fowler on Twitter, lone progressive Council Member Tammy Morales is considering introducing an amendment to Council President Sara Nelson’s repeal of the minimum wage ordinance for gig delivery workers. The amendment would cap the fees gig companies can put on customers, similar to how the City already caps fees on restaurants, as I wrote about last week. Workers, advocates, and The Stranger have correctly diagnosed the problem for months—the fee makes the service too expensive, driving down order volume. This amendment addresses the issue by going after the companies instead of the workers. Let Morales and her office write many, many amendments to this bill! Cheers!
We live in Hell: As if the City Seattle Council cannot get any worse, Council Member Tanya Woo let it slip last night that Public Safety Chair Bob Kettle and the City Attorney are "looking into possibly taking away the contract with King County and trying to have a contact with SCORE, private jails..." This would cost the City more money and, much worse, could possibly get more inmates killed. King County stopped sending people to SCORE after four people died in the facility in under a year. Ashley’s already on the case and asked Kettle about it last week. Check it out:
Here's what CM Bob Kettle said when I asked him about this last week:
— Ashley Nerbovig (@AshleyNerbovig) May 2, 2024
"I am monitoring this issue closely. My team and I are currently gathering more information. It’s something I intend to follow up on in my role as Chair of the Public Safety Committee." https://t.co/B2swGj1L4j
More from Ashley:
Seattle Police Officer who hurled slur violated SPD policy: The Office of Police Accountability (OPA) has sustained two policy violations against SPD Officer Burton Hill who called his Chinese-American neighbor the racial slur for East Asians. He also called her the sexist term for women. OPA says these two things violated SPD’s bias and professionalism policies. Now Chief of Police Adrian Diaz must decide as soon as this week what to do about Hill. Ashley read OPA’s investigation, and pulled some of Hill’s best quotes, including saying he can’t be a racist because his brother is a racist and he doesn’t talk to him anymore.
Happy May Day! Seattlites celebrated the labor movement with a lot of cool marches and demonstrations around town.
The #Seattle #MayDay2024 march targets the Hyatt where members of the American Gas Association is meeting to discuss pipeline safety. Activists say there is no such thing as a safe pipeline pic.twitter.com/pPCFYn9ACn
— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) May 1, 2024
A "die-in" for #Palestinian #workers outside of Amazon during #MayDay2024 in #Seattle pic.twitter.com/8MK4xrc2JR
— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) May 1, 2024
Seattle's May Day demonstrations include a 'die-in' for Palestine. ALEX GARLAND
James McNeal: Former Bothell City Council Member James McNeal waived his first court appearance yesterday in a trial over his alleged murder of a 20-year-old woman inside her home in South Seattle. An Instagram post from Strippers Are Workers alleged that the victim was a fellow sex worker and McNeal an “aggressive client” known in the sex work community. The post read “...as is all too often the case, systems of power and oppression did not give us the tools we need to keep ourselves safe.” The post continued, “This pattern of harm and gross abuse of power reverberates through our communities, and is because of the pervasive stigmatization and criminalization of [sex work].”
Well done, Arizona: Yesterday the Arizona State Senate joined its House of Reps in overturning a Civil War-Era abortion ban that the State Supreme Court so villainously thrusted upon the good people of Arizona. Now, the Governor just has to sign it (she likely will) and Arizona will go back to having a 15-week ban. Don’t get me wrong, that sucks too. But it's an improvement and reproductive advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to legalize abortion until fetal viability. Love to see it!
Ceasefire now: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said today that Hamas will send a delegation to Cairo ASAP to continue negotiating a ceasefire. According to United Nations estimates, it would take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes Israel has destroyed in Gaza if they stopped their bombardment today.
Important: I bought a shirt from Goodwill that has Raven Simone on it. Now watch this compilation of every Cheetah Girls music video.
