The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Vivian McCall

Seems a little cozy: In private group chats with Seattle Police Department leaders, Federal Monitor Antonio Oftelie (the person in charge of federal oversight to the department) described a disconnect between what the apparently ignorant public wanted to see from the department (accountability) and the “systemic learning” he wanted to see (no accountability but somehow things get better?). He also replied “Sigh 😖” to a Seattle Times article about a former SPD detective’s tort claims of racial and sexual harassment. The Department of Justice declined to say whether or not these conversations with SPD’s Chief Legal Counsel Rebecca Boatright, Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey, and former SPD Chief Strategy Officer were appropriate. Ashley has more here.

Now to Hannah with news from the fetid chambers of City Council…

Humiliation works: Council Member Maritza Rivera got her ass handed to her in the last week when dozens of BIPOC organizations called her amendment to gut funding to their Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) capital projects “racist,” “discriminatory,” and “appalling” for three-and-a-half hours straight. The backlash prompted the council to delay the routine, technical “carry forward” bill. This week, she learned her lesson—at least partially. Rivera did not reintroduce the amendment, and the underlying legislation passed, but she doubled down on her point that her amendment wasn’t actually a threat to BIPOC capital projects, and that all the organizers who came out against it are actually victims of disinformation.

There’s been a whole lot of talk about disinformation today, let’s break it down what’s true and what’s false 🧵

— Puget Sound Sage (@PugetSoundSage) June 5, 2024

Rivera made enemies: I don’t think insulting the intelligence of BIPOC organizers will win you any favor, Rivera, but it appears the damage is done. Anti-displacement organizations including Puget Sound Sage, Africatown Community Land Trust, and El Centro de la Raza held a press conference at City Hall Tuesday morning demanding that the Mayor and the City Council protect EDI, the JumpStart payroll tax, and to find new progressive revenue so other important programs do not face a similar fate while the City tries to balance the budget with a quarter-billion-dollar deficit.

Kent didn’t sweep the migrants: The King County Sheriff’s Office said it wouldn’t help the city sweep the encampment, and the City said it wasn’t going to sweep on land it didn’t own, so the sweep didn’t happen: 

No sweep today! pic.twitter.com/YwaJoDvfvy

— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) June 4, 2024

Back to me!

New unions are born <3: Workers at the 7th and Westlake store filed for election with the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday, along with workers at 17 other US locations. The filings come days after Starbucks Workers United wrapped a second round of national bargaining with the company. The union says it made significant progress toward establishing a foundational framework for store contracts. 

.@SBWorkersUnited says another Starbucks in Seattle has filed for an union election & significant progress is being made regarding contract negotiations pic.twitter.com/jFYeh8xWRk

— Lilly Ana Fowler (@LillyAFowler) June 4, 2024

Recent WSU grad goes missing at Sea-Tac: KING 5 reports 21-year-old Nadia Erika Cole of Port Angeles was last seen leaving the airport at 3 pm on May 29. She wore a black North Face jacket, sage hoodie, black yoga pants, white converse, and carried a tan shoulder bag. If authorities know what may have happened, they’re not saying. Authorities in Fife say she “may” have been seen there after she left Sea-Tac.

Stealing doesn’t pay, kids: A federal jury awarded $81 million in damages to the founders of the failed electric airplane startup Zunum last week after ruling that Boeing stole their technology. Back in 2017, Washington and Boeing invested in an ambitious plan from Zunum to design a hybrid-electric aircraft for short city-to-city flights. The company spent $282,000 of our tax dollars, never built an airplane, and fell apart. Zunum alleged Boeing had engineered its collapse to access its trade secrets and build an electric airplane of its own. Because the jury found Boeing’s actions were “willful and malicious,” the judge could triple the damages. 

Great, we’re trying to sanction the ICC now? Nearly every House Republican and some Democrats voted to sanction the International Criminal Court over potential arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials for war crimes. It’s unlikely to go far because even though Biden called the ICC’s indictments “outrageous,” he doesn’t support this.

Israel targeted US lawmakers with an influence campaign: According to officials who spoke to the New York Times, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs organized a $2 million social media campaign last year to convince American lawmakers and the public to support the war in Gaza. Last October, the Israeli government began posting ChatGPT-generated, pro-Israel comments from hundreds of fake accounts on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

Evanston, Illinois sued for paying reparations: In 2021, the Chicago suburb’s city council voted to create the first government-funded reparations program in the country. The program paid Black residents with family ties to Evanston between 1919 and 1969 (or those who’d experienced housing discrimination since) up to $25,000 each. Last week, the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch filed a class-action lawsuit claiming reverse racism. The six members of the class-action suit claim they’d be eligible for $25,000 in reparations if not for a “race-based eligibility requirement.” I’d say they’re eligible to get a fucking grip.

F-: Any student knows to turn in their assignments or else fail, which is sort of what happened this week to Keith Posley, the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools. He forgot to submit essential financial reports to the state, threatening millions of dollars in funding for the largest district in Wisconsin. He resigned the day after a public meeting where more than 100 freaked parents and teachers said they wanted him gone. His last day is June 29. I’ll be surprised if they don’t chase him away with pitchforks.

Way too hot: A sweltering heat wave is melting portions of the West. Temperatures from Texas to Nevada to California are soaring to over 100 degrees. Yesterday, Texas cities San Antonio, Abilene, Del Rio and San Angelo neared records. Phoenix could break them, which is really saying something if you’ve ever been to Phoenix. Such heat can be fatal. Even normally hot places struggle to handle it. In Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, nearly 650 people died of heat-related illness last year, a 52% increase over 2022. About 32 million people are on alert for life-threatening temperatures today.

It’s a no: Scientific advisors to the FDA voted 10-1 against recommending that the regulator approve MDMA (aka ecstasy and molly) to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The panel focused on a supposedly murky or tainted dataset from a recent clinical trial that left more questions than answers about the drug’s effectiveness and safety. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and the American Psychological Association also found there was insufficient evidence to support MDMA’s therapeutic application. The FDA doesn’t have to take the panel’s advice (but it usually does and probably will) and will make a final call in August. 

Pipe dream: Pissing in American cities sucks, but New York is attempting to make it better. Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan to build 46 new public restrooms, renovate 36 existing halls of relief, and release a new Google Maps layer indicating where they all are. They call the plan “Ur in Luck.” Charming. (Years before the city launched this initiative, New Yorker Teddy Siegel created got2gonyc, an incredible map of 2,000 such facilities).

And George Costanza will create an app called iToilet rating the best public bathrooms and make a fortune… pic.twitter.com/VOZE2vBeYo

— jellin76💙🟧🟦patriotism=caring about others (@jellin76) June 4, 2024

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