The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Nathalie Graham

Did you have a nice atmospheric river? Sunday’s rain broke June rainfall records in Seattle, Olympia, and Hoquiam, but the system isn’t done. Precipitation should return Monday evening. Western Washington could see its typical amount of total rainfall in June across just three days. As for Monday in Seattle, it’ll be gusty, one of those days that makes your blinds snap if you leave the windows open.

With 0.65” of rain, yesterday was Seattle’s wettest June 2 on record.

Previous mark was 0.48” from 2001

— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) June 3, 2024

Okay, maybe you didn’t have a nice atmospheric river: Thousands of people were without power Monday morning. Seattle City Light registered 28 active power outages. 

And, yet, drought: Even though summer is still weeks away, drought has already set in across much of Washington. Suboptimal snow pack means abnormally dry conditions, and farmers are already feeling the thirst as they’re struggling to keep their crops sufficiently irrigated. The Roza Irrigation District in the Yakima River Basin drained its irrigation canal for 10 days last month in an effort to preserve water for the driest months ahead, but in doing so the basin shut off water access for farmers. The likely impact of this will be smaller harvests as farmers cut back their production acreage. 

Big weekend for car crashes: During the Gig Harbor Maritime Parade on Saturday, a van in the parade suddenly accelerated and mowed down several people before crashing into a different van. Five people sustained injuries and four of them were taken to the hospital. It’s unclear what caused the driver to accelerate like that. 

Clusterfuck on I-5 kills one: At around 4 am on Sunday morning, a motorhome hit and killed a 26-year-old woman near the West Seattle Bridge after a different car collided with her and she stepped out of her car to investigate. A passing ambulance stopped to help, but then a different car slammed into the ambulance, flipping it and striking the woman again. The 33-year-old driver who struck the ambulance is under investigation for driving under the influence. 

Multiple wrong-way drivers cause crashes: On Sunday morning at around 2:15 am, a 23-year-old woman driving the wrong way on State Route 512 struck and killed two people. The suspect, who is suspected of drinking and driving, had an infant in her car. A different person crashed into two different cars while driving the wrong way on Interstate 705 near Tacoma. The victims of the crashes sustained non-life threatening injuries. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Please, stop drinking and driving! I promise it will be way easier to go the right direction on the freeway and also not murder people if you aren’t driving drunk. 

Hundreds line up to vote for Mexican president: Mexico held its national election on Sunday, and 1.4 million of its citizens abroad were eligible to vote. Hundreds of those citizens lined up in Capitol Hill at the Consulado de México en Seattle, which runs out of the old Harvard Exit building. People waited hours, some an entire day. The consulate only had four voting booths despite expecting a huge crowd of voters from Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. The Portland consulate wasn’t open for voting. 

Hundreds wait for an opportunity to vote at the Mexican Consulate. 4 voting machines for thousands of people from WA, OR, ID, and AK. People are angry and a gathering is planned at 530 when voting ends. Blame being placed on EINE, the voting organization in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/yiL4ZRLAiu

— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) June 2, 2024

Mexico elects first woman president: Based on the election’s preliminary returns, Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and Mexico City’s former mayor, is expected to become Mexico’s first woman president. Sheinbaum, a leftist, is a member of the current ruling party in Mexico, the Morena party. She is expected to receive up to 60% of the vote. I’m jealous of Mexico. 

Cop shoots blind Shih Tzu named Teddy: A tiny Missouri town was just radicalized. Sturgeon, Missouri residents are up in arms after a police officer from its two-officer police department shot and killed a missing dog. The officer shot it because he believed it had rabies. In fact, the dog, Teddy, was blind. Now, the mayor has resigned for initially defending the offending cop, the new mayor suspended the cop, Teddy’s owner has filed a civil rights lawsuit seeking over $1 million in damages, and the many town residents are ready to dismantle their police department. 

Sort of a Footloose situation: The Gila River Indian Community in Arizona issued a ban on dances after a tribal police officer was fatally shot while responding to a disturbance at a residence holding a teenager’s birthday party. Another responding officer was wounded. 

Atlanta’s main issue: On Friday, several of Atlanta’s primary water mains experienced a break, causing a large portion of the city to go without water. To make matters worse, several other water mains started experiencing breaks across the city during the weekend. While crews are patching up the mains, thousands of Atlantans remain under a boil-water advisory. 

A sea-level eviction: Around 300 families who have spent their lives on the small Panamanian Island of Gardi Sugdub are packing up and moving to the mainland as sea-level rise makes life on the island harder and harder. Every November and December, ocean water floods the streets. Stronger storms buffet the island. The heat is unbearable. The families will move to a government-developed site on mainland Panama. Some have chosen to remain on the island, their home, until it’s no longer safe. 

The rankings are out! The United States Postal Service released its rankings for cities where its mail carriers were bitten by dogs the most. Top of the list is Los Angeles, with 65 mail carrier dog bites in 2023. Seattle isn’t on the list, but Portland ranked with 19 dog bites. Keep your dogs inside and train them not to fucking bite people, especially not our heroes at the USPS. 

It’s USPS National Dog Bite Awareness Week! Did you know incidents involving dog attacks on Postal Service employees rose to more than 5,800 cases last year? Help keep your letter carrier safe by securing your dog before the carrier approaches your property. #dogbiteawareness pic.twitter.com/ZiFiEQm2yS

— National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (@NRLCA) June 3, 2024

Ugh, this shit again: Hunter Biden is in court today for jury selection in his federal gun trial, a case that stems from three felonies he incurred when purchasing a gun in 2018 while on crack. Here are the charges, according to the Associated Press: “He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application used to screen firearms applicants when he said he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.” Biden has pleaded not guilty. Daddy Biden, the president, issued a statement saying he has “boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.”

The judge in the trial dealt a few blows to Biden’s defense when she blocked an expert witness meant to poke holes in the claims of Biden’s addiction in 2018. The judge also blocked a piece of evidence that was “an altered version of the federal firearms form he filled out when he bought the gun in 2018 that was tweaked in 2021 by the gun store employees,” CNN reports. The defense wanted to use that evidence to undermine the gun store employees’ credibility. 

No Israelis in the Maldives: The president of the Maldives made the move to ban Israeli passport holders from entering his island paradise of a country due to the ongoing war in Gaza.

A song for a windy day: Is this too on the nose? Here’s a link to a live version, too. 

The Stranger