The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Nathalie Graham

More Boeing blues: The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the May 25 Southwest flight that went into a “Dutch roll” mid-flight. A Dutch roll is described as “a yawing motion when the tail slides and the plane rocks from wingtip to wingtip,” mimicking a Dutch figure skater. If my airplane is going to mimic any type of ice skater, then I would choose Apollo Ono: quick and efficient. The plane was a Boeing 737 Max, and the issue may have been the result of a damaged backup power-control unit. 

Counterfeit titanium in planes: Airbus and Boeing bought counterfeit titanium from a supplier that forged the documentation for the authenticity of the material. The FAA is investigating and trying to figure out the short- and long-term safety implications. It’s unclear how many planes were made using parts made with fake titanium. 

Man steals car, then steals kayak: Centralia police tracked a stolen car, but the suspect did not pull over. He drove toward the Chehalis River, hopped out of the car, nabbed a kayak from a nearby home, and fled into the river. According to KING 5, the man “struggled mightily and fell over multiple times, but continued to paddle toward the middle of the river.” He even paddled with arms for a bit. It didn’t work out for this master thief. When he paddled near shore, a K-9 officer apprehended him with a classic teeth-around-ankle maneuver. 

SeaTac flight attendants on the picket line: Around 80,000 flight attendants from major airlines are in the midst of contract negotiations. On Thursday, off-duty flight attendants picketed outside SeaTac airport for better pay and working conditions. 

An unsettled weather pattern: Thunderstorms could be afoot this weekend. Showers will return. Temperatures will drop. It’s maybe not the best idea for a Father’s Day camping trip. Take him to see a weird A24 movie instead. Dad’s love that kind of thing. 

The weather pattern will become unsettled Friday through Sunday. Thunderstorm potential will also increase during this period, peaking Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening! The main threats from storms will be lightning, heavy rain, small hail, and gusty winds. #WAwx pic.twitter.com/cl7y45Xwyb

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) June 13, 2024

Big One prep: Nothing reminds you of your own mortality like thinking about the Cascadia Quake and how very few parts of our infrastructure will withstand it. One major thing that will crumble when the tectonic plates rumble and shake? Bridges. Five bridges in the city, including the West Seattle Lower Spokane Swing Bridge, have already been retrofitted. Now, the Seattle Department of Transportation is beefing up 16 more bridges. Hopefully all this disruptive construction will save our lives one day. Or, better yet, will save some poor saps’ lives in 200 years. 

Unsurprising: The Business Journal released a list of the 1,000 wealthiest ZIP codes in the US and—would you believe it?—the Seattle-area had 35 ZIP codes on the list, four of which were in the top 100 wealthiest. To this I say, “Duh.” Last week, we learned about how Seattle’s home to at least 54,200 millionaires. You’re telling me this report surveying “per capita income, typical home value, poverty rate, land area, and population” found a lot of hits in this area? Clearly.

Good for her: Jamjuree, 36, unexpectedly birthed two babies, a boy and then a girl. The Asian elephant was so surprised by her second calf that she attacked it. “She had never had twins before,” the director of Jamjuree’s Thailand sanctuary, Elephantstay, reasoned. Twins only make up around 1% of all elephant births, and male-female twins are even rarer. 

WELCOME TO THE WORLD: An Asian elephant in Thailand has given birth to a rare set of elephant twins.

Read more: https://t.co/xMlaFWeezI pic.twitter.com/SMRcIOhvEK

— ABC News (@ABC) June 14, 2024

Related: “Twenty-three sets of twins have graduated from a Massachusetts middle school, making up about 10% of the eighth-grade class.” That’s too many twins. Sorry. 

I want a Succession-style drama about this: Tyson Food suspended its Chief Financial Officer and Tyson Food’s heir, John R. Tyson, 34, after he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. This is John R. Tyson’s second alcohol-related charge in two years. The first occurred in November 2022, when he was charged with public intoxication and trespassing after breaking into a stranger’s Fayetteville home and falling asleep in her bed. He sent a companywide email apologizing about that and assuring everyone he would seek treatment. John R. Tyson, who is son of the current Tyson Foods chairman, was thought to be a shoe-in for a potential future CEO of the company, since that’s a role typically held by family members. Now? Well, people have “legitimate concerns” about if he’d be good for the role. 

State of emergency in Florida: Southern Florida has seen up to 25 inches of rain so far this week. Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency as multiple counties are literally under water. More rain is expected Friday. With it comes flash flood warnings. How’s the climate denial treating you now, Ron?

The Gaza aid pier is inoperable again: The humanitarian aid pier, the $230 million humanitarian project set up and operated by the US, was deemed inoperable for the third time this month due to weather. The US will move it to an Israeli port until the high seas quiet down. The project was always temporary, targeted to have a short 90-day lifespan before the seas turned woefully turbulent by the end of August. 

This shit again? The Senate Judiciary Committee investigating ethics at the Supreme Court found Justice Clarence Thomas took more trips than previously reported by ProPublica with mega-donor and Republican  Harlan Crow. The trips included six flights on Crow’s private jet in 2017, 2019, and 2021.

No ban for bump stocks: The Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on bump stocks, the device that can juice up semi-automatic weapons so they fire rounds almost as quickly as machine guns. The 2018 Donald Trump regulation came after the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, where a shooter using a bump stock fired over 1,000 rounds at a music festival and killed 60 people. The shooting injured over 500 people. Now the ban is scrapped. 

I liked this piece: It’s about fighting with people at dinner parties. 

A song for your Friday: Sometimes you need a little Norwegian indie pop to punctuate your week. 

The Stranger