The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Hannah Krieg

Weather: Today won’t be quite as summer-y as yesterday, according to the National Weather Service. Expect highs in the mid 60s, mostly cloudy skies, and even some showers. Friday will dry up, but it might be a while before it gets back to full sunshine and 70s in Seattle. At least Charles Mudede will be happy!

For visual learners:

It’s a tale of two patterns next 24 hours! One more sunny and near/above average temperature day for today. A cold front tomorrow brings in cooler temperatures and the chance of showers.#wawx pic.twitter.com/RiSMWlu40u

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) May 15, 2024

Money is power: Remember last fall when all those gay people got super mad about the City wanting to put a children’s playground next to historically queer, nude beach Denny Blaine? Well, KUOW reports that the anonymous donor who tried to fund the playground was a rich dude named Stuart Sloan, who complained about the beach next to his home in texts to the Mayor’s personal cell phone. Sloan’s people–yeah, he’s that rich—told KUOW that it wasn’t his idea to displace the gays and that he would not have been the only one to donate had the City gone through with the plan.

There’s more: But it’s impossible to deny that Sloan was a key player. Our very own Vivian McCall found that Harrell had met with Sloan twice, including one time the day after the Seattle Parks Department killed the playground proposal. Harrell’s office is playing dumb, but this whole mess just goes to show who the City is responsive to. If you have a fortune, a beautiful waterfront home, and a bone to pick with a marginalized community, then you can complain directly to the Mayor. The rest of us get two minutes at public comment if we’re lucky and willing to risk arrest.

Update: Vivian already wrote that UAW Local 4121 reached a tentative agreement with the University of Washington Tuesday night, but we got a little more information yesterday. The contract includes a 36% raise over the course of the three-year contract, increased reimbursement for child care, summer UPass coverage, and more. Workers have until Friday at 7 pm to vote. It doesn’t look like the union will come to an unanimous decision, as I’ve received comments that at least some workers are organizing against the agreement to keep the strike going and to fight for an even better deal. We shall see!

Point in time: The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) counted, and it turns out that on any given night about 16,385 people are experiencing homelessness in King County. That’s 23% higher than the count KCRHA conducted in 2022. You can find more information here. 

Delinquent: The Seattle Municipal Court sent a delinquent notice to Officer Kevin Dave, saying he’s late to pay the $5,000 fine he incurred when he struck and killed a 23-year-old as he barreled through a crosswalk at high speeds. The letter said that if he doesn’t pay the fine plus a $52 late fee by May 29, he could lose his license. Here’s to hoping! 

She absolutely would: Celebrities can hardly manage to say the word “ceasefire” out loud, but yesterday singer Ethel Cain posted that “we need to bring back assassinations” in response to President Joe Biden sending $1 billion in new arms to Israel. She probably just landed herself on 10 unique FBI watch lists.

Ethel Cain addresses Joe Biden’s support for the Israeli military:

“we need to bring back assassinations” pic.twitter.com/4bCv9S4qPc

— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 15, 2024

Speaking of assassinations: It appears someone tried to assassinate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. A now-detained suspect allegedly shot Fico six times in the small town of Handlova. For a while, authorities said he was “fighting for his life,” but it seems like he’s doing a lot better and is no longer in critical condition. What a tank!

Mark your calendars: Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed to two debates, one on June 27 and another on September 10. The American people were truly robbed of some iconic zingers since Trump refused to debate the GOP chumps who were after his job. But for as goofy as that guy is in a debate, Biden holds his own, too. I went to his fundraiser last week and he literally suggested Trump should have treated his COVID with bleach. Jokes aside, I truly loathe these fuckers, and no amount soyjack millennial humor will absolve them of their sins.

Louisiana: The US Supreme Court temporarily approved a new congressional map that creates two majority-Black districts in Louisiana, which could potentially help Democrats in the 2024 election. Read Axios for more. 

Disinterested in divesting: The students camping out in the Quad in solidarity with Gaza hit a breaking point Wednesday and exposed just how uncompromising the UW administration has been in their negotiations to (1) divest from Israel, (2) cut ties with Boeing, and (3) stop the repression of the pro-Palestinian voices on campus. In an Instagram post, UW United Front for Palestinian Liberation (UF) showed the stark difference between their demands and the offer UW made after five sessions of negotiations. They sent receipts in an email, too, don’t worry.

NEW: After keeping quiet about negotiations, UW United Front For Palestinian Liberations reveals the university admins offers vs. their specific demands 1/? pic.twitter.com/tfZqjNhBeA

— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) May 16, 2024

Why now? It is pretty clear that UW is over trying to appease the protesters, even though their student body government voted overwhelmingly in support of the demands. UF’s new transparency comes after President Ana Mari Cauce allegedly skipped the bargaining session Wednesday, but she found time to accuse the protesters of spray-painting anti-semitic phrases on buildings. Cauce did not provide examples, but UF assumes she’s talking about the phrase “from the river to the sea,” which some see as a call for genocide. UF argued the phrase “asserts Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland and does not call for any ethnic or religious restrictions.” 

What’s next: I don’t think the admin’s strategy will get the campers to leave the quad voluntarily. UW admin told them that they would negotiate only if UF promised not to escalate, but now UW has made it clear that they will not bend, and the encampment won’t convince them to do so either. So—and I’m just reading the tea leaves here—if the student protesters are as committed as they say they are, then we may see new, more intense tactics in the near future.

Speaking of encampments: Cops detained at least a dozen pro-Palestine protesters yesterday as they cleared the encampment at University of California – Irvine. 

Oil spill: On Wednesday, a barge hit a bridge in Galveston, Texas, shutting down 6.5 miles of the waterway. No one died, no one got injured, but the water definitely took an L. An unknown amount of oil spilled from the barge, which has a 30,000-gallon capacity.

Some guy told me to listen to it: I did not. But now you can!

The Stranger