Suspect in Juniper Blessing killing still not competent to stand trial: He’ll remain in treatment for now, a judge ruled Monday. KUOW has details on his specific issues.
Governor Bob Ferguson hasn’t commuted the prison sentence of a single person: According to Investigate West, a board appointed by Ferguson has recommended early release for 15 people, none of which Ferguson has followed through on. Washington legislators abolished parole for most inmates in 1984, leaving few avenues for early release other than the governor’s mercy. So far, Ferguson has shown none.
Amtrak’s Seattle-Portland route finally gets trains built this century: It feels like the Carter administration in a lot of ways right now—skyrocketing oil prices, plummeting popularity for the president over a botched invasion of Iran—but for Amtrak Cascades riders, the future is finally here. No, not high speed rail, but passenger train cars so new they don’t even have ashtrays in the arm rests. They leave the station for the first time tomorrow.
Seattle got a new light rail station, too and the Seattle Times absolutely hates it, judging by their recent reporting. The city failed to build up a dense new community around the Pinehurst station during planning and construction, so it may be underutilized until developers realize this (there is a tempting looking golf course to bulldoze right next door). This has of course infuriated Ballard residents who think they deserve light rail more than Pinehurst residents, but there’s no word yet from Sound Transit on my modest proposal to build the new line to Magnolia Village instead and ignore Ballard voices.
Mariners purge coaching staff: It probably has something to do with them leading the team to a terrible fucking season a year after they won the AL West Championship for the first time in a generation and got everyone’s hopes up. As a lifelong local Mariners fan I recognized this ruse for what it was a mile away and knew not to look on the bright side, but a lot of people fell for the trick and now the team is out its manager, hitting coach, infield coach, bench coach, and more.
COVID and flu cases are rising in Seattle, KUOW reports, but there’s simply no way of knowing why. Unrelated video below.
Several Washington races set to shape collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement: A recent nationwide roundup of elections that will change how effectively ICE can deport people in local communities published by Bolts highlights Pierce County in particular, where the far-right “constitutional sheriff” Keith Swank has made few friends by actively cooperating with ICE contrary to state law and threatening the legislature. Pierce County voters will decide this November whether to amend the county charter to make the sheriff an appointed position rather than elected, allowing commissioners to replace Swank.
Microsoft shutters the team that botched Halo for years: 343 Studios, later renamed Halo Studios, never quite had the magic touch that original developers Bungie did. After 15 years of rough launches, bad art design, and a falling consumer base, Microsoft has pulled the plug and is handing the franchise over to Activision, which will put together a development team. Like Bungie, Halo Studios is a local company, which means hundreds more Washington tech sector layoffs for Microsoft.
Minimum wage is going up, kinda: It’ll be $22.14 in Seattle starting next year, which looks to be a bit under inflation according to the Seattle Times, meaning effectively a small pay cut if costs stay high.
Further proof Netanyahu was warned of October 7 attacks and did nothing: Egypt’s intelligence chief personally chartered a Cessna jet to Tel Aviv to warn the Israelis of Hamas’ plans, The Atlantic reports.
Everyone’s favorite Weimar Republic detective show’s new season is premiering now: Babylon Berlin season 5 starts with the Nazis taking power so the showrunners are running out of time to wrap things up for our characters before everybody presumably dies. That’s not a spoiler by the way, you can’t spoil WWII. We probably won’t get the new season streaming on our shores next year, which makes me confused as to what our continued occupation of Germany is even getting us.
