Racing stripes: If you're in North Bend, please keep an eye out for a runaway zebra. Four zebras on the way to Montana escaped Sunday. They made a break for it when their driver pulled over to secure their trailer just off Interstate 90. By the end of the day Sunday, two zebras were found and the baby zebra (yeah, there's a baby!) was "corralled." One zebra is still on the loose.
Possible Trump VP killed her own dog: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican and a contender for Trump's 2024 running mate, wrote a detailed account in her memoir No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward (a title which could be way pithier) about how she killed her dog, Cricket. Noem used the anecdote about shooting her dog after it chased some pheasants and then killed some chickens as an example of her being able to roll up her sleeves and do the dirty work. Yet, the response to her boasting about murdering her dog has largely been people across the aisle being horrified that she killed her dog instead of training it.
UW pro-Palestine encampment planned to start today: After delaying last week, the University of Washington's pro-Palestine activists have targeted Monday as the start of their protest encampment. In preparation, the UW has placed these sandwich boards which read "NO CAMPING ALLOWED" and cite some code across the campus:
So long, Water Lily: The Woodland Park Zoo will send its 45-year-old hippo, Water Lily, to the great hippo enclosure in the sky next week. Water Lily received a cancer diagnosis last month and her quality of life just hasn't been the same since. She'll be humanely euthanized next week. She's been at the Woodland Park Zoo since 1979.
Dump city: It's dumping out there this morning. Rain splattering on my roof. Making the bus wheels outside my window spin in that sticky, wet way. I kinda love it. Seems like the showers will persist today, but also I feel like whenever I tell you the weather the opposite happens, so really what do I know?
Heavy rain is falling in parts of western Washington this morning. Be ready for a wet commute and snow falling in the Cascades.#komonews pic.twitter.com/rbNznw5PYp
— Theron Zahn (@TheronZahnKOMO) April 29, 2024
Sort of like a Free Willy thing? An orca calf had been stuck in a Vancouver Island lagoon for over a month, but was able to finally swim free thanks to a high tide that came Friday. A rescue attempt including 50 people tried to free the calf earlier this month, but she dodged them. An earlier attempt featured a woman trying to coax the calf out of the lagoon by playing violin.
Festivities for the 2 line: Did you get your ass to the suburbs this weekend to celebrate Sound Transit opening its (currently partial) second train line? Yeah, no, me either. Maybe I'll be at the celebration for when the 2 line connects to Seattle—which may open next year, according to Sound Transit. Though, who can really trust a timeline for that delay-riddled line ? Negativity aside, it looks like it was hopping over at the Eastlink opening festivities. And, this will be a big boon for anyone trying to get around between South Bellevue and the Redmond Technology stations. Sound Transit is estimating a daily ridership of 4,000 and 5,700 passengers. Watch The Urbanist's vlog of 2 line opening day:
Tornadoes in Oklahoma: Four people are dead after tornadoes tore through Oklahoma. The storms leveled buildings and knocked out power lines. Over 100 people were injured. This is just the latest tornado damage in the US this week. Since Friday, twisters have devastated midwestern states including Nebraska and Iowa.
Dam collapse in Kenya: The Old Kijabe Dam in western Kenya collapsed early Monday, sending a deluge through nearby houses. At least 45 are dead, dozens are missing, and nearly 110 people have been hospitalized.
Byte Dance won't sell: TikTok's parent company said it has no intentions to sell its little video app just because the US passed a law forcing the company to sell or else face a country-wide TikTok ban. The ban isn't imminent, however. Byte Dance has nine months to sell plus a three-month grace period before a potential ban goes into place. That means the TikTok ban will be enacted right around when 2024 presidential candidate winner is inaugurated.
ICYMI: Labor unions across King County rallied in support of Palestine.
ICYMI: Saturday, a bunch of labor unions rallied outside the Federal Building to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to US funding of Israel's military, and no regional escalation. Photo cred Sara McClasin. pic.twitter.com/uPEeUgmqbN
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) April 29, 2024
Florida abortion ban takes effect: On Wednesday, Florida will enact a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, replacing the 15-week ban Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in 2022. Prior to that 2022 law change, Florida allowed abortions up to 24 weeks after pregnancy. That 15-week ban was supposed to bring abortions down, yet the numbers went up because people in need of abortions all over the Southeast where restrictions were even greater flocked to Florida. Now, all those people—and the ones in Florida—will have to go to Virginia or North Carolina for their abortions. "We don't want to be an abortion tourism destination," DeSantis said last year.
Kills wife, buys sex doll: A 30-year-old Kansas man killed his wife in 2019 and covered it up by saying she killed herself. He received $120,000 from her life insurance payouts and, two days later, used $2,000 of that money to buy a sex doll. He spent all the money in eight months.
Here's a song for your Monday: Who doesn't love jazzy beats on a rainy April day?
