Ashley rode along with Seattle’s dual dispatch team: By “rode along,” I mean they didn’t get a single call in five hours because the City hasn’t fully bought into this pseudo police alternative. The six social workers who compose the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) team are supposed to respond to low-priority calls alongside cops and then take over the scene if the cops say it's okay. The program aims to save police a little time so they can focus on higher-priority calls. Read more about it here.
NEW: Seattle wants a policing alternative. The Mayor's Office and City Council have failed to deliver on that promise. The CARE team is little more than window dressing at this point. https://t.co/CH4aCKI1mK
— Ashley Nerbovig (@AshleyNerbovig) March 26, 2024
The more the merrier: A new paper from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Center argues that the two types of killer whales that frequent Puget Sound are distinct enough to be classified as two species: The plentiful Bigg’s killer whales and the endangered southern residents. Scientists have observed that the two groups do not interact, differ in size and jaw structure, eat different foods, and have different migration patterns. Genetic analysis shows there has been no gene transfer between Bigg’s and residents for at least 350,000 years.
Hate crime help: The City and state are giving the Wing Luke Museum a combined $100,000 to cover smashed windows from an alleged hate crime last year. In September, Seattle Police arrested Craig Day Milne after he allegedly took a sledgehammer to the museum while shouting racial slurs, according to KING 5. Anti-Asian hate has risen since the beginning of the pandemic. A Pew survey from last year found that 32% of Asian Americans surveyed knew another Asian person in the US who has been threatened or attacked since COVID-19 began. Another recent survey of 1,000 Asian Americans in New York City found three-quarters of respondents altered their lifestyles to avoid becoming the target of a hate crime.
Pay up: Instacart has agreed to a $730,000 settlement with the Seattle Office of Labor Standards for allegedly violating the City’s gig worker sick time ordinance. The company also owes the office an additional $18K in municipal fines. About 5,560 workers will split the settlement.
Husky bites Cougar: University of Washington scooped up Washington State University’s athletic director Pat Chun for a six-year contract doing the same job, according to reporting from ESPN. The deal comes the week after Troy Dannen left UW for University of Nebraska. Chun had been at WSU since 2018, and he worked at Ohio State for 15 years before that.
Sources: The University of Washington is finalizing a six-year deal to hire Pat Chun, the athletic director at rival Washington State, as the school’s new athletic director. He’s been the AD at Washington State since 2018 and also worked as FAU’s athletic director. pic.twitter.com/FuqYt5fXVd
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 26, 2024
Twelve Palestinians drowned trying to retrieve aid, says Palestinian Health Ministry: Video obtained by Reuters shows crowds rushing toward the beach in north Gaza, heading into deep water to reach the dropped crates. People in Gaza are desperate for food, with some foraging for weeds and others consuming animal feed. UN authorities say that because of Israel’s severe restrictions on aid, every Gazan is experiencing crisis-level food insecurity. At least half are at risk of famine. A UN-aid spokesperson told reporters last week that soon 200 people a day will be dying of starvation.
Analysis reveals New York Times’ lackluster reporting on trans issues: Media Matters and GLAAD reviewed a year of NYT stories that mentioned anti-trans legislation in their headlines or first paragraphs. Two-thirds of the time, those stories didn’t quote a trans person and 18% of the articles quoted misinformation from anti-trans activists without adequate fact-checking or additional context. Six articles did not report the anti-trans background of sources, including extremist rhetoric and actions.
Supreme Court probably not going to limit abortion pill access: During 90 minutes of argument before the court Tuesday, Justices seemed skeptical that the anti-abortion doctors and organizations who brought the case had standing to begin with. They’re claiming moral harm from an FDA policy that expanded access to mifepristone, saying that patients who take abortion pills might then visit the hospitals and emergency rooms where they work. Not even Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett seemed swayed. If the court hypothetically sided with the plaintiffs, it would be the first time any US court second-guessed the FDA’s authority to regulate drugs, according to the New York Times.
RFK Jr. names Nicole Shanahan as running mate: I’m devastated that we’re not going to see NFL quarterback and noted doofus Aaron Rodgers on this ticket. Instead, we get a 38-year-old Silicon Valley lawyer and entrepreneur who most people outside of tech circles have never heard of. That’s way less fun. Shanahan, like Kennedy, is a vaccine skeptic who claims not to be an anti-vaxxer but who questions their safety nonetheless. Unlike Kennedy, she’s the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and she has deep pockets. Last month, she told the New York Times that she gave $4 million to a pro-Kennedy super PAC to help pay for a Super Bowl ad she helped produce.
"We got this."
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 26, 2024
Nicole Shanahan stumbled thru a meandering speech. She praised food stamps & environmentalism and promised she & RFK Jr. would end "chronic disease" in "weeks, not years." (Really?) This wasn't geared to Trump-leaning voters. And it was not impressive. pic.twitter.com/NIMjt3KZDw
Six presumed dead after bridge collapse: Officials said that the construction crew working on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed yesterday were immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Only two of the men have been found so far, and the Coast Guard has suspended the search for the other six, who they believe fell into the freezing water below. NBC News reported that as rescuers searched for survivors, brainiacs like Andrew Tate, Alex Jones, and Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn circulated wild speculation and conspiracy theories about what caused the ship’s sudden loss of power.
